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jasperw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed this book. I think the writing is beautiful and the story is told really well. I think plot points are interweaved together really well. I think the characters are real. There were sometimes actions that were confusing- but you had to remember who's perspective you were currently seeing and also the trauma/experiences of that specific character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Physical abuse
thedarklibraryofleah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The City of Stardust has left me feeling really conflicted about how I feel about it. There are elements of the story that I loved and other elements that I just did not like as much.
Let's start with the positives, I really loved the lore as I found it super interesting and it was quite complex. The world building was also super great and it was really fun exploring the world through Violet in the story. I also really loved the prose used to describe the world building and lore as it gave it a very whimsical feeling.
Now for the more negative aspects of the story which I felt brought the story down a bit. Firstly, thr character choices were really frustrating, except for Violet it felt none of the other characters (especially Aleksander) really evolved. They just kept making the same mistake again and again without learning anything. Speaking of Aleksander, i really disliked him which is strange for me as I tend to like darker, morally gray characters like Caspian but he came across not evil just naive and dumb. I really was not a fan of the romance between Aleksander and Violet, there just no chemistry between them and I much preferred her with Caspian. I also felt that there was too much going on with the plot, that it just lead to the characters making questionable decisions that actually damage their progress to what they were trying to achieve (looking at you Penelope).
Overall, it was a whimsical read which I enjoyed but also got frustrated at.
Let's start with the positives, I really loved the lore as I found it super interesting and it was quite complex. The world building was also super great and it was really fun exploring the world through Violet in the story. I also really loved the prose used to describe the world building and lore as it gave it a very whimsical feeling.
Now for the more negative aspects of the story which I felt brought the story down a bit. Firstly, thr character choices were really frustrating, except for Violet it felt none of the other characters (especially Aleksander) really evolved. They just kept making the same mistake again and again without learning anything. Speaking of Aleksander, i really disliked him which is strange for me as I tend to like darker, morally gray characters like Caspian but he came across not evil just naive and dumb. I really was not a fan of the romance between Aleksander and Violet, there just no chemistry between them and I much preferred her with Caspian. I also felt that there was too much going on with the plot, that it just lead to the characters making questionable decisions that actually damage their progress to what they were trying to achieve (looking at you Penelope).
Overall, it was a whimsical read which I enjoyed but also got frustrated at.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Abandonment
kiwij96's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I genuinely have no idea what the plot is to this story and I have read it. It was just 340 pages of nothing which is so disappointing because the concept for it was so interesting.
Essentially, after finding out that her family (nore specifically, Violet) is cursed, Violet spends a year of her life running around the world trying to find her mother who ran away when Violet was 8. She befriends a scholar who is about as interesting as drywall, and encounters Gods (one of which Gabriel later tries to fight off with a chair, an event that genuinely made me consider DNFing for the 8th time but it was 100 pages from the end so ) and friends of her mother who do absolutely nothing to progress the story or help her understand anything.
Everyone in this story hides the truth from Violet and is super vague about everything, but somehow Violet knows where to look after conversations that hold about as much weight as air. The only tolerable character is Caspian who gets about 5 pages. The only character who has a set nationality is Yury (and honestly I don't love the fact that the Russian character is written as what is essentially a terrorist ).
Fidelis is definitely, 100% based on Velaris from ACOTAR with it being a City of Stars (granted it is Stardust instead of Starlight). A city which is visited maybe 3 times total and not for very long each time it is mentioned. The city is but a vague promise to the reader in the greater scheme of things, especially when the majority of the story takes place somewhere in the world.
There is some absolutely gorgeous writing and scene-setting in this book for sure. The sentence structure is genuinely stunning. The chapters are short and easy to get through without issue. However, the pacing is just so weird and at times I felt like I was missing context for what was happening and why.
I genuinely have no idea what that book was and I am massively disappointed with it. I should have saved myself the time and energy and DNFed.
