Fourteen-year-old Sante is haunted by a past she doesn’t remember. A recurring dream shows her a shipwreck which Sante, as a baby, survived, hidden in a treasure chest. Raised by Mama Rose, Sante and her nomadic family make a living by performing on the streets of whichever city they happen to be in. During one of their performances, Sante recognizes two men from her dream and goes after them, determined to find out what happened and where she comes from. But the truth is never simple enough and Sante and her family walk into a dangerous web.

For anyone who is easily unsettled, this book deals with topics such as human trafficking and (implied) underage sex work.

Looking at the rest of the reviews, it looks like you either hate this book or you love it. I’m, as usual, in some sort of middle ground where I neither hated, nor loved it. Let’s say I enjoyed it, but with a few strings attached.

It was hard for me to get into this book. The main reason, I believe, is the writing style. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, but it is unusual and it takes a while for the reader to get used to it. Additionally, I did fall into a bit of a reading slump after last month’s excessive reading, so that too attributed to my rocky start. I didn’t particularly like the writing style, however, the story picks up and it gets easier to read (and, thus, enjoy).

Because of my difficulty of the writing style, it took me a while to grasp the world, despite its modern setting, as well as the characters. I did, in the end, begin to care for Sante and her family, but it took a long time (nearly the whole book). Still, I love family dynamics and the found family trope, so I was really happy to see the characters working together and being supportive despite their differences.

The ‘magical realism’ aspect didn’t register fully with me, I think, which I’ll take as a good thing since it didn’t seem like I was reading a book with any magical elements. Mostly, I thought of it as nothing out of the ordinary. While I didn’t fully understand this part of the plot, it wasn’t out of place for me either. It felt like an essential leg of Sante’s journey.

Overall, A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars was a bit of a turbulent read but with a satisfying conclusion. It takes a while to get used to the scenery, which does take away a lot from the experience, but once you begin to make sense of the story, it turns into a profound and emotional journey.

One star

I really thought I'd like this book, but there was nothing I liked about it in the end.

It had an interesting enough plot, but unfortunately it wasn't very "mysterious..." anyone familiar with the YA genre knows that *shock-horror* whatever the MC has recurrent dreams about her childhood 100% of the time ACTUALLY happened. Therefore, most of this book was repetitive revisiting the dreams and disappointing when the "big truth" was no less than what had been read on the first page.

Aside from the origins of the MC and other characters, which where mildly interesting and involve African Princesses for approximately 2.5 seconds before the author never mentions it again, the rest of the plot? I don't even know what I read. Something to do with moths? A circus? No clue.

This book was just disappointing after having a beautiful cover and premise. I didn't like the writing style but I liked the slang and accents found in the speech, perhaps the only thing I liked about this book.

// Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review //

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This story was as beautiful as the cover.

Sante doesn't remember her heritage, having been found in a treasure chest as the sole survivor of a shipwreck. After being adopted into a travelling circus, Sante discovers she has some kind of magical connection to 'the great beyond', and uses this on her journey to self discovery.

The writing of this was lovely, wth a lot of character development in under 300 pages. Sante never felt contrived, and I enjoyed the hint of magical realism and Ghanaian folklore laced throughout. It wasn't entirely clear at first what time period this was set in, so I went into the story thinking it would be more historical than it actually was, however this didn't really effect the story.

It also managed to handle the ongoing issues of human trafficking delicately, and in this current climate I do feel it's an important issue. I know I don't read enough stories relating to this, and I'm currently trying to educate myself about other cultures. I'd even go so far as to say it would be a book I'd recommend my son to read, who's seven.

In short, a great little story.

First of all I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book which I might have not picked up if I had not seen it on their website.

Before starting to talk about the book itself, please, let us all take a moment to admire that marvellous cover. Those bright colours!

One last notice: This book is not really what I am used to read, and as I said, I don't think I would have picked it up in a bookshop, but still it was a great reading.

