Rating 4/ 5
Spice: 0

Tropes:
-magical mystery
-hidden worlds
-magic keys
-secret society
-family curse

A young girl is abandoned by her mother and raised in the safe seclusion of her house. She hides herself away in wardrobes and reads by candlelight, escaping to worlds she can only dream about. One day, her world changes and she leaves the safety of her home to try to find her mother and break a family curse. If she fails, the outcome may be deadly.

This story was absolutely magical. Although there was not much action until the end, the mystery kept me engaged throughout the book. I do not normally enjoy a lot of third-person storytelling, but this just worked for me. The atmosphere is simultaneously whimsical and dark. It is full of wonder and monsters. The characters range from naive and innocent to vengeful and murderous. The pace of this book was quite slow, which may not appeal to readers looking for a lot of action.

Favorite quote:

"adventure, it turns out, is a dangerously seductive word"

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook books for the eARC and the opportunity to review this book.

With a dramatically cinematic writing style, Georgia Summers presents a lush world that is dark and unforgiving, full of wolves, intrigue, and mystery. Through soft worldbuilding and immersive storytelling, it also successfully creates a beautiful atmospheric feeling reminiscent of The Night Circus, which I have been searching for, for quite a while.

There are several elements that contribute to making this an utterly fascinating read, one of which being the stark contrast between the experiences of our two main characters, Violet and Aleksander. The former being a story of strong familial bonds, love, isolation, protection, and sacrifice, while the latter is of punishment, survival, obedience, and yearning for love and acceptance.

While Violet’s character ended up falling a bit flat for me, it was Aleksander who kept me enraptured in the story. Not exactly lovable, and almost not even likable. But his experience in the story made me FEEL on such a deep level. He certainly is not your typical knight in shining armor – he’s self-serving, unwilling to go down the dark stairwells first (or at all), and when faced with a chance to ‘slay the monster’, he hesitates. He is wonderfully real and complex and delightfully human – and I was thrilled to have a critically flawed character front and center.

The conclusion left me with many questions unanswered, but I feel that is the best part of a story like this. It’s meant to stay with you and make you think long after you put it down. It leaves endless potential for the characters to continue their stories in whatever way they choose – maybe they’ll find their happy endings with each other or maybe they’ll go in completely different directions. Who’s to say? The questions left unanswered contribute to the wonderous nature of the story.

My main notes from this book are that I wish the story went a little deeper -- it would have been a compelling character study rather than a strictly plot-focused book. Next, even though I believe it is being marketed as an adult fantasy, it reads more like a YA book with more dark/gory/macabre elements. I would’ve loved to see the characters aged up a few years to really get a grasp on the adult feelings and themes.

Overall, this was an incredible debut book and I look forward to seeing what else Georgia Summers creates.

Great for fans of Erin Morgenstern and Alix E. Harrow.

I would like to thank Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape and Netgalley for the for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A magical, imaginative story that traverses worlds but remains grounded with memorable characters. I think the pacing in the beginning could be improved—too many pages are wasted before the real story begins, with not enough exposition/world building. Because of the lack of world building, a tad confusing but you figure it out by the end. Even so, I was enthralled and I’m definitely curious what Summers will write in the future. Future work can only improve!

I was so excited for this; the cover is lovely and perfectly portrays the vibes of the story. I really wanted to love The City of Stardust, but I found it to be just okay. The prose was lovely; however from the beginning, I found it difficult to get into with the story with the alternating perspectives being somewhat confusing. There was a lot of dialogue throughout the book and much of the conflict, although ripe with secrets and betrayal, was told rather than being shown. I’m interested to see other books by this author because I did enjoy the world building and atmosphere.
Thank you to Net Galley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I DNF this book around the 20% mark. I am not really into books that are "just vibes" with hardly any plot, and from what I've read so far, I don't think this one will be for me. I liked the idea of another world and the author's descriptions were very magical.

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

A good story, great world building, and amazing characters. So glad I came across this book.

The City of Stardust is not quite like anything I have read lately, if ever, which has left me going back and forth on the rating. This debut is beautifully written, it's a bit like an urban fairytale that weaves magic with cruelty and ice. There are gods and monsters, doors to other worlds, generational curses, very broken people who will be 100% unlikable at times and questions upon questions upon questions. If you liked Locke and Key you might be interested in this!

I did struggle with a few aspects of The City of Stardust but I am glad I continued. I am going to be honest that I did not have a clue what was going on until about 60% and still more questions pop up...We spent a lot of time dancing around the problem and I struggled to clue into the purpose of it all. This is in third person which I usually prefer but I have never read a third person that I have felt SO disconnected from the characters, it truly felt like watching this play out especially with the abrupt changes in povs and scenes (I actually think this would make for an interesting screen adaptation). While we're on the topic of characters, they felt a little flat and I still don't have a good grasp on our main characters. This also is true for a lot of the world-building, magic systems, the gods, the scholars etc. It all felt a bit loosey-goosey sometimes and there were a few times where I felt like some plot holes existed but you know......I really recommend just leaning into the vibes here!

