Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. I think the premise had so much potential, but it kind of felt like I was being hit in the head with information dumps over and over without enough context or a clear indication of where this was going. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right headspace at the time, and maybe I'll revisit this one in the future when I am, but I lost interest quickly, making it difficult to want to pick back up. It's a bummer because this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022, but you can't win them all.

Big thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC!

The thing about a good retelling – especially of a tragedy – is that the familiarity of the plot is both comforting and utterly horrifying, delightful and heartbreaking, capable of inspiring joy and dread in equal measure. Emery Robin’s THE STARS UNDYING is an *excellent* retelling, and a stunning tragedy.

“Cleopatra but queer and in space” is what sold me on this book, but quite frankly, the description doesn’t do it justice; this is a gorgeous, sweeping, heartwrenchingly intimate space opera, and easily one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. It tosses you into the story with a bang, and from there only gets better. I won’t recap the plot - if you want to know its outline, the Cleopatra Wikipedia article should do just fine - but it was well-paced and tightly constructed, and once it got rolling, I had a very hard time putting the book down.

The characters and atmosphere were where this book really shone. The dual POV worked perfectly for the story; Gracia and Ceirran (and Ana, my beloved!!) were deeply compelling, wonderfully complex narrators. And the world in which they lived was so brilliant and creative and beautifully painted; an absolutely stellar (no pun intended) combination of sci-fi delights with ancient history.

An extraordinarily easy five stars from me, and I will be avidly keeping an eye on whatever Emery Robin does next — Orbit’s blog post about this book’s acquisition does mention a sequel (!!), so best believe I will be on top of that as soon as it exists. Thanks so much to Orbit and Netgalley for an advance copy!

Emery Robin’s The Stars Undying Immortalizes Cleopatra in an Unforgettable Retelling

Early on in The Stars Undying, Emery Robin’s Cleopatra-in-space-opera debut, the sci-fi analog for the infamous Egyptian queen has revealed herself to the Julius Caesar of interstellar expansion in a move that will be familiar to all of us who eagerly devoured ancient Egyptian history in sixth grade: Szayeti princess Altagracia Caviro Patramata has unrolled herself from a carpet to seduce Ceiao’s beloved commander Matheus Ceirran into joining her side to wrest back control of her planet Szayet (and her birthright, the Pearl of the Dead) from her own sister. Right before the kiss that will alter her kingdom and his empire, as he marvels at her crude yet effective gambit, Gracia quips, “Oh, please, Commander, tell me how you would have done it differently.”

There are a myriad of different approaches to a Cleopatra retelling, but Robin’s meticulous narrative choices dazzle. Though Robin follows the blueprints of the Cleopatra/Julius Caesar/Mark Antony love triangle, the space setting and the incorporation of technology (including some that approaches magic) elevate this trio of rulers and soldiers beyond their historical archetypes. This is a compelling (if slightly overlong) epic of couplings versus coups, worship versus heresy, memory versus immortality.

The superb worldbuilding hinges on the tiniest detail: a pearl, from the legendary story of Cleopatra demonstrating the magnitude of her wealth by dissolving a priceless earring in a goblet of wine. Quicksilver pearl is the literal building blocks of Szayet, as it can be sculpted into temples, conduct electricity… and house a complex supercomputer artificial intelligence. The Pearl of the Dead is Szayet’s greatest treasure and also its most controversial for nonbelievers, as it contains the entire lifetime and memories of its greatest ruler, the ancient conquerer Alekso Undying. Every leader of the Caviro line has had Alekso murmuring counsel into their ear; but whereas Gracia thinks herself—with her aptitude for scholarly texts and soft power—the ideal ruler, her sister Arcelia, a budding military strategist, considers herself the better vessel for Alekso.

Gracia’s conviction is so compelling as for there to be no question that Alekso exists in some form the same as she lives and breathes, yet it balances nicely with her discomfort at outsiders’ skepticism regarding Szayeti “cult paraphernalia.” The reader can hold both perspectives, which is crucial as the story hinges upon the belief that an artificial intelligence can approximate immortality for a larger-than-life man.

