Reviews

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

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queermothman's review against another edition

2.0

I'm super sad I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted! The first half was quite good, but once we reached the midpoint, it just slowly got worse from there.

The worldbuilding is.....bad. It almost feels lazy. There's very little development, very little context for things like the alliance (why do we need it?), why magic is "bad", and even the gods didn't have names. They're just referred to as "the fire god" or "the earth god", and I couldn't tell you why they're worshiped either other than 'gods because fantasy???' No thought put into them or the cultures at all. I'm hesitant to say we even got the bare minimum required for a fantasy world in a published novel.

Also, this book would sometimes use really modern phrases or words that didn't make sense in the context of the world. I swear I heard the word "phoned" at one point, and was like, huh?? Isn't this supposed to be Generic Northern European Fantasy Setting in a time before electricity?

The horse stuff was accurate, but also, felt too modern. The way tack and technique is described is used in modern English riding, not something from a more medieval setting, which is what I'm assuming this book is trying to be (though very, very poorly). For example, the posting trot wasn't introduced until the 18th century (to the best of my knowledge). The saddles in the book are described like common English saddles of today, but in reality, since these horses are war horses, their saddles would probably be more like Spanish war saddles.

I know that's nitpicking. I know most readers won't notice or care. But I CARE LOL

On to the characters. I liked Mare the best, and Denna in the beginning, but as the story went on, they both just became infuriating. I was zoning out by the end of the book because I just did not care about their journey anymore. Denna's powers feel very Mary Sue-ish, and I hate using that term in 2021, but

Spoiler

she pulled stars out of the sky??? Out of nowhere??? And she apparently is going to have ALL the powers, ALL the affinities? Like, that's just not interesting to me.

So yeah, super disappointed! I'm still giving this book 2 stars because I enjoyed the horse theme and I liked the first half. I don't think I'll be reading the sequel, though I am interested in the prequel companion.

hsage21's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

bmccabe088's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

3.0

legarou's review against another edition

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While it was a nice idea I just don't think it was executed properly.
I couln't really empathize with the characters or the decisions they were making and it was also rather predictable and just.. meh.
And that "fulminant ending" wasn't nearly as shocking or great or whatever it was supposed to accomplish - I was rather dissapointed.

mimslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

having a girl named mare be the princess of a country that’s essentially based on horse girl tendencies is rather hilarious. thought it was a cute and fun little sapphic ya fantasy. could definitely gain a cult following like the cruel prince and soc given the politics and romance. looking forward to reading the sequel; listening to it during work has been so fun