I received a complimentary audio ARC from Recorded Books through NetGalley for review. Star Eater by Kerstin Hall and narrated by Samara Naeymi is a thrilling and highly original dark fantasy novel. The book centers around the story of protagonist Elfreda Raughn, an acolyte in a cat-riding religious sisterhood of magic users. Yet, for generations this magic has come at a cost. I hesitate to provide more details for fear of getting in spoilers, especially because one of the elements I appreciated about Star Eater the most was Hall’s world building. As I began the book I had so many questions about the world, the magic, the characters, etc. Slowly over the course of the chapters more and more details began to emerge and solidify, allowing the journey of listening to Star Eater to be a process of discovery. I delighted in coming to deeper understanding, and was grateful that Hall didn’t choose to simply dump a load of exposition and information on the listener/reader at the beginning. For the first 2/3rds or so of the book I thought the pacing and plotting was exceptional. After that point the plot seemed to begin accelerating toward a conclusion I had mixed feelings about. At times the movement from one event to another, and even the introduction of a character, felt a bit too abrupt. The ending also felt too sudden, and perhaps also too easy.

With that said, Samara Naeymi is to be commended for excellent narration. As an actor myself I know how challenging it can be to bring a text to life via a vocal performance. Acting teacher Michael Chekhov identified four characteristics he called the “Four Brothers of Art” as: beauty, ease, entirety, and form. Naeymi’s performance possessed all four, although I felt it was particularly characterized by beauty and ease (seeming effortless and natural). My only critique is that sometimes a few characters, especially male characters, tended to sound a bit alike one another. Yet, her narration and performance of Elfreda was superb.

Overall, despite the last third of the book not seeming as strong as the first 2/3rds, I still really enjoyed the novel. It’s incredibly original and really hooked my interest. I don’t know if Hall is planning a sequel, but if so I would love to read it! 4.5 stars.

Thanks to tor books for the audio review copy!

The narrator did a fantastic job and this was definitely one of the more interesting and innovative fantasy books I've read in a while. This sisterhood runs the world and they eat their mother's flesh to gain magic. If they have sex with men the men basically become zombies. Now add politics, betrayal, and etc and you have this book.

Okay, so the good things: the narrator was pretty good! I liked how diverse the cast of characters was and how so many supporting characters were part of the LGBTQ+ community. That's... probably it. I didn't care for much else. The base idea could have been good, but it wasn't done in a way that made me feel anything but bored. I don't know if that's the audiobook's fault or mine, but I could not for the life of me separate the sisters. It was almost impossible to figure out who we were talking about because the large majority of them had the same personality and hung around each other. I wasn't a fan of the romance (if it can even be called a romance) at all. It was just a whole confusing mess and I couldn't remember who died and who was on the MC's side. I think the only character I kinda liked was Millie, and I don't even know what the point of her being there was. The author hinted at a possible relationship between her and Elfreda, but then Elfreda got with her brother...? The relationships in this book were super underwhelming and I still feel like I don't really know many of the characters. Also, I don't understand why this book is marketed as Adult, because it clearly is YA.

I did enjoy this book. It is very well written and got me hooked from the very beginning.

If this will be a series I will be reading the next book right away.

I do recommend this book.

The detailed descriptions of this world will bring the reader full into its reality, your belief suspended. An amazingly well developed world, with astounding magic. A world of sacrifice and darkness. I found the characters written to perfection, The story a combination of horror and mystery. Samara Naeymi has a great way of bringing the awe and astonishment of the story to the reader. She was able to bring the reader deeper into the story.

short version:
Star Eater is an adult premise with a YA output even though the main character is meant to be a woman in her 20s. The main strengths lying in the creativity of the story and the description of the characters inner turmoil. The main pitfalls are the long winded descriptions that ultimately do not provide any substantial detail.

longer description:
The only way to describe the premise is newfangled. The story deals with a bureaucratic women run cult, zombie's created from rituals, cannibalistic magic rituals and giant cats ridden as one would usually ride a horse. The creativity of the premise is what made the story a worthwhile and a read I would definitely recommend.

That being said, the beginning of the story is slow with a large amount of name dropping that becomes irrelevant a few chapters. In my opinion the book needed to focus less on the descriptions of the characters emotions and feelings and more on the worldbuilding as the magic system and construction of the world itself remained muddy throughout the entire story. I also wished that the love interest had more depth in it. It hinted at a potential love interest from the beginning chapters however it is rarely ever explored.

Thank you Netgalley for providing the audiobook.
Review published on Goodreads:

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an AudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

Normally when I begin these reviews I give a basic rundown of the plot and pose questions to entice readers to give whatever story I am reviewing a go. To be honest, I am so confused by this title that I could attempt to give a rundown, but I would get it wrong and do it injustice. So we'll just dive right into this breakdown.

Oy very....this one was not for me. Too many characters to keep straight, little to no world building, a magic system I spent 15+ hours with and still don't know anything about, and a cannibalistic sisterhood which I have no clue how it enables a transfer of magic. There were so many plot lines it was impossible to keep anything straight and overall I leave this one feeling like I have no idea what I just listened to. I am very thankful that this was an audiobook, or else I never would have even gotten through it. There were some positive moments, let's dissect those, shall we?

