Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Violet Everly has been raised by her uncles, away from people. They were trying to protect Violet from Penelope, a woman who wishes to possess Everly's blood, and Violet is the chosen victim after the disappearance of her mother. Violet is introduced to a new world where magic and gods exist, but behind the power that magic gives, there is a lot of spilled blood.

I enjoyed how the characters of Violet and Aleksander were portrayed. Violet is naive and she keeps her naivety throughout the book, even when she decides to find the truth about her mother and Penelope. What I didn't like as much was that she was self-sacrificing every chance she got. It's almost like she gave up every single time she was in trouble until someone showed up and introduced her to a different option. Aleksander is Penelope's lackey. He showed himself to Violet as someone who was willing to help her only to stab and get stabbed in the back multiple times. His character is defined by years of abuse, and the author doesn't make it all go away. It takes time for him to find himself and find his voice.

While the characters were ok, I didn't enjoy the story as a whole. I don't think that the world-building was well done, and sometimes I was confused at what was going on and why, and the multiple POVs per chapter didn't help. I felt lost at time at what was happening. Lastly, I would have appreciated more the romance aspect, which in this story is not the focus, but that's just a personal preference.

This dark fantasy debut is truly fantastic.

When picking up The City of Stardust, you can expect:

✨ stunning prose
✨ atmospheric world building
✨ gods and monsters
✨ family secrets
✨ slow burn
✨ doors to other worlds

This has been likened to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Starless Sea. The former is one of my favourite books of all time and can confirm it definitely gave me those vibes.

My only small drawback is that I would’ve loved more of the romance between Violet and Aleksander. I know it wasn’t the main focus, and it didn’t really need to be, but a liiiiittle bit more sprinkled in would’ve added that something extra for me.

Overall, I can’t recommend this enough. It is absolutely worth the read and a very exciting debut from a very talented author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review.

This is a great read which draws you in from the very first page. It has all the things I like such as good, well drawn, easily differentiated characters; a quest; missing persons; well crafted and interesting other worlds; hidden motives; betrayals; danger; tension; gods and monsters. You just dive in and sink into the great story.

Violet, Aleksander and her uncles are engaging characters and the darker pasts of Aleksander, Penelope and Tamriel are fascinating. I think this a book which is worth reading again.

I see the book has been likened to Addie la Rue and The Starless Sea. I loved both those books but to me, this book has a similar atmosphere to the first two Dark Materials books (not the film, or TV series of course).

It's just a pity for the older reader that the brothers are called Everly and so we are irresistibly reminded of Don and Phil, especially when a character says "the Everly brothers fighting in my shop".

Violet Everly’s family has had a curse on them for generations. Her mother should have been the next to fall victim but disappeared in an attempt to break the curse. So we follow Violet on an adventure to find her mother and escape her fate and break the curse. Told in several POVs, the story weaves a fantastical tale of magic, mystery, gods and monsters and worlds beyond our own.

This was a fun, well written and highly descriptive debut novel (that you almost felt you were walking around the locations that the characters inhabit). However the many POV’s within the same chapter can make it slightly confusing as to who you are following.

If you loved His Dark Materials, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and magical realism then this is sure fire read for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The City Of Stardust has some of the most beautiful writing I’ve read in some time.
It was whimsical, descriptive and simply stunning.
With an almost fairytale-like quality to the way the story was described, it made the magical side seem even more otherworldly and strange.
But even though the writing was so beautiful, the characters ended up suffering for it a little.
Even after finishing the book, I still felt like I didn’t really know the characters as much as I wanted to, even Violet, who is the protagonist.
Yes, that’s exactly why it felt so fairytale-like, but I prefer knowing the characters better.
I can’t really care about them if I don’t know their motives, and I just wanted a little more depth and more development.
There’s nothing wrong with this method of storytelling, it’s just not my favourite.
But one thing that I thought was well expressed was the family side.
The love and protectiveness that Violet’s uncles felt for her was so vividly portrayed and obviously reciprocated—even when they were apart, there was still this overarching theme of sacrifice for your family.
The world building was also good, and as someone who reads a lot of fantasy (both set in other worlds and ones close to ours) it’s quite impressive how the author managed to weave together such an enchantingly other world with a few well placed sentences.
Like I said before—this read like a fairytale, and even with the few parts I didn’t like, it was overall a good book and amazing debut.
I can’t wait to see what else Georgia Summers writes, and hopefully I’m lucky enough to get an opportunity like this with her next book

