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pages_oflau's review against another edition
3.0
Oh man...
This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, but honestly, I’m a little let down.
This book is a retelling of ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen with a sci-fi take...apparently.
A) I’ve never read anything by Jane Austen so I can’t comment on that aspect;
2) There was hardly anything sci-fi about this book apart from the fact that the word ‘fleet’ and ship names are mentioned pretty regularly. Also, the most sci-fi part about this book was the epilogue where it’s mentioned that people don’t want to come back to Earth.
Whilst I found this book to be a fast read, I read the majority of it in one sitting, I did find it very mediocre.
The characters weren’t anything special, even though I didn’t hate them. There was no character development and everything they did didn’t seem to have much consequence. Also there were 2 characters in here 1 with lesbian rep and 1 with ace rep but the ace rep was mentioned pretty much towards the end of the book. It would of been nice if it was mentioned earlier and then we got to see more of that character.
For a book set in space, I expected this book to have an amazing atmosphere but it really didn’t. Infact, until the epilogue, I had pretty much forgotten that they weren’t on earth. The ship names are mentioned often but also nationalities like Russian, Scandinavian, Norwegian are mentioned too and it just felt like a huge mish mash. Like it was trying to be sci-fi but just wasn’t.
Again, the logic behind the plot for this book was...meeeeh. We had no background as to why it was happening, why it had to happen and what the purpose was. Another thing for the plot is that it is very romance heavy, and I just didn’t get it. Everyone was fighting over this one guy but he was flirting with them all when he wanted someone who wasn’t fighting over him but he was too busy trying to make her jealous and she was too busy trying to hurt him and not trusting him and it was just a mess.
That being said, I did like the writing style, it was easy and fast to read and I would somehow read 200 pages in one sitting when I only wanted to read 30.
I feel like this book is severely under developed in the characters and plot/logic/atmosphere aspects and so I can’t rate it more than 3 stars (rated using CAWPILE) even though I kind of enjoyed it enough to finish it and to read it so fast.
This was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, but honestly, I’m a little let down.
This book is a retelling of ‘Persuasion’ by Jane Austen with a sci-fi take...apparently.
A) I’ve never read anything by Jane Austen so I can’t comment on that aspect;
2) There was hardly anything sci-fi about this book apart from the fact that the word ‘fleet’ and ship names are mentioned pretty regularly. Also, the most sci-fi part about this book was the epilogue where it’s mentioned that people don’t want to come back to Earth.
Whilst I found this book to be a fast read, I read the majority of it in one sitting, I did find it very mediocre.
The characters weren’t anything special, even though I didn’t hate them. There was no character development and everything they did didn’t seem to have much consequence. Also there were 2 characters in here 1 with lesbian rep and 1 with ace rep but the ace rep was mentioned pretty much towards the end of the book. It would of been nice if it was mentioned earlier and then we got to see more of that character.
For a book set in space, I expected this book to have an amazing atmosphere but it really didn’t. Infact, until the epilogue, I had pretty much forgotten that they weren’t on earth. The ship names are mentioned often but also nationalities like Russian, Scandinavian, Norwegian are mentioned too and it just felt like a huge mish mash. Like it was trying to be sci-fi but just wasn’t.
Again, the logic behind the plot for this book was...meeeeh. We had no background as to why it was happening, why it had to happen and what the purpose was. Another thing for the plot is that it is very romance heavy, and I just didn’t get it. Everyone was fighting over this one guy but he was flirting with them all when he wanted someone who wasn’t fighting over him but he was too busy trying to make her jealous and she was too busy trying to hurt him and not trusting him and it was just a mess.
That being said, I did like the writing style, it was easy and fast to read and I would somehow read 200 pages in one sitting when I only wanted to read 30.
I feel like this book is severely under developed in the characters and plot/logic/atmosphere aspects and so I can’t rate it more than 3 stars (rated using CAWPILE) even though I kind of enjoyed it enough to finish it and to read it so fast.
crhogan's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
thebookberrie's review against another edition
1.0
I hate this title because it steals a lyric from a song from The Greatest Showman and yet isn't related at all. It's like they (they being the author and / or the publisher) heard the song and was like, shit that's good I take.
The Stars We Steal is about Princess Leo, heir to a European spaceship that is looking for a husband. As Leo navigates the Valg season looking for the best bachelor, her ex shows up. Elliot was the one that got away and is now the catch of the season.
I mean, kind of my bad because I loved the cover (and thought the last book by this author was okay enough) but I had no idea what this book was even about?? I thought it would be much more spacey and cool but no... this is just the fucking Bachelor but with a bunch of whiny teenagers iN SpAcE. I really need to avoid The Bachelor meets literally anything else because it is a recipe for disaster. This isn't [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322103400l/10507293._SY75_.jpg|15413183] and this isn't 2012 pls stop.
Leo and the rest of the characters are seriously so annoying. This entire book was annoying and was just talk about stuff instead of actually seeing it and wow that was boring. Instead of being entertaining trash it was just straight trash that was annoying instead of being hilarious to read. Leo is a privileged brat who is extremely immature (and not funny at all despite the quips she loved) and someone should have yeeted her into space. The romance sucked too and we love a pointless love triangle.
Speaking of space wtf this sucks. The spaceships and everything else about it was just a ~cool background~ for this basic ass trash romance, drama, and nothing else. It's so embarrassing and didn't save this book from being a complete waste of time. People living in spaceships colonies because Earth is dead is interesting but the author didn't do a damn thing to explore that or make it important to anything. Literally just watch Wall-E instead and your life will be better.
I hate it very much thank you.
