5/5 stars.
This was another 5 star read for me. I devoured it in a day. I found it utterly compelling and unique.
This novel took me over completely. Once I was inside the pages I forgot the outside world and lived here completely.
I thought the concept behind this book was fascinating and very topical.
I've already hand sold a whole bunch of this one in store and ordered in plenty of copies as well as mentioning it to all my book club members.

What I thought was going to be another Womens dystopian read turned out to be much deeper. On the surface it tells the story of a brother and sister. The sister like all females has the story of her life mapped out on her body
through markings and freckles and her brother one of the few men learning to study and read these markings.
But below the surface it takes a deep look look into rape culture , blame and female oppression.
As the story grows to a close it shows the quiet and yet powerful resistance of the women making a stand and changing history.
This is a powerful and important read.

What a fantastic debut, this book was impossible to put down ! It’s hard not to compare to Atwood’s class dystopian female future , but there isn’t much more on this level to compare it to, this is powerful.

“Like every woman, Celeste Morton holds a map of the future in her skin, every mole and freckle a clue to unlocking what will come to pass. With puberty comes the changeling period - when her final marks will appear and her future is decided.

The possibilities are tantalising enough for Celeste's excitement to outweigh her fear. Changelings are sought after commodities and abduction is rife as men seek to possess these futures for themselves.”

This book is such an emotional read, especially for women, there are tears, anger, fury, injustice, it really draws comparisons with how society and patriarchy views women’s bodies. This book highlights how women are objectified, held accountable and treated following a sexual assault. Yes in this it’s a work of fiction, but sadly this reflects reality.

It’s hard to say too much without spoiling the book, simply I will say that this book was an amazing and thought-provoking story and is one of my favourites of the year so far

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A woman's future can be told by the markings on skin. However, during their changeling period, they become irresistible. This is threat as abducted women are seen as ruined and their future destroyed. We follow Celeste's journey into womanhood and all the trials and dangers this involves.

Bravo! This was a fantastic read. From chapter one I was hooked and had to see how this would pan out.

I loved Celeste and her whole attitude especially towards the end of the book. This is definitely an emotional rollercoaster.

I liked how this would also open discussions on how a woman's body is viewed into today's society too.

This was SO impressive for a debut and I cannot wait to see what the author releases next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy to review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book follows in the footsteps of The Handmaid's Tale and The Power in imagining a world where women and girls are treated differently, but somehow still the same. I liked the idea of moles mapping the future, and the discussion of fate versus free will. I would have liked the plot to go a little further in examining the patriarchal motivations for the actions by the government, and I would have liked more details about the wider world, but it works well as a self-contained story. Hopefully at some point we can get past the inevitable abuse of women and girls to a better future.

Oh my god. To say this book was incredible would be an understatement. The only comparison I can think of is to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and, for me, Walter surpasses that classic. I felt more connected to our characters and more invested in the plot - this book was impossible to put down as, despite the dystopian fantasy-esque location, I felt my own fate was tied up in their lives. 'Body of Stars' takes us to an alternate reality where women have the future marked on their bodies and men think they own them.

The premise was so interesting and works perfectly to critique society particularly the treatment of women by men. This seems particularly poignant at the moment. It was inspiring to see all women (regardless of the gender they were assigned at birth, their sexual orientation or their past) working together to reclaim their bodies and to create safe spaces. And in the background are criticisms against all prejudices; homophobia and transphobia are two that particularly stand out.

It’s hard to write a comprehensive review without spoilers but one of my favourite parts that it explores is also an important content warning: the treatment of women post-sexual assault. The novel works fantastically at highlighting, through hyperbole, how women are objectified, held accountable and ignored following an assault. It made me sad to think how close to the truth this ‘dystopian’ world really was and hopefully will inspire others who read it to try to make a difference.

Without a doubt everyone should pick this book up. It should be required reading. Its nuanced discussions of key human rights and political debates cleverly undermine those practices, advocating for equality between all genders and races and religions and sexualities. Its a book that speaks to the time we're in and gives us the power to take action.