A dark and sorrowful story that might not appeal to everyone, but one I greatly enjoyed. It partially read like a grown-up fairy tale. One review I saw suggested a similarity with His Dark Materials series and I do think they have a similar vibe, although I wasn't a big fan of that series.

Violet Everly has been kept in ignorance her whole life, closed off from both the real world and the magical one. She is left with books and their stories, dreaming of one day embarking on some grand adventure. Then she meets Aleksandr, who shows her there is a whole different world out there to explore. Before she can even think of discovering it, she is told the truth and that she only has one year left to find her mother, or else she will pay the price of the family curse in her stead. Unbeknownst to her, Aleksandr is an assistant to Penelope. The very woman who is owed an Everly sacrifice. He has his own goal of one day becoming a scholar, a goal for which he might do anything.

I think the strongest point of this book for me was its atmosphere. There is quite a bit of tension as time is slowly ticking out. There is also a dread of what kind of fate awaits Violet if she fails. The setting is dark and sorrowful. Especially when it comes to the magical society. There is this feeling of potential for greatness that has been lost and corrupted in the chase for power. This atmosphere is in big part created by the beautiful prose and the narration's commentary.

The character work is also excellent. Violet is a strong heroine, fighting for her life and facing her fate rather than running away. Aleksandr is a lost soul, groomed by Penelope his whole life and only knowing one desire. Now his loyalties become divided as he starts feeling there might be something more to desire. The romance storyline is not really as pronounced as one might expect, yet it is also an integral part of the story. Penelope, as the villain, has a properly terrifying presence, which just grows as we learn more about her. Her backstory makes her more than just an evil villain.

There were primarily two things I didn't enjoy as much. First, I think keeping Violet in ignorance for so long, especially since we readers already knew the truth, just made the beginning too slow and tedious. Second, when Violet finally embarks on her one-year search, the narrative tells us what she did, but not really why or how she accomplished it. Throughout the entire search, we are only privy to a few key moments.

Lastly, I should mention the audiobook version. It had some volume issues in the beginning and sometimes the narrator failed to make proper pauses, but ultimately there was nothing that would have prevented me from enjoying the book. These issues might also actually be fixed before release. Otherwise, I enjoyed the narration. Kitty Parker's voice was a great fit for helping to build the right kind of atmosphere.

All in all, I definitely enjoyed this book. I felt that it was something different and original. I will look for something with this kind of vibe in the future and I hope the author will write more great stories like this one.

I received an ARC and ALC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is another example why publishers should't use comparison to other books as a way to promote a new one.. And honesty, we readers do that too and it's becoming a problem.

"The city of stardust" is a book that had the potential to be truly whimsical but in the end it was just good...

The writing, the core of the story and the magic were good enough to make it interesting, but what I didn't like was that the characters had no depth and no interest whatsoever. Penelope was the most interesting character by far and maybe Marianne...
My other problem was the world- building... Good but not that detailed.. I would prefer to see more or meet more magical characters...

To sum up, I had a good time reading "The city of Stardust" but in my opinion, it missed a few marks...

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the book in exchange for my honest review.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest review.

This is definitely for those who are fans of The Starless Sea. The writing is beautiful and the story sucks you in.
I struggled to connect to the characters fully however due to being written in third person- but this can be forgiven for the quick paced story.

The romance (not a huge part of the story) was a little lack lustre and could have been skipped all together for a friendship- again probably because of the lack of feeling and emotion i got from the characters due to the writing style.

All together i did enjoy it and would recommend.

3.5 stars

✨B O O K R E V I E W✨

In every generation of Everlys one of the family’s most talented members disappears. This curse, a punishment for an ancestral crime no one remembers outside of the varying family stories that have been passed down, is coming for its next victim, the brilliant Marianne Everly.

