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A review by rachtoread
Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger
3.0
Soooo! First book of the new year after my friend told me that it's worth reading, and shit--it is. That being said, here's why it's good and here's why I rated it a 3 stars.
Sophie really changes! I love her character development and it feels like a series worth of character development happens in this one book; I'm not exactly mad, but it is disappointing that she changes the most in this book than all the others. That being said, Sophie's mind and narration is REALLY stressful to be in. Her mind overthinks a LOT and it makes me stressed out how much she overthinks things and I don't like that feeling of constant anxiety while I'm reading the book. Sophie's not a very calm character.
Two: the cast is large! That's good, and at the same time, that's poor writing because everyone will feel like a plot device. I do appreciate that everyone has lives outside of Sophie and they're all working on something and have fleshed out characters and flaws and such. That being said, Rayni/Glimmer really carried this story. I want to shove Stina in a hole--what a fucking bore. There are characters that I absolutely loved at the beginning (Dex, Tam) that lose their endearment because they're such side characters in the story.
Writing is dialogue heavy--not bad, just a writing choice for the medium that this story is written in. It's middle grade, what do you expect?
SOPHIE AND KEEFE GOT TOGETHER IM SO HAPPY PLS I JUST--THEIR KISS AND SOPHIE'S CONFESSION WAS THE CUTEST AND HONESTLY; IM HAPPY FOR THEM TRULY. Keefe did feel like a toned down version of himself in this book, and that says a lot about his character and it's so sad :( that being said, I'm glad that the whole love triangle with Fitz is finally resolved and she got to keep her Cognate connection and face her denial of Keefe and Fitz' love for her head on. That was truly a go girl move; all the denial culminated in the moment where she decided to be brave, for herself, and for her friends.
And they're together. that's all that matters.
The PLOT!! Plot was actually cohesive this time and wasn't confusing! She tied up a lot of lose ends from previous books succinctly and just gave us the answers this time instead of making the characters fight for one answer so intensely, which is great considering the last few books were... awful.
After that ending, I'll definitely be reading the last book and I'm soooo ready to finally finish a series I started in eighth grade :))) I thought a lot about the theories, but if Elysian is the biggest reveal of the entire Lost Cities, this BETTER BE GOOD AND CLIMACTIC. I SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO PREDICT IT.
Sophie really changes! I love her character development and it feels like a series worth of character development happens in this one book; I'm not exactly mad, but it is disappointing that she changes the most in this book than all the others. That being said, Sophie's mind and narration is REALLY stressful to be in. Her mind overthinks a LOT and it makes me stressed out how much she overthinks things and I don't like that feeling of constant anxiety while I'm reading the book. Sophie's not a very calm character.
Two: the cast is large! That's good, and at the same time, that's poor writing because everyone will feel like a plot device. I do appreciate that everyone has lives outside of Sophie and they're all working on something and have fleshed out characters and flaws and such. That being said, Rayni/Glimmer really carried this story. I want to shove Stina in a hole--what a fucking bore. There are characters that I absolutely loved at the beginning (Dex, Tam) that lose their endearment because they're such side characters in the story.
Writing is dialogue heavy--not bad, just a writing choice for the medium that this story is written in. It's middle grade, what do you expect?
SOPHIE AND KEEFE GOT TOGETHER IM SO HAPPY PLS I JUST--THEIR KISS AND SOPHIE'S CONFESSION WAS THE CUTEST AND HONESTLY; IM HAPPY FOR THEM TRULY. Keefe did feel like a toned down version of himself in this book, and that says a lot about his character and it's so sad :( that being said, I'm glad that the whole love triangle with Fitz is finally resolved and she got to keep her Cognate connection and face her denial of Keefe and Fitz' love for her head on. That was truly a go girl move; all the denial culminated in the moment where she decided to be brave, for herself, and for her friends.
And they're together. that's all that matters.
The PLOT!! Plot was actually cohesive this time and wasn't confusing! She tied up a lot of lose ends from previous books succinctly and just gave us the answers this time instead of making the characters fight for one answer so intensely, which is great considering the last few books were... awful.
After that ending, I'll definitely be reading the last book and I'm soooo ready to finally finish a series I started in eighth grade :))) I thought a lot about the theories, but if Elysian is the biggest reveal of the entire Lost Cities, this BETTER BE GOOD AND CLIMACTIC. I SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO PREDICT IT.