Thank you to the author, Hodder and Netgalley for a copy in return for an honest review.

I've had the pleasure of reviewing books on Netgalley for almost a year now (??!!), and in that time, I've come across some great books — but only a handful of those have made me want to run to Amazon for a preorder as soon as I finished them. Body of Stars, Laura Maylene Walter's scintillating debut novel, is the latest of those. With her beautiful, lyrical prose and searing takedowns of the misogyny ingrained in our society, Walter sucked me into her dystopian fantasy universe and wouldn't let me go until I'd turned the last page. I could gush on and on, but in short, this one feels like it really means something and I'd love to see a copy in everyone's hands, so feel free to imagine that the rest of this review is just me holding up a sign that says 'READ IT!' in big glittery letters!

Part of what makes Body of Stars so hard-hitting is that it takes place in a world that could be our own, with one crucial difference: all girls are born with freckles and moles that foretell every little detail of their futures. These marks, all outlined in a heavy book called Mapping the Future: An Interpretative Guide to Women and Girls, will tell you what your career will be, if and when you'll fall ill as a child, if you'll ever get married, and whether your children will be boys or girls... if you're fated to have any at all. I found this to be such a fascinating yet eerie idea — what if your body could tell your entire future like that, and what if everyone around you knew it, too? What if you didn't want children but were fated to have two, or you longed to be a mother but had no markings to suggest you'd become one? Walter goes a step further and imagines countries where girls whose markings indicate they'll be homemakers are denied access to education, which struck me as a clever critique of how women's choices are limited by bodies that are never fully seen as theirs.

Around the age of fifteen or sixteen, girls in the Body of Stars universe will enter their changeling period, where they’ll get their adult markings (and their fates set in stone), and where they’ll be almost irresistible to men, making abductions an ever-present threat. In a bleak parallel to real life, girls who’ve been abducted are treated like what happened to them was their fault. The crimes committed against them are brushed off as just an unfortunate thing that happens now and then, but for the victims, their entire lives are affected: they’ll have to undergo a humiliating rehabilitation course that treats them as broken, they’ll no longer be allowed to go to university, and their abductors may copy out their marks and likenesses onto ornate tarot cards for distribution without their consent. These things are a dark mirror turned to face our society, shining a light on the treatment of women and girls from an approachable distance that nonetheless refuses to let us shy away.

Fifteen-year-old Celeste Morton looks forward to changing and finding out if she’ll ever get her dream job, but like many girls, she’s aware of the dangers that have been drummed into her since early childhood but doesn’t think they’d ever happen to her. Without giving too much away, I’ve seen a few reviewers express disappointment that this one isn’t a punchy smash-the-patriarchy novel but more slow-paced and reflective, and I get it — Celeste isn’t a Katniss but an average girl doing what she can to survive in a world tilted against her, and these kinds of books can be tricky because seeing a heroine take down misogyny for good can be a much-needed form of catharsis. For me, Celeste’s averageness makes the story all the more powerful, and Body of Stars shows us how even the smallest changes can one day become revolutionary, how ripples can grow into waves, and how one girl’s life improved can eventually broaden into many. Amidst all of the frustrating, angering elements here, there’s so much hope, both for us and Celeste — and if you’re anything like me, you might come away thinking “what can I do about it?” and ready to at least try.

There’s so much more I could say about this book; I feel like I’ve barely even scratched the surface! I’ve skipped over so many details and several important plotlines because I don’t want to spoil anything, which is rare for me, a certified spoiler-lover who looks up the plot of movies before she watches them. All in all, though, Body of Stars is a luminous, dazzling, thought-provoking story to make you angry and to make you a fierce feminist (if you weren’t already), and I have no doubt that it will be one of my favourites of the year!

