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A review by emleemay
The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent
4.0
Holy shit, this was entertaining. Not perfect - there were some issues I had - but seriously, who cares when a book is this unputdownable?
"The Unclean were hiding in plain sight, among us. Breeding their own hosts. Existing right under the Church’s nose."
[b:The Stars Never Rise|17788681|The Stars Never Rise (Untitled Series, #1)|Rachel Vincent|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420315185s/17788681.jpg|24878978] is a fast-paced, gritty blend of dystopia and urban fantasy. Set in a future America that has been ravaged by demons who possess human bodies and some other creepy zombie-like monsters called Degenerates, a new governing body has emerged - The Unified Church.
The Church demands strict obedience, punishes sins and, in return, sends its trained exorcists out to defend civilians from the demonic threat. Nina Kane, however, is a little bit more concerned about making enough money to feed herself and her sister, Melanie. Their mother is a drug addict who stumbles home at dawn and sleeps throughout the day, so Nina must do whatever she can to survive and provide for them. But when Melanie reveals a secret that could have dire consequences for the whole family, it sparks a series of events that will change both their lives forever.
Aside from just being enjoyable as hell, the book has many things I love: sisters looking out for each other, great secondary characters, a touch of humour amid the action and nastiness. Not to mention a heroine I really liked, who was flawed and tough:
"If I was going down, I would go down fighting."
Hell yeah, girl.
I will also talk about some of the minor complaints I had, though it should be noted that even the problems I had with this book have huge BUTs after them.
Firstly, I thought the first and last thirds of the book were really strong but that third in the middle was weaker. I would say the budding romance comes far behind everything else, but it seems to be a necessary component of every YA novel these days, so it did come into play. When the love interest was first introduced, I was a bit bored and couldn't wait to get back to the serious stuff. However - here's the BUT - the author actually really surprised me. There's a romance happening in this series but it's... not what I first thought. To be honest, I've never read one quite like it. So maybe not so much of a negative after all.
My second issue was also kind of "fixed" later on. Basically, the character of Devi is introduced as a typical mean girl who seemed to dislike Nina for no good reason. I hate it when authors create female characters for the sole reason of adding a bit of girl-on-girl hate/jealousy angst. BUT, she's not the throwaway character I worried she might be. In fact, I'd say she's a source of some much-needed bitchy, hilarious cynicism. And she's pretty much the smartest character in the whole book. Looking forward to seeing more of her in the next installment.
I don't think it's difficult to see some of the "reveals" coming, but the characters, the action and the sheer pull of the author's writing are so good that I didn't really care. I also really like that the ending doesn't feel like a cliffhanger but, at the same time, opens up the story and the world of the novel into something bigger and scarier. It made me even more excited for the sequel.
There's potential for a really great series here. Here's hoping for even more action, more surprises and more of these characters being funny and awesome in the next book. Also, I think there's a great opportunity for discussion about what it really means to be human... I hope the author takes advantage of that.
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"The Unclean were hiding in plain sight, among us. Breeding their own hosts. Existing right under the Church’s nose."
[b:The Stars Never Rise|17788681|The Stars Never Rise (Untitled Series, #1)|Rachel Vincent|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420315185s/17788681.jpg|24878978] is a fast-paced, gritty blend of dystopia and urban fantasy. Set in a future America that has been ravaged by demons who possess human bodies and some other creepy zombie-like monsters called Degenerates, a new governing body has emerged - The Unified Church.
The Church demands strict obedience, punishes sins and, in return, sends its trained exorcists out to defend civilians from the demonic threat. Nina Kane, however, is a little bit more concerned about making enough money to feed herself and her sister, Melanie. Their mother is a drug addict who stumbles home at dawn and sleeps throughout the day, so Nina must do whatever she can to survive and provide for them. But when Melanie reveals a secret that could have dire consequences for the whole family, it sparks a series of events that will change both their lives forever.
Aside from just being enjoyable as hell, the book has many things I love: sisters looking out for each other, great secondary characters, a touch of humour amid the action and nastiness. Not to mention a heroine I really liked, who was flawed and tough:
"If I was going down, I would go down fighting."
Hell yeah, girl.
I will also talk about some of the minor complaints I had, though it should be noted that even the problems I had with this book have huge BUTs after them.
Firstly, I thought the first and last thirds of the book were really strong but that third in the middle was weaker. I would say the budding romance comes far behind everything else, but it seems to be a necessary component of every YA novel these days, so it did come into play. When the love interest was first introduced, I was a bit bored and couldn't wait to get back to the serious stuff. However - here's the BUT - the author actually really surprised me. There's a romance happening in this series but it's... not what I first thought. To be honest, I've never read one quite like it. So maybe not so much of a negative after all.
My second issue was also kind of "fixed" later on. Basically, the character of Devi is introduced as a typical mean girl who seemed to dislike Nina for no good reason. I hate it when authors create female characters for the sole reason of adding a bit of girl-on-girl hate/jealousy angst. BUT, she's not the throwaway character I worried she might be. In fact, I'd say she's a source of some much-needed bitchy, hilarious cynicism. And she's pretty much the smartest character in the whole book. Looking forward to seeing more of her in the next installment.
I don't think it's difficult to see some of the "reveals" coming, but the characters, the action and the sheer pull of the author's writing are so good that I didn't really care. I also really like that the ending doesn't feel like a cliffhanger but, at the same time, opens up the story and the world of the novel into something bigger and scarier. It made me even more excited for the sequel.
There's potential for a really great series here. Here's hoping for even more action, more surprises and more of these characters being funny and awesome in the next book. Also, I think there's a great opportunity for discussion about what it really means to be human... I hope the author takes advantage of that.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr