3.75/5

A promising debut with great potential.

In some respects, this book has risen to my initial expectations. It conveys that darkly magical feeling of The Night Circus combined with the sharp writing style of Olivie Blake and just a dash of V.E. Schwab wittiness.

Everything about it reminds me of this very niche, very specific class of books that I adore. The execution, however, falls flat. The best way I can explain it is that both worldbuilding and character development are sacrificed for the sake of the plot. Early on in the book we’re introduced to the world of Fidelis and its Scholars, yet up until the 50% mark we learn nothing concrete about it, just a bit of a reference here, another magical element there, without a concrete connection between them. For a ~350 page standalone, too many worldbuilding elements were introduced without a satisfying bigger picture in regards to them.

The characters were likeable and intriguing. They had a lot of V.E. Schwab-ness in terms of personality (always a good thing for me). I’ve enjoyed the different relationships between the characters, especially Aleksander and Violet. The only minus in regards to the cast are the sudden time jumps that lose a ton of character development. We go from Violet just discovering the existence of Fidelis and its Scholars to one-year-later Violet who’s now rubbing elbows with the Scholars and is versed in at least half their secrets in a matter of a couple paragraphs, whereas I feel at least a few chapters should have been dedicated to her introduction and evolution among the Scholars.


All in all, this is a great book with a great concept, just too short to be executed properly.

It was unfortunately a bit of a disappointment. The plot seems quite simple but it has a few intriguing layers to it. The universe is probably was kept my interest the longest. It was a bit reminiscent of The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern in a way, because of the impression of going through the story in a blur, a fog — if that makes sense. Ambrose and Gabriel are quite compelling and I wish they would have been more present throughout the story.
However, I did not like the main character, Violet. She was quite weak and forgiving, which I did not understand. And truly I hated Aleksander. He is a manipulator and a betrayer. So their romance was not of my liking either, it was way too quick and felt quite forced.
Despite the criticism I have, I really liked the writing and I can see myself reading more books from this author. I guess that one was just not for me. I would still recommend it if you like The starless sea or The invisible life of Addie Larue, in many ways these books have a similar feeling.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Do you like doors into other worlds?

Good, because I just found another, in the shape of The City of Stardust – a debut by Georgia Summers. It is the twisted tale of a cursed lineage, the Everleys, who live at the mercy of a woman named Penelope – who steals one Everly per generation and never brings them back.

Sadly, this time, the Everley is Violet – a curious girl abandoned by her mother and raised by her uncles – who soon becomes drawn to Penelope’s mysterious assistant: Aleksander. For some, this collision course of opposites shall be a joy, whilst others may roll their eyes and think: really, again? The character work is mostly well done, so even if Violet is sometimes bland and Aleksander can be a collage of aesthetically-pleasing male stereotypes, their dynamic is enough to keep the narrative afloat. Penelope, to me, is simply the one driving it.

This is mostly due to her link to the worldbuilding, which is connected to the stars, as the title infers. This adds a hard-won whimsy to the book, one that leads the reader through the door to Fidelis, whilst never fully giving away its secrets. This masterful merge of reality and fantasy allows the plot to dart between both, leading the reader on a merry chase of plot-twists and beautiful descriptions.

Sadly, even the merriest of chases get tiring. The book is compiled of short chapters and scenes, making it an addictive read, but also one that may deny the reader the pleasure of lingering and forming attachments to minor characters. Location is another aspect lost in the rush, for the characters may have technology to place them in time, but the starting point could have been London or New York – as it so often is, in contemporary fantasy. This inability to suspend belief also lent itself to little things like building access, money, and travel.

It proves that even fantasy must bow to logic.

The reader must read, the author must convince them it is something that they have not read before. And, while A City of Stardust is unique, it will not escape the avid eye of those who have devoured numerous tales about magic doors – something that shall be its selling point and its potential curse.

Overall, The City of Stardust is a promising debut and a well-done standalone romantasy that shall lure you in during frosty nights and not allow you to leave, not until your warm beverage of choice has long gone cold.

This is a book for the Addie La Rue and Ink Blood Sister Scribe fans

The City of Stardust follows two MCs. Our first MC is a girl named Violet who is a from a family where one person in each generation taken by magical woman named Penelope to another world and never seen again. Violet's mother was meant to be sacrificed in her generation, but she abandoned Violet and vanished. Violet's uncles make a deal with Penelope when Violet is twelve so that if they deliver Violet's mother to Penelope, then Violet will be safe. Except time is running out on this deal so Violet decides to search for her mother and unravel the mystery of her family's curse herself.

