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Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

5 reviews

kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rosemaryandrue's review

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers for Castles in Their Bones, the first book in the series.

Raised to be weapons for their mother to use against neighboring kingdoms, triplet princesses Daphne, Beatriz, and Sophronia have lost their faith in the plan – and in the end, Sophronia lost her life. Beatriz and Daphne might have a chance still, but only if they can unite forces.

Castles in Their Bones ended with such a twist that I found myself in shock, unable to believe that what I had read had actually happened – so of course I immediately had to read the sequel, at the very least to find out how Beatriz and Daphne would react to their sister’s death and the revelation that their mother had always been lying to them.

Though Sophronia, my favorite character, is gone, the introduction of Violie as the third narrator and the progression of Beatriz and Daphne’s character arcs and how they are shaped by their grief over Sophronia’s death kept me invested.

I was surprised and pleased by the direction that the plot progressed and how characters from different storylines began to link up and affect each other. It was also interesting to learn more about the magic system alongside Beatriz, as the author filled in a lot of gaps that are elided over in the first book, as well as hinting at broader problems beyond the political ones with Empress Margaraux.

However, this book definitely suffers from second book syndrome. We get characters moving around a lot and a fair amount of plotting and intriguing on the part of our heroines, but plot towards the middle of the book especially becomes slightly threadbare. I am very excited for how things are set-up for the third book, but I could have done with more action in this one! I also felt that secondary characters rather faded into the background, especially Pasquale and Ambrose who are mostly around to provide support to Beatriz and do little else.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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thelittlestmermaid's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

* Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC! *

For starters, I'm very disappointed that the cover doesn't match the same style of the first book? Make it match please I want them to match on my shelf 🫠

Anyway, this book picks up right where the first book left off. It has all the fun political intrigue and unique magic from the first book with a *touch* of sadness as the characters deal with the grief of losing Sophie.

This book adds a new POV to the mix Sophronia's maid, Violie. I was nervous about this because Sophie was my favorite character in the first book and worried that a new character wouldn't be as fun to read about, but I was pleasantly surprised. Violie is a tough cookie and makes sure she keeps her promises, no matter how dangerous it gets for her.

Daphne and Beatriz remain mostly the same as they were in the first book, which is good. They definitely develop as the book goes on and discover new goals they want to achieve. The two of them never felt stuck in one spot for too long or boring to read about. I enjoyed their perspectives quite a bit.

In comparison to the first book this one did seem a little slower paced, but I didn't mind that. It delves more into Beatriz learning about her newly discovered magic and Daphne building relationships with the people around her, despite her best efforts not to.

Now if only the third book were already out so I could read it. I hate having to wait. I loved this book very much and highly *highly* recommend this series to any fans of fantasy stories with badass female main characters.

5 stars.

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natashaleighton_'s review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The highly anticipated sequel to Laura Sebastian’s Castles In Their Bones ups the stakes and the delicious, slow burn political intrigue that fans of Tricia Levenseller’s The Shadows Between Us or Alexandra Rowland’s A Taste of Gold and Iron don’t want to miss!

I just want to preface this by saying, given how things transpired at the end of Castles In Their Bones, I can’t go into too much detail about Stardust In Their Veins’ premise without revealing spoilers for book one, so this is my attempt at explaining the plot (and sharing a review) WITHOUT giving away any spoilers.

It follows on from the aftermath of event which started with triplet princesses ; Sophronia, Beatriz and Daphne sent off to marry into three kingdoms—and by seduction, deception and espionage,!weaken them enough to allow their power hungry mother (the Empress of Bessemia) to sweep in and take control of the entire continent.

Suffice to say, those plans did not always go so smoothly, and book two opens with each Princess attempting to navigate the repercussions of those plans. But with assassins around every corner and warnings of betrayal (and an ominous new prophecy written in the stars) , the Princesses can’t trust anyone—perhaps not even each other. But, If they've learned anything, it's that their mother’s game is constantly changing. The only question now is, can they tip the scales in their favour, before deadlier foes decide their fates …

If you’ve followed my reviews for a while then you may remember how much enjoyed Castles In Their Bones last year which I completely devoured—and very nearly rioted over, after THAT spectacular cliff hanger of an ending! So when the opportunity to read the sequel arose I couldn’t help but leapt at the chance. And despite some initial reservations (second book syndrome has burned me far too many times not to have any) I’m glad to report that it definitely managed to live up to my (admittedly quite high) expectations—and even made me love a character or two that I previously REALLY disliked.

The writing is (unsurprisingly) just as exquisite as it’s predecessor with world building that was just as expansive and even more nuanced—giving us more insight not only into the Kingdoms of Friv and Cellaria, but Bessemia as well which definitely made for an intriguingly enjoyable read.

It was definitely a more character driven narrative and I loved the depth and emotions that we see from our protagonists—I was especially impressed with the feeling of intimacy we get in a lot of Daphne and Beatriz’s monologue style scenes and the emotional development we see them both undertake. Particularly Daphne, who was probably my least favourite of the sisters in the first book (my fave being Sophronia.) But, I felt she really came into her own here as we see her finally begin to piece together events and begin to question the validity of her mother’s actions. As the most dutiful Princess (and the most loyal to the Empress) this makes for quite an intense emotional journey for Daphne, and one that really helped endear her to me.

The pace is more of a slow burn as there is more political intrigue and scheming as opposed to direct conflict but I felt that really gave us time to process all the new characters, POVs or (in Beatriz’s case) new magical abilities we didn’t fully explore in the previous book. The romance, likewise, took a bit of a back seat to the fraught relationship between Daphne and Beatriz and the tentative sisterly bond that has formed between them.

Overall, this was a great second instalment to this female driven and espionage filled series, and really sets the stage for what is sure be be an explosive book three—which I desperately need a copy of ASAP!

Also, thanks to Hodderscape and Netgalley for the e-arc.

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elizajaquays's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stardust in Their Veins picks up right where Castles in Their Bones left off. With how quick it was to dive into the action, I wish I had taken the time to sit down and reread the first book, especially with how intricately Laura Sebastian weaves the plot threads of the three sisters' stories together. If it's been a while since you've read the first book, I would definitely recommend a reread or at least reading a summary of the plot before you dive in.

I was on a plane when I started my read and didn't have access to the first book, so I barreled through doing my best to reorient myself as the details came back to me. Even with all that, I was still instantly hooked and enjoyed every minute I spent with Beatriz and Daphne, and really enjoyed

how they worked in Sophronia's storyline after the events of the first book.

So often middle books in a trilogy suffer from middle book syndrome and I did not find that to be the case here. That said, the focus of Stardust in Their Veins was on dealing with the fallout of the first book and moving the sisters into position for the third book, but it managed to do it in a way that felt like the story was unfurling and growing rather than it only serving as a stopgap for the final book.

I would 100% die for Pasquale who continues to be The Best(TM).

Fair warning to anyone about to pick it up, it ends on a cliffhanger, not as big of a one as Castles, but enough of one that the wait for the sequel is going to destroy me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of Stardust in Their Veins. I loved every minute of it and am so excited for my preorder to arrive!

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