A Dark and Hollow Star

I loved the characters in this read. I found this to be a super slow paced read, that was very character focused. I really also loved the world, but it was very descibtion heavy and i sometimes got lost in the details. I really did enjoy all the main characters and loved the queer focused of all the characters. It was a book that reminded me a lot of the mortal instruments series. I also loved the canada setting and it was such a complex read. I am def excited to read more of this series in the future.

Sighs.

An upsetting read that seems to be the norm with fae/YA books I have picked up lately.

Let’s start off with the positives, shall we? I thought the author handled the triggering content with care and sensitivity, I found the royal politics fascinating, and this YA thriller had great LGBTQ representation. That’s it.

Now obviously by the rating I had given this book, the bad outweighs the good in every single way. First things first, it was tough to keep track of the characters with the multiple POVs (I believe 4-5). 2-3 POVs would have suffice and the inner monologues were too dreadful and unnecessary. I wasn’t able to connect to the characters and the events that surround them due to that and because I also struggled with show more the pacing. It was overly drawn out and boring, preventing me from being invested in them and their story. Little to nothing of the magic system was properly explained (perhaps it will be in upcoming books?). Long drawn out introductions, info dumps, confusing plot lines/holes, lack of structure and messy world-building essentially ruined this all together for me.

Would I recommend this? No. Yet regardless of that, fans are going to gravitate towards this series due to the breathtaking cover, synopsis and this novel being the perfect mashup (apparently) of The Cruel Prince and City of Bones. My fingers are crossed that their reading experience was a lot better than me.

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I loved the characters in this read. I found this to be a super slow paced read, that was very character focused. I really also loved the world, but it was very descibtion heavy and i sometimes got lost in the details. I really did enjoy all the main characters and loved the queer focused of all the characters. It was a book that reminded me a lot of the mortal instruments series. I also loved the canada setting and it was such a complex read. I am def excited to read more of this series in the future.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2021. A fae world and queer characters? Sounded perfect. Not to mention how gorgeous the cover is. However, after about 25% in, I realized that this book just wasn't for me. The pacing felt so slow and I didn't really have any attachments to the four main characters. The plot itself felt like a drag, and perhaps I just don't enjoy murder mysteries? I took me forever to get through this book and it felt very early 2010s YA Fantasy in its character and world building, This was really a let down and I'm still on the fence whether I will read the sequel. Part of me wants to give the author another chance but the other part of me show more just found the entire book unenjoyable. show less

I really liked the urban-fantasy worldbuilding, but I found that the information was communicated in info-dumps way too much. I also thought that the plot dragged a little too much at the beginning.

3.5 stars

This is a hard one to rate.
It starts slow, and I was thinking, no big deal, so do a lot of book (Tad Williams anyone?), but here it never picked up speed. And the father I got into it the angrier and annoyed I got.

I guess there is a story somewhere under all this over describing? At least sometimes I got a glimpse of it, between the very tiring amount how someones whole apartment looks like when we are only interested in one room, or when person A and B enter a market, two pages about how the market place looks like, A and B enter a store and another page and change describing the inside plus the owner.
I understand that some people appreciate it when everything is spelled out for them (after all there are enough people who need to see a show more house staged otherwise they cannot envision themselves living there ...) but for me personally it is very bothersome. Not only am I not allowed to imagine the world myself, it is also distracting and boring.
This book was so bad that I had to force myself to pick it up again to finish it.
And then, when the author could have given it more pace, they completely dropped the ball with the rpg angle. Instead of having a somewhat entertaining boss battle, it is more describing about how the "dungeon" looks like than the actual battle which was over in a wink, and with it the book. That is when you realized that they have it planned as a series... ok then.
Realizing that there are more books to come, I hope that there will be more development of some of the characters, who are said to be main protagonists but were left a bit grey.

I feel kind of bad for the author, the editor should have been much more forceful to shorten a lot of scenes, as the story, when you can find it, is actually decent. Sometimes a bit heavy handed and sometimes too much on the nose, but not terrible.
It is also obvious that the author brought a lot of themselves in it so I feel a bit bad in being so critical, but on the other hand again, where was editor??? show less

This. Cover. Oh. My god. This looks like the kind of epic fantasy I have been waiting for.

(but I'm gonna admit I'm a little tired of "queer! queer! queer!!!!" being used as a marketing term, like it's so common in YA now it's almost silly to see it being used like it's groundbreaking or more important than the whole story. I mean they totally still catch me with it because I, too, am a predictable queer, but ergh.)