While Ceiao looms large in the background, this is an epic of civil wars. Robin smartly grounds every conflict in the personal: Gracia versus Celia, a constant poignant throughline of sibling misapprehension even once Gracia has taken back the throne; Gracia versus Alekso, who sees less of himself in her than in her sister; Gracia versus Ceirran, though mostly as foreplay for their dynamic; Gracia versus Ceirran’s lieutenant Anita Decretan, whose regard ranges from irreverent to the rarely reverent.

When Gracia and Ceirran meet, each has become unmoored by a personal schism: she facing Arcelia at the barrel of a gun in their childhood bedchamber, he having tracked down his former mentor and current rival Quinha Semfontan to the skies over Szayet. It’s no wonder that each, having lost a beloved confidante-turned-reluctant rival, attaches themselves to one another so quickly. Yet they never entirely engage in the self-denial that this is anything but another partnership, if a more physically intimate one.

The knife-sharp edge of their triangle is Anita, Ceirran’s righthand woman (or, as Casey McQuiston quite accurately describes her, Mark Antony as “the hottest butch girl in space”). While this compellingly hedonistic soldier commands every figurative room she’s in, Ana’s significance to the main plot is difficult to parse, as she and Ceirran seem to play their own power game in which he pushes her away and she tests those boundaries. So by the time she engages with Gracia regularly on her own turf in Ceiao it’s difficult to truly know how to take Ana’s very intriguing moves.

Despite the anticipation of Gracia delivering herself to the greedy empire that would dissolve her like the pearl, the Ceiao portion of the novel is uneven. Much of the plot-moving conflict tends toward lofty philosophical debates, especially among Ceirran and his fellow members of the Merchants’ Council. In these sections, it’s unclear whose allegiance is to which people (and/or causes), even as a reader without all of the scholarly context grasps to remember who is supposed to be which Roman countryman, and when the Ides of March might occur in space. Yet when those differences in opinion manifest into petty slights and minor scandals, the action picks up again. No doubt about it, Robin’s talent is in the nitty-gritty details.

The final act of the book elevates Anita in a way that would feel too abrupt for a standalone, but this is the first in Robin’s Empire Without End series. With that in mind, Robin’s withholding of Ana earlier on makes much more sense. Here’s hoping that the next book will adopt her perspective opposite Gracia’s, because so much about Ana is teased (pink feather coat!) that I’m dying to know more about.

thank you orbit and netgalley for the ARC. first of all i want to apologize for not finishing this book before it was published like i was supposed to... in my defense, Life Happened, and also this is just such an amazing story that i had to savor it. really.
to start, yes i am a Classics Major. i am very, very familiar with the historical basis behind this story, and just from my own nerdy perspective it was a lot of fun to see which events mapped to the book. the stars undying is billed as space opera julius caesar and cleopatra, which instantly sold me, but seeing just how intricate this world is, how people like the gauls and cicero and pompey were included as well but obviously in a very different way, was delightful.
this is definitely pretty slow-paced, at least until the final quarter. every sentence is absolutely gorgeous, and i was just so enthralled overall, but for the first 3/4 ... it wasn't very exciting. which i enjoyed a lot! but your mileage may vary. the more critical reviews i've seen are not without merit. though i think the "character-driven vs plot-driven" dichotomy is reductionist, this is very much a "character-driven" book.
robin's prose itself, as i mentioned, is beautiful. it is lyrical and lush, and has a distinct 'latin' sense, as in some of the sentence syntax reminds me of latin. and i am always a fan of a well-done unreliable narrator, so let it be known i got the BIGGEST smile on my face when ~certain things~ started happening.
i'm absolutely going to be picking up the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read the eARC.

I loved the premise of a Cleopatra/Julius Caesar/Mark Antony retelling. The characters were believable and interesting, and the worldbuilding was out of this world (bah dum bump). But this book wasn't for me.

The writing style was SO COMPLEX. Dual POV in the first person with frequent flashbacks, long narratives to explain huge sections of action/backstory/worldbuilding, and a narrator who lies to her audience. It was all over the place.

Add that to lots of background, political intrigue, romantic intrigue, etc., and I honestly couldn't get into the story. I felt stuck on the periphery, unable to be drawn in by the characters. I found myself utterly uncaring during pivotal events that would have had me clutching pages and ruining bindings in other books. As a character-driven reader, I was unsatisfied and unconvinced by the various relationship webs.