Our other MC is Aleksander, who is Penelope's assistant at the magical university that she runs in another world. Aleksander is desperate to become a scholar at the university, but as the stakes rise, he starts to question the mysteries of his world and the scholars he has dedicated his life to.

At the heart of all of these mysteries are the strange, god-like astrals and the city that every magical scholar has spent their life searching for, the City of Stardust.

I liked the vibes of this book and it had nice prose, but I feel like the characters lacked personality a bit and the main romance just fell flat. There are lots of twists and betrayals, but these did feel a bit overdone when the same betrayals kept happening and the backstory got retconned for thirtieth time. If you like standalone books with great vibes, mixed with fantasy and unique magical worlds then you will probably like this!

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book, I’d definitely recommend it if anyone ever asked my opinion on it, and I completely flew through it in one sitting

3 stars.

The City of Stardust follows Violet Everly, the last in a mysteriously cursed family, as she tries to find out where her mother Marianne went while trying to find a way to break the curse. Meanwhile she is pursued by Penelope, a powerful woman from a city in another world, and her assistant, Aleksander, who was stolen by Penelope as a child.

I enjoyed the first third of The City of Stardust the most. The setup of the mysteries was intriguing and Violet's longing for adventure while feeling stifled was compelling. But as the book went on it became clear that all the questions and mysteries of the setup would be resolved in one of two ways: a) by Violet coming to some vague conclusion based on one line of cryptic dialogue and a feeling, or b) by the book giving us a scene of some random character that just straight up tells us the answer (a scene which Violet does not see). And some of the central mysteries never get resolved at all.

I didn't understand many of the choices the characters made in this, and some of the things they said or thought also came of nowhere and seemed to be based on nothing. The rules of the magic were also quite undefined, although maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention. Violet took a frustratingly long time to ask her uncles about anything.

The writing is mostly good and sometimes quite pretty, but got a bit repetitive. I would also prefer if it weren't in present tense. The characters were interesting to begin with but stayed mostly by the end, especially Violet. Aleksander was the most interesting character but that's not saying much. The setting was mostly in the real world except for Fidelis, the city of the scholars. Fidelis was probably my favourite part of the book. It's described very evocatively and I wish we could have spent more time there and learnt more about it.

I found the comparisons to Erin Morgenstern and Addie LaRue quite apt, so if you like those books you should give this a try. I think if the author had spent a bit more time on the plot and less on the descriptions, this would have been a more enjoyable book for me, but I will be interested to see what Georgia Summers writes next.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This has been compared a lot to Addie Larue and the Night Circus, none of which I have read. Now this one is a very poetic novel, for readers, at least those seeking escapism through literature which they will find in this story. Our main character, violet, was interesting but considering the story, she had a rather shallow personality. the pacing was odd and made the book very slow in the second half. The best aspect was definitely the writing. 3 stars.

Thank you to Hodder Books and Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The City of Stardust for an honest review.

The City of Stardust follows Violet Everley whose mother vanished in the middle of the night to break the curse that is on their family.

Every generation of the family is destined to lost their best and brightest to a woman named Penelope who never forgives a debt or ages or sickens.

As Violet grows up she aims to finish what her mother started and find a way to break the curse. To do this she must make her way through a magical underworld full of scholars, Gods and monsters aiming for the City of Stardust where their story began.

This was an enchanting read I could not put it down. It was really well crafted and the writing made me feel like I was in the magical worlds being described.

The world building was very unique and the magical aspects were intriguinging. Definitely one that book lovers would enjoy!

Violets character was well written and I found myself routing for her all the way through the plot. The ending wrapped most things up nicely as a standalone. However I hope we get more fantastical stories from this author soon.

My only minor critique would be wanting to know abit more of Marianne her mothers story. I know her fate is heavily implied in that she is stuck in another world and cannot return but I felt I wanted abit more closure from that after all the searching and the mystery.

Overall a solid debut story and one I would recommend to read.