Essentially, after finding out that her family (nore specifically, Violet) is cursed, Violet spends a year of her life running around the world trying to find her mother who ran away when Violet was 8. She befriends a scholar who is about as interesting as drywall, and encounters Gods (
Everyone in this story hides the truth from Violet and is super vague about everything, but somehow Violet knows where to look after conversations that hold about as much weight as air. The only tolerable character is Caspian who gets about 5 pages. The only character who has a set nationality is Yury (
Fidelis is definitely, 100% based on Velaris from ACOTAR with it being a City of Stars (granted it is Stardust instead of Starlight). A city which is visited maybe 3 times total and not for very long each time it is mentioned. The city is but a vague promise to the reader in the greater scheme of things, especially when the majority of the story takes place somewhere in the world.
There is some absolutely gorgeous writing and scene-setting in this book for sure. The sentence structure is genuinely stunning. The chapters are short and easy to get through without issue. However, the pacing is just so weird and at times I felt like I was missing context for what was happening and why.
I genuinely have no idea what that book was and I am massively disappointed with it. I should have saved myself the time and energy and DNFed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment
Moderate: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Undoubtedly beautiful prose and an interesting fantasy premise that blends a modern setting with an old world dark fairytale vibe (via portal doors). Overall, however, the story, pacing, and character development just didn't click for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Alcohol
embee007's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
“Do you really believe the curse isn’t real? That the divine never touches you? That the wheeling cosmos is but an abstract of chemicals? Do you not hear the stars sing, little dreamer?”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
madlysoph's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book has a very strong atmosphere, it is very lush and beautiful. The prose is lovely, overall the writing is really good and never falters throughout the story. The style in which the book is told is also very well done, with the occasional chapter being told as though it’s a fairytale pulling you further into this world. The concept is fascinating and the worldbuilding is extremely interesting. The characters are all done well, they are interesting whole people who have many and oftentimes conflicting motivations. I loved the Everly brothers, they were so fun to read about and my heart ached for them. The romance is fine, the characters have good chemistry, it just needed a little bit more. At least for me, this book did nothing extraordinary, I’m sure it will be something extraordinary for others, but not me. I was left wanting more, more details on the worldbuilding, a longer epilogue, some more concrete endings. For me this book felt like it had missing pieces, nothing massive or glaring, but a few small ones. Overall this is a good fantasy book that is worth a read. I really like Georgia Summers writing style and will be reading more of her books in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, and Abandonment
mirificmoxie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit
viivacious's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
It is so intentionally vague. Like it was trying for interesting and mysterious but it ended up being annoying instead.
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Lots of children and babies being stolen to be used as sacrifices and Aleksander being raised abusively .
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Blood
Minor: Child death and Abandonment
sarahweyand's review against another edition
Thanks to Redhook Books and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own.
This might be my biggest case of "it's not you, it's me" to date. I requested this ARC because I genuinely loved the premise of the blurb. When I started reading, I was intrigued by the inciting conflict and was interested in our main characters. I also appreciated the prose I was reading; the novel seemed well-crafted and the writing was nice and intricate without being purple.
As I read, the worldbuilding felt lacking and the pacing seemed to drag. I didn't love Violet and the decisions she was making; she seemed too naive and hesitant that I was reluctant to root for her. She seemed to lack any urgency for a climax with a definitive timeline, and because of that I found myself only able to read a couple pages at a time.
Perhaps at some point I'll pick this book back up again and give it another go. But for now, I'm going to move on.
This might be my biggest case of "it's not you, it's me" to date. I requested this ARC because I genuinely loved the premise of the blurb. When I started reading, I was intrigued by the inciting conflict and was interested in our main characters. I also appreciated the prose I was reading; the novel seemed well-crafted and the writing was nice and intricate without being purple.
As I read, the worldbuilding felt lacking and the pacing seemed to drag. I didn't love Violet and the decisions she was making; she seemed too naive and hesitant that I was reluctant to root for her. She seemed to lack any urgency for a climax with a definitive timeline, and because of that I found myself only able to read a couple pages at a time.
Perhaps at some point I'll pick this book back up again and give it another go. But for now, I'm going to move on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Abandonment