The art for this is excellent, but I felt that the plot moved too quickly to be believable. The characters are cute and I like them together, but the relationship felt very rushed, and neither character felt like they were very flushed out besides their desire to be together. I also didn't love Zoe and Fynn's "friendship" after they broke up - it felt like Zoe was very jealous but trying to hide it.

However, it was bubbly and cute and a very quick read with good art, so overall still an enjoyable experience!

A slow romance between star gazers who slowly understand themselves and each other. By no means was the manga thought provoking or as intense, but this was a casual read to pick up in lull moments.

I unfortunately was not able to read and review this book before the digital ecopy expired. The synopsis sounds great though, so I will be buying a copy of my own to read soon!

I loved Star Collector and TokyoPop really seems to be putting out some amazing work recently. Another series I will definitely be keeping my eye on.

Flynn is a teenager who does not know what he is doing with his life, but a happenstance meeting sends Flynn life on a new path. Niko is a stranger and a star gazer. Intrigued, Flynn finds a new love of star gazing and a new romance can just be what he’s been waiting for. Schönhammer is a great storyteller and artist. This graphic novel was well plotted. A slice of life romance that will leave you excited for the second book in the series. I would recommend to fans of Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvia, and David Levithan’s coming of age young adult novels.

I am so excited for this one due to the illustrations! It is neat if I to comment on that. I wish I could finish it in one seat however I could not due to some other offline duty :')

I’m fangirling so bad! I loved this in every way. The relationahip is brilliant, the story is appealing and entertaining. The artwork is so, so beautiful. I’ll definitely be reading the next volumes.

Possibly one of the fine works I found in Netgalley in these past weeks. Thanks for the copy. Can't wait to read more from this authors.

Star Collector is a cute story of Fynn, who's kind of a bad boy, and Niko, who's a huge astronomy nerd. Fynn's the type who shrugs the problems away, and prefers to sleep and smoke like a chimney instead of going to school in time. He's on top of a hill late at night, smoking and doing nothing when he meets Niko, who rambles about stars and astronomy. And for once, Fynn actually keeps coming back and finds something interesting, especially how mysterious Niko seems to be. Fynn and Niko are both interesting characters and their interaction is fun to read about; I was certainly charmed by it.

The art is incredible - I loved the style and it captivated me, so I probably spends more time staring at certain panels than actually reading further. I especially loved Fynn's longer hair, so gorgeous! Only slightly negative thing that I have to say is Zoe, who's Fynn's ex-girlfriend and best friend - her motives didn't really come through, which confused me a bit. At times she seemed very supportive, but there was a bitter tone, and it seemed like she switched between supportive and snarky bitterness in a heartbeat.

I'm anticipating the next volume, because I need to know more about Niko and see where the story is going. I can certainly recommend you to check Star Collector out, it's such a cute story.

Review:
Star Collector centers around the relationship between stoner Flynn and astronomy obsessed Nico. They have a cute relationship, bonding over stars and meteor showers. Zoe is also an interesting and supportive character. I did like both boys’ characters, though I wish more information about Nico was revealed. I also wish the time frame of the story was longer, as certain events felt rushed.
Finally, the artwork is gorgeous.
Overall, it’s a sweet romantic story.

Rating: Four Stars

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I thought this was a sweet little story. Its self contained but there were hints to background that I would have liked to see more fleshed out. But I think that any one who is in the mood for a whimsical Yaoi read would love this story, so I highly recommend it. The story was sweet and the artwork was beautiful.

To be honest, the cover is what sucked me into reading this manga. It’s so pretty!

I liked the artwork in general. I occasionally found some of the interstitial panels a little hard to decipher, and the main female character’s pixie haircut kept fooling me into seeing her as a boy until I actually read the dialogue. But other than those quibbles, it was well done. I especially liked the scenes where the two guys are affectionate with each other; I thought the body language there was particularly expressive of their feelings.

The story is fairly slight, though. Fynn is a bit of a rebel and a slacker, and when his girlfriend Zoe breaks up with him, he feels even more out of step with the world than normal. He’s jolted out of his rut when he runs into the new guy at school, Niko, stargazing at Fynn’s favorite smoking spot. Niko’s a nerd, but he’s also interesting in his enthusiasm for the stars—and he’s kind of cute, too. Fynn’s attraction is returned, and the friendship developing between Fynn and Niko (maybe too) quickly turns to more. But the course of love in fiction almost never runs smooth, and that’s the case here, when Niko gets the wrong idea about Fynn and Zoe’s relationship.

For me, the hook of the story is the mystery of Niko’s background. He refuses to answer most of Fynn’s questions about himself, leaving Fynn wondering what the big secret is. Since I have the same questions as Fynn, I guess I’m going to have to read the next book in the series to find out!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

At heart, this is a pretty standard teen romance. We have what appears to be hatred masking attraction. Simple misunderstanding causing conflict between them. Misunderstanding that is easily resolved. I often felt like I was missing something, though. Like there was some reference being made that I just wasn't understanding.