This is not a standalone, but I will not pick up the sequel. However, this may be a case of 'it's not the book, it's me.' It's well-written, but I didn't enjoy it.

I ended up interested in this because it was framed as a retelling of Antony and Cleopatra, and specifically mentioned Ann Leckie and A Memory Called Empire in the copy. Turns out that this is to some degree more literal than I was expecting, as the Alexander the Great analogue is an AI copy of his memory and personality that is passed down from generation to generation. While the framing feels like it leans more into the Roman side of things with how the names are shaped/chosen and the aesthetics of the planets, the general framing of this story is such that if you already know the story of Antony and Cleopatra, with a few small exceptions, you know how the story turns out here. This is apparently the first book in a series, and Robin says that the next book leans into more of the queer sideplots that happened this book, and I'm at least interested to see where Robin takes the series next.

Book review y'all! Thank you @netgalley and @orbitbooks_us for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Where do I begin? Let's start with the pros, or should I say prose? It's beautifully written. You can imagine the scenes, and the luscious word choices really do make this a tale about royalty and the struggle for power. The details on this book are delightful, there's a scene where you can literally feel your feet in the sand and the water from the beach. Also, there is butch rep 🙏 thank you gods.

However, while the details were luxurious, the overall picture seemed to be lacking in direction. It was often confusing with all the multiple names, and I was also expecting #sapphic content and more queer content from the book based on how it was marketed. I was heavily disappointed in this read, as I felt misled based on the selling points that were used to describe it not being accurate.

This book is also really heavy on the politicking, which I have a hard time following a lot in general (no fault of the authors - if you like heavy political intrigue and the story of Cleopatra, this book is for you).

⭐⭐⭐/5

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What an absolutely beautiful book. I admit it intimidated me, at first. But once I got stuck in, yeah, I couldn't put it down. Gender-bent Anthony and Cleopatra? Space opera? Scheming and politics and exquisite world building? Yes. I'll be steering readers toward this book in the store! Thanks to Orbit for giving me access to the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I seldom read books that are as beautifully polished in their prose as The Stars Undying is. Every word on every page has a purpose to serve, whether that is immediately known or not. This novel is a beautiful and clever reimagining of the story of Cleopatra, Marcus Antonius, and Julius Caesar, and I was captivated from the very first page.

Unfortunately, that captivation didn't last like I'd hoped it would.

The first third of this book enthralled me. I loved the shifting viewpoints between Ceirran and Altagracia (Gracia for short), and felt like I really got to know who these characters were even when neither was the most reliable or even likeable narrator at times. The non-linear narrative explaining Gracia's life in the lead up to the war with her sister was beautifully interspaced with her present attempts to resecure her throne. Ceirran's perspective on events Gracia was not present for helped build out the world and give an outsider's perspective to Szayet and the worship of Alekso, the undying god whose soul resides in the Pearl worn by the Oracle.

However, this conflict resolves so quickly that I was left reeling. The next third of the book was one of the toughest reads I've experienced in a while as the pace ground to a glacial halt. I have been a fan of novels in the past with a focus on politics, but the tone shift here was so abrupt that I felt like I was reading a different novel altogether. There are moments, at times, where a chapter will end on a point of high tension, but the next will shift to a different perspective, and by the time we return to the original POV character that event is never referenced again.

Things pick up again in the final third, but at a galloping pace I desperately wished to slow down. Moments I'd wanted to linger on were rushed past in the span of a paragraph, and time skips explaining decisions and machinations behind the scenes were common.

I know this book is the first in a series, but I'd wished The Stars Undying itself was two books instead of one. I wished it had spent more time developing Ceirran and Gracia's relationship in its beginning stages so that later moments felt like they paid off. Ana was a fascinating character that always seemed to be on the periphery of events, and never really developed beyond her initial presentation.

