I wanted to love this book. The cover is gorgeous and the writing is so beautiful but I found that the world building was too much and the story was not paced in a way that I enjoyed.

I did love the writing. It reminded me of The Night Circus and I found myself very drawn in by the beginning of the story. By around the halfway mark, I found myself a bit bored of the story and wanted more action.

The romance was SUPER slow burn and while it was nice, it was also somewhat forgettable.

I didn’t dislike this book but I struggled to finish it and I wouldn’t read it again. However, I would read more from this author.

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Perhaps this is just a me thing, but The City of Stardust gives me very strong Night Circus or Starless Sea vibes, and that is a massive compliment to this book.) Violet Everly wants nothing more than to break a centuries-long curse that claims one of her family members per generation and to find her mother in the process. There were a lot of cool ideas in this book, and most of them were extremely well-executed. I just somehow wanted more from the story as a whole.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book but ultimately felt the plot was just too slow. I had a hard time connecting to the characters. The overall plot is definitely more character driven as opposed to plot which is not usually my ideal flow. I also had a hard time feeling like the relationship and feelings between to the two main characters and love interest was genuine. Given everything that happens it didn't seem likely they would end up together. The Georgia Summer has a a beautiful writing style and I loved all her prose. I was easily able to picture the world and felt immersed into the story. I would definitely pick up a future book by the author.

Quick Synopsis

Violet Everly must insert herself into a world of magic and power hungry scholars in order to break a generations long curse before she is taken to pay the debt her family must pay.

My Review

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. The story was okay but it took me a while to get into, which is not normal for me. I liked the plot, but I feel like there could have been more done with it. The characters were likeable. There was a big time skip where the main character didn’t do anything. The villain origin story was the best part for me. This book was not bad, I just didn’t find it interesting. It was well written however I would not recommend it to others. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The City of Stardust follows a young lady by the name of Violet Everly. Violet carries a curse. Her whole family is actually cursed. What Violet doesn’t know is, she may be the last Everly in her family to carry it. At a young age Violet meets a very beautiful and studious woman named Penelope and her boy assistant Aleksander when they are invited into her home by her uncle. Penelope is looking for Violet’s missing mother, Marianne. Ambrose and Gabriel, Violet’s uncles, have been searching for her also but to no avail. Penelope delivers an ultimatum: find Marianne in ten years or Violet will owe the debt on the family curse. Ten years is a long time, so it seems. But as the clock starts ticking, Violet learns it’s truly no time at all. Will Marianne show up or be found or will the debt be paid with Violet’s blood?

How is this book going unnoticed?! This story is captivating and beautifully written. The world building is great! It’s giving The Magician by Lev Grossman. Violet and Aleksander’s dynamic throughout the book was great. Caspian reminds me greatly of Eliot from The Magicians. I’m VERY curious if this was Summers inspiration. The only qualm I have with the book is the ending. I felt the pacing was a bit off compared to the rest of the book but that’s truly my only complaint! Overall, I gave this book a 4/5 stars. This was an AMAZING debut from Summers and I hope to see more of her work in the future!!

A beautifully written story by a new author. This story grabbed my attention and drew me in, it has love, mystery, curses, family drama, loss, and heartache all wrapped into the telling of Violets who having been born into the Everly family and their curse and her adventures in trying to find a cure. The author has built an exquisite land for the reader to explore.

A wondrous blend of fantasy and adventure; set in a vividly imagined world filled with magic and intrigue. Faced with the necessity to appease monsters, one is compelled to navigate between the realms of love and deceit, survival and selflessness. The story is quite lengthy as it starts out when Violet is pretty young and unravels into a journey to find her mother. There were parts where I felt like it was a bit repetitive when we kept cycling around to find her mother with no leads; and her relationship with Alexander. However, the characters are richly developed and the plot spans a few generations. All in all, I thought it had a gripping narrative that holds sway until the very end, and I enjoyed the interlacing of all the tales within the story.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! A City of Stardust is a well written novel for a debut author.
It initially took me a little while to get invested in this story- maybe it’s the many different POVs Georgie Summer’s writes from. Once I was though, it was an easy read. It’s a nice sci-fi magical story that gave me a nice break from the Romantasy genre I have been stuck in lately.

It was an interesting world that reminded me of the Invisible life of Addie La Rue ~ but different? You’ll have to read it to understand. The last 20% of the book is where it all comes together and really picks up. If you’re reading it and wondering if you should keep going, the answer is, yes. Keep going you’ll be happy you did!

THE CITY OF STARDUST is a darkly magical tale filled with family curses, gods, monsters, and other worlds. Summers’ writing is lyrical and the atmosphere developed through the carefully constructed landscape is completely enthralling.

Within these pages, the author gifted her readers with a layered and inventive story about a young woman set on the path to save herself and her family. Violet becomes the center point of the novel and as the reader, I loved seeing her grow and become a much different woman than when we first met her. Each person—Violet, Ambrose, Gabriel, Aleksander, and Penelope—came to life through the author’s well-crafted words. Pain, loss, and love all bubble to the surface with the interactions between this cast causing a range of emotions. And I must say, Penelope did know how to steal a scene. Beyond the characters, there is action, duplicity from the gods and humans alike, and magical worlds having their doors thrust open for us all to enter.

