Of Fire and Stars

When I first read Of Fire and Stars in November 2016, I was so delighted by a book that wrapped up everything I wanted and loved reading about as a preteen that I felt like I was in the first rush of love and would be blinded to any unfortunate faults in the novel. I didn't want to write a review only to come back, embarrassed, after a reread opened my eyes to any terrible flaws.

It took a while, but I finally felt ready to reread the story and sure enough, I was right back in that utterly joyful reading space. There are some story quirks that might have been done better or plot threads that got a little lost, but for the most part, this book is everything I love.

A princess book: it takes all the tropes and clichés in the usual MG/YA show more princess stories and gives them to us in two main charaters: Dennaleia is the dutiful princess who desperately wants to fulfill her role and care for her people, except that she is hampered by secret magic and plotting against the crown. Amaranthine, "Mare", is the rebellious princess who hates the strictures placed upon her simply because of her birth (but definitely takes advantage of the privileges!) and who sneaks out of the castle disguised as a villager. There is intrigue and taverns where secret messages are passed and climbing out of castle windows and through forgotten passageways.

A horse book: raising and working with horses is central to the economy of Mare's country, especially for the highborn, and Mare is a Horse Girl. Plenty of scenes take place on horseback, and Denna plays the reader's part in learning about horses for the first time, though in not quite so much detail as a horse series.

A fantasy book: this is a world of magic, though not everyone possesses the ability. Magic users have an affinity to one or more of six elements, which informs their powers - only the kingdom of Mynaria is hostile to magic and Denna's own affinity becomes more than she hide once she arrives.

A f/f romance story: it's a forbidden romance - Denna was betrothed to Mare's younger brother when they were children, but when Denna arrives for the wedding, she finds herself falling in love with Mare. How can the young women be happy together if Denna must marry someone else for the entire country's sake? There is even kissing and some fade-to-black sex.

The princess-horse-magic part of the novel is very regular fare for a YA book, and the kind that I adored as a teenager (and, admittedly, as an adult). Many of the story elements are well-trod and completely predictable, especially if you've read more than a few books in the genre. The addition of the f/f romance plot is what I always craved, and it is what makes the book special. It feels like Audrey Coulthurst knew all of my favorite things and then put the book together just for me - though she says it's just the kind of book that she always wanted to read.

I won't pretend that it's a work of genius or has a perfect plot. It doesn't, but it doesn't need to and doesn't pretend to. It's a princess fantasy story (with horses) where the princesses fall in love with each other, and it's fluffy and sweet and that is something rare and charming. show less

Nils deserved better than that

Understatement of the century, Mare. Honestly.

To be honest, I felt that everyone who died in this book deserved better because there was literally no reason for any of it. Their deaths only pushed the plot forward in the weakest of ways. It felt like Coulthurst just wanted to kill some people hoping it would make this oo-la-la dramatic impact and it just was confusing and lacklustre instead.

As so many people have already pointed out, the characters were flat. There was nothing. I expected to at least like Denna or Mare but they were both so freaking annoying. There was no depth to their characters. If it wasn't for the fact that I am always down for some women loving women, I would have given up. If you show more had told me I would read a book about wlw and would come away with a cishet white man as my favourite (Nils because a good friend always gets me) I would have called you a liar in no uncertain terms. But that's what happened and I am upset about it.

This book had so much promise: women in important positions and Mare being allowed to run wild with horses, except throughout the book, the women are never taken seriously (I mean supposedly women are capable but the eldest child isn't the heir for some wild reason) and Mare is allowed to run wild with horses because . . . literally no reason and her family seem to resent her for what they have allowed her to do? I guess the Directorate shows a more equal side but only because literally ALL of the Directorate have a negative amount of critical thinking skills and have taken leave of all of their senses. They want to go to war with a WHOLE nation based on one piece of forged evidence? Forged evidence that it took two teenagers all of a day to figure out was forged.

Do I even WANT to touch on the lack of black and brown people in this book? Hm? Maybe. We are presented with one person, Hilara who is said to be dark-skinned. Literally no one else in the entire book is dark-skinned yet we never hear Denna speculate about this dark-skinned woman who HAS to have some kind of foreign ancestry from some INCREDIBLY distant land unknown to everyone (because even the desert inhabiting former nomads are white apparently). So I guess she just materialised out of thin air or something. I don't know. But Hilara, remember the only dark-skinned person in this entire godforsaken book, is an antagonist throughout the entire thing. I mean, she does pose some opposition to the weird and nonsensical decisions of the Directorate BUT it's only because she is smarting over having her butt whooped in a vote over who to be allies with. Like it's not common sense at all, it's just a lingering hope that her political goals can still work out. And she's never redeemed in the eyes of the reader. She just stays this massive POS who would probably actually kill Denna if she was convinced that it would get her the alliance she wants but it won't so she just settles with being openly antagonistic towards her future queen.

I know some people were complaining about the magic but that is actually the one thing I am mostly willing to let slide because everyone is actually clueless about it. Supposedly magic works in some kind of elemental way (including stars and shadow (what the even?)) but that's clearly not true because apparently things can be magicked to do other things like an arrow magicked to home in on a target so that it kills them. I heard there is going to be a sequel so I'm assuming that will get explained. I said MOSTLY willing to let slide because what kind of actual mess would this have been if a sequel had not been agreed to. Would we have been left with a book where that magic makes less sense than a DT tweet? I think that kind of mess is irresponsible to say the least. But there will be a sequel so I can let this go.