In the end, I don't know how to feel about this book. I love that it doesn't always hold your hand or explain things clearly, rather trusting the reader to infer the meaning of events, but sometimes it's a little too obtuse in this approach. While I loved Ceirran's perspective in the beginning, I wished chapters didn't shift as often between him and Gracia, as she felt far more central to the inciting of important events whereas he felt like he was always reacting to everything she'd set into motion. I desperately wished for a Glossary to help keep track of the myriad of proper nouns that are thrown at the reader so quickly and so often. It absolutely contributed to a gorgeous world-building, and a setting that felt alive and concrete, but left me treading water more often than not.

If you love sci-fi that is politically focused, features shifting viewpoints and unreliable narrators, and aren't afraid to dive into a challenging read, you'll love The Stars Undying. I'm eager to see where this series goes, but wish I'd had a bit more of a gentle introduction.

3.5/5 stars

I liked the idea of this story, but I felt like there was either not enough information at points or too much unnecessary information at other points. There was a lot of boring dialogue between characters and it was very slow moving at times.

Thank you to the author and publisher for an advanced copy of The Stars Undying!

This book was truly a sweeping well written book and world. If Cleopatra/Antony/Julius Caesar retelling but in space, it’s a bit of a far out concept and whilst it takes awhile to get engaged into the story, it’s a great read I enjoyed! The characters still kept to their respectiful historical figures.

I liked the idea a retelling of Cleopatra and Julius Cesar set up in a futuristic world but I feel that while other might love the execution I just think this one is not for me.

I want to thank NetGalley for an arc in exchange of my honest review.

This book has a lot of promise. The opening few sentences really grasped my attention, and the worldbuilding had so much potential throughout. I loved the idea of this magnificent space opera that stretches across a broad political landscape.

I enjoyed certain elements of this one, but at times, I have to admit I was really confused. I do expect to do some work with sci fi worldbuilding, but the way this was written, in combination with some of the narrative choices regarding structure and time jumps had me a little confused.

This one is something special! Fans of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar get to see their lives play out in grand scale in this stunning sci-fi romp! Even if you’re not familiar with the historical facts & supposition, this story makes for a fun, tense and exciting read!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this eARC!

had the distinct privilege of coming into this with exactly the right amount of familiarity with cleopatra caesar antony et al which is to say i was briefly, fervently interested when i was nine, u know, when ur nine, and ur discovering the full spectrum of how deranged and scary and magnificent people can be, ur reading HORRIBLE HISTORY or ASSASSINATIONS! (FOR KIDS), and ur like, "oh my god mom listen to this, this pirate used to MAKE PEOPLE EAT THEIR OWN BUTTS" and she's like "did i buy you that??"

there's an enormous and mystifying gulf, when ur nine, between yourself and all the impossibly real people you read about-- your contexts and drives are so different, you can't imagine why or how someone would ever do the things they are doing, but they did; they are infinitely more fantastic and fake than the child heroes in the fiction you're simultaneously reading. those children have passions and minds like urs; mark antony is out here like, i dont even know what he's doing.

so i read a lot of gory roman history, blinking and gasping, saying aloud, "personally i would simply NOT cross the rubicon," and i did not understand why literally anyone would ever do the stupid things these people did, and then i did not think abt them very much at all until i read this book.

listen. i do love retellings. like, there are so many lazy ones, but who among us does not have those handful of stories that will YANK them in id-first every time. and a good retelling has a particularly magical blend of coziness and uncanniness-- going back through a house you have lived in for years made up differently, in ruins or in twilight or in the bleeding sun, and delighting in the familiar made strange-- different notes pulled out, different lighting-- but still familiar, still yours.

the stars undying is an entirely different beast and it ate me. there's some sort of insane alchemy that happens here, and reading it felt like i was hearing this story for the first time.

there is a bit early on where someone describes prophecy as an act of translation, and the book is an impeccable act of translation as well-- carrying over lost political and personal resonances into a new language, finding the entry points for us, now, to understand something impossible, and gone, and shattering those doorways open, so that we are shocked (SHOCKED!) all over at what we already knew happened. like, i have not felt this clobbered by plot twists in my LIFE, and i grew up knowing these plot twists! i took exams on them!!!

