I was pretty excited when I saw that this book was coming out this winter. Between the book description itself and the marketing team literally referencing “The Starless Sea,” it sounded a lot like books I’ve enjoyed in the past. I obviously always love portal fantasies, and I was also intrigued by the potential slow burn relationship hinted at within the summary. Well, I’ll say that it definitely lived up to my expectations of the former, if less so the latter.

I’ll be honest, it took a bit to become invested in this story. In the beginning, we meet a lot of different characters, all hinting at mysterious curses and histories that the reader knows nothing about. From there, the story proceeds to jump forward in time for different chapters for the first 15-20% of the book. At a certain point, even, I was pretty sure we’d finally landed on the time period in which the rest of the story would take place but…nope! Another jump was in hand! Once the story finally settled down a bit, moving forward in a more linear fashion and following Violet’s day-to-day exploits more actively, I found myself quickly drawn in.

I was also very impressed with the world-building and greater approach to characterization, especially of its side characters and villains. It is one of those books that has stories within stories, and as you go, you learn various versions of events and are left to piece together what exactly you think really took place. Even by the end, the book never feeds you easy answers about Violet’s family history and what really happened. The point, importantly, is that people are flawed, neither purely good or bad, and their actions will speak louder than anything else, so at a certain point, knowing the actions and results, some of the smaller details matter less.

Similarly, there was an equally nuanced look at some of the side characters and villains. There are many characters who you meet (or hear enough about to feel as if you’ve met) and who you recognize from other archetype characters you’ve seen in other books. With that comes a lot of assumptions about whether they are “heroic” or “villainous.” I was truly surprised with some of the massive swings my opinions of some of the characters went through, often ending up nowhere near where I was expecting, either liking or disliking character who I’d expected to feel the opposite towards. Similarly, the villain of this story is truly evil at many points. But the book goes out of its way to, not justify her, but to explain some of her own tragedy. Of course, this character is still responsible for their actions, some of them truly horrific, but it’s not left as easy as hating them for just being a “bad guy.”

All of that said, this was one of those strange situations where I ended up more interested in the side characters and villains than in the two main characters themselves. For her part, Violet came across as incredibly naïve for much of the book. She does have an interesting arc, especially her relationship with her uncles and her missing mother, and I was pleased that towards the end of the book, she didn’t simply let people she loved off the hook for their bad treatment of her. But she was still fairly frustrating for the first half of the book, which is always a bit tough to deal with from a main character.
And then Aleksander. Here was a character who had a lot of potential, especially with a deeper look into the primary relationship in his life, an abusive, manipulative one with his parent/mentor. But as he is the secondary character in what is clearly Violet’s story, his story was often even more frustrating. We would get small brushes of what his life looked life, but not enough to truly understand all of his choices. And, as it stands, it left him as a fairly unlikeable character for much longer than I was expecting. There came a point around the halfway point of the book where I felt we were finally making progress, but nope! It still took a good while longer for him to have an awakening to his reality and adjust his relationships appropriately.

All of this left the romance in a very uncomfortable place: in that the time spent between these two was always filled with betrayal, lies, and disillusionment. There is such a brief window at the very end to see any interactions between these two that read as a true moment in their relationship. It was one of those cases where I feel like the book might have done better pairing down the romance all together. As it stands, it felt like the love story was jammed in around the edges of an already emotionally packed story.

However, those quibbles aside, I still very much enjoyed this story! The writing was strong and compelling, and I think if you make it past the rather disjointed first bit, it quickly draws you in. I loved the portal fantasy aspects of it all, especially the magical histories between these worlds. And most of the characterization was nuanced and deep, though the two main characters were notably a bit lacking. Overall, if you enjoy portal fantasies or books like “The Starless Sea,” yes, this might be one worth checking out!

Rating 8: Full of magic and mystery, this book beckons you to dive into strange worlds, quickly becoming lost in curses and doorways.

(Review will go live Jan. 31 on The Library Ladies.)