Badoe's writing is so rich and captivating it was hard to put the book down. Every description is so real but, at the same time, so poetic that makes you feel like you are inside a dream. Also the entire narration was very fluid and fast-paced that having had more time I would have finished in one sitting.
I loved the idea of Sante having a spirit animal, a sort of guide and protector from the very beginning it made the entire story even more magical and gave me the feeling of an african folklore tale.
I also appreciated the fact that even if the book deals with real horrors, Badoe never goes into the details, she sort of tells you without really doing it, which does not take away importance to what's happening but makes it more bearable.

In conclusion, this is a great book (even if not in my personal tastes) that could be really helpfull in sensibilizing people about issues such as immigration and child traffic and abuse.

This is a YA book but honestly the writing felt like a Middle Grade book instead. Nothing wrong with that though! But the content does touch on sex trafficking as well as illegal immigration so I suppose it fits as a YA novel.

Sante is 14 and the lead of this book, she was adopted as a baby by a group of travellers of a circus and it's not clear at the start in what era this is set in. Later on they mention things like phones and mopeds and computers, so I'm pretty sure it's at least in the last 10 years.

ANYWAY Sante has some kind of mental powers or a connection to 'the great beyond' and has known all her life, however when performing somewhere in Spain, she spots someone in the audience who triggers her powers to go a bit haywire. The key here is that Sante knows literally nothing about her origins, only that she's of African descent and was found in a treasure chest filled with jewels, a dagger and a flute.
Overall I though this book was a really good approach to discussing hard topics such as sex trafficking as well as the current immigration crises. Despite feeling like the writing was a bit too young, it was still engaging and interesting! I did appreciate that not all the romances in this book were heterosexual...!!

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Badoe’s writing is one of the highlights of this book, with it being extremely vibrant and rich with plenty of visual images that evoke the scenery of Africa. She delves into the surreal aspects of the story by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy through her writing style, leaving the reader baffled as to whether what he has read is actually happening or not. This book also gives off a magical realism vibe with Sante and some of the other kids having some kind of powers, and the symbolic presence throughout the entirety of the book of the undead who drowned in the middle of the ocean coming back to exert their revenge and have their deaths be worth something.

If there is something that I could criticize about this book would be the instances of problematic content where the main character, Sante, refers to herself and her "circus family" as gypsies, even though she clearly understands that it is a racial slur that people usually use to denigrate them, and also when another one of the characters, Mama Rose, dresses up as a geisha wearing a kimono and putting white powder onto her face because she "needs her thinking time".

‘Strangers pitch up on our shores and we herd them into camps. They come in broken boats and we let them drown.’

I honestly don’t think there is a more important time to read this book than right now. With the political turmoil of Brexit and the resurgence of the far right, people seem to be forgetting that the desperate people trying to make their way into Europe are humans deserving of all the rights that we so take for granted. This book is about people whose only option is to attempt to cross the Mediterranean, who know it might kill them, who know they might fall into the hands of traffickers, but also know that it is the only choice that they have left. Honestly, with many peoples heads turned by the rhetoric plied by politicians, that we must strengthen borders and turn people away from our gates, I hope that people read this book and feel their opinions change.
Sante is one of the younger narrators that I’ve read recently, only fourteen, but her voice is so authentic that I feel it can be enjoyed by young and old alike. Badoe has a gorgeous way of writing, fluid and magical and, honestly, I didn’t even feel the pages passing, it was like a wonderful dream. It’s one of those books which is almost surreal, but you never feel the need to question it, it all makes sense in its own strange way. The closest category I’ve found when trying to explain it is Animist Realism, a genre of African Literature close to the Latin concept of Magical Realism, which is born from animism, a belief that everything on earth, be it rock, animals, weather or thought has its own spiritual essence. It’s the perfect genre for Sante’s story, allowing her to deal with the death of her parents, her exploration of the little she knows of them, and the ancestral echoes of the treasures that were left alongside her in the sea chest.