In the alternative world of Body of Stars, women are born with markings on their bodies that predict their futures. During a vulnerable transition from child to woman, when girls are called changelings and their senses are heightened, their markings alter overnight, creating patterns that fix their futures on their skin. The markings and their interpretation are noted and regulated by the state through a book called Mapping the Future: An Interpretive Guide to Women and Girls. Men have no such markings, their future and skins blank, and they are denied the authority to interpret.

During a girl’s transition to womanhood their beauty, alongside their sensory perception, is heightened. They are warned of how vulnerable they are to male attention and desire. They are encouraged to cover up, never walk alone, and stay home after dark.

The novel tracks Celeste’s transition from her girlhood markings to her adult markings. We follow her as she moves from one state to another, attempting to understand her role in life through the confines of her skin. A skin her brother, Miles, has always been fascinated by. He has examined, drawn and redrawn a particular patch near her left elbow and he has managed to find a woman to teach him interpretation even though it is forbidden for men to become interpreters.

As well as her own future, a woman’s markings predict the futures of those close to her. The futures of siblings, children, husbands and other relatives can be read in the disparate moles and freckles.

I’m not going to say more about the plot because that would spoil some of the joy of reading the novel. More than the plot, what excited me about this novel was its attempt to compare the women of this world, with the women in our own. To what extent are women’s futures mapped out on their bodies? To what extent are women in our world defined by the violence and desires of men, whose actions are sanctioned by the supposed irresponsibility of women’s behaviour and by an understanding that girls of a certain age are irresistible? In Body of Stars, the burden of responsibility is firmly placed on the victim and not the perpetrator. The changeling girls accounts can’t be trusted, so when they are abducted and abused, the perpetrators of the violence cannot be found or prosecuted because the girls’ accounts aren’t reliable. Their word is not enough. The comparisons to our world suddenly become glaringly blatant and the onus for change should not be on the girls – those elbow markings of Celeste’s are significant – but on the abusers.

These comparisons make the book powerfully political. I’m not arguing that everything the novel propounds is something we might all agree on, but it does raise interesting questions about our socialisation of boys and girls and our expectations for each. Our future should not be mapped on our skin and we should do all we can to make sure everyone has choice in their lives. No easy feet, but something worth aiming for. Most importantly of all, change is a shared responsibility.

Laura Maylene Walter writes a fascinating debut that bristles with relevance to our modern lives. She shows how genre fiction that mixes dystopian, magical realism and speculative fiction, can speak directly to contemporary life. It’s a quick and compelling read with some difficult questions to ask and the illustrations are wonderful too. It will be exciting to see what she writes next.

Celeste lives in a world which is very much like ours, except that all women have markings on their bodies which accurately predict the future. When a girl reaches puberty she goes through a "changeling" phase (during which she develops a kind of charismatic pull on those around her) before her adult markings appear. The world isn't a safe place for changelings - or for women in general with the authorities, families and corrupt men seeking to exploit their allure and the secrets their bodies hold.

Changelings are often kidnapped as a matter of routine then are released later, with no memory of where they've been and "ruined" in the eyes of society.

At first I struggled to get my head around the complex world that the author has built, but the more I read the more it made me think about the way we see women's bodies in this society, and especially the way teenage girls are perceived during the time when their bodies are changing, the way the world treats them is changing and they're figuring out who they are. A really interesting, absorbing read.

This was such an interesting book but it’s worth noting some trigger warnings to some readers that there are references to abduction, rape, sexual assault and abuse within this book. It’s not graphic but just be aware.

This story is set in a world in which women’s bodies are literally the future. When you’re born, you have your juvenile markings which hint to the future but that is made clearer when you pass into adulthood. A period in which you become a changeling. You become irresistible to people, especially the opposite sex. Your markings become permanent and your future decided. Will you marry? Have children? Will a loved one die? It’s all there on your skin.

