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A review by estanceveyrac
The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne
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.