3.5 🌟This is a whimsical, lyrical story that's definitely an ode to the book lover. If you were drawn to the premise of The Starless Sea this is the kind of story for you. The story is a bit hard to fully immerse into because it's told in 3rd person but the prose makes up for that!

While I really enjoyed the premise behind this book and the almost mythological aspects, I found this book to be a bit disappointing. I simply couldn't get behind any of the characters, although the characters were very fleshed out. I definitely couldn't find myself liking Aleksander, as he was simply a coward. While Aleksander was clearly abused and had a right to be a coward, I was hoping he would step out of line a little bit sooner and stand up to Penelope.

I also thought this book may have went on a little too long. While the premise was nice, it was slightly repetitive as Violet was constantly trying to escape Penelope's grasp. I did enjoy the parts where she was piecing together where her mom went.

While this book wasn't for me, this book could be for fantasy lovers. I just won't be reading it again.

I am giving this a 3 star rating mostly because I felt the story was hard to follow. I felt like I needed more story building of Fidelis and the “elsewhere”. I was captivated within each chapter and it made me want to read more, but then I felt like the next chapter was either confusing or it switched completely. For me as a reader, I needed more to be explained outright or at least to have more world building. I also felt like there was too much back and forth between characters views within the same chapter. It took me a second to realize I was now Aleksanders point of view instead of Violet or Penelope.

With that said, I loved Violet as a character. I felt like the author was able to portray her emotions perfectly so I could feel them as well. That is what kept me coming back to the book.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

The City of Stardust is so beautifully written. It was a pleasure to read the words.

I heard comparisons to Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Starless Sea. These comparisons are very much in line with my experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

There is always a mess, or a curse when a mortal and a god make a deal. Is it a weakness if the mortal reneges? Or viciousness when the god (in this case an astral) tries to complete the deal so that they can find their way home? Both of those are answered in this story full of stardust that can be molded by mysterious scholars and doorways with keys that can take you almost everywhere. Plus there is a girl, named Violet, out searching for the truth, her mother, and a way to break the terrible curse that will cost her her soul. While I did like the journey that Violet took, I wish there had been more time spent on the history of Fidelis, the astrals (why were certain ones chained up? little questions like that) and the forging of the items of stardust (more details about what Ever Everly made). Still, it was a fun book to read, lots of magic and adventure and of course stardust to make it all run. I would not mind reading more about this world/worlds and I hope Aleksander can rebuild those doors! This would make an excellent sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this book for me to read an review.

Magical and lyrical, I heartily enjoyed The City of Stardust. I gladly took my Christmas break to take my time and enjoy the book, though I wanted to stay up all night and finish it in one go.

I will not say this is a perfect book—the pacing in particular is very uneven throughout the book and the author suffers from that writerly trait particular to fantasy authors where they feel as though they must confusingly drop you in media res and then not explain anything for several chapters— but it was an excellent pick to begin 2024 with. Summers’ writing was fluid and lush and very engrossing.

With shades of Erin Morgenstern and VE Schwab, I look forward to more of this author’s future efforts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the ebook ARC. All opinions are mine alone.

THE CITY OF STARDUST by Georgia Summers is a contemporary adult fantasy debut with city-hopping, a cursed family, a greedy cosmic power, and a magic system that involves the manipulation of star metal to make keys. I loved the unconventional narrative style that makes the read atmospheric, and the first half showcases the author's way with words well. I did enjoy the way the Everly family history is almost mythologized.

Unfortunately, the elements didn't tie together, the book has pacing issues, the romance is unconvincing, and the resolution feels extremely anticlimactic. If this was edited better, or even made into two books, it wouldn't have been an underwhelming read.

Full review to come on the blog.

🔑 The City of Starlight by Georgia Summers 🔑

Do you not hear the stars sing, little dreamer?

*Netgalley ARC review*
Wow. I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. What an absolute treasure of a debut for Georgia Summers.
This book had it all and it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It’s got magic, mystery, adventure, love, betrayal, family, a curse, keys and doors to new worlds, and a really good (bad) villain. This book is dark. Definitely evokes a very Grimm’s fairytale vibe at its heart, very dark with myths and lore and stories passed down of gods and truly dark monsters. Violet Everly was such a compelling main character and I loved watching her finally get the adventure she’d always dreamed of, even if it was more dark and twisty than she’d imagined. The side characters that pop in and out of the story are perfect and add so much flavor. This is a gorgeously written and beautifully crafted story that weaves its own fairytale among the different threads within its pages. An excellent standalone novel that grabbed my attention from the very start and never let go.



Thank you so much to @netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book was enchanting, but a little hard to follow at times.

Violet Everly was hidden away as a child. Her mom walked out, and her uncles did their best to keep her cared for, but isolated. She had questions, but no answers. The Everlys had long been cursed, and when she's discovered, Violet is next in line to meet their dark fate.

When Violet starts to learn some of the secrets that have been kept from her - a whole society of revered Scholars, in a world away known as Fidelis - she sets out on her own to find her mother. To find answers, and to break the curse and save her life.