The idea of haunts (men the sisterhood have sex with to continue their bloodlines basically decay into Zombies) was wicked cool. I wish this would have been a story about the sisterhood and the first haunts. Seeing how the sisterhood came to terms with damning these men to continue their magics would have been an amazing one to read. Also, the cannibalism for passing magic seemed awesome, but I wish it was better explained. Lots of new vocabulary is thrown at the reader here with little to no explanation, then brought up continuously like we should be experts.

Overall, this story could have been better if broken into multiple books across multiple timelines/POV. This is definitely more geared towards adults, I would recommend for 17+ readers. I'm bummed this one didn't turn out a higher rating as it was one of my most anticipated reads

It might be me but I found the story to be very slow at the beginning and the narrator to be a bit of a drag. I made it through about half of it and stopped listening. I'm sorry that I didn't finish as I'm sure it got better but it wasn't the right cup of tea for my liking.

The island continent of Aytrium is dependent on the Lace magic of the authoritarian Sisterhood. This magic comes with many sacrifices. The way the sisterhood maintains their Lace is horrific and grotesque. Sisterhood Acolyte Elfreda becomes involved in the politics of the Sisterhood when she becomes a spy for one of the political factions.

While I enjoyed the political aspects of the book, I don't think the author went far enough with the more gruesome aspects of the Sisterhood. Most of these duties are described instead of shown, and mostly only Elfreda's perspective is offered. Elfreda herself is honestly kind of boring. The publishers description makes it seem like El is chomping at the bit to take down the Sisterhood, but she mostly does as she's told. She doesn't seem to have much of an opinion about the Sisterhood one way or another, although she hates her terrible duties.

I did enjoy the concept, I just wanted more!

DNF @ 30% ish

I am devastated to DNF this! Star Eater was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, but I've started this three times and I just can't get into it. It's possible that it's the narrator, so I do intend to read it physically when I can find a copy at the library, but for now I am unfortunately giving up as I just can't get interested in the characters and plot.

Going off the synopsis I was expecting more of a Handmaid's Tale type world but that wasn't at all what I got. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just I always find it disorienting when the synopsis promises one thing and I don't get it once I actually get to reading.
Overall the book was fine. I wish there was more world-building instead of having a bunch of terms bumped on us with no explanation as to what they mean. I know a lot of people hate info-dumps but I much prefer them to having to guess the meaning of something through vague context alone.
I wish they went more into the mythos of the Star Eater and what the religion really entails.

This new adult book was definitely a different kind of read. Women rule and eat they mother's flesh for power. (Lace)
Following a new comer after her mother died she's learning that there is a lot at risk in this and avoids becoming pregnant at all costs

*read on netgalley

I think that this book had an awesome idea, but it had way too much information at the beginning of the book. The first 13% was a bit hard to hear. Too many names and ideas!
The idea of cannibal nuns grew into me, but at the same time there is not much about this. We are told that women need to eat their mother's flesh and that if they have sex with men, they turn kinda into zombies, but that was not really explored. I think that some info could have been cut or appear later on the book and I think that it is missing some depth in the plot and character development.

Maybe I had way too high expectations, I don't know.
I must admit that the narrator was awesome and her voice is quite soothing. Also, not gonna lie, but the cover caught my eye.

This book was just not what I expected. I was excited for a dark gothic adult fantasy with lots of gore and what I got was a messy ya story. I'm sure this book holds value for someone else, but I'm enjoying zero seconds of this audiobook. Worst part is the lack of worldbuilding. Religion, politics, environment (20% percent in and I had no idea we're on a floating city?) and the magic system leave me with way too many questions.

'Star Eater' reads like ya novel with some dark ideas, which in generel is nothing bad, but therefore fails to dive into deeper explorations of gender, corruption or cannibalism.

Star Eater has a brilliant premise and the blurb lead me to believe I was in store for a dark standalone fantasy and I could not wait to get my teeth in to it. Unfortunately what unfolded was a far too complex story (with some serious trigger warnings) that wasn't given enough time to be explained fully. The pacing felt quite uneven throughout the book and the ending seemed to wrap up very quickly - so much so that I thought I was mistaken about it being a standalone until the last 50 pages.

This world was such a great environment and I really loved the world that Hall creates and the elements and pieces and 'lore' behind it all. You're immediately thrown into this world of Atrium and have to uncover things as you go along, which some people may enjoy but some people may not.
I really enjoyed the concepts at play here and the sinister world these characters live in. The 'Renewer' and the 'magic system' of the lace was really great and i loved it. The Sun Eater and the use of the phrase oh, eater' in place of 'oh my god'. and the way that the Haunts are created was really great.

The issue for me with this book was the pacing here and there and I really found myself wanting more of the lore and history of the sister and the lace and the haunts. I was really engaged throughout and lost steam a little towards the end.

