2.5 stars
I wanted to love this book but unfortunately, it didn't hit the mark.

The City of Stardust is about the cursed Everly family and the last of the Everly line, Violet. She doesn't want to accept her fate so she embarks on an adventure where she encounters magic, new worlds, friends, and enemies.

The writing is beautiful and picturesque, I was shocked to find out this was a debut. The descriptions are easily able to be pictured.
There were just some issues that didn't work for me, the 3rd person and many povs left me confused, and hard to connect to the characters who didn't have any development. The pacing was slow and towards the end started to drag. I was never fully invested in the storyline since the beginning never hooked me like I was expecting it to.

All in all, I did enjoy the mystery, and the magic system where not one character is inherently good or evil. I thought the betrayal element was handled well but could have done without the quick forgiveness and insta-love.

Thank you NetGalley, Georgia Summers and Redhook Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the idea of this book, but overall it fell a little flat. The book primarily follows the story of Violet Everly, who has a curse placed on her family for generations. She is running out of time to break the curse. A lot of the characters' decisions felt odd to me and didn't really make sense logically, so that was a bit frustrating screaming why multiple times. The book was on the slower side and I wasn't really excited to pick it up. The writing was beautiful but often swapped POV's and took some getting used to.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

From the first lines, THE CITY OF STARDUST by Georgia Summers is engrossing -- the kind of story so beautifully written, feeling so natural it's as if it's a story I have always known and loved. Summers is a fantastic writer with huge imagination creating characters so believable and events so logical, that dinners burned while I was walking in the world she created, the encounters and moments of stunning bravery by the hero Violet setting off to find her mother and finding so much more than she ever expected. Each character is so well-drawn, so fully dimensional that I felt I knew them. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

4.2 stars
Wow, where do I even start? For one, I looked at the early reviews and the reviews are very mixed and honestly, I think this is very niche writing. It was beautifully done. The way the story unfolded reminded me a lot of The Night Circus. Not in the plot but in the flow, the writing, the timeline details and several points of view all written in third POV. All of which I loved in The Night Circus and thoroughly enjoyed reading something with a similar writing style.

The City of Stardust is about the Everly family cursed with a generational sacrifice full of secrets and betrayal. The third POV really had me feeling like I was in the head of each character, and it allowed for the plot and information to flow seamlessly and at a decent pace. I felt like the world-building and plot were being introduced at the same time, so it wasn’t a huge information dump all in the beginning (if that makes sense - really, I just want to say it was not confusing).

I loved Violet as a character. I felt her curiosity and urgency throughout the book. I could feel the clock ticking down with her and I was almost sweating with the anticipation of something good or bad happening at every turn. I have mixed feelings about Alexsander. This is very much a fantasy with romance elements. It brought out several emotions. Sometimes I caught myself swooning and other times I wanted to reach through my kindle and throttle someone. . .

I felt like the curse was one of the most interesting parts to this because the number of times the backstory to it was told, which was at times subtle and other times told like a bedtime story or folklore, really hit home how far back it dated. How long the Everly family has suffered through the dread of this curse. With the subtle changes in the beginning and ending, it had me just wanting to know what really happened.

This is one of those books that has you paying attention to detail and when it all comes together it's very satisfying. The epilogue is not your traditional contemporary romance epilogue because, like I said, it's a fantasy with romance elements. So, I would just keep that in mind when picking up this book.

What a beautiful, lush, whimsical story! This book has everything I love and need from a YA story. Such a wonderful MC, world, and magic system. Cannot recommend this book enough!

"The City of Stardust" is a captivating contemporary fantasy debut that enchants readers with its spellbinding narrative and bewitching prose. Written with a stunning and jaw-dropping style reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern, this novel is a must-read for fans of the acclaimed author.

The story revolves around Violet Everly, the last of her lineage plagued by a mysterious curse that has haunted generations of her family. The disappearance of her mother, Marianne, sparks a quest for Violet to break the curse before she becomes its next victim. The enigmatic antagonist, Penelope, adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, her ageless and vengeful character driving the urgency of Violet's quest.

Summers successfully captures the essence of Morgenstern's beauty in storytelling, delivering a narrative that is both lush and evocative. The novel's prose is a true delight, creating an immersive experience that transports readers to a magical other world filled with power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and vengeful monsters.

One of the novel's strengths lies in the vivid national travel that Violet undertakes in her quest. The diverse settings and landscapes not only enrich the world-building but also add depth to Violet's character development. The sense of urgency imposed by the looming deadline enhances the pacing, keeping the reader engaged throughout the journey.

The magic system in "The City of Stardust" is a thing of beauty. Summers crafts a fantastical realm where magic intertwines seamlessly with the characters' lives, creating a mesmerizing backdrop for the unfolding story. The events unfold in a well-paced manner, ensuring that each revelation and twist feels earned, contributing to the overall satisfaction of the narrative.

The character dynamics, particularly with Aleksander, Penelope's quiet assistant, add an element of suspense and distrust, keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Summers masterfully weaves together the threads of trust and betrayal, making the reader question the motives of every character encountered on Violet's journey.

In conclusion, "The City of Stardust" is a triumph for Erin Morgenstern enthusiasts, showcasing Summers' ability to craft a novel as beautiful and enchanting as her inspiration. With its mesmerizing prose, well-developed magic system, and a journey that spans the edges of the world, this debut novel is a compelling addition to the fantasy genre. The only slight drawback is the occasional predictability of events, but this does little to diminish the overall allure of this bewitching tale. "The City of Stardust" is a must-read for those seeking a magical escape into a world of curses, secrets, and the enduring power of family.

When I first read the description of The City of Stardust, it seemed like a tempting amalgamation of things I love in a quasi-dark academia package. Things I heard and read alluded to a magical mystery, vengeful gods, and a forbidden romance. Yes, I can confirm the book had all of those things, but wow, did it take a lot of time to get things done.

Violet Everly knows her family is cursed. Once in a generation, the most talented of Everlys walks off into the night, never to be seen again. Her mother was supposed to do the same, but instead abandoned Violet around the age of ten in the hopes of finding answers and breaking the curse. For nearly a decade, Violet is raised in the care of her two uncles.

Violet’s mother and uncles are exiled scholars, beings who can wield magical keys to traverse between the scholar city of Fidelis and the rest of the world. Scholars have the innate ability to mold and use a mystical material called reveurite, which is made of stars, but rely on traveling to Earth for other important supplies due to the shortcomings of their wintry, fractured world.

Until she reaches her twenties, Violet is kept in the dark about most things. Her existence is meant to be kept secret, lest the powers that be have Violet fulfill the curse in her mother’s place. Spoiler alert (but not really): her existence is exposed and she has a year to find her mom or must offer herself up in her mom’s stead.

The writing really is beautiful, but sometimes turns into navel-gazing and I only felt interested in what was happening about 60% of the time. Lovely descriptions and waxing poetic about the stars does nothing to move things along and I want to stress that this is a book for meanderers. If you love a fantasy that takes its time and dips into small, inconsequential details of the world (a la Tolkein), you might really love what Summers has done here. If you want more of a story where no word or punctuation is wasted, you may feel frustrated at how the momentum drags.

I was motivated to see if Violet would meet her deadline and what would become of the Everly curse, but even after finishing and reflecting on the book, there were lingering feelings of being underwhelmed. Violet never stood out or took a firm shape in her personality, despite being the main character. The romance was rushed and was more a telling of big feelings rather than feeling them happen. I also think there was a much more interesting romantic candidate that could have been chosen.

While you’re in it and actively reading, it’s easy to find reasons to keep going and finish the story. Afterward, though, I’m more wishy-washy about the whole experience. I am the equivalent of the shrug emoji.

“Amanda, did you enjoy it?”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I guess?

It didn't take long for me to get sucked into this story. I enjoyed the premise of brothers protecting their niece from a curse and the lengths they went to do so, in spite of her mother's disappearance. I quickly became invested in the main character and her determination to break the curse, her personality and attitude is strong and courageous, even though people were going to extreme lengths to hide things from her for her own good. However, there does reach a point where the trope of keeping a character in the dark gets old and the book gets awful close to that line for me. Overall though, I liked the world and the idea of traveling to other worlds, and I liked the tension between the main character and her friend/rival. But my sympathy for him also wanes as I felt like the end was a bit too drawn out with replays of the same tensions with hire stakes. Even so, this is an enjoyable adult fantasy.. I'd put it at a 3.5

This book deserves all the hype and more! I've been in my fantasy era lately and this book held my interest the entire time. It’s a fairytale come to life full of curses and magic. The characters were well-developed, the plot was spot on, and the details pulled everything together. The touch of romance was very well done. I was eagerly anticipating the next chapter.

Thank you, NetGalley and Putnam for allowing me to review this book.

I'm very disappointed with this book. It seemed so perfect at first. Alas, all that glitters is not gold. I do think Summers did amazingly well with the beginning of this novel. I was drawn in by the cinematic writing and the intriguing setup. It felt reminiscent of Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer to me: a fantastical world that you're not sure really exists, a tortured guy with a man-bun, and a great amorphous evil that almost seems spiritual. Taylor's world, however, was rich and solid. Her characters were real and full of depth. The relationships and romances had me deeply invested. In Stardust, I felt none of that. The world building was done in gorgeous language, but it ended up never feeling substantial. I didn't really get a clear idea of what Fidelis was, what it looked like, or why anyone would want to go there. Violet started out as an intriguing character, but ended up as someone who just seemed to move from one vapid setting to the next, her goal shifting and her development nonexistent. I had no clue what she saw in Aleksander. I hated him. What a weak, trembling child of a character. He frustrated me the more page time he had. As for the plot, it had a solid start, and I loved the setup, but there were too many questions left unanswered, bad pacing, and some very strange and unsatisfactory character endings. Perhaps some readers will enjoy this kind of writing and character development, but I certainly did not. A disappointing 2 stars.