Leaving her daughter Violet with her two brothers, Marianne disappears on her own terms, searching worlds for a way to break the curse for good. However, when 10 years pass without Marianne’s return the Everlys’ tormentor, Penelope, grows tired of waiting and demands that Violet take her mother’s place. In turn, a bargain is struck - one that will lead Violet to edge of the world, to power-hungry scholars and fickle gods, to monsters hell bent on revenge, Penelope’s enigmatic assistant, Aleksander, and to the city of stardust, where the Everly story first began…

✨My thoughts:

I really loved this book. Its magic system of god metal, astral powers and hidden doorways/keys to hidden worlds was rich and immersive, and I resented having to put it down to sleep/eat/be a responsible adult. At about 80% in I did wonder how she was going to pull this off as a standalone as there was still so much ground to cover, but the ending was masterfully done and everything was brought together in a satisfying conclusion. Violet and Aleksander’s relationship, along with the charming Caspian and sweet Ambrose, were personal highlights for me, and fans of novels such as The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue will no doubt love it too.

The City of Stardust is out on Jan 25th. Thank you to @netgalley and @hodderscape for the e-ARC!

If you're an author and you're thinking to yourself, "My debut is going to be the next Addie Larue or The Starless Sea", maybe just ... don't. The only redeeming qualities this book had were the flimsy, sorry I mean whimsical, worldbuilding and if I'm being generous, the descriptions. If you combine the worst aspects of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue with the barest bones of Laini Taylor's worldbuilding and glue it together by adding fanciful prose, you get The City of Stardust. Magical portal fantasy and whimsical prose are fine and all, but you need the characters and plot to back it up. This book had neither.

The plot moved at a glacial pace and I found myself bored and frustrated 20 % in. Throughout the entire book, the worldbuilding remained abstract and somewhat flimsy. We understand magic is used by manipulating reveurite, a magical metal and that there are scholars (which is a blanket term for literally every profession) who are searching for people who can also manipulate reveurite throughout different worlds. But beyond those basic facts, we never really learned how it works. We never learn how the home realm of the scholars works, what their society is like, nothing. Moreover, the reader consistently knew more than the characters so some moments and revelations just fell flat. The author also did this really annoying thing that Schwab did in Addie Larue, where the author tells us that the MC went to city X, Y, Z and did some really important things but we never see it. What does the mention of this accomplish besides maybe showing the character is oh-so-worldly? This might seem minor, but to me it was the cherry on top of an already really shitty cake.

As for the characters, there are only three with anything resembling depth - Violet, our first MC, Aleksander (who's name I kept forgetting), our second MC and Penelope, the villain. However, I would use the word depth carefully since its extent was more like a shallow pond. Or a puddle. The very beginning led me to believe the fraud family relationships were going to be at the center of this and I was sorely disappointed. Even with just one chapter, Violet's uncles had more conflict and personality than Violet had in the entire book.

So instead of juicy family drama, we got a romance that was so stale I kept wishing the bisexual love interest was gay, so my suffering would be over. Like, thank you, that's enough representation for us bisexies! Moreover, the bisexual representation in question was a one-off mention that felt like the author included it for diversity cookies. On top of that, Aleksander was a spineless, whiny coward who used his tragic past to excuse said whining and cowardice and spinelessness. One the other hand, we have Violet, who has the blandest possible Fantasy Heroine traits. She's brave, curious and stubborn ... and so is every fantasy protagonist ever. Beyond that, there was really nothing there.

The villain, Penelope, was perhaps the most interesting character, though that's not saying much. I think when your villain is just that much more fascinating to follow than your protagonist, something went wrong. As for the characters' perspectives, there was a lot of headhopping, which added to the overall sense of abstractness and confusion.

All in all, this book did nothing that Erin Morgenstern and Laini Taylor haven't done better. Originally, I was going to give this two stars, but upon reflection, it's getting one. Consider this me de-influencing you, save your money on this one. I don't really recommend this, but if you love Addie Larue, my other literary nemesis, you might like this.