While passing into the changeling period, you are at your most vulnerable and it is during this time that some young women and kidnapped. They are ‘returned’ after days/weeks but they are forever changed by events that happened to them. They often have no memories but their markings are copied and often appear in erotic paintings or tarot decks. Their future is out there for all to see. It’s a dark and seedy part of this world.

Celeste is our main protagonist in this story and at present, she is still a child. Observing the changes around her. Her brother who is only a year older is restricted by his gender but is defying it. In this world, men are unmarked and certain roles are not open to them. Especially that of interpretation. Interpretation is the reading of skin, exclusively done by women but Miles has a gift for it. He pushes to be allowed to read and interpret and this very progression goes against everything the Office of Futures stand for.

This story, while different from our world, also mirrors certain aspects with innocence being taken and women not really having the right to their own bodies. The father-daughter ritual after a change is a disturbing thing with fathers demanding that it’s their right to view their daughters bodies to see the future (even though they don’t know what they are reading really). Women and girls are subjected to regular governmental checks and there is no sense of privacy.

Celeste, on the cusp of change, with a brother that is breaking boundaries is in a precarious position. She is fated to have a career and a marriage someday but tragic events unfold for her that throws that into doubt. No spoilers here for what happens to her.

I did like the additional knowledge with Celeste’s mum becoming an humanitarian that we see an insight into broader more developed minds elsewhere when it comes to gender identity and sexual preferences. People born female but identify as male in other countries have options to remove their markings and likewise for male to female, the option to add their own markings, to define their own future.

Progress is slow and changes cannot be made dramatically. They work best, small and unnoticed in the immediate time, much like a glacier slowly carving up the earth.

It’s a really bold book that tackles some tough issues. I like the narrative that references the future throughout so we know, while reading it that whatever Celeste is going through, that she comes out at the end.

A really interesting, thought provoking and compelling story.

Body of Stars is an unusual book. It's set in a modern day world, albeit without (as far as I could tell) social media and the internet. Celeste is nearly 16 years old at the beginning of the story, and she's a normal American high school girl, except for the marks on her skin, on all girls' skin, that predicts (and dictates) her future.

Every girl in this world has these marks, and they are recorded by the government just as their school marks are recorded. These marks, and the act of surrendering them to the authorities, determines their futures - whether they will be accepted into university, which one, and one kind of job they will do. Their perceived chastity also determines this future.

Girls go through a changeling period after their marks have shifted into their 'adult markings', which makes them especially attractive, and vulnerable, to men. Girls are often abducted during this period in their lives, and if they are, their lives are ruined. They cannot go to university, and are relegated to menial jobs for the rest of their lives.

I can see how this book might be a bit too obvious in its messaging and theme for some people. It's not subtle in what it's saying. For me, I read this book at the right time. The news has been full of what happened to Sarah Everard, and the stories women have been sharing about feeling unsafe around men. So as far as the book's theme is concerned, I think that as we're still in a situation where women are blamed and held responsible for their now safety, perhaps a message that hits you over the head is what's needed right now.

I liked the main character of Celeste. She is the kind of girl who refuses to accept the way things are, though she seems like she's fully indoctrinated into the system at the beginning of the book, we soon see her more rebellious side. I didn't like her brother, Miles, very much though. He's a bit self-righteous and no different (in my opinion) to any of the other men in the book. To him, he has a right to see Celeste's markings, and a right to women's' bodies in general. It's hard to talk about without spoilers, but I didn't like him at all.

There were moments when the worldbuilding didn't make sense. But these were rare. I think in trying to explain everything, Walters sometimes overexplained. I think her idea of markings on women's' bodies, and the way men covet them, was a really good way of conveying her message. I understood it to be a metaphor for reproduction. Women hold in their bodies the possibility of life, and men don't. Men want to possess women because they want to own our possibilities and claim them for their own. That's just my interpretation.

One irritation I have since reading it is that the blurb misleads a little. Miles isn't the only one who can read Celeste's marks. She can read her own marks, as can the other girls. Miles isn't actually a proper interpreter, he just has an obsession with it. I do wish publishers would make their blurbs accurate.