3.5 Stars rounded to 4

This book has the ability to pull you in, chew you up, and spit you back out. The writing style, which is similar to Addie La Rue and the Cloisters, makes it borderline unbearable to put down the book as you navigate and attempt to solve the mystery of the curse.

My chief complaint about this book is that I wish there was more:
-I needed more character development for Violet and Aleksander. Neither of the main characters really grew in the story. We saw Violet go from naive child to naive adult that’s angry she was left in the dark to less naive adult that is running around the world trying to save herself. Aleksander goes from traumatized child to traumatized adult to traumatized adult actively enduring traumatic events.
-I needed a smidge more world building. I didn’t fully understand the doors or keys or anything to do with Ever Everly. I didn’t understand how the curse continued through generations. I didn’t understand the talent and what exactly it was. I didn’t fully understand the scholars. I wish the author had taken a little more time to explain it all.
- I needed more time with the elder Everly siblings. Their dynamic was weird. There was so much unexplained tension. I loved Ambrose but wish he and Gabriel had more time to develop into characters rather than convenient plot devices. I wish I understood Marianne’s motivations better.
-I needed more page breaks. The story jumped point of views so quickly in some chapters without any warning. It was confusing to go from one character to the next without any explanation.

I know from my complaints list it seems like it didn’t like the book. I actually really did. The author has this really dynamic writing style allowed me to picture the world even though I didn’t have all of the information I wanted/needed. I’ll definitely be returning to this author for more books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As an avid reader who was initially captivated by the enchanting premise of Georgia Summers' "The City of Stardust," I am left disappointed and perplexed by the execution of what could have been a fantastic story. The first part of the book promised a world filled with magic, mystery, and the potential for an epic adventure. Unfortunately, as I delved deeper into the narrative, my excitement waned, and the novel failed to deliver on my initial expectations.

The turning point, or what should have been the launching pad for character development and a gripping storyline, instead led us into a tedious and long-winded manhunt for a character we never actually found. The resolution to the main conflict between our main character and the villain, when it finally arrived, spanned a mere page, leaving me feeling unsatisfied and questioning the entire novel. In addition, Summers' attempt to infuse whimsicality into her writing only served to make the book longer than necessary, detracting from the overall experience.

A major drawback was the main character, who proved incapable of carrying the weight of the story. By the time I reached part four, I found myself disengaged and uninterested, despite the potential that had initially drawn me in. The lack of character development and depth made it difficult to connect with the protagonist, whose only defined quality seemed to be a vague "potential" for greatness that was never convincingly realized.

The romance subplot, too, left much to be desired. I struggled to comprehend the attraction between the main character and her love interest, as the author failed to provide any substantial description or qualities that would make their connection believable. The main character's resemblance to her missing mother became a weak foundation for her identity, leaving her character underdeveloped and lacking substance.

Additionally, the novel was riddled with plot holes that further undermined the coherence of the storyline. These gaps in logic left me frustrated and disconnected from the narrative, as crucial details were left unexplained and events unfolded without adequate context.

In the end, "The City of Stardust" had the potential to be a captivating and magical adventure, but the execution fell short of expectations. With a lackluster main character, an unconvincing romance, and a plot filled with holes, this book ultimately failed to deliver the enchanting experience I had hoped for.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

While the premise is interesting, I found myself more invested in wanting to know about the uncles rather than the main character. I felt like the story started well, but ultimately dragged with Violet having grown up in the search to find her mother all while stopping a curse.

There is a richness of prose I crave in a fantasy novel; I want to be swept away by the writing. The City of Stardust transports the reader to this Other place, similar enough to our own to feel familiar but with a fantastical overlay in the form of a place called Fidelis, a place of magic but with limited resources. The City of Stardust is the tale of the Everly family, connected to Fidelis but self-exiled to our more mundane world. The family lives under a terrible curse, losing a family member each generation as the price of the curse. Violet Everly is the sole heir, and her mother left when she was a child, seeking a way to end the curse and save her daughter. Since Marianne, the mother, hasn’t been seen for many years, and Violet’s existence has been discovered by the powers that be in Fidelis, time is running out to break the terrible contract.

The City of Stardust follows Violet, so the reader doesn’t have the full story of the Everly family, even halfway through the book. We piece together things as Violet does.

This book is told in third person POV through multiple characters. Because of the dual worlds, this was a necessary evil but I feel it would have been more immersive in first person. There probably isn’t a solution to this though. Given the third person perspective, it would have been relatively easy to learn more about the curse sooner in the book (the reader doesn’t really know even at the halfway mark).