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Star Collector, Vol. 1
Illustration: Anna Backhausen
Story & Raster: Sophie Schönhammer
★★★☆☆
192 Pages


This was a cute story, but it moved a little fast, for me. Maybe if there had been a few days or weeks of stargazing together, the sudden, intense need to be with each other would have made sense, but I felt like the relationship was rushed, so that there could be the drama of the semi-break-up in this issue. I didn't totally buy the relationship, though there were some seriously cute and tender moments. I like Niko, but I feel like he'd hiding a lot, which is going to be a pitfall in the end, with Fynn likely to act out rather than talk about it. I wasn't overly keen on the whole 'friendship' between Zoe and Fynn either, as Zoe seemed to care too much and was jealous of Niko without admitting it, while Fynn was utterly disinterested. I also saw no logical reason for a goodbye kiss except to induce Niko into outrage, which felt a bit too contrived for my liking.
While I loved the artwork and the story had a lot of potential, I didn't really understand where it was going or why. It proceeded too fast for my liking, and I'm undecided if I'll try another issue/volume or not.

This is the first time I have read any Manga and this particular comic/graphic appealed to me because of the fascinating description and I wanted to try something new that sounded entertaining.

I am very glad I chose “Star Collector” because it was so enjoyable to read. I think it was a great first choice for trying this genre because it had a straightforward story-line, which made it no bother for me to master the Manga style which needs to be read from right to left.

For me, the story was tender and sweet and the artwork was absolutely gorgeous. I could feel the characters’ emotions and each one had their own individuality and distinctiveness.

I can’t say much else on the quality of the artwork since I am not at all artistic but I did appreciate how the story progressed through the artwork as well as the dialogue.

I will definitely be reading Volume 2 in this series to see how their relationship progresses.

I would recommend this story to anyone who wants to try Manga and who is after a quick and light-hearted read.

{Thank you to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the free copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.}

This was short, and cute! This was my first manga comic, so I ended up spoiling myself entirely. I feel like the characters could've been more fleshed out, and their relationship could've been more developed, but other than that, it's an okay read.

I got an ARC of this book.

I got this book, because boy am I a fan of BL. Get it? Get it? Moving on. I really liked the idea that this was two guys around the same age, it seemed consensual, and it looked cute. I wasn't let down with my expectations, but in execution.

So the story follows a slacker boy falling in love with his first boy right after his girlfriend dumps him implying he is gay. He goes "gee whiz, maybe I am". No conflict whatsoever. I was a bit let down that the conflict was literally just a single panel set up and then it blew over very quickly. I liked the boys flirting and getting to know each other, but there was very little substance. 

The characters were really flat. I could get behind that if I get a feeling that they will be more fleshed out, but in this volume not a single character felt like they were even close to being a real character. They were very two dimensional and there was no reason to really ship the romance. I did because it was cute. That was it. There was no drive to see them happy. No drive because they really belonged together. It was just cute. 

So I hope the series gets some more depth to it, because this reads every much as a middle school romance series. There is a hint of sex, but the characters and plots are so minimal that they would probably appeal to a younger audience than me. If I see the second volume around, I will read it. I will not be seeking it out. I really don't have anything more to say on the subject, but this looks like such a short review. The book only took me 15-20 minutes to read while working. So there really isn't much to go on.

A very interesting story that was not able to sustain my attention for the totality of the narrative. An admirable attempt.

I just can't resist books with cute covers, and this one, a manga-styled comic, was right there with cute covers! I wanted to know more about this duo, would they be together? Would there be romance?

It all starts when Fynn's girlfriend breaks up with him, and he is left flummoxed about the whys and hows. As he contemplates things he meets up with the cute Niko who gets angry at Fynn for smoking when he is looking for stars. Fynn reacts like how most smokers do, though I also could see his side. Generally this is his spot, his space to calm down and have a smoke. I can imagine he isn't amused that someone just pops up and goes complaining.

But from that moment Fynn is hooked, he needs to find out more about Niko, especially after getting a tiny telescope from Niko. And I was also hooked. I loved seeing Fynn go to school (which is apparently a rare event) and searching for Niko. It was adorable to see these two get together, to see the sparks light up between them.

However, I did think the pace was a bit fast. I mean, Fynn just got dumped by his girlfriend, and he is already drooling over the next person (as you could see that he was quickly interested in Niko in a different way than friendship). Plus, that he was totally fine with kissing a dude. Yes, he questioned things, but he was quick with accepting and it just felt weird and off. Normally people don't just go Oh, I just kissed a dude, and I like it. And then want more. I would have liked more of that, it would have made the relationship that is blooming between Niko and Fynn a bit more realistic.
While I did like that he made things up with his ex-girlfriend, I did feel sorry for the girl as it must also hurt her to see him just move so fast.

I liked that we saw more of Fynn's home situation, find out more about him, and see why he is so stand-off-ish.

There was also some drama, and yes, at times I was rolling my eyes at it all. Come on guys, please.

And the Perseids thing that Fynn got notoriously wrong also got on my nerves. I did have a laugh though that Niko got it wrong once as well. :P Persieds.

The art was just gorgeous. I loved how the characters were drawn, there were so many details to them. And then there are the backgrounds, dang. Nice!

So all in all, I had fun reading this one, and I was shipping these two together. I loved the stargazing aspect to it, and how Fynn also started liking it. I will definitely have to check out the next volume in this series to see how their relationship goes on.