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!

This book leaves me feeling very conflicted.

The premise is about the cursed Everly's and how once a generation, an Everly goes missing.

The set up to the story is great. The prologue draws you in and sets the scene of uncovering what has plagued the Everly's for generations.

This book reads like a movie. That's the best way that I can think to describe it. It's third person narration, but it's not from any set point of few. It skips around from all the characters' perspectives, so you know way more than the lead characters for most of the book. The majority of it is set from Violet Everly's perspective, as she's the one who is determined to find her mother and break their curse.

I often found myself not immersed in the book, because we would get the story moved along by another perspective while Violet was on her adventure, and we missed so much of her character's development because of it. The same goes for Aleksander, though some of his development is explained a bit more later on in the book. Penelope, our villain, appears as evil incarnate, though some of that changes over time and when you see her compared to others like her.

This story is wrought with extremely flawed characters, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there wasn't much chance for redemption for those flaws, as the story just moved along. The ending I was rather expecting, yet not everything was set in stone, so you get to draw your own conclusions to a few things. I both like and dislike that equally.

There were some very unique things about this world, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I just wish that we learned more. Also, I found myself forgetting that I wasn't reading a young adult book, because it felt like one the entire time.

I give this book more of a 3.75 but will round up to 4, as I know there will be so many who truly love this book. It's not entirely my cup of tea, but it's not bad by any means.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read an early copy of this book. I will admit that initially I only requested this based on the cover, and then moved up its priority on my TBR due to special editions. Based on the synopsis though, I really did think that this was going to be something I would enjoy. However, I really didn't like this one all that much.

For starters, I am hopeful that this is just in the ARC copy, but the constant switching of POVs in a single chapter with not even a space in between to distinguish them from one another was super jarring.

My next complaint was that this book too way too long to get started. NOTHING happens in the first thirty percent of the book, and by the time Violet starts her adventure, I was already not invested. Also, FORTY-SIX important weeks take place off page and we just pick up nearly a year later and she's already deep into her quest and has made progress we don't get to see at all. I feel like the pacing really could have used some more work here.

Then there is the romance. This was just not it for me... Violet isn't even her own person. She's naive and sheltered and a bit pathetic. She doesn't even stand on her own as a character well. So to have a love interest that was also as equally uninspired and uninteresting, was annoying. I think that this could have been a friendship with two more well rounded characters working towards a common goal, and perhaps I would have bought into that storyline a bit more. There was no chemistry here and I feel like a romance was just added for the sake of it when it truly didn't add anything to the story whatsoever.

I think that's what was wrong with all of the characters here. Not a single character, not even Penelope, is developed or well rounded. They didn't feel evil. They didn't feel scared. They didn't feel real, or smart, or their actions didn't make sense for their storylines. It just needed a lot more motivation and details to make these characters stand out. Because truthfully, they are all just kind of bland and boring. You could switch out Caspian (if that was even his name, I honestly can't remember at this point and I JUST finished this book minutes ago) with Aleksander and it literally wouldn't have changed the story one bit. The uncles? Might as well have been one man. The scholars and even to include Marianne, THE MOTHER? All pointless side characters.

Also, maybe I am wrong here, but there is almost no world building to speak of. For a story that predominantly takes place in real life cities, I felt like that fantasy aspect should have been a lot more developed. It kind of just lacked details and descriptions and anything to make it feel REAL.

Based on the books rating, it does seem that I am in the minority here, so I sincerely hope that others pick this one up and love it. It just didn't really work for me.

Beautiful, unique world with writing that sucked me in immediately! Love a well executed modern fantasy.

Thank you Netgalley and Redhook Books for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First of all, the prose is beautiful, with descriptions that immerse you in the world and story. The premise of the story is so intriguing - magical doors, dark academia-esque vibes, and an interesting magic system. The ending was sweet, and I liked how it still left a hint of the mystery, allowing the characters to live on in your mind.

I do wish the magic system and the scholars backstory was more fleshed out, as I was left with more questions than answers on why they were so central to the story. The plot felt a bit discombobulated at times, leaving me a bit confused as to what timeline we were following and a bit disappointed that we didn’t follow Violet’s journey in more detail. I also did not care all that much about the characters by the end, and I wish that the characters were more built into the story. Also, I wanted more descriptions of what each character looked like (this might just be my personal preference), as that also helps me connect more with characters typically. The romance felt kinda rushed and forced, and I wished it was explored a bit further.

Overall, this is an amazing debut novel! I think a lot of the things that I made note of are not uncommon in debut novels, and I am excited to see what Georgia Summers writes next!

This book felt like a fever dream but in a good way. I absolutely enjoyed the plot and the magic. The thought of using keys to travel around worlds is really fun. The mystery of where Violet's mother went and what the curse on their family is really about had me engaged the entire time. The only reason why this wasn't five stars for me was that it was really confusing. I had to reread sections because I didn't quite grasp what was going on? There was a part where I thought Violet had a key but she actually didn't. I'm still confused about the resolution of where Violet's mother is... but all in all I had a good time in this world and with the characters. I can say without a doubt that this would do well with a film or limited series adaption.

I'm also confused how it isn't considered YA? It didn't read very adult to me.