‘The baby gurgles, entranced by the rough play of water as a wave steadies her boat. She smiles, a jigsaw of stars and fire reflected in her eyes, and she stretches a dimpled hand to touch the moon.’



This book is so gorgeous. It’s rich and vibrant, filled with lush descriptions and poetic prose. Where in many books the inclusion of an animal companion can risk infantilising the story, Sante’s golden eagle felt more like a guardian spirit, a anthromorphisation of her strength and determination. It was a clever decision to balance the cold hard realities of the book against more whimsical prose. It’s the literary equivalent of casting fragrant rose petals over a rotting corpse, the scent only become more cloying, more horrific in the juxtaposition. The book is never graphic in its horror, it does not linger over the sordid details of what the traffickers do to their captives, but it does show the aftereffects of the trauma, the trembling fear and pain of survivors. It’s been a long time since I was so filled with hate for a villain, but ‘The Captain’, the head of the trafficking ring, is so powerful and vile that it honestly sent a shiver up my spine when he was first introduced.

The half star that I removed is for pacing, there was a bit of a lull at about the 60% mark that I felt was unnecessary and was the first time whilst reading the book that I felt a little bored. I was also a little confused about the use of the word ‘gypsy’ in text. Multiple times throughout the book Sante describes the word being used as a slur against other members of her circus family and yet once or twice she uses it to describe them herself. There’s also a random paragraph where Mama Rose, the head of the circus is described as dressing up in a kimono and white face powder for ‘thinking time’…whilst Mama Rose is a white woman. They’re small aberrations, but unnecessary ones that could easily be removed from the final product with no change to the plot itself.

Conclusion
‘A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars’ is a rich, vibrant young adult contemporary with a bright magical sparkle, that deals with incredibly important and relevant issues. It’s a short book, only 256 pages, which I’d genuinely love as many people to read as possible, because it’s the perfect foil to the dehumanisation of migrants that is horribly common in modern media.

‘A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars’ is out on the 7th of September, definitely one to be added to your ‘to be read’!

Many thanks to Head of Zeus Books for a copy in return for an honest review!

Such a beautiful and powerful book that will haunt every corner of your thoughts. It's one of those books that will keep you on the edge of your seat and you will never be able to put it down.

This book far exceeded all of my expectations. I started thinking it was going to be a fairly mundane young adult fantasy novel and by the end I was so invested in basically every character's storyline, especially our protagonist Sante who is phenomenal and amazing.

The fantasy elements of this book are somewhat confusing, in that there aren't clear rules set out in the beginning of the novel for how the magic mentioned works, but honestly this didn't bother me too much in this instance, mainly because Badoe's prose convinced me that it didn't matter. How magic works isn't what's important, what's important is the story she is telling and the fate of the characters she is weaving.

I'm not going to go on about how important it is to read books that are by people who are different from you and about characters who are different but in this case I do think it is worth mentioning. I am frequently guilty of reading a lot of books that are written by white people about white people (I could blame the lack of diversity in the publishing world for this but honestly if we're not supporting diverse authors and buying and promoting their books then we're equally at fault) and this was such a nice way to diversify my reading. If you're a fan of YA fantasy you should read this, regardless of who the author is, because it's an amazing read, but supporting amazing authors who might otherwise not be as supported is sooooo important.

Badoe goes one step further and writes in LGBTQIA+ characters which fills my soul with such amazing joy. Seriously I could froth for hours about how much I enjoyed this book but if I can leave you with one thing before you go off immediately and buy your copy (I mean it. Do it now.) its that this is one of the best pieces of storytelling I have read in a long while. So often we get caught up in the minutiae of fantasy settings that we lose what makes a story amazing.

My rating: 5/5 stars (was it going to be anything less?)

Publication date: 7 September 2017

By the way: I received a digital advanced review copy of A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars from the publisher (Zephyr) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all my opinions are my own and I wouldn’t recommend this if I didn’t think it was worth reading.