Overall, I think Body of Stars is an enjoyable book that conveys an important message. It's a really interesting concept, and I enjoyed reading it.

tw: rape, abduction, anti lgbtq+ rhetoric & misogyny

A feminist dystopia set in a society where every girl is born with specific markings that can predict their future, and nothing is more valuable to them than the freckles on their skin. The story follows Celeste, a young girl entering her changeling period, the most dangerous period of her life, when she is most vulnerable to being taken.

This was difficult. Brutal. Uncomfortable. In a world where women are supposedly sacred, and yet still treated as commodities, it wasn't at all hard to connect the dots and see the obvious similarities to our own society. With everything going on, and everything that has ever gone on, stories like this are so important. This is very real. But it still left me with a surprising feeling of hope; a hope that our futures are not as bleak as they may seem. Not as fixed as the markings would suggest.

A story about the future, its certainty, and its uncertainty. A book left as open to interpretation as the very markings these characters possess. And a very powerful metaphor indeed.

An intriguing idea, with good writing, but just didn't work for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for review

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Body of Stars’ by Laura Maylene Walter in exchange for an honest review.

This was an extraordinary debut. As well as being well written, its themes of female agency and objectification are extremely relevant subjects. The dystopian society outlined within its pages reflects troubling aspects of modern society.

In the world of the novel every female from birth holds a map of her future on her skin, as each mole and freckle presents a clue to unlocking what will come to pass. Around the time of their sixteenth birthday, girls enter a brief period of transition known as the changeling phase. During this time their final marks will appear and their future decided.

However, the aura of the changelings are irresistible to men. As a result abduction is rife as certain men seek to possess these young women and their futures for themselves. Thus, they are advised to remain ever vigilant, dress modestly, and the rest. Those who return after being abducted are considered ruined and their future educational and career paths curtailed through no fault of their own. In addition, their marks are usually recorded during their abduction and become commodities shared among enthusiasts.

Celeste Morton is the novel’s narrator. She shares a close bond with her older brother, Miles, who despite his gender is a gifted interpreter of the marks. When Celeste enters her own changeling phase, she not only learns a devastating secret but is also tempted to flout those pesky safety guidelines.

No further details in order to avoid spoilers, but I will say that while ‘Body of Stars’ was difficult to read in places, it was not graphic. However, the level of control exerted upon women, not only by those who sought to abduct the changelings, but in general by this society was disturbing.

Interspersed between chapters were extracts from ‘Mapping the Future: An Interpretive Guide to Women and Girls’. These entries were chillingly clinical.

I did wonder a bit about the predestination aspect of the markings, though at one point Julia, Miles’ mentor, says to Celeste: “The future will come for you as it intends,” she said. “That is undeniable. With time, however, you’ll see that your actions might make a difference. Not a dramatic difference, but even the slightest change might be meaningful. We do have free will, after all.”

Overall, I felt that Laura Maylene Walter has written a thought-provoking work of literary dystopian fiction that was also infused with hope for change as well as celebrated the bonds of family, especially between siblings. She’s one to watch.

I was certainly caught up in the author’s vision and ended up reading ‘Body of Stars’ in a single sitting.

[Please note, due to the topics in this book and recent events, this review contains discussions of rape culture, sexual assault, and the abduction of women]

At times, Body of Stars isn’t an easy read, with many of the moments Celeste experiences feeling very close to what women regularly endure in our own, real world. There’s a lot here surrounding rape culture, with it being pretty much accepted that young women – girls – may get kidnapped and abused once they hit puberty, but it’s not the men’s fault, because everything in a woman’s life is fated.

When the book opens, we meet Celeste, a young girl excited and eager to become a woman. Like other girls in her world, she is born with markings across her body, which predict the course her life will take. The one thing that is never foretold is whether a young woman will be abducted during her changeling period. This period is essentially this world’s version of puberty, when girls cross the line into womanhood. For this time, they are irresistible to those around them, taking on an otherworldly beauty. But with this period comes dangers, dangers which many people are not interested in changing.