Honestly, THE CITY OF STARDUST was a stunning read. I enjoyed every moment of the quest to break the Everly’s curse. I cannot wait to see what Summers has for us all next.

I wanted more from The City of Stardust. Dreamers, Scholars, Gods, Curses and it all seemed like it would be great if we could dig deeper into it all. I’m not sure why but I feel like there is more to this world and these characters than I am finding in the pages.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. I also received a finished copy from Redhook as well.

This story was just confusing in so many ways. It might have been the point of having the reader feel as lost and confused about this world as the FMC, but it just was done in a way that also made me feel like I was not getting it. I explained that this book made me feel like I was expected to know something or pick up on something that was vague at or said unsaid, and very much the Autistic experience of just feeling confused at no context.

I still do my quite know what exactly I read, in all honesty. I feel like I missed so much context for what the ending is, where this whole world comes from and just know only gossip basics of it all. I think the story would have been better fleshed out and explained a bit more. I feel the author knew the information but the reader who doesn’t is left out.

This books was a lot of vibes. I enjoyed it but it was not particularly memorable. I struggled with the frequent time jumps, and there was a lot of telling and not showing. I was also disappointed by the character arc for the FMC's mother. It felt out of character based on the little information that we had about her.

This was such a wonderful read! I loved the writing - it flowed beautifully and was so descriptive. I kept finding I wanted to slow down and just savor the writing itself. I also really enjoyed the dialogue. I love stories that are built on character relationships and dialogue, so I quickly knew I would love this one!

I have to say the writing style was great. The author’s voice really was nicely portrayed and I’d read more of their work again. I liked the story as well. Not sure I loved it though, so that’s why it’s only 4 stars but I did like reading this. Interested in what more the author writes next.

Such a different story with really interesting characters! I felt like the first quarter of the book was a little bit on the slow side but I felt like it picked up after that. I also felt that the last quarter was a bit rushed. I really liked how cozy this book felt and loved the setting of an academic world.

Magical and dark at shocking turns, The City of Stardust is a solid fantasy debut, establishing Georgia Summers as one of the authors to watch out for. As I was reading this, it made me think of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and the beautiful prose and magical setting is evocative of Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer duology. I am already excited for the author’s next work, The Bookshop Below!

THE CITY OF STARDUST is a wonderful, whimsical fairytale-esque YA fantasy with some of the evoking prose I have read to date.

This story follows Violet Everly, a sheltered but clever girl who's mother has been missing since she was young. Raised by both of her uncles, she's grown up with the distinct knowledge that there is more to her mother's dissapearance than they've let on. Eventually, this leads to her uncovering the hidden magical world that her mother may have dissapeared into, and that is after her next.

I'll start by stating that I connected more with this book in terms of plot than in it's characterwork. For a reason I can't quite articulate, I didn't really form any connection to Violet, Aleksander or even the unles. I was moreso invested in the mystery behind Marianne and the world of Fidelis.

I found that the actual plot by plot beats were done amazingly. Everything was put together in a way that flowed, but also held enough twists to keep me gripped to the book, waiting to see what our characters would discover next. Without giving too much away, I am 100% confident enough in this work to state that Summers' book IS a modern day fairytale.

There was a bit of an issue with pacing and the book sagging in the middle, but I managed to get over it because of how much I loved the actual prose. This book has such beautiful lines, I can't even get mad at it.

Summers' debut was a delight to read and I look forward to reading her future work!

Thank you to NetGalley, and RedHook, for providing me with an eArc copy of this novel.

I don't love naive FMCs, so this was a bit hard for me. That being said, this was a fun time and I enjoyed it. It could have been really great, but there were some flaws with the characters that kept it from a higher rating.

That being said, there is plenty of good here! The writing is great, the foundation of the story is really interesting, the romantic subplot was great, and it was just a whimsical fun read.

Well I had high hopes for this one--at first I was thinking it would be like Stardust by Neil Gaiman and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern--but did not quite live up to those initial aspirations. This is a heavily plot driven novel, and at times so much so that I never quite latched on and felt attachment or fully empathetic any one character, they all actually got on my nerves, except for Caspian. Each time I thought we would go deeper and understand them more, it immediately skipped ahead in the plot or action would take place that cut it short.

Here is a specific example: (Spoiler alert)

Why did Violet stab herself through the hear to open the door in the dungeon of the Scholars tower instead of just slicing open her hand? And then, how does her mystically preserved ancestor save her from a stab wound to the heart? Your guess is as good as mine, because it is never actually explained.

Also felt like the one semi-steamy scene at the end was written by a man for a YA novel. It did not spark joy [or any kind of arousal]. Probably because once again, almost all of the major characters felt two dimensional and unlikeable.

Overall, it was not a bad read, but I don't feel especially inspired to recommend it to anyone else unless they are specifically looking for "Stars as Gods folklore".

This was a slow and painful read. The characters were flat, boring, and far too numerous. The premise was certainly interesting and at the end I found that I wanted the book to be framed from Penelope’s and Ever’s perspective because that would have been far more interesting than reading about Violet trying to find her mom. That potential is what saved this from being a one star in the end. Overall, disappointing.