I gotta say, I really liked this book. I love a POV book but I’m used to being told who is talking. But in Stardust the POV just switches on you. It caught me off guard at first and then I was sold. I absolutely loved how it flowed that way. You were moving through time and space like you’re watching a movie. You dont need to be told who is talking because Summers has developed the characters so well that you immediately know who it is. The story is an intriguing read and it kept me interested the entire time. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen or how it would end. You saw all the realms and in betweens and the home her uncles lived - just great writing I tell ya!

It feels very meta and very different from the usual. It might have a little trouble finding its readers, but I do think readers looking for something new will be delighted. The writing flows well and the third-person present tense isn’t as jarring because the style is not as narrative. I stopped after chapter 1 (5%), but I can see this being three to four stars for the target.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook for the ARC.

Thank you to #RedhookBooks and #NetGalley for a free copy of #TheCityOfStardust by #GeorgiaSummers to read in exchange for an honest, spoiler free review.

If you’re a fan of authors that write in lyrical, ethereal, poignant, and flowery prose, then you may be a fan of this book! In the vein of Laini Taylor and Erin Morgenstern, Georgia Summers weaves a tale of a child cursed by a fallen star and her journey to find her missing mother in a desperate bid to lift that curse.

Imagine a world made of literal stardust, and Gods from the stars themselves walking amongst those living there. Now imagine that world, and those fallen star gods, are not as benevolent as you’ve grown to believe. The city is magical, in so many dangerous ways. Imagine further still that same city, and it’s fallen star leader, is counting down the moments until it can claim your life as a result of a curse dating back thousands of years. That is The City of Stardust by Georgia Summer.

I recommend picking up this book if that premise sounds intriguing to you! I would avoid this book if you’re someone who needs a pretty little bow on the end of every book you read. This book does a wonderful job of leaving a lot of endings up in the air, with a gentle nudge in directions for where certain characters may (or may not) have ended up.

Unfortunately this book was not for me.

For the synopsis I was hoping for a magical story similar to those of Laini Taylor or Erin Morgenstern, but it fell short. I did enjoy the writing style - it was descriptive and whimsical, but I felt that it hindered the story more than enhanced it. The writing focused more on describing the atmosphere than developing the characters. I never felt connected to our main character Violet and questioned her motivations and abilities. She was often too trusting and naive. I was taken out of the story wondering why or how things were happening rather than being immersed in the story. The plot really doesn't feel to develop until the last 20% of the the book, but even then I was left with more questions than answers.

The idea for this book was great, it just did not hit as well as it could for me. It's not a book I can recommend, but I'm sure there is a reader that will enjoy the book for the writing style alone.

Rated 2 stars. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC ebook.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Everly family is cursed for a reason no one knows other than a debt is owed to a mysterious woman named Penelope. In each generation, the most talented Everly is taken by Penelope and never seen again. Marianne was supposed to be the next one but she vanishes in search of breaking the curse, and she leaves her child Violet behind. When Violet is older, Penelope gives the Everlys a deadline of 10 years to either find her mother or Violet will be the next in line to be taken. Violet, instead, tries to find a way to break the curse herself. In her quest, Violet learns about a new magical world and finds herself drawn Aleksander, Penelope’s assistant. Can she find Marianne or break the curse in time?

Overall, I felt like this book held a lot of promise but it fell a little flat for me. I was really intrigued by the premise, and it started really strong with beautiful and descriptive writing. The world building was unique and interesting, but it was a bit difficult to follow. The story dragged a bit in the middle, but it got more interesting in the last third of the book. I had a difficult time connecting with the romance. To me, Violet’s character felt a little flat, whereas Aleksander had a lot of depth, though his depth was based in a LOT of trauma.

If you like a more mysterious standalone fantasy with unique magical world, this could be a great read for you!

Thank you to Redhook & Georgia Summers for the ARC so that I may provide an honest review.

My Rating: ✨✨✨✨✨
Reading Time: 4 hours

I was not expecting this level of a hit this early in the year. This is definitely a story that sticks with you and is impossible to describe without massive spoilers.