Yes, in many ways this feels like a modern, more Fantasy- and YA-focused version of The Handmaid’s Tale. But that’s not to lessen this book at all. It feels like a book that should be read now, because really, not a lot has actually changed since Margaret Atwood’s novel. Some may think the experiences these girls face are extreme, but there’s a subtlety to it, an underlying tension throughout, and the major difference between this world and Body of Stars is that the girls are most at risk when they are going through puberty, after which point they are safer, they are able to continue with their lives to some degree.

Of course, in the real word, as women we face threats and danger our whole lives.

I wasn’t going to go into certain aspects of this book so much, but I started writing this review last weekend, and it has sat here, this week, waiting to be continued, because for the last few nights I have barely done anything except play the Switch after work, needing to zone out. But as it turns out, this book has actually become more relevant now.

Women in this world are seen as ‘valuable’ and special and something to be protected. They have limited freedoms, especially when younger, and in a lot of ways other societies are held up to them as if to say “look how much worse you could have it.” Celeste’s brother, Marcus, wants to be an interpreter, someone who reads the markings on a woman’s body and reveals their future. But this is a profession only women can enter, and those in charge make every effort to protect this ‘sacred duty’.

Some of the ideas and such came through a little clunky. Of course, a book cannot deal with every topic under the sun, but the idea of LGBTQIA issues is sort of brushed under the rug. It is mentioned that those in charge enforce the idea that gender is as fixed as the marks on women’s skin, but in other countries this is handled differently. There is some discussion around other countries dealings with women and the trans community and such, but it does then beg the question of the relationship these more ‘progressive’ countries have with those who treat their citizens poorly. It feels like sometimes issues are raised to simply cover a hole, but done so in a slightly poorly handled way.

But, this book is a reflection of the world women live in every day. The kind of world where men see the horrible things we go through, and shift the blame for the violence committed by men. Abducted girls are told they were responsible for their own safety, they knew men couldn’t control themselves when they are changelings, why did they risk it? These girls have to change schools, and for those who can afford it, there is a sort of ‘private’ school they can attend with other girls who have been through similar.

But even taking away those elements, this is also a strong coming-of-age tale, as Celeste comes to terms with the changes in her life, as her relationships with her brothers and friends shift, and she becomes more aware of her own body and self.

As we yet again have the conversations around women’s safety, rape culture, harassment and assault, this book is actually arriving at a very fitting moment. Yes, women can be strong, but we shouldn’t have to be. But at least in Body of Stars, even if things aren’t fixed by the end, they are moving in the right direction. I just hope the real world follows.

Body of Stars is a bold and dazzling exploration of fate and female agency in a world very similar to our own--except that the markings on women's bodies reveal the future. Debut novelist Laura Maylene Walter has penned a captivating, unique and timely piece on the issues of girlhood, womanhood and toxic masculinity. Celeste Morton has eagerly awaited her passage to adulthood. Like every girl, she was born with a set of childhood markings--a constellation of freckles, moles, and birthmarks on her body that foretell her future and that of those around her--and with puberty will come a new set of predictions that will solidify her fate. The possibilities are tantalizing enough to outweigh the worry that the future she dreams of won't be the one she's fated to have and the fear of her "changeling period" — a week-long phase when women are nearly irresistible to men and the risk of ”being taken”, which includes abduction and rape, is rife. If as a young woman you are subjected to an attack of this nature it is deemed your fault for being too alluring and the act doesn't constitute a criminal offence, so the perpetrator goes unpunished. Celeste's beloved brother, Miles, is equally anticipating her transition to adulthood. As a skilled interpreter of the future, Miles aspires to be a professional interpreter of girls’ markings, a field that typically excludes men, and considers Celeste his practice ground--and the only clue to what his own future will bring. Once Celeste transitions into adulthood she will be condemned to nothingness and treated as second class citizens - no more education and subjugation are what lie ahead.

