I'm giving this 4 stars although I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked K Ancrum's first novel. However, I can say for sure that there are a lot of people who will enjoy this. I also think that reading this in an ebook format made it less enjoyable - part of what made her first novel such a standout was the unique format and you miss that with a digital copy.

Amazing characters and a lovely, slow burn romance-I'm excited to rec this to our teens. It's less sci-fi more emotional character heart stuff, which is a good heads up, but the story is so amazing it will definitely work for all different sorts of readers.

In a world where a career in space is a possibility for some, two girls start off as strangers and fall in love in this beautifully written, character-driven, slow-burn queer sci-fi romance.

I liked it well enough and I thought the premise of the space part of the story was really interesting. I think I would have liked it more if it had focused more on that part. I just didn't really connect with the characters to get invested in their emotional stories.

I don't read much f/f, but I loved Ancrum's The Wicker King so much that I had to check out this book. I ended up loving it -- while not as much as the other book, still a close second! Her prose are just so good and emotional. And her characters pop like real people on the page. 5/5 stars

I thought I would fall in love with this book, but it personally was not for me. It was not quite what I originally thought. Therefore, I was unable to finish it. I apologize for that, I'm sure somebody else would love it and am happy to see the YA sci-fi genre growing especially from a science educator perspective.

4 stars

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did, nor did I expect to read it quite late at night and all in one sitting.

I feel like Ancrum’s books are so hit and miss for me, but I’m honestly glad that The Weight of The Stars was a hit for me? I felt like I understood it a lot better than I did The Wicker King, and that made the experience a lot more enjoyable.

There were a few places I was still not completely in tune with, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this!

The characters are endearing.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the characters, but I actually ended up really invested in their stories, which I was not expecting, but really loved.

They’re all very individual, which I loved, and their relationships were probably one of the strongest parts of this story. I loved the Ryann & Alexandria dynamic, as well as Ryann and her brother James, as well as how the rest of her friends interacted.

This is honestly what made this book so worthwhile to me–getting to read about the complex character relationships, which I found to be The Weight of the Stars‘ biggest triumph. They were complex and intricate and a little messy because that’s life.

Plus, the ending made it all the more tear-jerking, so ah–be prepared with tissues.

The near-future setting framed the story in a unique way.

I definitely wasn’t sure what to expect with the near-future setting, but I think it really helped add to the story. I think not only did it bring the characters together and made the plot work better, but it also made an interesting framework for the character relationships given things that happen which I won’t spoil.

Also, timeline-wise, for those of you who read The Wicker King, you might recognize Ahmed’s three (!!!) parents . . .

So yeah! I found the setting to be really quite unique with its near-future private space companies and how they played a big role in Alexandria and Ryann’s lives. I think it wasn’t just there to be cute, but it added to the story.

The way it pulled together was really satisfying.

I guess, what I really enjoyed about this and what sucked me in, outside of the characters’ personalities, was how it was all sort of building up in both the romance (umm yes I ship it) and what it meant for the characters.

It was like a vortex, and I just kind of got pulled in without realizing it. Something about this book (Ryann, mostly) really pulled me in, and then the ending made my cry but still gave me that tiny dot of hope.

Still, there were moments I was a bit confused.

I feel like there are parts of Ancrum’s books that I just don’t understand. I got most of the meaning from The Weight of the Stars, but it felt like part of the subtext was just flying over my head.

I still don’t know the significance of the chapter titles (which are like different times i.e. 375 days or 15 minutes) and there were still elements I felt like I was just missing something with.

It’s weird, but even though I clicked with the overall, I still felt a little off beat with certain elements.

In the end, I feel like people will either love this book, or not click with it.

Overall, I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I expected, and found meaning in the story and a connection with the characters.

But I think this is also something that just varies with each reader, although I think people who have historically liked Ancrum’s work will like this!

(And for those who didn’t like The Wicker King, if you’re looking for something more linear and less epistolary, then you should still consider The Weight of the Stars because it went a lot better for me than Ancrum’s debut!)