This book felt underbaked and underdeveloped. None of the characters had personalities and their motivations felt very flat. The main character was described as clever and having learned so much and being good at sneaking into places, but she just tells anyone who will listen her plans. All of the interesting things happen off the page and what we do see is just the same thing over and over. The writing thought it was so deep and clever but it was cheesy and cringey. The romance did not have any spark because the characters had no personalities and the book talked all the time about sacrifices but in the end there is no need and the book has no stakes.

3.5 of 5 stars rounded up to 4
https://lynns-books.com/2024/01/22/the-city-of-stardust-by-georgia-summers/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : This book is a conundrum

This book is so difficult to write a review for. On the one hand this is a really impressive debut with fantastic writing that I practically raced through, it has a fascinating story of otherworlds reached via magic keys that is captivating and then there’s a secret starlit city and a family curse. Seriously, this book could be written just for me. And yet. I did have a few issues. Let’s not jump the gun.

In a nutshell, this is a story of the Everly family – cursed for years for reasons that are unknown, one member from each generation will be taken from the family. A sacrifice – although, again, the nature of this is also cast in shadow. Now, as the story begins we meet Violet and her brothers Ambrose and Gabriel. Violet has led a very sheltered life, her mother disappeared many years ago, her brother Ambrose is her main pillar, staying at the slowly crumbling family home to look after her whilst Gabriel seems to whisk in and out on fleeting visits, the nature of what he’s up to being incredibly vague. Basically, Violet’s brothers have endeavoured to keep her existence a secret but apparently the truth will out and the very person they were hiding her from comes for a not so friendly visit. From this point onwards Violet’s life becomes something of a ticking bomb and in the absence of answers she eventually takes matters into her own hands in her own search for a cure to the curse.

My feelings for this book.

The writing is beautiful. I loved reading this and will definitely be picking up more by this author. Her descriptions are quite magical and reminiscent of adventures through wardrobes and rabbit holes. Really my cup of tea.

The idea of multiple worlds, accessed by magical keys, each one unique. A city of stars, set on a remote mountain topped by a tower with scholars bustling back and forth in search of answers. What’s not to love.

And, we have two characters, you could call them star crossed, and a slow burning romance.

There are so many wonderful things about this book – but, at the same time, and this is why I mentioned this being a conundrum, I have slightly mixed feelings.

I had issues with the pacing. Strangely enough I enjoyed the first half of the story much more than the second half – and this is unusual because the second half has plenty going on – in fact maybe too much going on and a kind of frantic feeling ending. One part of me says, well, Violet was definitely on a timeline here so you would expect the tension to increase, however, she was flitting about all over, from place to place (or party to party) but it all felt a little bit pointless, like she wasn’t achieving anything, or she was always arriving just five minutes too late. I simply didn’t understand what she was actually doing or how she came up with whatever trail she was following. Similarly to what I mentioned about Gabriel above. He’s constantly rushing about, disappearing into secret worlds, reappearing bloody and dishevelled – again, what is he actually doing. I don’t know.

On top of this I’m not totally sure I bought into the relationship with Violet and Aleksander. Other than that Violet has led such a sheltered life so the attention she received from Aleks perhaps overwhelmed her – I mean, I understand his motives, but I won’t mention them here.

The settings are primarily contemporary, with brief visits to other worlds and also the starlit city.

The other main character is Penelope, she’s the baddie of the piece. What I would mention is I didn’t really understand why she skipped a generation, Violet’s mother was the sacrifice – she’s gone missing, so wouldn’t one of the two brothers now be chosen rather than Violet – who is the next generation. Why did she give the family a stay of execution, why the extra ten years – why not just take what she believes she’s entitled to now. It felt a bit like the baddie in a Bond movie, taking the time to tell 007 exactly how he plans world domination whilst at the same time giving him time to escape. She had no reason to negotiate and given how she behaved for the rest of the story I think she would have just taken what she believed was her right. But, then it would have been a much shorter book!