I haven't read the comparison books for this but as mentioned, I strongly agree that this runs a lot on atmosphere, but not in a feel-good cozy whimsical way (this book was pretty brutal at times). If you're like me and you're in the habit of reading a lot of romantasy and big multi-book fantasy series, this book is going to be like a polar plunge but I do think it's worth sticking out if you're curious about where the story goes. The romance was a very minuscule part of this though so if you're looking for that, you won't find it here.

I liked the way things concluded, there is a bit of an open door but I don't know if I see us returning in another book. I do think this is a winter read and one you probably need to be in the right mood for.

To the other dreamers out there!

I received an ARC via NetGalley and I am thankful for that! I choose this book due the cover as well as the description. While I haven't read The Starless Sea, I was still intrigued to read this.

The City of Starlight is a very magical and intriguing book. I was interested within the first chapter. I wish there was more to the story as I found it was lacking more in the world building as well as I feel it was kind of rushed in a way of the story line as I felt everything happened too quickly. I also felt it was super predictable towards then of the story. I felt that when Violet stated that she wouldn't ask Ever to give himself up multiples times, that he indeed would after the multiple mentions.

I did enjoy how Violet grew into herself as well as how she stood up for herself and for her family name. She was not going to fall to the debt that she didn't make if she didn't have to. She was determined to find out how to break that cure and save herself and her family.

I wish there was more to the story as well as more world building to help excel the story.

Violet's mother left her and ran away when she was 10 years old. She is forced to go on an adventure to find her mother and figure out why their family has a generations old curse placed upon them and stop the curse. If she does not, she has to go and be sacrificed in her mother place. She enters into the magical underworld of monsters, good/evil, scary creatures throughout the book. And then there is the quiet assistant, who she is unsure if she can trust or not.

This was a well written book. I did not like that the book took so long to get into the plot. Things started happening quick after about chapter 10 or so. This book was not for me based on that alone. But again, it was beautifully written and I was able to easily visualize the setting per Ms. Summers' vivid description.

I would like to thank NetGalley for allowing me early access to read The City of Stardust. These are my thoughts.

I really liked the whole idea of the story and everything it could’ve been. However, I felt that the story was extremely rushed and lacked a lot of detail to suck you in. It seemed to me that we only really saw the main events that happened in the story but none of the little stuff that leads up to these events that fill in the gaps.

The story takes place over 10 years, mainly focusing on the last year with Violet Everly. All of a sudden there was a year left and then it was 6 weeks with nothing talked about at all, really that happens in those months in between. I also didn’t enjoy how In the middle of a chapter the POV would change without fully finishing the previous scene. I also feel that when another characters POV is being told, a new chapter should be started or have something dividing the paragraphs like a little design or something to prevent initial confusion. That could just be personal preference however.

I felt that the whole magic part of the book and that side of the story was not really explained. Like I have the basic understanding kind of of the magic and the scholars, but I also don’t know anything about it really. I don’t really know the extent of what the magic can do or what the scholars really do either. That side of the book wasn’t dived into deep enough I felt at all.

The ending of the book felt extremely rushed and unfinished in a sense. It was just all of a sudden over and that’s that. None of the aftermath shown or just anything really. It was just done.

The book is told in third person which I can say I am not a fan of. I found it very hard to connect to the characters as I didn’t really know anything about any of them.

Overall it’s a really cool concept with alot of potential but in my opinion, poorly executed. I felt a little lost and confused majority of the time as it was super jumpy. I think it could have easily been a 600 page book, but it’s not so what can you do.

This is just my personal opinion and you may love the book, but it wasn’t for me unfortunately. :/

2.5⭐️

Despite an awesome prologue and a plot thread that has you itching to reach the conclusion, it's hard not to notice the characters' lack of urgency and a story that is mostly told through conversations.
Full review to come on YouTube.

The premise of a city filled with stardust and a curse to be broken was incredibly intriguing. The author begins this story with prose that made me gasp out of reverence and awe. The vivid descriptions of this world played like a masterful symphony that lure you in. I was wholly unprepared for the depths of darkness the antagonist would take us into. There were a few moments where the events on the page caused a visceral reaction, but I will not post any spoilers. Overall, I believe Georgia Summers can lead a masterclass on writing enchanting prose and thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in her words. I recommend this book if you are in the mood for a magical and twisted tale with flawed characters that will make decidedly human decisions which might be cowardly or self-serving.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the chance to read this book! I found it to be atmospheric, lush in prose, and imaginative. Some of the pacing felt quick, but I overall enjoyed the journey.

A gothic, dark mystery, woven in a strange, magical fairytale world.

