The Stars Never Rise

* spoilers *

Nina Kane is trying to survive, but it's difficult. Her mother is an oblivious drug addict bent on escaping reality, so money, food, and resources are scarce. Nina does everything she can to provide for herself and her little sister Mellie without letting anyone know anything is wrong. She only needs another few months until she's 18 years old and free from her toxic mother. On top of this, the world they live in is incredibly dangerous: demons have decimated their population, making souls scarce. The church rules with an iron fist, but keeps everyone safe from the demons. Nina finds out Mellie is keeping a secret that will destroy everything they tried to accomplish. She meets a rogue exorcist named Finn by chance while show more being attacked by a revenant who shouldn't even exist. They have to trust each other to get to the bottom of why demons are still around in New Temperance and how to save herself and her sister from the wrath of the clergy.

The world in The Stars Never Rise is different than any other I've seen. Demons have been consuming souls at an alarming rate and possessing people. Possessed people appear normal while demons care enough to pretend. Over time, they get more and more corrupt and deteriorated. The Church saved humanity with exorcisms and made the world safe again. In exchange for safety, the Church expects everyone to adhere to their strict regime which includes purity, faith, and obedience at all costs. Because souls are so restricted, bodily autonomy is a thing of the past. Only women deemed worthy can reproduce. All others are forcibly sterilized. Of those "worthy" women, only ones that can find a soul for their baby are allowed to get pregnant. These souls can be donated from family members or they can try their luck from the very small registry. Women who can't get a soul for their baby are condemned to carry to term, give birth, and watch their baby die with no soul. This world is extremely frightening to me because this puts into practice many religious group's paradise where women have no rights and their particular religion is mandated practice in school, work, and life only with some supernatural elements.

One of the main problems I have with the novel is the conflicting rhetoric. The Church is staunchly against abortion as expected, but abortion is still looked at by the characters as immoral and not an option. I suppose it could be argued that their indoctrination is lifelong and hard to break through, but it annoyed me that these characters recognize that practically everything else about the church is crazy and oppressive bullshit except for this. They affirm this pretty significant church belief. Of course the pregnant teenager in the book wants to keep her baby despite there being no soul available for it (so she would have to simply watch it die) and no resources for her to raise it let alone to take care of just herself. This could have been the perfect opportunity to include a teenage girl who wants an abortion to really push against the religious right wing rhetoric that constantly works to chip away at abortion rights, but Vincent chose to go the opposite way. Everything else in the novel from freedom to sexuality to bodily autonomy is in line with liberal beliefs except this one.

Other than this grievance, I greatly enjoyed The Stars Never Rise. The characters are interesting, particularly Finn who has no body of his own. The romance with a boy who is basically just a spirit and Nina was unique and intriguing. I'm wondering what his backstory is and if he is exactly what he thinks he is. I love Rachel Vincent's writing and her ability to create varied and layered characters. Nina in particular was fun to read with her no nonsense approach, good heart, willingness to self-sacrifice, and her big heart. I also liked that even before all this started happening she didn't believe everything she was fed by the church. I am interested in reading the next installment. show less

I rather enjoyed this book. It's a pretty dark dystopia about a future America plagued by demon possessions, run by a totalitarian church. Our heroine Nina is a resourceful & brave girl who finds out she has the rare ability to exorcise demons. And she has complexity to her, a survival instinct and some darker moments, which really round her out as a character. There were some moments, particularly towards the beginning, where I was on the edge of my seat and really getting into Nina's life. And it has a nice world building style, which gives lots of information whilst seeming natural. It follows some of the tropes/cliches of YA- a mysterious boy coming along to explain the heroine's powers and sweep her off her feet- but in a show more refreshing way. I did feel like the book sizzled out towards the end. I think it was just like an overload of drama/action, and that maybe the plot jumped fifty levels in 10 seconds, when I would have been happier for the grander scale stuff to be introduced in the sequels. But overall, a very good addition to the dystopian genre, and my favourite of Rachel Vincent's books. show less

Vincent's latest trilogy is a dystopian fantasy mash up dream. The only weak plot development point for me was the middle third, which slumped a bit in comparison to the first and final segments. However, we had a perfect suspenseful buildup of a demon infested and religious extremist run world, a badass group of exorcist rebels, and plenty of lively fight and chase scenes.

The Stars Never Rise carries us through the intricacies of Nina's reality as she navigates life as a teenager in the Church controlled town of New Temperance while looking out for her younger sister and dodging their volatile, drug-addled mother. However, everything Nina has come to accept about her dim but relatively predictable future is about to change show more drastically. For what the brutally controlling Church has been feeding its citizens about the state of the world and the war with the soul stealing demons is far from the truth.