So, in a nutshell, I really enjoyed this book on so many levels. I know it probably seems that I have a few criticisms but this was still very easy to read and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and it’s certainly an impressive debut. On the other hand, it without doubt has some plot holes, it feels like certain issues are whitewashed over so you just need to go with the flow and not question things too much. For me, I do like answers so there is just a nagging feeling with this that something isn’t quite right. I feel like I’ve missed something – which is of course entirely possible.

I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading this – like I said, it’s a conundrum, I might have a feeling of not really being able to fully explain things but at the same time I liked it – what more can I say.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars

What grabbed me from the start of this book was how beautiful the writing was, wonderfully whimsical with a crackle of seductive darkness underpinning it. The author does a solid job of creating great characters each with a unique voice and the blending of locations provided that cross over between fantasy and magical realism that I find works.

The world building is deliciously complicated and does require some concentration, keys, other worlds, scholars, magic, travel between dimensions, and dispersed among this are wonderful chapters retelling the origin stories, how everything was created. In fact these were some of my favourite moments, how these stories can change and be moulded over centuries.

The romance element initially didn’t work for me, but I think I was perhaps comparing it to some of the other big fantasy romance books where the lovers find their “mates” and it’s all very intense, and so on reflection I decided I quite liked the authors take here. It was certainly a very selfish, toxic kind of love but one I think will be familiar to anyone who found themselves in love with the wrong person once upon a time.

So overall, I had a really good time, a great debut that I’d recommend for readers who like their fantasy to be perhaps more lyrical than mainstream.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this eCopy to review

I enjoyed The City of Stardust, it was a good Sci Fi/Fantasy story. I did feel it was a little slow in places and I would have liked Violet to be able to use her magic.

The magic and worlds were easy to understand, but maybe a map and glossary of the Asterals would have been helpful.

Penelope's character is very sinister, I would have loved to know why she picked Aleksander to be her assistant.

Full secrets, backstabbing, glamour, and a quest for the the truth this was an epic novel that crossed worlds

dnf at page 100

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me an arc of this book.

I am not the type to dnf a book. Rather I have never dnf'd a book but this was not working for me.

The book revolves around Violet Everly, who is cursed for being from the Everly family. Every Everly generation there is a tithe selected by Penelope (someone) who takes the Everly to a city named Fidelis where they learn to be a scholar. It is known as a curse because the Everly gains power to an unexpected extent. Marianne Everly, who is Violet Everly's mother, sets out one day leaving her daughter behind to try and break the curse. Since Marianne was the last tithe, this leaves Violet the new one in her place. Now Violet's 2 uncles try to hide Violet from Penelope and try to keep her for as long as they can.

Writing:
I don't read Adult Fantasy. So really as a YA reader, it took me ages to read and understand this. The prose and vocabulary were just too hard for me to comprehend. Which made it extremely boring because I kept searching for definitions of all the words.
The dual chapters were giving me a headache. I couldn't make it through Aleksander's chapters without yawning.

It started well. The prologue was fascinating and I was intrigued. It progressed with Ambrose and Violet and I was enjoying myself. But after Penelope's visit, I don't seem to understand what's happening and why.

The suspense was a little annoying. I mean the info dump was wild. I was rather irritated with the lack of information in the beginning. Like everything was happening but i don't know what?

Violet:
Started good, became bratty, and then I stopped reading. She has potential. as a FMC. But to the point that I've read, it's being wasted. I find her story intriguing and one that can unravel well but I find it better if she just listens to Ambrose and accepts his apology instead of running off with Aleksander. Maybe then her mother might actually achieve something?

I get her frustration but I just hate it when characters go:
"Oh you lied to me my whole life, I hate you."

They lied for a reason? I mean she seems impatient and abrupt.

Aleksander:
Very meh. He was okay when he first appeared in the book. But then the whole scholar thing and the archives and spying on Violet was very boring. The book didn't click to me nor did the characters.
If I'm being honest I liked both the uncles better than Aleksander.

He remains in Penelope's shadow when he has the tendency to be greater and better. I didn't seem to understand that.

