A review by marleywrites
A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-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

4.5

Nobody asked me to do this but here’s a list of the main characters and the songs from Taylor Swift’s Midnights album that remind me of them:

Nausicaä - Anti-hero 
Arlo - Snow on the beach (ft. Lana del Rey)
Aurelian - You’re On Your Own, Kid
Vehan - Maroon

Now onto the review: 

After finishing A Dark and Hollow Star, I immediately ordered the next in the series, A Cruel and Fated Light. My favorite things about this book were A) the character development and B) the world building. Both were teased out so precisely and delicately and I found myself completely enjoying just vibing out with the characters as they had their little moments with each other (I’m partial to Nausicaä’s banter with Arlo). It felt like each moment held significant weight that added to the story. 

The world building is slow paced, and the four main characters don’t meet until over halfway through the book, but it just makes sense as you read through it. So to the reviews saying they DNF, etc, they really missed a beautifully written story with lots of humor and quirky character moments. I really enjoyed this about the book, so for me it definitely worked. If you’re looking for a high intensity, action packed book, this isn’t the book for you. There are little pockets of those things throughout the story but overall I did find the pacing slow, yet enjoyable. 

Some tropes/things this book features:
-slow burn f/f romance beginnings
-m/m friends to ??? enemies but wanna be lovers??? 
-lots of laughs
-sarcasm
-grumpy/sunshine 
-kick ass fight scenes 
-great descriptions of internal thoughts
-excellent setting descriptions 

I rated this a 4.5 out of 5. The .5 that was missing for me was that I wanted to see more in the m/m relationship teased out in book 1, so I have high expectations for book 2!!
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