Enjoyed it but felt very similar to other books which was distracting (the Night Circus and Strange the Dreamer). Liked the world building, characters felt a bit flat but still interesting, and liked the ending although some form of resolution with the character’s mother would have been interesting - although that’s perhaps the point!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:3.5/5
A promising debut, which (mostly) delivered. I absolutely loved the concept behind this. The City of Stardust is an adventure that spans across not only the globe, but across worlds. The worldbuilding is the book's biggest strength and its weakness. The magic system involving the star gods, or astrals, was fascinating and I loved it. At the same time, the worldbuilding could've been explained better, as it left me with many questions , which probably won't be answered since this is a standalone. The writing style was my favourite part. It goes very well with the vibes. It was reminiscent of (but not as good as) Laini Taylor or Erin Morgenstern's books. It also gives off major fairytale vibes, and stories play a big role in this, and I'm all here for it. The narrative feels very disjointed and takes frequent time skips and pov jumps, which didn't really bother me, but it's something to keep in mind while going into this. The characters themselves, especially Aleksander, weren't very memorable, but honestly, I enjoyed reading this just for the writing and the atmosphere. My least favorite part was the climax, which felt too rushed. The ending left me wanting more. Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it. The City of Stardust was a great debut and I'm looking forward to whatever the author writes next!

“The Everlys go into the dark with death beside them—and they do not return. She will not return.”


The Everlys have been cursed, taken by punishment for a crime no one remembers, by a woman named Penelope, who never ages..

Violet Everly is only a child when her mother, Marianne disappears through the night, without a trace determined to break the curse. But she never returns and the Everlys must pay their debt so when Penelope returns she offers an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother or she’ll take her place.

Will Violet find a way to break the curse before her time runs out?

“Your faithless ancestor betrayed me. Your mother escaped me. But you—I will have you,”


“The City of Stardust” is a beautiful world of magic, stardust, and monsters with unexpected twist!


⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed the first half of the story and the magical world of “The City of Stardust”!
There was so many unexpected twist and heart-stopping moments that I loved.

I did have a difficult time with the pace of the storyline and had a hard time connecting with the characters. But the ending was what got me and had me wondering and questioning…


Thank you so much to NetGalley, author Georgia Summers, and Redhook Books for the amazing opportunity to read “The City of Stardust” in exchange for an honest review!

A really original story that pulls on your heart -strings. It is a story about a girl who was hidden away so that she would not fall prey to the curse on her family line and be fed to a demon when she comes of age. Her mother ran, travelling worlds, seeking a way out but really - it turns out - she ran to save herself. Violet is left to find her strength and her power to face the demon once and for all and end the curse. A gripping tale of love, betrayal and the ties that bind.

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers was an interesting read and I really liked it! It was super interesting and I loved it!

This is an interesting, well written book. The prose is poetic and evocative - you can easily imagine the world that Summers is writing about. The characters are also clearly defined & well rounded.

"It’s the unspoken tale singing its way through her family history: once a generation, an Everly walks into the dark, compelled by the shadow beside them."

This is one of the most beautiful books I have read this year. It is full of atmosphere, mystery, poetic writing, flawed characters, and convoluted twists of worlds full of magic hidden behind doors that can only be opened by specific people with specific materials. The City of Stardust is a story about a curse placed on the Everly family that has lasted for thousands upon thousands of years. Violet Everly's mother has disappeared, on an adventure, scouring the world to find a way to break the curse and save her and her daughter's life. But time is running out, Penelope - the curse-giver, is impatient and she is willing to skip a generation and take Violet in place of her mother. So Violet does what her mother would do and leaves on her own adventure to try break the curse, but in doing so she uncovers truly horrifying things, gets swept up into an underground world of hushed secrets told at opulent parties, and experiences love, friendship, betrayal and loss.

This book is an intricately woven scavenger hunt, a mixture of fairy tale, myth and terrible truths, all tied together in the most gorgeous prose I have read in a long time. Georgia Summers' writing is absolutely exquisite throughout, it truly captures the mystical atmosphere of the worlds she is building and draws you in with tantalizing foreshadowing, switching POVs revealing breadcrumbs that keep you guessing but also reveal harrowing information, and poetic pieces that will have you highlighting quotes in every chapter. I truly felt like I had been swept up into another world and I didn't want to leave it behind when the story finished. This is a world that Summers could expand upon for years to come in spin off stories, and if she did I would happily read them all.