Penelope:
She was a no for me. I kept thinking she belonged in a Cassandra Clare book instead of this one.
She was the antagonist but it was very annoying once again. She gave me bad villain vibes. And by bad I mean the target version of a villain. I'd prefer if she was less abusive and nosy and more evil and cruel (in a twisted way). Like the parts with her and Tamlin were perfect. But then she and Violet had zero protagonist and antagonist chemistry.

This book had a lot of potential and may have picked up after from where I've read but this wasn't for me. Mostly, due to my usual reading genres and mostly because none of the characters aligned with my preference.

I’ve seen this compared to The Starless Sea and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in its marketing and honestly, I see it!

Georgia Summers debut comes in hot with a stunningly beautiful writing style that feels so elegant and matches the whimsical storyline. The main characters family has been cursed for years and in her journey to try and remove the curse we see Violet suffer trials and tribulations including a friends to enemies to lovers partnership that involves the assistant of the person who’s after her family.

Despite its comparisons, this was a uniquely magical fantasy!

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers follows Violet Everly as she delves into a world of magic and gods while trying to unravel the mysteries of her family. She meets a wide range of friends and foes, never knowing who to trust.

I found this story hard to get into initially, I would put the book down and wouldn't be able to remember what I had been reading when I went back to it. However, when I took the time and sat down to read the whole beginning of the book I enjoyed it and could understand what was going on. The first half of the book felt a little slow but as the story continued on I thoroughly enjoyed the ending. I enjoyed the characters that we met throughout the book and they truly felt more like real people then we sometimes see in books. In their own way each character was slightly selfish and it took event after event to help them see the ways they may be harming others. I found this akin to real life.

I think Georgia Summers did a fantastic job with her debut novel and I look forward to seeing what she writes in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to firstly thank Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape. Netgalley And Georgia Summers for sending me at eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The description and cover really pulled me in! I thought it sounded really interesting.

In the story we follow Violet Everly on quest to break her families curse. Someone from a generation is taken by a mysterious woman called Penelope, and they are never seen again. Aleksander, who first met Violet when they were children, works for Penelope. He wishes to become a scholar like all those that Penelope has "collected" over the years.

I found Aleksander's character very interesting and I wanted to know more about him and his history.

I found this book quite hard to follow at times and felt I had missed key points where one second it seemed mundane the next it felt like I was missing a few pages where something major had happened.

I liked how it was from both the POV
Aleksander and Violet. I really enjoyed the magic and myth linked to this story and I was extremely intrigued and mysterious and I want to see how the story follows.

**I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this story.**

The City of Stardust was a perfect atmospheric urban fantasy full of celestial beings, cursed bloodline and a quest to solve the family mystery. Honestly, I enjoyed reading it and the story sucked me in immediately. I just needed to know what happens next and how it ends, haha. It's also a perfect read when you are in the mood to read a book for excellently written atmospheric vibes with dark twists. That being said, this is the type of the story you need to be in the mood for, because it's more plot and vibes driven.

The only thing I didn't like was the pacing. I think the story would benefit more from splitting in into a duology, rather than standalone. I felt a lot of plot points, characters' and worldbuilding's development were rushed. I loved when the author provided us with little details about the world, the tales and the characters' feelings. However, I think it needed more of it because characters and the storytelling turned out flat at the end of the day. More nuanced and slower style would fit this story better.

Apart from that, I enjoyed my spent time with this book and I loved the ending, which I think was a cool resolution. The characters were very interesting and likeable, and the world of Fidelis and Elendriel were fascinating. I do recommend it to anyone who likes atmospheric stories with dark undertones that are set in a unique world with its own mysteries to solve.

The City of Stardust is set in a world that is glittering and glamorous on the surface but cut throat and ghastly at its core. This is a wonderful dark academia book which I think fans of The Atlas Six would enjoy. There’s magical realism, secrets, manipulation, betrayal, twists and turns as well as a forbidden romance.

It was nice to have a standalone fantasy as it seems most books are part of a series now and that can sometimes feel unnecessary or for the sake of it and overall, I really enjoyed this book but what would have made me rate this even higher would have been if I felt like all my questions were answered as there were still a couple of things I was unsure of although I think this was intentional and it was just personal preference of liking everything to be tied up in a bow.