The Stars We Steal is about Princess Leo, heir to a European spaceship that is looking for a husband. As Leo navigates the Valg season looking for the best bachelor, her ex shows up. Elliot was the one that got away and is now the catch of the season.
I mean, kind of my bad because I loved the cover (and thought the last book by this author was okay enough) but I had no idea what this book was even about?? I thought it would be much more spacey and cool but no... this is just the fucking Bachelor but with a bunch of whiny teenagers iN SpAcE. I really need to avoid The Bachelor meets literally anything else because it is a recipe for disaster. This isn't [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322103400l/10507293._SY75_.jpg|15413183] and this isn't 2012 pls stop.
Leo and the rest of the characters are seriously so annoying. This entire book was annoying and was just talk about stuff instead of actually seeing it and wow that was boring. Instead of being entertaining trash it was just straight trash that was annoying instead of being hilarious to read. Leo is a privileged brat who is extremely immature (and not funny at all despite the quips she loved) and someone should have yeeted her into space. The romance sucked too and we love a pointless love triangle.
Speaking of space wtf this sucks. The spaceships and everything else about it was just a ~cool background~ for this basic ass trash romance, drama, and nothing else. It's so embarrassing and didn't save this book from being a complete waste of time. People living in spaceships colonies because Earth is dead is interesting but the author didn't do a damn thing to explore that or make it important to anything. Literally just watch Wall-E instead and your life will be better.
I hate it very much thank you.
harplovestoread's review against another edition
3.0
3.8 a very good book honestly, I would’ve enjoyed it more if I didn’t have to read it, but pretty good and no one really talks about it
bythebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I really liked it but the ending felt a little rush and I missed we had gotten before background on Leo and Elliot’s first relationship. It was an enjoy experience and would recommend if you are looking for an easier read that still has some depth.
i_bee_reading's review against another edition
2.0
I received this ARC as a Goodreads give away, thank you to the publisher and author for the chance to read and review it.
I unfortunately was not pulled into the story. Many times I felt behind the story, reading about what happened rather than feeling it AS it happened. This was a DNF for me about 1/3 in.
I unfortunately was not pulled into the story. Many times I felt behind the story, reading about what happened rather than feeling it AS it happened. This was a DNF for me about 1/3 in.
estanceveyrac's review against another edition
2.0
Two things : a sapphic girl would never call her platonic heterosexual friend her girlfriend, that's just, what the fuck, we all hate how the word is used by heterosexual girls to designate their friends & not their romantic partners. This shows how shallow the queer representation is. A few lines thrown here & there, no real substance.
And that leads us to Daniel. Daniel being ace, not liking kissing, great. But you can't say I'm asexual so love in not in the cards for me. Did no one beta read this book? Furthermore, I think it is made worse by the fact that Daniel doesn't say it is uninterested in romance, that it is not something he wish he had. No, he says that his relationships were cut short because of his asexuality & that love in not in the card for him because of his asexuality. So it is not only not stated that he is aromantic, but it is hinted at that he isn't but asexuality is too big a hurdle to find romantic love. Real nice.
On this being a Persuasion retelling, it is a rather weak one. Changing the age of the characters worsen things, making the story completely unrealistic. The essence of Austen's work doesn't transpire through the pages, Leo is not Anne, far from it & Eliott is not worth any comparaison to Wentworth.
Furthermore, the political class conflict setting was barely established that it was forgotten, nothing is resolve, even people said to have values don't uphold them, so really class conflict is used as a prop to support the love story, which, if you are a Janeite, you know is completely backwards.
Romance in Austen is used as a strategy to show class conflicts, to show inequalities, to demonstrate false morality & showcase the lack of opportunities & choices for the women in the story. Romance in Austen is flowers piercing through the pavement, not pretty rocks set around the flowers to look nice.
And that leads us to Daniel. Daniel being ace, not liking kissing, great. But you can't say I'm asexual so love in not in the cards for me. Did no one beta read this book? Furthermore, I think it is made worse by the fact that Daniel doesn't say it is uninterested in romance, that it is not something he wish he had. No, he says that his relationships were cut short because of his asexuality & that love in not in the card for him because of his asexuality. So it is not only not stated that he is aromantic, but it is hinted at that he isn't but asexuality is too big a hurdle to find romantic love. Real nice.
On this being a Persuasion retelling, it is a rather weak one. Changing the age of the characters worsen things, making the story completely unrealistic. The essence of Austen's work doesn't transpire through the pages, Leo is not Anne, far from it & Eliott is not worth any comparaison to Wentworth.
Furthermore, the political class conflict setting was barely established that it was forgotten, nothing is resolve, even people said to have values don't uphold them, so really class conflict is used as a prop to support the love story, which, if you are a Janeite, you know is completely backwards.
Romance in Austen is used as a strategy to show class conflicts, to show inequalities, to demonstrate false morality & showcase the lack of opportunities & choices for the women in the story. Romance in Austen is flowers piercing through the pavement, not pretty rocks set around the flowers to look nice.
zoe_424's review against another edition
4.0
This book gave me so much that I didn't know I needed. I picked this up after reading several INTENSE books and I just wanted a fun rom-com. That being said, The Stars We Steal includes a lot of social commentary on classism that hit a little to close to home for me.
The Stars We Steal also includes:
Asexual rep with the word "Asexual" written on the page
ALL THE GAYS
Women eating? Which isn't something I knew I wanted to see until I read it on the page.
The phrase "heteronomative snoozefest"
The Stars We Steal also includes:
Asexual rep with the word "Asexual" written on the page
ALL THE GAYS
Women eating? Which isn't something I knew I wanted to see until I read it on the page.
The phrase "heteronomative snoozefest"