Astrea can only remember the last five years of her life. She is contained, manipulated and she initially believes loved by Hektor, who regularly reminds her how he saved her. She is supported by a couple of friends who she interacts clandestinely with and a mysterious male character Nyte who stirs up the sexual tension.
Peñaranda has created a detailed and rich world that is layered with complexities and intrigue. There is massive potential to deliver an engaging series that could be highly compelling. I did struggle with the rhythm of the text, and I did read some sections out loud to try and get into the swing of it. It seems Peñaranda was aiming for a lyrical prose style but there are times when it is over prescriptive and meanders too long. I am sure many will have no problems in the style and will be absorbed.
The story is told through the point of view of Astrea and we spend an inordinate amount of time in her thoughts. She tries to remember, cannot, so she dismisses it and moves on to the next thought. Having only five years’ worth of memories, you would think it would be the main driving force, that Astrea would be desperate to know who she is and how she came to be under Hektor’s influence. As a victim of abuse, with five years exposure to mental manipulation and physical mistreatment, you need to appreciate that Astrea does not have a strong sense of self. This certainly shines through the and the only thing that Astrea becomes sure of in her journey is that she wants to be her own person not controlled by anyone.
It is apparent that Nyte and Astrea have a previous connection and it is the primary focus on the story. Will he reveal it or will Astrea figure it out? As we only see her point of view, she does not understand Nyte’s cryptic hints, and this causes the tension between the two. He does not want to repeat the errors of the past, she does not know what those errors are, and they keep dancing around these issues over and over. Nyte is crafted as the perfect do I trust him or run away screaming for my life love interest? The dynamics between the two are explosive with potential but it is hard to sustain that level of interest over a prolonged period.
It is obvious that Peñaranda is passionate about her writing, the characters and world she has created. I suspect that this book is the groundwork for the rest of the series as there many hints of bigger elements at play. For those who are looking for slow dive into a series, where much is hinted it and soon heats up to dramatic pace with promise of more, this is for you.

The Stars are Dying by Chloe Penaranda took
me on an exhilarating experience with Astraea. The last five years is all she can remember, and during that time she has been like a bird trapped in a cage. Then Nyte appears and her world changes. Along her journey she is faced with bloodthirsty, soul-seeking vampires and those who wish to use her and see her as a tool. This story is filled with trials, forbidden love, betrayal, and self-discovery. The world Chloe has created had me turning the pages well into the early hours of the morning. I could not get enough!

I have tentatively DNF'd this book at 25%.

As NetGalley requires me to give this a star rating I have given this 1 star. I do not however, feel this accurately represents my reading expereince. For what I managed to get through, I would perhaps more accurately rate this 1.5 stars.

I am not enjoying it, I found it confusing. The world-building is poor. It is rushed and under-developed and it honestly feels as if I had begun reading 100 pages into a book and am missing those crucial pages.

I may pick this up again before its release date, but that is purely because I am mildly curious about the plot. I will not be giving this a star rating on StoryGraph as I do not feel that is just when I DNF'd 25% in. I may mention it as a DNF in my monthly wrap-up on TikTok, but I could not in good faith recommend this book.

I picked this up despite not being a huge paranormal fantasy reader for I love Greek Mythology and Greek Mythology re-tellings and inspired stories. I was not deterred by the vampire element though it is not something I normally read about. I feel I could really have enjoyed this book if it was better written and developed. I am disappointed for I was really excited to read this

Firstly I would like to thank Chloe and her team for sending the ARC for me to read and review.

I Unfortunately have to mention that the readability of this book was tiresome. The manner in which the writer structures her sentences had me confused and made me feel like I was missing something 90% of the time. Things never really flowed together, there are plenty scenes/ moments in the book that could of been fantastic had there been some sort of consistent continuity and build up to them. instead however things just seemed to occur almost randomly and it consistently broke my immersion in the story.

It felt like the more you read, the more it was just words being put together for the sake of filling space, which made the book perplexing and prevented any sort of clarity to the story. The story to me was basically a puzzle within itself, and a very confusing one.

On a more positive note, some things I did enjoy were the characters, their development and the friendships and relationships that they have. This connection to the characters compelled me to finish the book to see where things went with them but overall it was very disjointed and lacking to say the least.