A great fantasy that keeps the reader engaged throughout.

You are meeting Violet at a young age, and hearing about the Everly curse early on. This book is about the different worlds that surround us, and the different people you can choose to be if needed. All the places you can visit with just a bit of this magical ore called Revuirite and a scholar's key are infinite.

Alexander is a lost child who is taken by an elder Scholar named Penelope. She raises him as her apprentice or assistant for majority of his life, and convinces him to befriend Violet Everly, in hopes of either capturing her or her mother Marianne, who has been missing since Violet was extremely young.

This book crosses rivers and an ocean, doors to new worlds and old, to find yourself within and to discover what it actually takes being the person you're meant to become.
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The City of Stardust was a beautifully whimsical fairytale of generational curses, vengeful monsters, and a strong-willed heroine taking control of her fate. The world building and magic system was unique; however, it lacked the emotional depth needed for me to connect with the characters.
The jump between POVs was hard to follow and added to my detachment from the storyline. While I wasn’t crazy was about the story itself, I was captivated by Summers’ writing style/ prose and I look forward to reading any future releases (fingers crossed for a prequel to go more in depth with this world).

I wholeheartedly agree with recommendation to fans of Laini Taylor, VE Schwab (specifically The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue), and The Night Circus.

This book was about a mysterious family curse and other worlds accessible by special key. Its mysterious air was nice at first, but there weren't enough other details or plot to keep me interested in reading. I made it 36% in before deciding to set it down. I need a bit more excitement to keep me reading a book. You may like this book if you like family mysteries, curses, and secret societies.

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Thanks again!

I think this is now one of my favorite books (and audiobooks) of all time.

I love the world, the magic, the characters, the villain, and the lyrical writing. This book was stunning from start to finish. I can’t wait to read this again.

This is a good book, I like the idea of the story and I like the writing. However, this book really isn't grabbing my attention or holding my interest. I may give it another try later.

A beautiful book but wasn’t my favorite. It felt a little too YA for my taste but it might be the perfect book for someone else!

I found this storyline to be extremely promising. The delivery of the story did impress. I liked how we received several narrators.
The way plots were explained and the time they were said were not my favorite. i found the first 66% of the book to be a loop of circles and the ending being wrapped up within 10 pages was lack luster.

An enchanting story of love and love lost - I particularly enjoyed the underworld and all of the characters. Will be watching this author!

I absolutely loved this book! The plot was amazing and it kept me turning the pages unti well into the night.

This book was magical and so fun to read! I loved this book and was a great YA fantasy! Thank you to netgalley!

This was a beautiful otherworldly tale of a girl who is of remarkable talent or power hidden away from someone who wishes to use her for their own agenda. The familial ties and relationships are incredibly dynamic and the magic system is like no other I’ve read before.

The City of Stardust is a book I really really wanted to love. I’ve been asking for more fantasy standalones because it’s nice to not always commit to another series with every new (to me) author. Sadly, this is another example where I think making it at least two books would’ve benefited the story more.

The book was divided into several parts and there was obviously a mystery from the start, but the first part felt too meandering to immediately get me invested. I liked the intros to the various POVs, which felt like a good selection of characters to tell this kind of story. Some of them featured more than others and I liked having some that we only saw here and there or maybe even only once.

The second part of the story hooked me more and by the third, I really needed to know what would happen to this world and its characters. The story felt like it had a more solid direction at this point, which made me feel much more invested.

The world Summers created was fascinating and beautiful. She gave enough detail to not distract from the story but to still allow me to imagine something amazing. The possibilities felt endless with the setup for her story and there were several things that I didn’t predict at all, which was really fun. I do think it would’ve been nice though to see a little more into the darkness of the scholars that was promised in the blurb. Just a little more emphasis there. I also found Aleksander’s ignorance in regard to his mentor surprising and that there wasn’t more uproar about the scholars’ habits.

My biggest criticism is that once again I felt the characters and their relationships were underdeveloped. To the point that I thought Violet might try something with a completely different person (my personal fave). The distance we felt to Penelope made sense because of who she was but I really wanted more from Violet and Aleksander. Their feelings took me by surprise because I didn’t think there was nearly enough development for that on page, which made the impact of her mixed feelings and trust feel off to me at times.

I did really enjoy the development of Violet’s feelings toward her mother though. This could’ve easily been a very predictable part of the overall story but instead took a much different direction.

Full of mysterious keys and doorways, peculiar secrets, dashed hopes, and unbreakable longing, I can see why this book might dazzle readers. While it didn’t land on my own favorites list, I’m still glad I finished it because I would’ve always wondered about Violet’s fate. The resolution felt fitting and while the prologue was once again too cheesy for me personally, I know a lot of people like that kind of closure at the end of a book.

I thought this book's concept was so interesting, and I liked the author's writing style, but I did end up quitting the book around 30% in, as I could not get into the story. I hope to continue some other time, though! :)

I ended up reading the finished copy of this book because I waited so long to read and review. I really had a great time reading this. It was whimsical and fun but also had some darker tones to the story. It was much more of a mystery focused story than I was expecting but I think that helped the suspense and pacing of the story. It was character focused and I think they were well developed. I easily connected with our main character and was swept up in her story.

I love the idea of a portal fantasy. And this book started out well with an intriguing prologue and quickly pulled me in and set the scene for the fascinating world and mystery-filled storyline that emerged. But ultimately, this storyline seemed somewhat disjointed and suffered from pacing issues and dragged out a little bit too long.

This novel has incredibly beautiful writing that keeps you immersed in the novel and constantly intrigued. However this novel can get confusing at times due to the lack of proper world building. The characters also felt flat due to the lack of character development. It was hard to feel much sympathy for the characters or feel connected to them since they were very two dimensional.

This book was magical! The whole thing from the beginning to end was ensnaring. The writing, the storytelling, the characters were complex and endearing. The only reason I give this book a lower rating was because after having finished it, I felt that not much happened the whole book until the very end. If your one that can just enjoy the journey of a fantasy book, I’d market more to that group. But for me, I needed a little more adventure. However, I really just enjoyed it immensely. The whole world building and plot was fantastical and so magical. What a world to live in, one with doors to the ends of the world.

I felt like this started of strong, but just didn't follow through as well as I'd hoped.
Violet Everly is the last in the line of the cursed Everlys. Her mother disappears, presumably to find a way to break the curse, but no one knows for sure as she she hasn't been heard from in years, so violet's uncles have been raising and protecting her. Violet discovers the existence of this curse rather abruptly, as it lands on her doorstep in the form of Penelope, who has come to claim her. She allows her uncles to keep her for ten more years, though it is never really explained why that is allowed, as Penelope happily destroys children at other points. Is Violet's blood stronger later?
Overall, a fun adventure, in a new sort of world.

I was so excited for this book, but ultimately was slightly disappointed. I didn't feel anything for the characters or their romance, and I felt that the plot was overall lacking. Sadly, this book wasn't as enthralling as it sounded. Still an enjoyable read.