There were a few small parts that I had issues with, mostly due to the pacing and the characters. This book is only 350 or so pages long but it felt longer, there were times when I would think I was half way done and then check my progress and realize I wasn't. In ways this really serves the story because it forces you to slow down and focus on what is happening, and meant that I understood some of the more complex parts more easily because I was already taking it slowly. But in other parts it dragged a little bit, sadly. The characters were also another strange point for me, Penelope and Aleksander are both wonderfully written, detailed characters and I enjoyed every scene where they were present, but some of the other characters fell just a little bit flat. The main one being Violet. The majority of the story is told from her eyes but through the third person perspective and because of that it felt like we were shown a lot about what she was seeing but not as much about what she was feeling, or even something as simple as describing her appearance. I could imagine Penelope and Aleksander, the worlds described and adventures she traveled so vividly but when I try to envisage her she is nondescript, she could be anyone, she could look like anything, I think maybe she has brown hair and square hands?

Overall though, this was a truly outstanding read and one I highly recommend. If you prefer something slightly more fast-paced then it might not be the one for you but if you enjoy immersing yourself in a fantastical fairy tale like worlds wrought with curses, magic, gods who walk among us and wreck destruction, questions of morality and a heart-warming but also heart-wrenching romance - then this is story for you. I am very glad to have read it. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

City of Stardust is an exciting read that kept me engaged for long spells. The world building was excellent and the author created a sense of mystery and wonder around the Everlys and the magic which Violet craves to know more about. Violet is a tenacious and interesting character who I found myself rooting for throughout. For me, the romance aspect was a bit of a let down as it didn’t hugely advance the plot or contribute much to the finale, much like the initial overarching plot point that is set out from the beginning - the point advanced the story but I would have liked for it to come full circle before the ending. Overall, definitely an interesting, fun read full of magic, suspense and mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For centuries, Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick - and never forgives a debt. Ten years ago, Violet Everly's mother left to break the curse, and never returned. Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place. Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope's quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted - and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn. Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel to the edges of the world to find her mother and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began . . .

Violet is a character I definitely enjoyed reading. She’s determined, she’s tenacious, and she’s, above all else, feisty. Just my kind of girl. I really liked the journey Violet went on in this story. In the beginning, she was a girl desperate to find her mother after so many years apart and she ended as a young woman seeking her own path in life.
Aleksander is a bit of an enigma. He’s desperate to achieve his dream of being a scholar, wanting to repay those who took him in. But he also doesn’t want to put others in danger, in the firing line. We get to know him more as the story progresses but I really wish that we could have gotten to know him a little bit more - especially with how he plays such a big part in Violet’s story. I found myself left with a few questions at the end.

Going into reading this book, I’d heard some pretty good things about it so I had high hopes. And I was no disappointed! The plot literally sweeps you away on this journey that spans many years, but it never feels long or gruelling to get through. The flow is fantastic and coupled with an engaging storyline, my time reading this story flew by. The characters are all fleshed out and we get to know quite a lot of them well which is great. I love getting to know a backstory. There was very little romance in this book, the main focus being Violet and her quest. I do enjoy a good romance but just having some sparks and a lot of longing before the angst came in was enough for me in this story! The ending felt a little bit rushed for me but I think, overall, it was a very solid conclusion to this book.

Overall, The City of Stardust is a story I certainly recommend to those wanting to be swept away on an adventure.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day.

I inhaled the first half of this book, a well drawn out world and plenty of intrigue and mystery. But then it felt like there were suddenly a lot of ends to tie up and some of them got a little lost.

Pros:
- page turning writing
- great world building
- the first half had a good pace to it


Cons:
- the romance 🥴
- it just felt so long and drawn out
- the ending was a bit disappointing
- feel like it needs a good editing
- Marianne. All that build up. Then just meh.
- kid killing just shouldn’t be a plot device

That said, it kept me reading, and it’s an impressive debut.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book..
And the world building but I really couldn't get past the writing style. It's not bad, it has a poetic feel to it but it just doesn't suit my reading preferences. It felt like chapters would end before they were finished. And the characters didn't have a lot of depth so it was hard to invest in them.

I found this book a little slow to start with but it all paid off in the end. After it gets going this book just doesn't stop and everything happens pretty quickly and i couldn’t put it down

A cursed family who have no idea why they are cursed or how to fix it are trying to find a way to break this curse that has been on them for hundreds of years.
Great characters and character development.