My last disappointment was with the plot itself really. It was so predictable. Now I like some predictability when it comes to say my romance. For example, the book says that one or both of the characters are emotionally unavailable and will they be able to work past their issues to find love in each other. Well, the answer is pretty freaking OBVIOUSLY yes or the book would probably not exist. Now in fantasy, I feel like there should be things that people don't expect. Now I know (even though I have so many problems with her books) we all can't be Sarah J. Maas where the twists are actually just ridiculous so you never see them coming, but still I KNEW Kriantz was going to be the evil one from the moment he was introduced because it would be "surprising" or something. Maybe it was because he seemed to have an inkling of sense which the other "adults" in the books completely lacked and thus was only pretending to have have sense and be a decent person to the princesses.

I was really hoping that Thandi would end up being the evil one who was plotting a take over of the kingdom the whole time because that would have actually been fucking conniving and interesting and given him some character because he was also as bland as butterless untoasted white bread and had the intelligence of one. I mean, agreeing to let the now only surviving heir of your kingdom go completely alone to a hostile neighbour might be the most ridiculous thing about this entire book and this is a book where a girl brought down "stars" to kill people and managed not to kill someone literally in the middle of it all or destroy the entire country.

All right. Now I know it sounds like I really hated this book. It's not true, mostly because wlw. I love girls falling in love as much as I love most things and them going from (kinda) enemies to friends and lovers is so sweet to see. It was just incredibly disappointing in every other aspect. show less

I've been sort of reluctantly contemplating reading this for a while -- I'd heard it was good, and also that there was girl romance in it, but I've been reading a little too much YA lately, and wasn't in the mood for high drama. To my delight, this is the sort of book that you read the first couple of pages and fall into. Solid fantasy, new worlds, excellent heroines (double narrative) and both magic and horses, which I have to admit that I find to be an appealing combination. I'm a bit bothered by the boneheaded stupidity of the leaders of Mynaria -- yes, I know that's the point, but it seems taken to extreme. I'm very happy to see them off, together, alone and out of the kingdom at the end. Poor Nils! Also, I mentioned the name (Of show more Fire and Stars) to a friend when she asked what I was reading. Her response -- you know those are the same thing, right? And I was deeply pleased when Denna pulls the stars down using her fire gift, so the author know those are the same thing, too -- although really, they would have had to be meteors or the whole planet would have gone, but... anyway. Good fun, and stands alone enough that I don't feel like I HAVE to read book 2 or nothing makes any sense/ cliffhanger story arc. I can contemplate book 2 with pleasure instead. show less

This is a sweet ya fantasy romance that puts great emphasis on court intrigue. I especially enjoyed that in this world same sex marriage was just a thing that happened, and that women had far more agency than you usually find in your typical feudal fantasy. I'm definitely giving the sequel a try. Mare's earthy freedom and Denna's library loving wildness touched me.

Denna has long been betrothed to a prince from another kingdom, and she’s been raised and trained to fulfill the role of future queen, but when she arrives in her new home, despite her royal fiancé being perfectly lovely to her, her secret magical abilities, which she’s fought hard to master and conceal, start getting out of her control. It possibly has something to do with her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Mare, who is the mistress of the stables and a dab hand at fighting as well. When there’s a murder in the castle, Denna and Mare team up to find out who the culprit is, and they both must deal with their feelings toward one another.

This one had so much potential and I was excited to read it, but boy, did it disappoint. I wanted to show more love it, but it’s just…boring. The characters are never developed – and the author *tells* us everything about their personalities without ever once *showing* us that those traits are there – and the plot is just as bland as the people inhabiting it. It’s a great idea for a story, but the execution is, sadly, sloppy and lazy. show less

Some days I think I just shouldn’t read romances. I wanted to like this one so badly! I mean, it’s queer! They’re cute! They work well together and make each other better! But it felt flat to me, and a little slow and padded, especially at the beginning. I think it might’ve missed a few beats too, or underplayed them. (Either that or my brain needs romances to have the attraction start sooner and be more obvious.) I was at least halfway through before I really started to root for Denna and Mare to get together, and even afterwards, I found the mystery-politics thread more interesting and exciting.

That thread, by the way, was pretty cool and had a decently nuanced take on prejudice and fear, and the things people do to each other show more when they’re afraid. I thought the magic system was neat too, though I wish it had been developed a bit more, though. The court politics that surrounded and fed into the mystery were fairly rounded and believable, as was people’s willingness to dismiss Denna and Mare’s experiences and knowledge because they were, gasp, female. Again, though, that slowness I noticed in the romance plot also crept into this one—periods of waiting for things to happen, scenes that went for pages just to provide one clue, repetition, that sort of thing.

Overall, there were a lot of things I liked about the book, but nothing came together well enough to really wow me and the whole thing felt loose and slow in a way that practically says “debut novel”. I don’t regret reading it by any means and I was satisfied at the end, but I can’t say I felt anything more than that, unfortunately.

Warnings: The one Arabic-coded speaking character (and only POC) turns out to be on the Dark Side. The anti-magic rhetoric is clearly a stand-in for real-world bigotries. There is a Nice Guy and sexual assault at one point.

7/10 show less

Alright! Let's do this. this book was really cute. I love Mare, girl after my own soul. seriously she felt like someone took my inner workings and spliced them with my ideal partner. The world building was spot on; perfect balance of explanation and holding back. Writing style was totally my thing. Nice and easy, flow wise. Got second hand embarrassment in certain spots.