I was lucky to receive an audio galley of "Star Eater" thanks to RB Media and NetGalley. Regardless, while I received the audio galley, I would like to emphasize that this is my honest opinion regarding the audiobook.

First of all, I enjoyed the voice of Samara Naeymi and her overall narration style. She was able to bring the story to life. Additionally, she conveyed the characters' emotions efficiently and made it easy to differentiate between them.

Sadly, this audiobook was not what I expected. The premise of the story sparked my interest right away due to the unique magic system. I am a fantasy lover but never heard of magic that works based on cannibalism. Based on the blurb, one was in on a dark fantasy story.

The story focuses on the Sisterhood of Aytrium, an organization of nuns that use cannibalism to preserve their magic. However, to keep the Sisterhood alive, the members have to have non-consensual ceremonial s*x with felons in hopes that the participating Sisterhood member gets pregnant.

I must say that the idea of ceremonial r*pe disturbed me to the point that it was hard to continue onwards. I find it immeasurably troublesome to incorporate this issue in such a manner and to use the excuse that the male victims are felons themselves. I believe that the statement is sending the wrong message. Furthermore, a warning should be implemented that states that r*pe is a significant part of the story, triggering readers.

In addition, the plot itself is complex and too complex to be explored in a standalone. The story touched upon some topics in the 15 hours of listening time and not taken up again or fully omitted. The missing explanations in the plot and setting affected the listening experience and the story itself.

In conclusion, I am interested in what Kerstin Hall will write in the future, as her unique fantasy concept is excellent. However, the execution is not as good as it should have been… Therefore, I sadly solely rate this audiobook 1,5 stars.

** Disclaimer **
This review is based on my personal opinion and written with no intention to offend anyone!

I was super excited for Star Eater by Kerstin Hall, published last week by Tordotcom. So obviously I was thrilled to be able to review an audio ARC, but sadly I didn't love this as much as I expected to. Star Eater is a story about cannibal nuns - a religious sect who gain magical powers through eating the flesh of their martyred mothers. The book centres on Elfreda Rahn, who is drawn into an intricate political web, where she plays a role she never expected. I never expected I'd say this but this political fantasy about cannibal nuns needed more politics, religion and cannibalism. It felt like the story was trying to go in too many directions at once, doing too many things, and lost sight of the concept. There is certainly a lot of interesting stuff in here, and I wouldn't call it bad, but it's also nothing that is outstanding. In some ways, this felt unfinished - I think it might have worked better as a novella, shorter, but focused on only one aspect and exploring that in detail, maybe even as a series of novellas. The way it is now, it lost a lot of its emotional impact through bombarding the reader with a ton of different strands and relationships that aren't properly explored.

DNF @ 13%

I’m super bored. I imagine it gets better eventually but I keep choosing other audiobooks over this one and don’t see myself going back to it anytime soon. I don’t see anything wrong with the book or the narrator, but I’m not intrigued by the plot and don’t find the magic system nor the characters to be particularly interesting.

Thank you to RB Media for providing an early audio galley!

This book is not for the faint of heart. There are some fairly grisly moments in this book. If blood, zombies, or cannibalism bother you in any way, this is not going to be the book for you. I believe this is an adult book, but the characters and tropes feel very YA. You've got an interesting magic system, a chosen one, a rebellion, political intrigue, and a awkward romance.

I'm torn on how to rate this. There were parts that I enjoyed and parts that I felt were under developed. I was provided an audio copy via Netgalley and it is over 15 hours long. That is fairly long for an audiobook, and I felt that it dragged on in places without moving the plot along or answering my questions about what was happening and why. I had to keep going back and re-listening to parts because I felt like I missed something, only to discover that I had not missed anything. I did enjoy the narrator, and felt she did a good job distinguishing between the various characters. There are lots of characters to keep track of, and having a unique voice for each of them made it easier to distinguish them all and keep them straight while listening.

This book had so much potential, but I was confused for most of the book. The premise of the magic system is really unique and interesting, but it isn't explained until about 80% into the book. Even at that point the source of the magic isn't clearly explained, but you at least get some explanation as to how the sisterhood obtained their magic and how the island ended up in the air. There was a general lack of explanation for many of the functional concepts of this world and the lack of world building really is a let down for me. I think my main issue with this is that there were too many plot lines and none of them were developed enough for my liking. It wasn't until the 80% mark of the book that we finally get some answers to things that should have been brought up in the first few chapters.

The book is based on a matriarchal society where a sisterhood of magical women basically run everything on an island floating in the air. As I mentioned we don't come to know why the island was raised from the lands below until almost the end of the book. The sister all have magic called lace, but to maintain their power they must consume the blood and flesh of their mothers in a ritualistic fashion. Sisters are martyred at a certain point to fuel the magic of the rest of the sisterhood. To continue the bloodlines, sisters are forced to have sex with criminals because the act of sex turns men into bloodthirsty haunts aka zombies. Again we don't find out why until the very end of the book.

As stated earlier, I was provided an audio ARC via Netgalley and all opinions stated are my own.