Violet is young and sheltered but dreams of faraway lands, a notion come to life through Aleksander, her morally grey counterpart from Fidelis & potential love interest. Unfortunately she knows she can’t trust him since he’s the assistant to the antagonist in the story, a never changing woman named Penelope who steals children from the mortal realm for questionable purposes.

I didn’t hate the pacing, I rather enjoy a book that keeps me in the dark a bit but would have preferred the mystery to unfold a little quicker.

Did I enjoy the book? Yes! Georgia Summers’ writing is reminiscent of authors like VE Schwab (ADSOM series, Addie LaRue) and I think we’ll see great things from her future books. This is her debut fantasy novel and with this at her first book, I think they’ll only get better as she continues to hone her craft and find her voice as an author.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette for the eARC of The City of Stardust!

I was anticipating this to be a five star read for me and it unfortunately fell flat. It had all the makings of a great read - unique magic, a city few can enter, familial bloodlines, betrayal, and divinity walking among mortals.

The story follows Violet Everly who grows up knowing two things: her mother left her, and the Everlys' are cursed. Each generation an Everly disappears into the night and is never seen again. A young Violet wonders, did her mother disappear into the night or is she out adventuring trying to break the family curse to spare her daughter?

For me, the first 60% of this just went so slow. It was hard to be invested in the characters and with the viewpoint switching in the middle of the chapter between paragraphs - it was hard to follow sometimes. By the time the ending resolution came around, only half of my questions were answered. It felt unresolved. We, as readers, were told Violet went on a journey to discover the impossible - but there was so much information revealed in the last 5% that we never get closure on. How did the characters feel - what was their first action after leaving the "big scene" - why did the uncles make the decisions they did? What were the other characters hiding throughout the book - without the villain, why would the hard to find city maintain the life of cunning, lies, and intrigue? Why is no one talking about the sacrifices? Too many things left unsaid for me to give this more.

I think you'll love this if you're into more classics style writing, where a lot of reader interpretation must be mastered. I think it handles discussions of (off-page) abuse and healing from that pretty well. It has an intriguing plot - why was the family cursed - does anyone know how to fix it? It is 100% unique in how it involves world-walking, divine beings, and their interactions with the everyday world.

Georgia Summers has written a beautifully told tale that constantly reminded me of the writings of Philip Pullman. The City of Stardust is filled with colorful storytelling and deep and rich images. While reading, I could easily visualize in my mind an incredible world depicted with a profound landscape and both wonderfully lovable and insanely hateful characters. Summers made me truly believe in her magic filled world and its spectacular battle between those who are bent on doing wrong against those who only want to understand their origins.

The writing in this book was very unique. It kind of makes you slow down to fully absorb everything (in a good way!)

The FMC, Violet, is very dreamy when it comes to adventure, which reminds me a bit of Lazlo from Strange the Dreamer!
With the whimsical kind of vibe you get from this book, it does also remind you a bit of Laini Taylor’s writing (which I LOVE)

Some people find themselves unable to read from the third person perspective - but the way this is written and told from multiple different perspectives, it had me on the edge of my seat, not wanting to wait to find out more from the other perspectives! Definitely kept me engaged with the story

I first would like to thank Netgalley and the Publishers for providing this ARC in return for a fair and unbiased review.

In this story the world building, magic and lore were all top shelf and very interesting, and packaged in a beautiful HC edition that will grace any book collectors shelf with pride.

That being said the book never hooked me. Starting with the 'set-up' back story with the uncles postponing getting to know the actual 'main' character for too long. Sadly when finally introduced to main characters I never got to care about their journey. The female lead leans way too whiny and the male lead is entirely too manipulative for me to want to root for this pair.

I liked the idea of this book, but overall was just kinda...ok. The book primarily follows the story of Violet Everly, who has a curse placed on her family for generations. She is running out of time to break the curse. A lot of the characters' decisions felt odd to me and didn't really make sense logically, so that was a bit frustrating screaming WHY multiple times. The book was overall a bit slower, I believe intentionally. The writing was beautiful but often swapped POV's and took some getting used to.

The best part of this book is the writing. A few during my read I had to read a sentence again to feel it glide through my mind and/or to pause and think about it. Very lovely and smooth.
The story did feel confusing at times with the concept of myth and legends having multiple versions through time and sources but it gets resolved at the end.
Loved the the element of traveling throughout the world and beyond.
The characters and story felt complex enough although I wish there was a higher stake than the one driven by the main character. Also, felt slightly let down with the unanswered questions connected to the missing character throughout the book.

It’s not an obvious story to read and doesn’t have a straight forward ending I would say in ways and I think that adds to the mysterious, complexity, and otherworldly dimension of the story. A interesting and captivating read!