The Weight of the Stars is the third book I have read by K. Ancrom. I really enjoyed The Wicker King and The Legend of the Golden Raven which I read both of them in January. When I found out this book was coming out I had to request it from Netgalley, I’m glad they accepted it. When I found out it WLW I wanted to read it even more.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved most of the characters and the relationships. I loved the parts with the recordings they listened to or spoke. I hope there is a next book or novella. I really want to read more about and from these characters. I liked the friend group and I also liked how the characters were with their families. I read they book so fast, it only took me a little over 24 hours. I’m hoping to be able to get a finished copy soon.

If you’ve seen my review of The Wicker King by this same author, you already know how much I adore her as both a writer and a human being, so when I was given the opportunity to read and review The Weight of the Stars, I could barely stand myself. She told me this book was a WLW love letter to her queer-lady fans, and I remember thinking, ‘Would it be humanly possible for me to do anything other than love this?’

“I know the weight of this and I know the price.”

Thankfully, if you hadn’t already guessed, that answer was a big resounding NOPE, because here we are, and I am positively smitten by yet another incredible, poetic, melancholy, queer-as-hell K. Ancrum story. The atmosphere is incredible, the narrative voice stunned me over and over, and the characters are, just as I expected, nothing short of delightful.

First and foremost, there’s Ryann Bird, the main character, who I realized within basically half a chapter that I wanted to protect at all costs because how could I not?! She’s this incredible butch girl (which, WOW, can we please see more butch girls in YA?!), she’s tall and strong and powerful, and she seems super rough around the edges but she’s a total puddle of soft, warm goo inside. I could honestly write this entire review and never mention anything besides how much I love Ryann Bird. Also, like, she’s unapologetically kind of violent but only when the situation really deserves it, and I will always live in total support of viciously protective #squadmoms.

Of course, there’s also her little found family: James, the younger brother who stopped speaking after a trauma, who has a sweet baby he cherishes and takes such good care of; Ahmed, her best friend, a soft and goofy Sikh teen (whose polyam family made me SCREAM?! more on this in a moment); Shannon, the popular girl who shouldn’t “belong” in their group but somehow perfectly does; Blake, the self-tattooed quiet one; Tomas, the gangly mohawked queer boy who is so cute and reactive and lovely. And, finally, there’s Alexandria, who is so prickly at the beginning that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to slap her or stare at her lovingly (*insert “you’re doing great sweetie” gif here*), because honestly, she has every right to be prickly.

Finally, that thing I said I’d come back to? Well, you don’t have to read The Wicker King before this one, but you SHOULD, because a certain very precious and strange and sweet little emo trio shows back up, except a couple of decades have passed and they’re all grown up and married and parenting together and wow, this is the polyam rep my heart has been dying to see. It felt so good to see them all again and I literally screamed into a pillow when I realized we were going to spend time with them on page and just… *wistful sigh* I don’t even know what else to say besides gushing incoherently.

Oh, and honestly, the diverse rep in this book? Just wow, K is a queen and I will cherish her forever. Almost everyone in this group is either a person of color or queer or BOTH and it gave me so much life. I love that, while so many other authors are out here still just throwing in a Token Gay™, K’s like, “Nah, let’s just have a Token Cishet™ instead.” What a powerhouse.

The closest thing to a “complaint” I had is that there’s a big plot point which I won’t spoil, but it had me glaring at a couple of characters and internally screaming, ‘Why would you do this to me?! To yourselves?! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!’ But, then I remembered that this was a K. Ancrum book, and I knew I was signing up for some variation of heartbreak when I first opened it, and really, it was all good and beautiful enough to be worth the agony, so like I said: does it even count as a complaint? Nope.

DNF at 48%

Trigger Warning: sexual assault

This is definitely another one of those it's not you, it's me books.

By the blurb and what I read, this should be an easy slam dunk 4 star read. There's a found family, a girl whose mother is on a one-way trip out of the solar system, a "bad" girl who collects and nurtures strays like herself, a polyam family, and diversity up the wazoo.

