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A review by milli__
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Thoughts and Feelings
What I loved... the prose in this story is almost like a poem at various points. The magic of the book is in the detail of the world building, the descriptions of people and the world allow the reader to be transported into the book.
The concept of the book was brilliant with the characters slightly cliche'd. Violet is our naieve, never travelled main character who longs to see the world (honestly can it be a cliche if many people feel this way?). She is mostly likeable if not a little boring at times.
Curses are made to be broken. I love this, I love the idea that a curse has haunted a millenium and this main character is going to break it. The overall story was good.
What I didn't love...the story was good however I felt the ending was lacking - I won't spoil it for anyone but the last 10% of the book felt very flat - even if there was some "Trigger warning" content flung in to increase the stakes.
The romance element of the book was very shallow, this isn't a terrible thing as fantasies don't always need it but the romance felt forced.
Diversity was needed in this book - it felt lacking at parts - given this was a story across worlds - there was so much opportunity for this. The side characters in the story could have been given more depth as the scenes they were in were good.
I've finished this book with many questions that the author didn't answer and I think some of them were necessary for me to give this book a better rating.
Audiobook: This was my first audiobook - I'm not convinced it was the right pick for an audibook as I felt I would of liked to go back and reread some of the prose to capture some of the "big" moments again.
What I loved... the prose in this story is almost like a poem at various points. The magic of the book is in the detail of the world building, the descriptions of people and the world allow the reader to be transported into the book.
The concept of the book was brilliant with the characters slightly cliche'd. Violet is our naieve, never travelled main character who longs to see the world (honestly can it be a cliche if many people feel this way?). She is mostly likeable if not a little boring at times.
Curses are made to be broken. I love this, I love the idea that a curse has haunted a millenium and this main character is going to break it. The overall story was good.
What I didn't love...the story was good however I felt the ending was lacking - I won't spoil it for anyone but the last 10% of the book felt very flat - even if there was some "Trigger warning" content flung in to increase the stakes.
The romance element of the book was very shallow, this isn't a terrible thing as fantasies don't always need it but the romance felt forced.
Diversity was needed in this book - it felt lacking at parts - given this was a story across worlds - there was so much opportunity for this. The side characters in the story could have been given more depth as the scenes they were in were good.
I've finished this book with many questions that the author didn't answer and I think some of them were necessary for me to give this book a better rating.
Audiobook: This was my first audiobook - I'm not convinced it was the right pick for an audibook as I felt I would of liked to go back and reread some of the prose to capture some of the "big" moments again.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Abandonment