While reading, I think if you are looking for a more mature writing style of Mary E Pearson & Stephanie Garber, while in a slight urban fantasy? This is PERFECT.

I am shocked at how invested I was in this story- it's fantastic, whimsical, tragic while exploring the idea of responsibility and running from actions. I genuinely have no critiques.

The City of Stardust lured me in with the sparkle of a golden key (on the cover) and a description promising a tale of magic debts, a hidden [under]world, and an abandoned girl in search of answers and her mother. The story is told in third person and with several perspectives but mainly that of the protagonist, Violet Everly. At the start of the story, Violet is a child who was abandoned by her mother to be raised by her uncle, sheltered and unaware of any of the magic that surrounds, or more accurately curses, her family. The story revolves around her discovery of this magical world and her attempt to undo the curse. There are a number of time jumps in the narrative, some that work well with the story and a few that feel a bit awkward. The magic system was interesting and the world building was absorbing. I would have liked a bit more character development or more in the way of interactions between several of the main characters that would explain key aspects to the plot and its resolution. The prose is fair for ya, easy to quickly read. Overall, this was an intriguing story and I'd recommend it to someone looking for a standalone YA fantasy that is more about magical family drama than romance. (3.5/5)
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Redhook Books) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Thank you to @netgalley and @redhookbooks / @orbitbooks_us for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read this book early for my honest review.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that just did not work for me in this book, despite a very promising premise and comparisons to books I either REALLY liked or loved--The Starless Sea, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Ink Blood Sister Scribe. And this had elements that I usually really love--a family cursed, mysterious disappearances, angry gods, and a secret society guarding secrets to other worlds. I found the execution of these elements incredibly lacking. The execution can be boiled down to 3 things: poor character development, flimsy world-building, and inconsistent pacing.

We'll start with our main character, Violet Everly. Her family is cursed, and once a generation an Everly must die. Throughout the book, we see a few iterations of the fairy tale that winds up with the Everlys being cursed, but regardless of the originations, the Everlys are cursed. Despite following her for the entire book, I developed no emotional connection to Violet and her motivations as a character are really unclear. She goes from trying to find her mother, who has been missing since Violet was a child, to trying to break her family's curse and giving up on finding her mother altogether. Despite being introduced to Violet as a child, her personality really never changes as she grows up. She is overprotected by her uncles, whom she lives with since her mother is missing, and proceeds to go on a rambling adventure where she meanders from place to place with really no purpose or character growth along the way.

As for the world, I could literally not tell you how the magic system in this world works. The writing is really pretty, but it served no purpose in telling me how this secret society works or the importance of keys or doors or reveurite or anything works. I read the whole book and I don't understand it. I'm really not sure if that's because it was never explained or because my brain got so distracted by the flowery writing along the way that I glossed over it and miss the point. Either way, I'm dinging the book in execution on this one. If I can't understand the world that is the backdrop of a fantasy novel, we are straight up not having a good time. I admittedly really love world-building and having deep, intricate understanding of the world and politics that make up the work that I'm reading. I also think the lack of world-building contributed to my feelings on the character development and the pacing because there was no groundwork laid to establish the stakes.

Which leads us to the inconsistent pacing--I FLEW through the first 50% of this book, like I read it in one day, practically in a single sitting. At that point I thought to myself "damn, the vibes are vibing, this book is THAT GIRL" WRONG!! After that first half, the book fizzled out entirely. Violet wanders from place to place, and by the time I got to the last 10% of the book I was just skimming begging for it to be over and to be put out of my misery. Not to mention that the whole book is riddled with plot holes--the major one being that an Everly a generation must die and that Violet's mother is missing…..but that Violet's mother had 2 brothers who raised Violet who could have fulfilled that generation of the curse….I digress.

This was not my favorite book I've ever read. It's clear that the author has a lot of talent to put together really beautiful sentences and this cover is a banger…but that's really the only kudos I can give to this book. Off to read something else and scrub this one from my memory.