But when Celeste changes, she learns a devastating secret about Miles's fate that contradict Miles’s prophecies: a secret that could destroy her family, a secret she will do anything to keep. She is foretold Miles will die aged only 21. Then Celeste is kidnapped by two men and is forced to enrol at a rehabilitation centre after waking up after the ambush in hospital her battered body covered in bruises. Yet Celeste isn't the only one keeping secrets, and when the lies of brother and sister collide, it leads to a tragedy that will irrevocably change Celeste's fate, set her on a path to fight against the inherent misogyny of fortune-telling and urge her to create a future that is truly her own. A cross between literary fiction and dark fantasy, Walter has woven an intricate and richly-imagined world where misogyny and gendered oppression reign supreme. It is the tender coming-of-age of Celeste who quickly realises the unfairness and inequality between the sexes and hopes to mount a fightback encouraging her sisters in arms to join her in kickstarting an important revolution in which she seeks freedom and the right to self-determination. Through a deeply dystopian lens, we are shown a complex, multidimensional world not so different from our own and asked through quiet reflection to see its faults. It's powerful, heartbreaking and does not shy away from addressing unsettling topics at the heart of egalitarian debate. The prose is lyrical and perhaps on the verge of becoming purple but manages to captivate throughout. This is a bewitching, thought-provoking allegory of our world and the aspects we should seek to change about it. Highly recommended.

I found the concept fascinating and the world building interesting. Unfortunately it's also quite slow and it didn't keep my attention falling flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The publication of this powerful allegory about women’s control over their bodies and their destiny could not be more timely, coming in the week of the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard in London and the staggering police mishandling of the peaceful vigils held in its wake.

Celeste is a fifteen-year-old living with her parents and brother Miles in a parallel world where girls are born with a unique pattern of markings all over their body which foretell their future. Interpretation is an art, performed to a high level by a few skilled women but to a basic degree by almost everyone. Clusters of moles, freckles and birthmarks on different parts of the body foretell such things as mental acuity, fitness, health and disease, personality, academic achievement, type of career, finances, love and family, transition and change, and compassion. Girls and women can be read like a map, and they accept from an early age that their bodies are accessible to others for this purpose, guided by the ubiquitous tome entitled Mapping the Future: An Interpretive Guide to Women and Girls. At the age of around sixteen, childhood patterns change overnight to permanent adult markings, and for the few weeks or months of their transition to adulthood girls give off an irresistible allure, a vitality and energy, which all around them are susceptible to, but especially men who feel it as a powerful sexual attraction. It is a rite of passage for fathers to examine their newly changed daughters' adult markings, it is a Saturday night entertainment to visit the charlatan interpreters downtown for a laugh, and a woman's body is very much not her own. Modest women, who cover up their markings, are viewed as an old-fashioned oddity.

This alternative universe presents itself as one where women are empowered by knowing their fate, and men feel unlucky not to have the same certainties. Celeste and Miles, two years older, are a close-knit unit and at first their lives seem no different to teenagers in our world - they see their friends, go to school, take evening classes, play games. But as Celeste approaches her time of change, a darker world comes to the fore. One where girls in their changeling period are hugely vulnerable as their new-found vitality and the allure they give off put them at great risk of abduction - 'when it came to changelings, men could not control themselves'. Nobody really knows, or at least is willing to say, what happens, and returned girls have no memory of events. But in the larger, more progressive towns getting a birth control shot after changing is a priority; abduction is assumed to happen mainly to girls who are bold or reckless or from damaged families; and returned girls are ostracised, regarded as ruined by their community, shamed and humiliated, unable to get into university, often having to leave their families and start over somewhere far away, always with their status as abductees on file to blight their futures. And in the weeks and months to come, their markings, their unique identity, often turn up as forbidden exotica or erotica in the form of tarot cards, posters and other images for circulation, in the ultimate invasion of privacy - their unique identity stolen and sold. The only way to recover any memory of their abductors or their ordeal is by using a drug, but that renders their testimony inadmissible. So the perpetrators are never sought or prosecuted, and the blame, responsibility and consequences are carried solely by the girls, for a lifetime. As Celeste puts it towards the end of the novel, 'we were made vulnerable through no fault of our own and held liable for the crimes committed against us. We were born already broken.'