Overall this is a 3.5 star read for me.

Our FMC, Violet Everly, has detailed and at times somewhat comical inner and outer monologue that has a way of making you route for her. But, her utter lack of any standout or original personality takes away from that making her nearly unlikable.

The world is whimsical and beautiful the way the author pens its tapestry to life.

The third person narrative was hard to grab on to. It put the story just out of reach making it hard to really get into fully. So immersion for me into this beautiful landscape of a fantasy was lacking. Something I found immensely disappointing as I wanted to fall into this and relish in the world building that is there in the prose.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes or love The Starless Sea as I get that kind of vibe from it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this E-ARC of, The City Of Stardust by author Georgia Summers. I will be rounding up to 4stars for goodreads purposes.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC.
See my video review of this book here: https://youtu.be/LDJEZ_yDo0Q?si=DjBMGzqk3FRl-jUH
4.5 out of 5 stars

On a rainy night, Marianne Everly vanished into thin air, leaving her brothers, Gabriel and Ambrose, to watch over her daughter, Violet. Gabriel leaves it to Ambrose to raise Violet while he travels the world looking for clues as to where Marianne might have gone, for once a generation, a starry god comes to claim blood for a debt owed by an Everly ancestor who eluded that debt. Penelope comes to visit Ambrose and reminds him of Marianne's debt and, now that she knows of Violet's existence, wants to take Violet in Marianne's place. Ambrose cannot bear it. Violet has become like a most beloved daughter to him. Penelope offers him this: find Marianne in 10 years' time, or she will come for Violet.

Meanwhile, a curly-haired somber boy dazzles Violet with reveurite - the metal of the gods, and he molds it into bird and galaxies. Penelope, seeing her assistant, Aleksander, so frivolous with showing off the reveurite, is angered, and they depart.

By the time Violet finds out about the curse/debt, she does not have a lot of time left. But Aleksander has come back, with stories of Fidelis, another world, and of reveurite and scholars from Fidelis, dazzling Violet once more. Violet believes she convinces Aleksander to take her to Fidelis once, just to see, but he leaves to get Penelope's key, and does not return.

Angry, betrayed, and believing she is alone, Violet begins her quest to either find her mother, or break the curse. She will find herself talking to gods chained in basements of abandoned buildings, guarding a door to yet another world, and more - all of them so different from what she expected. For they are not benevolent, altruistic beings. They are violent, selfish, and so devastatingly scary.

A phenomenal debut novel. I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Wonderfully original concept, fascinating world-building, compelling & complex characters, all wrapped in a well-written package. I couldn’t put it down!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of a daughter searching for a long lost mother, doors to different worlds, and astral gods in disguise amongst us hooked me right away, but the execution left me wanting.

The author’s prose is elegant and whimsical, which made for an enchanting reading experience. And the pacing is just right. The story’s setting, however, is always changing to a different part of the world. Yet, it is limited to cafes, museums, back alleys and undergrounds. Though we are told much about Fidelis (the city of scholars) we spend hardly any time there and I didn’t feel enmeshed in the magic and mysticism like I should have.

The characters are varied but bland, with the exception of Penelope and the ever elusive Marianne who are both seeking other worlds. And I wonder why the story isn’t mainly from these complementary perspectives? A missed opportunity, perhaps.

Instead, we follow Violet who is Marianne’s daughter. She is traumatized by her mother’s disappearance, fascinated by the scholars of Fidelis, and somehow special although she never seems like it. She is naive and gullible, yet sharp when it is convenient for the plot, which makes her a frustrating character to root for.

And Aleksander, who is Penelope’s apprentice. He is desperate to be a scholar and is harboring feelings for Violet (and she for him), but finds every excuse to betray her trust. And as he is constantly kowtowing to Penelope, he becomes all too easy to dislike.

Somehow, there’s a romance growing between them that we’re supposed to take serisouly, but I couldn’t. The chemistry was forced between two characters completely wrong for each other.

Some reviewers found the ending abrupt, but not me. It was, however, anticipated. So there were no surprises, and if you prefer an easy out to a conflict, you’ll be satisfied.

Overall, this story has potential. I didn’t love it or hate it exactly. I admit I was entertained. I look forward to reading the author’s next work.

Final rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Violet Everly’s family is cursed. Ever since her mother left her and her uncles to break it, it’s all she’s ever been sure of. But too many years have passed — her mother has yet to return, and a pact and blood debt has to be paid. What will Violet discover as she meets someone greater than her sheltered world? Someone who exposes her to the dark secrets of a mysterious magical existence?

This novel has a unique magical world that is both dark and mysterious. The author does a great job of slowly exposing you to the fantastical through the eyes of Violet. She has lived most of her life in the dark just hearing the edges of conversations in her home. Violet’s naivety and cunning balance each other and really keep the reader turning pages to see what unfolds next. Her counter part, Alexander, adds a different perspective that also drives the story.

There is much that I’m still eager to know about this place that the author created. A few times the story thread fell flat, however for the most part, I really enjoyed this read. 4 stars.

Thank you Redhook Books/Orbit and NetGalley for sending a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy for review consideration. All opinions are my own.