This compelling story is told to us in short, beautifully written chapters, through multiple characters’ point of view, but in third person narrative, and that might be the reason that I couldn’t connect with the main characters as much. This threatened my interest in the book especially with the slow pacing in the first half of the story, but the amazing writing and the desire to unravel the mystery kept me going, and I’m glad I did as this ended up being one of the most interesting debut novels I’ve read in a while. The author’s talented description is so vivid it feels like I’m standing there with the characters, looking through their eyes, feeling with them, dreaming with them. I will definitely be looking forward to reading this authors’ future work.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for the E-ARC.

Please check the trigger warnings before reading as the story has some dark parts dealing with the abduction and violence against children.

I’m really mad about this, not because it was a bad book, but because it had SO much potential to be absolutely amazing.

The writing is STUNNING. Literally so good. It absolutely carried this book. The prose is amazing and detailed, and I loved the way everything was described.

The bad part? That’s the only good thing I can say about this. Everything else was just very mediocre.

The plot had great potential, with portal fantasy elements, a family curse, an elusive secret magic society largely based on academics, and its own made up mythology. These are all tropes I love, but it didn’t really go anywhere or do much. I still feel like I don’t know much about the magic system or worldbuilding or.. anything. I wasn’t invested in the story.

The characters were also very flat and boring. They still feel like strangers (both to me, and to eachother) after a whole 350-something pages. We don’t really have much of their internal monologue, so we don’t get a good idea of their personalities and thoughts.

I really wish it either leaned further into the vibes-only, whimsical vibe like The Night Circus did, or went the opposite direction and elaborated on the plot and worked on developing the characters more.

(thanks to Netgalley for the arc!)

Thank you Netgalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Traveling to different worlds, family curses, and monstrous gods, oh my. Kicking off 2024 with an urban fantasy debut novel and I had a blast despite some of the issues.

Let’s start with what I loved: The world building is definitely something fun and new, the plot was evenly paced, and I had so much fun with the dual POV adventures of Violet and Alexander.

What I liked: The globe-trotting aspect was really fun and added to the pacing to keep things fresh and moving. Violet is young, naive, and is willing to do what it takes to claim her life. Her quirky uncles were fun and loving supportive characters. The history of the Everlys and Penelope was very interesting and I wish there was more.

Now on to what I didn’t like: Alexander, poor kid, had a rough life and boy did he have quite the conflict on his hands. His journey, I feel, should have been more of the forefront than Violet. He had the more interesting, more complicated, and richer story. There are also quite a few plot holes that I just cannot ignore as well as a resolution that I wasn’t 100% satisfied with.

But overall, if you are looking for a fun, fast-paced, stand-alone urban fantasy, I suggest checking out The City of Stardust.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was unique and had likable characters. I wish there would have been a little more at the end. It felt like it was a lot of buildup to a little bit of a un-climactic ending

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Generations of the Everly family have been cursed and Violet Everly is doomed to the same fate. Except she’s not going down without a fight. Stepping into a realm filled with whimsy and horror, Violet must uncover the truth before her time runs out.

This book was written so beautifully and the opening gripped me within a few sentences. The prose flowed wondrously and wove a spellbinding tale of love, loss, adventure and betrayal. It explored the complexities of emotions and decisions- nothing is entirely as it seems at first glance. The characters were multifaceted and raw, which I loved. Summers’ takes you across the world (this one and others) with her scene description and I feel like I traveled to so many places inside these pages.

This was a slower read for me. While I felt invested in the protagonist and her journey, there were a couple of things that didn’t quite click with me. The POV changed mid chapter with no delineation of the change. I found myself frequently rereading a paragraph or even a whole page to find when it changed and who it changed to. It would often take me out of my rhythm and I struggled to get back in sometimes. There were a few side character plot points that felt unfinished to me. I kept waiting for them to come back into the story and was disappointed when they didn’t.

Overall, this book was a lovely mix of whimsical and dark. It’s richly textured and remains in your mind long after you finish. I can’t say enough about how fantastic the writing is and I can’t wait for more by Georgia Summers!

Thank you to NetGalley, Redhook and Orbit Books, and the immensely talented Georgia Summers for an ARC of this book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading and giving my honest feedback!

2/5 Stars

I DNF'D this book at 35% I really wanted to love this book. The synopsis sounds great and the cover is beautiful. This being said I couldn't not get into the book, I didn't care for the characters or even the plot. I felt bored most of the time that I read this book. I'm still very intrigued by the idea of this book. This may just be a case of it's me and not the book, and or reading at the wrong time. Again for whatever reason I just couldn't connect and hopefully I will pick this up in the future and love it but right now it just not working.

This book was beautifully written, giving lines that will speak to your heart and paint such a vivid image of what's happening. However, the POV changes mid-chapter made things a little confusing at times. The ending felt a little rushed and slightly incomplete. Overall I found the book to be interesting but overall just left me feeling confused and like I didn't get the whole story.