This was an absolutely beautiful and imaginative fantasy novel. The plot was extremely unique, the characters intriguing and the prose expertly switched between delicate descriptors and gruesome depictions. While I highly enjoyed this novel, there were a few things I found lacking, and therefore impeded a 5 star rating. The first (and this may be an ARC issue) is that paragraphs will jump from POV to POV. Typically these would be divided by a paragraph separator or embellishment of some kind. I am hoping the author plans to add that in to the final copy. Additionally, this book was dripping in detail. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I found that the details focused heavily on the areas I did not need over-explanation and lacked in the areas where I desired it.

What a book! This needs to be on everyone’s list of most anticipated Fantasy book releases of 2024. If you are a fan of Addie LaRue or Starling House, this book is for you. With alluring prose, Summers weaves a story of love, longing, loss, and adventure. There are fallen stars, missing mothers, secret realms with secret societies who control them, and bargains that shape the history of the world. For the first 20 years of her life, Violet Everly is hidden away while her uncles desperately try to find a way out of a millennia-long bargain with the Everly family. But when Aleksander, the assistant to the leader of a magical realm, shows up, everything Violet know is turned on it’s head and begins an adventure to save herself, her family, and the complicated relationship budding between her and Aleksander.

Thank you NetGalley, Redhook Books, and Orbit Books for sending me this ARC on behalf of Georgia Summers!

I was first intrigued by this book because it was advertised as being perfect for fans of Starless Sea and while I have not read that book, I am very familiar with Erin Morgenstern's writing and knew I'd enjoy Georgia Summers's City of Stardust!

The writing style is very reminiscent of Erin Morgenstern's and I absolutely enjoyed reading it! The details and descriptions were very beautiful and I highlighted a few lines because I felt they were beautiful:

"But she grew up on a feast of fairy tales and myths; there is always blood."

"What else is a curse but this? Love, stretched and warped beyond all meaning."

I really enjoyed how throughout the book there were different versions of the same legend, each one getting a bit more twisted as we got to a new section! It helped add to the mystery and intrigue of the lore of the Everly curse.

Overall I enjoyed this book!

In a world where secret doorways open paths to new magical worlds, past secrets, and harrowing truths, The City of Stardust ensnares readers with an adventurous, thrilling tale through dreamy, fairytale-like prose and a wintery faraway setting.

For generations, the Everly family has been plagued with a haunting curse, causing the brightest and most talented in their family to suddenly disappear. Growing up, Violet has seen the destruction and impact the curse has on her family, and she is determined to break the cycle no matter the cost.

Right away, this felt like falling into a fairytale, stepping through a wardrobe, and wandering into an enchanted and mysterious fantasy. With Summers’s beautiful, whimsical prose and alluring imagery, the pages of this novel seemed to drift to life—making the characters and their journeys feel much like the structure of the story, fading in one second and stepping into another doorway the next. It was such a fun, unique experience reminiscent of the vibes from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Starling House, and Narnia.

I loved the themes of gods and monsters, dreams and nightmares, and love and betrayal. It created such a storybook-like tale and felt so immersive.

If you’re looking for your next wintery fantasy escape, look no further and add this book to your lists.

3.75/5

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

*Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the arc copy in exchange for an honest review.*

3.5⭐ rounded up.

I wanted to love this book so much, but something just felt like it was missing. This was still a good book and I enjoyed reading it, but it just slightly missed the mark for me.

The characters are all written so well. I loved going on the journey with Violet to discover all the things that were kept from her and to find her mother. I also really loved her uncles and how willing they were to take care of and protect her, especially Ambrose.

Aleksander was a character I had a love/hate relationship with because it seemed like he couldn't decide whose side he was on. With his traumatic background, I do not blame him for anything. He was doing the best he could with the information he had.

Don't go into this thinking it is a romantic fantasy book because there is very little romance. This may be where the book fell short for me. I got the feeling it was meant to be a slow burn, but it was a slow burn with very little build-up and tension. This had the potential to be such a cute slow burn, but in my opinion, it needed more tension to be effective.

The plot of the book was interesting. The villain was so easy to hate, especially toward the end of the book. I think there were times when certain things were supposed to be shocking, but for the most part, the plot was predictable and not super unique.

I did still enjoy the book because of how well the characters were written. I also really wish that Fidelis was a place I could go see. This was a quick read, and I think it could be a 5-star for people who don't care for the romance in fantasy books.

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers is a fast-paced fantasy novel that centers around a family curse, magic, fairytales, and monsters.

On the surface, The City of Stardust has everything I want in a fantasy novel–a strong female protagonist, magic, monsters, and a decent villain. However, in the end, I felt the novel was a letdown.

"Once upon a time, in a magical city on a distant shore, lived Ever Everly."

Violet Everly grew up in seclusion, kept secret from the world, with no explanation. At the age of 10, her mother leaves, and her uncles Ambrose and Gabriel take over her care. Slowly, Violet becomes aware of the family curse, and the reasons for her mother's departure.