My primary complaint about this otherwise grand book is the presence of an insufferable secondary character. Unfortunately, Devi being a jealous and bitter infernal bitch every other page distracted me from the greatness of this novel. I'm not sure what she was supposed to add to the story, but playing mean girl did not make her more interesting for me. Hopefully her character improves or gets munched by a demon in the next installment. show less

Originally seen on Emily Reads Everything

Thoughts
Rachel Vincent's book My Soul to Take was the first ARC I ever received. I've been a huge fan of Rachel Vincent's writing ever since reading that first book. Her newest novel is no exception. The writing style focuses on the action, not the possibility of romance between the characters and that's exactly the way it should be. This book is all about the action.What I think I liked best about this book was the strong, self reliant heroine. Nina takes care of he sister, earning money and protecting her from their abusive mother. I really liked that Nina didn't rely on anyone. Usually in the story there is an older boy or a childhood friend that becomes part of a love triangle later, but that show more didn't exist here. Nina has been doing it all by herself the entire time. Then, when Finn comes along, they are equal partners, despite the fact that Nina doesn't really know what she's doing at first. I really liked that.

When Nina does meet her love interest, it's such a neat situation. It's totally different than anything I've read before and it really adds to the story. He is very different than what you would expect and I thought that this was the best reveal in the book. Unfortunately I can't tell you much about it because I don't want to give anything away.

If I had only one small issue with this book, it's that I guessed the main twist. I wouldn't call it predictable, it just ended the exact way that I thought it should. It's only a small issue because I really loved the ending. I thought it was perfect. Just don't be surprised if you know what's happening before it does. It also isn't a cliffhanger. It had a very clear ending that concluded everything that happened in the book but it also opened up the world. The book ended in a way that makes me really excited for the sequel! show less

I received this book as an ARC from Rachel Vincent herself, and I have to say it did not let me down! Although, I am quite furious that I have to wait probably two years to get a sequel! This novel was so amazing waiting for a sequel will be such a pain!

This novel was yet again another charm by Rachel Vincent. The novel follows Nina Kane in a dystopian universe where soul sucking demons live, and there are few souls to go around! When her younger sister Melanie gets in a bit of trouble, Nina has to try to solve their problems while their alcohol binging Mother is always being a pain for Nina. Along the way, Nina meets a handsome stranger who might know more about Nina than she realizes, and he's pretty hot! When someone in Nina's crew show more is sinning and gets caught, all things break loose...

The novel was very fast paced, and does not let the reader down. Each chapter has it's own little adventure and makes the book very addicting. This book is not a stand alone novel, and leaves itself on a bit of a cliffhanger that made me insanely frustrated because I have to wait for the next book! So be prepared to become insanely addicted and yearn for the next book.

The characters were well developed and all had very interesting personalities. The plot was well thought out, and very original! Rachel Vincent has a magnificent set of ideas in that brain of hers! There wasn't much wrong with the novel. I felt like it was the perfect length, and ended in a way that makes more books possible, although it would be a horrible stand alone novel with how it ends.

Overall, I really liked it! I couldn't put it down! Rachel Vincent did not let me down with this book. I had very high expectations and she surpassed them!

Five out of five stars!

Be aware, my novel was an Advanced Reader's Copy, so something could change by the time the real book comes out in June (I got mine in February). But it was still excellent either way! show less

I was first introduced to this author with her Shifter series. I own all of the books. I have tried reading other books since that series ended but could not really find my groove with them. This new series does show great promise. I was able to jump into the story and the characters. Nina may not be Faythe but she does show that she can be a strong female while staring danger in the face. Also, the relationship forming between Nina and Finn is nice but again not the love relationship that I grew to love in the shifters' series but who knows, I could change my mind as this series progresses.

What I do like about this series thus far is that it is dark. Evil dark like PG-17. There are mention of sexually, killings, etc. that the younger show more audience may not be able to handle like the older audience. Also, the storyline was strong and believable with plenty of action to keep it moving along at a fast pace. I am looking forward to continuing this journey with Nina, Finn, and the rest of the gang. show less

I had a love/hate relationship with this book. On one hand I was captivated by the intriguing plot and unexpected twists. On the other I was bored and meh about the overall execution. My thoughts are so torn... The premise was unique and quick to grasp my attention, but the tedious details made me cringe. I get we need background history to create the book world, but man! I almost couldn't continue on...

What makes me conflicted is the Finn twist. Talk about a mind boggle. It spiced up the romance and made me want to devour every paragraph that Finn and Nina were in. The romance most definitely gets 5 shining stars. I only wish the story didn't feel as slow paced. It was a struggle to get through, but I applaud the Author for her show more creativity. show less