This is a story about challenging the norms and assumptions of a society, of learning that change can only come about slowly, discreetly, one small cultural challenge at a time. Miles, most unusually for a male, is not only interested in interpretation but is skilled at it. However he can only learn and practice clandestinely, as the Office for The Future will not accept that a male interpreter can be a thing, and as a male he must work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously. His teacher Julia tells Celeste that although her future will undeniably and inevitably come for her, her own actions can make a difference. Within a world of absolute prediction, there is still free will, 'like wind moving through the leaves of a tree'. This means nothing to Celeste at the time - but when it turns out that Miles has found a pattern of freckles that can predict which girls will be taken, dare we hope that the scene is set for a change from an attitude of blaming and labelling abducted girls, to addressing the root problem of the men who perpetrate the atrocities?

This book is a compelling read, well written, and although dystopian ends on a strong note of hope for change. I thought the narrative became a bit rushed towards the end, with the Mountain School section in particular feeling far too short for the importance it has in shaping Celeste's future. Overall however, with the #MeToo debates of the past few years and this week's abduction and murder in the UK along with the unbelievably insensitive response to vigils up and down the country, this novel is a sobering and timely reflection on how women are made complicit in their victimhood, how their agency over their bodies is constantly threatened, and how this must be challenged over and over and over, till it is no longer true.

This is a starkly relevant novel right now, especially with all the things that have been in the news here in the UK over the last few days. It's a story of female fear and female empowerment: in a world where every woman has her and her family's futures marked on them in freckles, one girl endeavours to hide a devastating secret from her family, and perhaps to one day change the world.

A lot of things in this novel are hard to read. The idea that a young woman's abduction is her own fault, that she should have been more careful, she should know that while she is in her "changeling period" she is irresistible to men and they can't help themselves but to touch her, to want her. The concept of fathers and brothers being allowed to look at their teenage daughter's or sister's naked bodies because they are entitled to know her or their own futures.

I really enjoyed the novel as a whole. Celeste matures a lot throughout the novel and the reader sees her grow into a young woman who just wants to do some good in the world and prevent others from going through things she has. My only issue really is the time jumps are a bit jarring- perhaps just because the chapter breaks in my e-copy weren't formatted properly- but also because from one chapter to the next we are simply a year ahead and you don't realise it straight away. Also the ending felt a little sudden. I'd have liked to have seen a little more, actually see the results of the work Celeste and the others have been doing.

This novel obviously won't be for everyone. As I've said, parts of it are hard to read, but I think it's worth reading. I've already started recommending it.

Body of stars is not really my usual sort of read - I thought from the description it would have a bit more of a fantasy element but, if I am honest, it is rawfully true-life. This book describes the lived experience of many women, granted it is wrapped in a fantasy-like element that is the constellations on women's skin predicts the future, but as a woman I can say we don't need such constellations of patterns on our skin to be able to predict that at some point in every woman's very real lives they will experience similar to what the characters of this book experience. For this reason, there were many moments this book made me feel uncomfortable and I even considered not continuing with it as I worried about where it was heading but I am glad I stuck it out until the end to be reminded of our strength and the power we each hold when we tell the world and all those in it who refuse to acknowledge us and our experiences' no more'. This book is coming out at a particularly poignant time with the recent events in the news in the UK and I hope it becomes popular amongst us, women and men alike, for all to have a safe way of exploring the topics it covers and maybe open some minds and hearts to the plight of women and how the smallest of acts have the power to make a big change over time.