Thank You to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC copy of The City of Stardust in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, did I want to love this story. I had very high hopes going in and it just did not deliver. I almost gave this one a DNF.

The writing style of the story is wonderful; beautiful prose. But the use of flowing prose really just took away from the story for me. It felt like the meat of the story was left behind in favor of a flowy writing style that really left me disappointed when the story, in my opinion, wasn't explored as fully as it could have been.

I found the pace of the story to be somewhat off putting, with random flashbacks and additions to the story that seemed unnecessary to the overall plot. I also felt like there might have been some plot holes (why was she looking for a key when Gabriel had one all along?). There was also a glaring broadcast of what was going to happen at the end of the story during the portion where they were having their cards read. Just....*face palm*

And really, my greatest disappointment was Violet and Alexsander's story and their love, just kind of being skimmed over. I'm not even sure I know who they are as characters except that they are there to drive a wobby plot. I wanted to love them and there story. I just didn't.

Again, I wish I could have loved this story more than I did. I've given it 4 stars, but it's really more like 3.5

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book in advance of its release in trade for my honest review. I appreciate it.

Fast...slow...fast...slow. That’s how I felt reading this book. I wanted to love it, but in the end I felt like I didn’t get any overall satisfaction from the book. It takes place between fantastical worlds and the current world, but the world building of the fantastical worlds wasn’t gratifying. It’s like the details were place in the wrong places. Just when some action is about to take place, it fades to black and we only get a truncated version from someone’s recollection of the events. It just fell flat for me. The magic system could be unique but wasn’t explained well so I’m still not sure what all was going on there. Releases January 30th, but I’m not enamored enough with it to tell you to rush to get it.

I wanted The City of Stardust to be better than it was.

Stardust has been compared to The Night Circus and Addie LaRue, so I knew I had to pick it up. And while Stardust has many magical elements similar in feel to those two books, it has its own unique magic system that I'm not sure I completely understand, but I think that's okay. Summers does a fantastic job of creating an ordinary world where a magic doorway could lie just around the corner, but only if one has the talent to open the door. Likewise, the city of Fidelis sounds like a truly amazing place, although there is obviously much more to explore than we get to see.

However, and perhaps because the world building feels so thorough, the characters feel a bit lacking. Violet is our leading lady, but we get to see so little of her personality outside of loving fairy tales, wanting to go on adventures, and missing her mother. Our MMC, Aleksander, is the same; he's devoted to Penelope, but he's conflicted, although not enough to do much about it. There is certainly much more to both these characters, and while more development may not be absolutely necessary for the plot, I need more to really connect to either of them.

The other aspect of Stardust that I really like is that it's not all magic and fairy tales. There are some truly brutal and horrific moments, and although some of the worst of them occur off the page, there are plenty of skin-crawling descriptions included, and even the mention of the off-page events are awful. Summers really makes you feel the cost of the character's choices, especially when the main characters are playing against someone who isn't afraid to truly do whatever it takes to get what she wants.

So although I didn't love it, The City of Stardust is still a good book. I could certainly read it again and glean things I missed before and be happy about the experience, but as it is, the vibrant setting and unique magic system don't outweigh the lack of depth in the leading characters.

A stand-alone fantasy with a little romance along the way. I was so hyped up for this book and could not wait to start reading it. It started off so well but about half way through that changed for me. I think I was really expecting something else from this book based off of the synopsis. The world was very interesting to me but I found a few parts of the story towards the end to be confusing for me. I will say that I really enjoyed the relationship between Violet and her uncles and loved reading about them. Overall, the plot kept me invested in the book and I had to keep reading to see how everything ended!

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When they said this was perfect for fans of addie larue, they weren't lying. The prose in this novel is gorgeous, the voice is unique, and the plot captivating. If you're looking for magical realism with gorgeous writing and a side of suspense, The City of Stardust is absolutory the book for you.

