A review by melbsreads
The January Stars by Kate Constable
4.0
Trigger warnings: racism, death of a grandparent (in the past).
I was somewhat hesitant going into this because Crow Country is.......yeah. Not my favourite thing in the world. But this? This was WONDERFUL. I found myself utterly absorbed in it and I read like 70% of it in an hour.
Clancy is a delightful protagonist, and I loved how strong the relationship is between the girls and their grandfather. The fabulism elements of the story were fantastic, and I really enjoyed all the secondary characters that pop in and out of the story. The adventure side of things, journeying all over Melbourne and various places in country Victoria, was great. And I loved the way that Clancy's love of astronomy flows throughout the story.
There are also some very interesting discussions of the fact that Clancy and Tash are biracial and that their grandfather is white and the instant suspicion that people have when they see two kids with Asian heritage pushing an old white dude around.
So yeah, on the whole, this was fantastic and I flew through it. Plus, that cover is GLORIOUS.
I was somewhat hesitant going into this because Crow Country is.......yeah. Not my favourite thing in the world. But this? This was WONDERFUL. I found myself utterly absorbed in it and I read like 70% of it in an hour.
Clancy is a delightful protagonist, and I loved how strong the relationship is between the girls and their grandfather. The fabulism elements of the story were fantastic, and I really enjoyed all the secondary characters that pop in and out of the story. The adventure side of things, journeying all over Melbourne and various places in country Victoria, was great. And I loved the way that Clancy's love of astronomy flows throughout the story.
There are also some very interesting discussions of the fact that Clancy and Tash are biracial and that their grandfather is white and the instant suspicion that people have when they see two kids with Asian heritage pushing an old white dude around.
So yeah, on the whole, this was fantastic and I flew through it. Plus, that cover is GLORIOUS.