While the family curse is ultimately explained, in my opinion, it still left a lot of gaping plot holes. Throughout the story, we find Violet following the trail left by her mother Marianne, and this is also a huge letdown. Although I suppose the door is open for a follow-up novel that tells Marianne's story.

For a novel with magic at its center, we see very little of the magic. The story focuses on the Everly curse and the search for the City of Stardust. The magic is almost an afterthought, which is too bad.

I wanted to love this book, everything from the cover (because let's be real I pick books mainly because of the cover) and of course the synonyms. I was really excited about City of Stardust but I was a little bit let down.
I had kind of a hard time connecting to the characters. And also the story didn’t keep me wanting to come back. It was rushed and kind of unfinished.

This sounded super promising to me and I'm super bummed I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I feel like because the POVs were third person I never connected to any of the characters (I'm not even sure I liked any of them honestly) and it jumped around between all the characters (even minor ones) too much for me (probably the digital ARC I had didn't help because the spacing wasn't finalized and thus made it more confusing for me to figure out what character we were with then, but I digress). I also felt as if the story took a while to actually get to the quest of trying to break the curse - it was probably 25% in when that finally happened and by that point I wasn't too interested anymore.

The cover was super beautiful and I think this book will find an audience that loves it. If you're a fan of Erin Morgenstern or V. E. Schwab this will probably be more up your alley!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

This was a beautiful, beautiful book. The prose! The PROSE! I definitely knew I would love this book from the first page.

It's a tale of magic, mystery, and a family curse. Each sentence flows so well and weaves an enchanting story. As I was reading, I was reminded of Strange the Dreamer, one of my favorite books. To put it simply, this is one of the best debuts I've ever read, and I will read anything Georgia Summers writes next.

Who doesn’t love a good story about doors that lead to magical worlds, a family curse and endless mysteries?! This book provided all of this and more!

Violet Everly, was meant to stay a secret so she could have a normal life away from the family curse. But secrets don’t always stay secrets, do they? Her uncles hoping to buy time for Violet, make a deal. When things come to a head, and the family curse is revealed Violet is thrust into a world of magic, adventure and heartache; and she vows to find a way to break the curse or die trying.

The world building is beautiful and felt original. The was a potential romance dynamic I wish was explored a bit more but this wasn’t a story of romance so I get it! The book did tend to slow down in some parts. And there are some questions left unanswered and relationships left unexplored, but I enjoyed this one a lot!

The City of Stardust transports the reader to a wonderfully celestial world that is unlike any I’ve ever read before. This book has such a unique concept and Georgia Summers executes it so well.

Although the book may start slow for some, once it starts there is no stopping. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what could be next.

A wonderful celestial fantasy book that I would 1000% recommend to anyone.

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review

DNF @ 11%

The prologue and premise was very intriguing but the whimsical writing style, character jumps, and all around vagueness without any help of an explanation lost me.
At chapter 6 I didn’t care anymore.

I’m sure the writing will work for others, it’s just not for me.

A young woman must work to fight a magical curse that has haunted her family for years.

I liked the magic here, but it took too long to get into the main plot. We kept time jumping for a while and it felt like little happened in those chapters.

The City of Stardust
by Georgia Summers
Fantasy
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: January 30, 2024
Redhook Books
Ages: 14+

Violet's mother left her with her uncles when she was young to search for a way to break the curse that had haunted the Everly family for centuries, but Violet's mother never returned and Penelope gives Violet's uncles a deal; find Violet's mother in ten years, or Violet will be the sacrifice.

As a teenager, Violet's uncles, who have been searching since she was left in their care, continue but now include Violet whom they had left in the dark. But Violet takes the search upon herself since it is her life at stake.

This is one of those books that the blurb sounded so good; magical underworld, montsers, and curses. We fantasy nuts can't help but be drawn in. If only the writing had been as good. Even though the genres are listed as Sci-Fi/Fantasy, it read more as if it was intended for YA instead of adults.

There's not a lot of depth in this book, the characters and settings are flat, along with the dialogue. And with the plot, the characters just didn't seem to care even though a girl's life was at stake. She believed Aleksander even though he had proved how untrustworthy he was, showed how little she cared about herself. One couldn't even blame that she was 'madly in love' with him. That never came across as anything more than a crush.

There's nothing extremely violent, sexual, or 'offending' in the book that the YA audience can't see on TV or read in books specifically aimed at them, so readers fourteen and older can read this.

I wish I'd DNFed it!

1 Star

The City of Stardust is an atmospheric fantasy following Violet Everly, whose family has been cursed for generations. When her uncles try to bargain with their tormentor, Penelope, to give them time to find their missing sister, Violet’s mother, Penelope gives them 10 years before she claims what is hers (aka Violet). Violet begins her search at year 9 and has to deal with society politics, Penelope’s assistant (Aleksander), and Penelope herself.

I loved the writing of this book. The detailed descriptions made you feel like you were there with Violet yet, did not feel like “too much.” We have multiple points of view, which helps with the world building and the lore behind why the scholar society is the way it is. We are figuring out the world along with Violet, which kept up the mystery of this other world and prevented info dumping. However, there were times where parts of the world didn’t make sense or I was missing something. Similarly, parts of the story felt disconnected or disjointed.

I wish there was more characterization for the various characters throughout this book. I wish we got to see more of Aleksander’s background to help us understand some of his decisions, as well as his unwavering loyalty to Penelope. I wish we could have seen more of Caspian too. He felt like a character of convenience, someone who was there when Violet needed help with the Scholars or needed information from the other world. There were times I didn’t understand why Caspian, someone who doesn’t have a lot of page time and seemingly met Violet only a handful of times, was helping her with so much (like calling in favors to help her). I wish we got a little more information about the scholar society as a whole as well as more information about Violet’s mother’s role within that society. There were politics at play that the reader is not really privy to that make understanding some of the plot points difficult.

While this was an enjoyable read, parts of it fell flat for me and it ultimately didn’t meet my high expectations. Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I could see the aim for the exciting mystery the beautiful world and the romance but for me I just could not find any emotion connection to the characters and that was a bummer because the book has potential but just nothing to tied in the emotion

I wanted to love this, but it was not engaging enough to keep my attention. I did end up finishing it, but was not a fan of the writing style,

Georgia Summers’s debut novel takes us into a Gaiman-esque world where young Violet Everly seeks to find her mother and break the family curse before she’s forced to become its next victim. After spending her childhood dreaming and reading of magical places beyond the confines of her home, Violet is thrust head-first into an adventure that will take her to new cities, new countries, and new worlds.

I found myself gripped by this story from the start. The magic system, the mysterious world of Fidelis, the elusive Everly family with their curse almost as old as time had me captivated as we followed Violet on her quest. I found it refreshing that we were able to witnesses the ups and downs of her quest – sometimes she trusted those she shouldn’t, other times a clue can lead to nowhere. But all the while Violet gains insight into her family’s past, her mother’s disappearance, and most of all, herself.

Summers’s full cast of characters are colorful and intriguing, led by an incredible villain Penelope. The fact that I can’t smell vanilla right now without thinking of her and her terrible exploits could be my biggest endorsement for this book. Aleksander is a captivating male lead; a boy with shadows of his own that gives Violet glimpses into the magical world she was kept from in her youth. Watching Aleksander and Violet grow across time and distance, with the dull ache of the other’s absence a constant companion, I was so eager to see them reunited by so worried about what would happen when they did.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this story came from the tale of the Everly family curse. We learn across chapters that there are many versions of curses origins…but which is the truth? Is the curse the source of a love story where passion led to destruction? Is the curse at its heart the result of deception?
While I would hate to spoil this story in the review, I will say that there were more questions than answers at the end of this tale. Whether a product of a quickly paced ending or the desire to leave some mysteries unsolved, there were a few too many things I felt we needed explanations for. However, the City of Stardust, it’s characters, and it’s magic left me eager to start a re-read as soon as possible.

“Do you not hear the stars sing, little dreamer?”

Heavily recommended for lovers of A Darker Shade of Magic and the Night Circus, The City of Stardust is not to be missed!

Thank you Netalley and Redhook Books for the eARC!

I think this is a really good entry to fantasy! The plot is really straightforward and easy to follow, and the chapters are pretty short, so it's easy to move through quickly. If you're an avid fantasy or fantasy romance reader, in the sea of outstanding new releases, this might lack in shocking plot twists, but it's a solid read.

"At that point, I would have taken you anywhere you wished."

Oof this book is beautiful. The prose is so very captivating that I was drawn in by the prologue and didn't want to put it down. Although the story has similarities to other fantasies, I found it to be a relatively unique premise overall. I loved the journey and that it was told from multiple POVs.

The characters and relationships are complex, in an almost unsettling way. Throughout the whole book, I was never really sure who I did or didn't like, and my opinion on people were constantly changing. I love that type of entanglement. I only wish that there would have been more in depth looks at some of the main characters. Sometimes with multiple POVs, you don't get to have as extensive a look into the individual characters. I personally love getting to know the characters' thoughts and emotions, and that is what makes me become attached to them, so I would have liked a deeper dive into some of that to make the book stick with me more.

The storyline never really went where I thought it was going to, which is always fun. There were some disappointing aspects to this, but overall, I found it to be very fun. It is a fantasy written almost like a mystery in that the reader is not supposed to know what is happening or what is the truth, and it is revealed slowly through the first three parts. I love being confused (knowing that I'm supposed to be) and trying to figure out what's going to happen.

My one major drawback was that I would have appreciated more details into the world-building/history. One problem with taking the slow reveal/mystery-esque route, is that it can get convoluted along the way, and I felt that happen a bit here. It didn't take away from the story too much, I just loved the world-building and would have enjoyed more depth to it.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys A Darker Shade of Magic (V.E. Schwab) and The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Alix E. Harrow). 4/5 stars.

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