My only complaint was that the characters didn't feel as personable as I would have liked. One of the primary reasons I love The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue so much was the way I felt so emotionally connected to each of the characters, and The City of Stardust didn't give me those same feelings.

----4.25/5

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I personally enjoy books that don’t start out slow and take time to build. I was intrigued straight out the gate with this! By page 28 my head was swimming with questions in the way that made it impossible to put down. The author put just enough information the the initial dialauge that it felt like I was missing something but it kept me reading to see if the next chapter would answer my burning questions. It was just enough mystery to keep me engaged but not so much missing information that I felt confused or lost. The pacing in Part One was incredible.

The split between Part One and Part Two could have used a better segway. It felt a little rushed and like I missed out on critical information that got specifically Violet from point A to point B. This part of the story could have been expanded on a little more, I would have loved to see how she was able to learn all that she did for her adventure!

Part Three and Four felt rushed, the pacing that was steady through Part One and Two seemed to be put on a fast tracked to fit everything in.

I wish there had been more character development for Violet specifically. I felt more drawn to Ambrose and Aleksander and was more intrigued by their story than hers as the story went.

Choosing to love yourself before you can choose to have a relationship, romantic or platonic is something I hardly see in a novel and I do think it was done SO well here.

Overall, the book is one I will recommend and the prose throughout are absolutely beautiful. The mystery was intriguing and the love story took unexpected turns that kept me hooked! This was one I had to sit with a while after I finished to really process, there was so much that happened but the ending was so poetic and beautiful.

This book is everything I love in a fantasy! Hidden magical societies is how I fell in love with fantasy books and this one does it so well! Learning the history of the star gods made me excited to keep picking this book up. My only wish is that it was longer because some parts seemed so fast to me.

This was so good. I loved the lush writing. I was completely consumed by the Everlys. I just couldn’t put the book down. I’m so excited to order a physical copy.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

I’m 25% into this book and it’s extremely engaging! I’ve not encountered the premis outside of maybe the lion witch and wardrobe but the mechanics of getting there is where the similarities end. What I have read I give 4 stars as without the ending I can’t fully rate this boon but what I’ve read I love!! DNF

What an incredibly original and unique story! The author’s prose is one of a kind, and the use of flashbacks and different perspectives truly helped to world build and develop the plot so well! I really enjoyed this read and learning more about this unique magical talent system. I would highly recommend this to those looking for a well written standalone fantasy read!

Perfect for fans of The Starless Sea, this whimsical, mysterious fantasy will have you intrigued and excited for exploring other worlds within this story with it's mystical creatures, curious characters and flowery writing style.

For me, this book started slow, slowly gained traction to the point where I was thinking about it every time I had to put it down, and then slowly turned into a disappointment for me. And here's why:

The setup for this book is great! Magical keys, a mother in search of a cure for the curse, a daughter dreaming of other worlds and a nightmare waiting for her time to collect. It truly gives me such The Starless Sea vibes but with less confusion. Unfortunately the delivery is what lacks for me.

There is so much time spent with the characters trying to figure stuff out that I thought the ending would have more of a grand reveal, and that all the build up would be worth it. There's searching and betrayal and mysterious creatures, and characters we meet along the way, but none of that helps in the end. At all. The plot just happens to the character's, so why did I spend so much time waiting for the characters to figure stuff out when it doesn't even matter?

Our love interest could be described as an enemies to lovers, but he flew a little to close to the enemy part of this relationship to the point where I wasn't even rooting for them in the end, I was so mad at all his decisions.

We are given lore sprinkled in throughout this story, a fairytale told different ways that we aren't sure which story really is true, which sets our premise up perfectly as we are trying to find a way to break the curse that this fairytale originates from. Our build-up to this climax starts strong and then just loses so much traction with the plot holes riddled in this book. To the point when during the epilogue I had to look up if this book was in a series because I was still confused and had so many questions.

I wouldn't recommend this book, unless this book somehow becomes one of a series, I think there is too much world-building for such a short story that leaves so many unanswered questions with an anti-climatic ending.