Aleksander, the chosen assistant to Penelope, the woman who's in charge of the Scholars and the most feared and respected in Fidelis, should have an honored position. But it comes with a price - as does not meeting Penelope's exacting standards. When he meets Violet, he's torn between helping her, or carrying out his orders.

The world building is good - Fidelis is a dream land that you want to explore even more. There's a lot of history, myths and legends that have distorted over time, so no one knows the true story anymore. While this storyline definitely reaches it's conclusion, I'm left with a lot of questions - I want to know more of the history, to find out what really happened in the past, and how Fidelis was developed into what it became. I want to know more about Marianne, will we ever actually get to meet her? To understand her reasoning, and what she found in her research and travels?

I hope there's another book set in this universe, there's definitely the potential for one! I'm sure if a second book does come out, it will make this one such a pleasurable re-read - to get to see all the hints here and there that have been left!

Thank you to the publishers through NetGalley for this ARC!

I absolutely loved this book! Georgia Summers' debut novel "The City of Stardust" is a mesmerizing foray into dark academia, blending a rich tapestry of magic, curses, and family legacy. Set against a backdrop of cutthroat scholars and a secret society of magicians, the story follows Violet Everly’s desperate quest to break a centuries-old family curse and save her mother. While the book garners praise for its lush world-building and haunting narrative, reminiscent of "The Atlas Six" and R.F. Kuang’s "Babel." Summers’ enchanting prose and the novel's exploration of themes like sacrifice, love, and betrayal make it a compelling read for fans of contemporary fantasy and dark academia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the opportunity to read rate and review this Arc which is available January 30,2024!!!

I have never read a book like this before. The premise is intriguing. It’s a contemporary fantasy that has portal fantasy, a magical world on top of a “real” world with hints of academia vibes, a familial curse or rather a debt a family has to pay and no one knows why and a romantic sub plot.

The writing style though I had an issue with. It was too lyrical. I was wholly invested in Violet Everly and Aleksander, especially Aleksander he was really interesting to me. But the prose and writing style felt like it pulled me in then spun me out like a weird dance.

Honestly I am glad I read it but I don’t know how I feel about it. It was such a weird ride but not in a bad way.

I think others need to read it though. It really is a unique tale.

The City of Stardust is a perfect read for fans of Erin Morgenstern, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, and Lore by Alexandra Bracken. It’s great for readers who half hope some door will open into a fantasy world. I found myself enchanted by this world, though it was sometimes hampered by character development and poor pacing.

There is a sense of urgency instilled when Violet is told that she is running out of time. When she’s a kid, Penelope promises to take Violet as compensation for a curse as a stand-in for her mom, who has disappeared. That urgency quickly falls away because years pass and nothing happens. We don’t even get insight into Violet’s growth and change. Then it’s a year until the curse is due to complete and still nothing seems to happen. Violet is exploring the world and talking to scholars, learning more about Fidelis and her mother, sure. But she’s not achieving anything with regards to the curse and the time flies by, with the reader getting little insight. Had the story gone into further depth, described what Violet was seeing even in the less important moments, I feel it would have felt deeper and more immersive. Also, it seems that Penelope won’t collect on the curse until Violet is older and yet Violet doesn’t get to leave the house all the same? Penelope knows about Violet and knows who she is, yet Violet’s uncles keep her in the house. She could have gone to school, had a life outside of the house, and Penelope would have ignored her. It was never said that if Penelope saw Violet again, she would just take her away. Why did she have to live such an insular life? And then Violet doesn’t resent her uncles for this isolation, at least not in any proper kind of way.

I loved Aleksander the most and very much enjoyed his point of view. I feel they added much needed depth to Violet and the worldbuilding, as told through the eyes of someone who is quite used to the magic and yet still finds it astounding. He latched onto Penelope like she was a mother, though she was anything but, and he suffered for it. And yet he still kept coming back. He didn’t know better and turned a blind eye to her evil doings, preferring to seek the title of a scholar and all the respect that title would gain. His story and motivations were much easier to understand and empathize with that Violet’s.

We are thrown into this world of magic and gods, but given little explanation for how they exist or who they are. I feel the layout of the universe needed more explanation early on in the book, rather than at the end, when it felt like things began to actually come together and make sense, but in an almost too little, too late kind of way.

I will be keeping an eye out for more books by Georgia Summers. I feel with time, her writing can only improve.

This book will surely sweep people off their feet! The whimsical writing, the mysterious fantasy world, traveling through doorways to new places, it has everything you could want in a fantasy book. All wrapped up into a standalone.
After reading, I would say that this is a good introduction to the fantasy or magical realism genre. It’s fast-paced, the writing is nice but also simple, the plot interesting. For new readers, I would recommend.
For me however, I lost the love for this book very quickly. When I started, I was sucked into the plot and very pretty writing. It sounded so intriguing and I was already so exited to keep reading. But then I noticed some storylines being forgotten, time and money are irrelevant (which really threw me off), the main characters lacked chemistry, and things becoming so clear and obvious that it was more annoying when the main character didn’t solve the issues sooner.
All of the whimsical disappeared and was replaced by annoyance in the end.
I wish I could say that I loved this book, it definitely had promise! But it fell flat and I was only left with disappointment.