But I just can't connect with this story at all. I've stuck with it as much as I can, and it's a no from me.

I don't like this writing style. To me, it feels like like something I'd see on Wattpad—a rough draft that sorely needs more polish to really get into Ryann's head. It's very disconnecting to the character's emotions, and Ryann is written like alternative Mary Sue—she's a bad girl who rolls into class late, barely does her homework, gets into fights and punches people just because, collects strays (people not animals) and brings them into her fold and heals them, parties hard, drives a motorcycle, teachers confide in her and trust her to connect to the hard case students, the popular kids love and respect her, she lives in a trailer park, her brother doesn't talk, she walks ten miles like no big, sleep apparently isn't an issue ever, she's raising a baby with her brother because her parents are dead and yet the CDC isn't involved at all even though they're all under 18...you get what I mean? There're all these different things, and yet none of them really allowed me to get into Ryann's head or really feel connected, and I felt little reasoning beyond her motivation.

I feel that this book will connect with a lot of people, and the plot really does feel interesting, but I'm putting it down because I'm just not digging the writing style and Ryann really feels like a Mary Sue.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

This book had me hooked from the beginning! I was completely engrossed in Ryann's mother-hen life. Alexandria's backstory was so bizarre and sad that I just ate up every little tidbit shared. I honestly thought something more sinister was going to come of that, but it ended up being sweet and just flawed humanity. The group of friends were an eclectic bunch, as was Ryann's family, and they were all so terribly lovable. Because of that, I simply cannot understand Ryann's final decision. I just think there were other things she could have done instead. I could get into it more, but I don't want to drop any spoilers. Overall, great book.

This was a DNF at 60% through.
My expectations of this being a sci-fi rather than the contemporary that it actually was are not necessarily grounds for a 2-Star rating, but the fact that this had no plot and made little sense does.

Unfortunately, this book has no plot. None. It’s literally just about kids in school, and I found myself feeling much the same way I did about Anna and The French Kiss, because so little actually happened.

What did happen, however, made no sense, because characters’ reactions to things were completely unrealistic.
For example, the main character, Ryann, is told by a teacher to make friends with Alexandria, and when Alexandria shows nothing but anger towards her, Ryann is still told to talk to her.
Then, when Ryann is responsible (however unintentionally) for causing Alexandria to fall off of a roof and injure herself, Ryann is blamed. Despite that, she still shows up at Alexandria’s house, where her dad blames her but, instead of asking her to leave Alexandria alone, invites her to fill in for Alexandria doing the work she can’t do while in the hospital.
People kept just trying to get Ryann to keep trying to make friends with Alexandria even though you would think they would...you know, not at that point.

Then, there is a part where Ryann is thinking of breaking into a super secret organization with Alexandria’s dad’s old ID from his time as an intern there. I found it pretty unbelievable that they would still have the same security system after over a decade, and not have deactivated an ID of someone who no longer worked there. Also, Ryann tells her friends that she “researched” that they still have the same security system. Um, how does one find something like that out from just research?

There were also a lot of conversations and other details that didn’t move the plot in any way and had no need to even be there.
For example, there is a scene where Ryann goes home and goes to bed, and has a text conversation with her best friend about his parents having people over and being loud. That whole scene had nothing to do with anything in the story.

This book was boring and all but plotless, with little character development or any realistic reactions from anyone, and had more to do with kids in school than with outer space.
I wanted to like this book. It was actually one of my top 10 most anticipated releases of the year, but I confess myself disappointed.

The Weight of the Stars destroyed me. The only thing I can liken it to is like by being slowly pulled into a black hole. I orbited around slowly moving closer. I loved Ryann, her small family, and misfit friends. And then there was this tipping point in the story where I just fell into the heart of the black hole. I was completely immersed in the blackness of the f/f romance, the way the story took a twist that wrung my heart out to dry, and the ending. Part of me is still in that black hole wondering what to do next really.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!