frankly i was GASLIT (positive, narrative technique) into like, living out the song "pina colada" but with cleopatra. "oh my god," i would gasp, a split second after this cleopatra revealed she did something that has sung through culture my whole life. "she did that! wait-- i knew she did that!" (that's half the time-- the other half ur hearing someone mention, offhand, a carpet delivery and getting fucking CRANKED into delirious anticipation. there's a singular pleasure in reading something and coming to trust in its execution-- realizing that the jumps will be spectacular and the landings will stick. ur safe to get hype. u will get the payoff.)

anyway, what has changed, obviously, from when i learned this story and i was nine, is that the people feel real now. there is simply not another way to put it. reading this was like watching a human actor walk across a stage before the lowlights of legend, their shadows splashed up enormous behind them and like-- you can see them both at the same time, the person and the mythology, the stain they will make, that you grew up in without connecting it to any particular beating heart.

lots of other things too, insanely horny very funny smarter than any of us, conversations that demand u reread them to catch up to the politicking hidden inside the flirting, the fury, the oversized pink feather coats; a book that will make u think u understand imperial economics somewhat; a book that will bring back ur infantile fury at amy burning jo's manuscript that u thought u outgrew and didn't; a book that will remind u with the slow burn of an eclipse what the real romance is, what romance bludgeoned shakespeare and all the poets to death, and how it's gay, actually, how love spawns in the cracking-open of being truly seen, which is, actually, a fucking threat. like, u know the whole time, and still as it's happening, u think oh my god!!!!!! it's happening!!!!!!!!!

similarly, a narrator who tells u the entire time that she is lying to u and u still find urself gasping at least four separate times like WHAT?!?!? she was LYING TO ME!!! ME!!!!!! [touching my chest] her READER!

[-- the last reveal, of to whom, exactly, she is finally telling one truth--]

the last thing i will say is that the very last scene is the only thing i have read since the queen of attolia that blooms in me, trembling, the same feeling as the queen of attolia-- the light, precise dialogue, the held-breath revelation, of two people who have been knives at each other's throats regarding each other now across a quiet space and doing something new

This was one of my favorite reads of the year. Truthfully, I don’t know much about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar so I kind of went into this blind. Regardless of my lack of historical knowledge, this is an exceptional sci-fi with the perfect amount of political intrigue, intricate world building, and character development, (also some romance). I loved everything about this book and was hooked from the beginning. I actually liked this so much I got the audio book and listened to it after reading it and I liked it just as much as an audio book. I think everyone should read this.

DNF at 60%.

I'll start with the fact that I really like Altagracia, our main character. I love her entitlement to what she believes she is due and her tense relationship with her twin sister. I would have loved to see the latter explored more. Ceiran was an interesting morally grey and self-serving character. I feel like I might have enjoyed him even more if the author had further explored his personality. Instead, I feel like we were only acquainted with the political ally that Gracia knew him as, rather than as a well-rounded, believable character.

I wanted to love this. So much of it, however, reads like a textbook on the politics of Egypt and the Roman Empire, but transposed onto planets in space. There were many moments, despite my enjoying the world and culture that was being described, I was left wondering where the plot was going or what the point of the exposition was.

I'm disappointed to not finish this, but sadly I don't think the last third will change my experience of this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Orbit for the ARC/ALC in exchange for an honest review.

"An ambitious and sweeping debut, The Stars Undying shimmers with that transformative potential." Full review published in the "Chicago Review of Books," linked.

This was a did-not-finish for me. The concept, a scifi re-imagining of the Ceasar/Cleopatra/Mark Antony story, was compelling, but the story itself dragged. I was less than interested in reading a hundred pages where two powerful people just floated along the water while the action took place elsewhere.

A DNF for now at 16%

I was so excited for this book, but it just really isn't working for me. I tried it on audio, which did not work at all for me. I didn't care for the narrators, and the names and terms were all very similar, so the audiobook was really difficult. I switched to the print edition and made it about another 10%. It just is not working for me right now though. It feels very dense and just a little bit too literary for my tastes, especially right now for where my head is at. I have seen some reviews that really appreciate this book for it's politics and it's commentary on history. I definitely want to try this book again when I'm in a better headspace, but it probably won't be for a little while.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Orbit, and Angela Man for an advance copy of The Stars Undying in return for an honest review. This released on November 8, 2022.