I really liked the premise of the book, however, I felt that it was a bit too slow at times and I had a hard time finishing the book because of this. I liked Violet as a character but she sometimes felt a little too flat. On the other hand, I feel like Summers did a wonderful job at displaying the toxic relationship between Aleksander and Penelope: the power imbalance, the grooming, the trauma. It was all very well done.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Violet Everly has been under a curse she doesn't understand her whole life. Her mother disappeared when she was ten, and she never knew her father. Her uncles have been raising her, but they aren't very forthcoming about the bits of strangeness she's seen at the edges of the world. She's scrambling for clues not just about where her mother might be but why--and what else might be going on.

There's a young man about her own age she's only met a few times, Aleksander, who has a different set of clues than she does, but he's still fumbling around the edges of a greater truth, in the face of older, more powerful people keeping him on the periphery. Violet and Aleksander have to determine whether they can be friends--allies--even more--or whether they will be forever at cross-purposes.

The title is, alas, only slightly apropos. This book has a lot in common with the subgenre known as dark academia, although the existence of people known as scholars doesn't mean that the academy is playing a significant part. There is a dark glittering vividness to it, and yet the periphery is very vague, this is not a deeply worldbuilt book. There's a lot of our own world, and only as much fantasy as the plot requires. It was a fast and entertaining read but didn't leave me thinking of it much after.

This was lovely!! Beautifully written with a fascinating mythology, very reminiscent of The Starless Sea if a little more disjointed at the beginning, but I enjoyed it nonetheless

4 stars. The City of Stardust is one of the most unique fantasy reads I've read in a while. This is a story of gods and monsters and curses, and a magic system that allows its wielders to travel between words. As much as I appreciated the plot and magic system, the best part about The City of Stardust was the writing itself. It was lyrical and poetic and kind of reminded me of Erin Morgenstern's writing style a bit (which is meant to be a huge compliment). In addition to the magic, there is a bit of a romance, but my favorite scenes were actually the scenes between Violet and her uncles. Even though the family scenes were heartwarming, I would definitely qualify this as dark fantasy, with the caveat that some parts of this were actually quite gory or macabre. I would say that The City of Stardust is pretty fast paced, but also a little bit confusing. I still don't know 100% what happened, and I also still have a ton of questions. Needless to say, although there is an ending, parts of it felt a little open ended. All in all, I really enjoyed this and absolutely recommend, especially for readers that enjoy the prose as much as plot.

Thank you so much to Summers, Orbit/Redhook, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you enjoyed The Starless Sea, or you like secret societies, scholars and twisted mysteries and magic!

What an absolute magical and mind-blowing read! I went into reading this book knowing nothing and how wise it was for me! I enjoyed everything in it, devoured the story in 2 days (which is huge for my busy mama life).

We are introduced to a world where talented people are able to manipulate star-metal to their benefit and create keys to travel with. There is a city they call home,a remnant of the once known world to magic, where scholars live and gather: that has everything to do with young Violet’s mother and her disappearance. A debt is due to paid and we follow Violet and her uncles competing against time and against powerful people, while also following Violet chasing her mother’s steps across the globe and her promise.

There are so many wonderful characters and essential pathways crossing in the wrong or the exact perfect time, which makes this story even more compelling! The magic of the stars is absolutely incredible, the inclusion of celestial gods and their stories adds that unique unknown feeling to the world.

It is hauntingly beautiful, grabs so many emotions from different perspectives: grief, hope, desperation, vengeance and new beginnings.

Are you ready to unlock a world of scholars and monsters, mysteries and star-magic? If yes, grab your travel key and turn to page 1 in the new year!

Thank you so much for the publisher the author, and now the galley for the advanced reading copy my thoughts are my own.

Did I like this? Not like this? I'm not sure.

The City of Stardust read almost like a cross between Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy for its gods and fairy tales, which most characters aside from the protagonist no longer believe in. And Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea for its dreamy, somewhat plotless vibe and obsessive scholar searching for a lost city. And Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer, which also has lost gods, obsessive scholars searching for a lost city, and a dreaminess — but unlike Starless Sea, shares sharper edges with City of Stardust.

As with so many of my recent reads, our protagonist acted too much like a teenager for me, fiercely rebelling against she felt were unreasonable strictures and feeling she knew best, though she's 21/22 for much of the story and this is marketed as an adult book.

I wish more of the back story / mythology of the astrals, Fidelis, reveurite, Elandriel had been explained, too. This book is a standalone, which I appreciate — we need more non-series books to get published! — but that and the dreamy vibe meant that we don't get answers to many questions. The secondary characters aren't fully realized: Ambrose is the overprotective scholarly uncle, Gabriel the cool mystery uncle, etc. We keep reading that "Everlys stick together" but see little evidence of this historically or, in some cases, in the present day. Many question marks remain for me.

Well-written, sometimes
slow, still fun. Some people have
Imaginations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



(I write haiku reviews on Instagram but am happy to provide more feedback, if desired.)