Star Eater

I was not expecting Kerstin Hall’s Star Eater to be as dark as it is, but I did nothing more than glance at the cover image. Had I actually looked at it, I might have been better prepared for the more disturbing parts of the story. This is yet another story in which the heroine is as much a pawn as she is the great big hope for society, but I didn’t mind that. I also found the idea of a floating city, one torn from a greater landmass and raised through magic, to be particularly intriguing. Plus, there is something about the moral ambiguity of the Sisters that draws you into the heart of the novel. While they do have society’s best interest at heart, it comes at such a cost – and there will be some readers who will not be able to show more move past that cost. Star Eater is one story that should come with all sorts of trigger warnings given its contents, but I enjoyed it all the same, taboos and all. show less

In a Nutshell: Weird but imaginative. Not my kind of book at all! Hence, don’t judge the book by this review.

Story Synopsis:

Elfreda Raughn is the youngest acolyte in a sisterhood of magical priestesses who have a dark secret to their magic. She wants to get out of this almost dictatorial group but there’s no choice. Until now, when a shadowy rebel group has approached her with an offer of escape. But in order to do so, she needs to become a spy and connect with the head honchos of the Sisterhood. What lies in Elfreda’s fate is what you will discover by reading the book.
The story comes to us in the first person narration of Elfreda.

Where the book worked for me:

I received a paperback ARC of Star Eater, authored by Kerstin Hall, published by Tor Dot Com, for review consideration. What follows below is my honest review, freely given. I want to note the cover art is by Sam Weber, cover design by Christine Foltzer, with editing by Ruoxi Chen.

I rated this novel 5 stars. I adore this cover! It also accomplished what covers set out to do; stopped my scrolling so that I would look at this title more closely.

Being a June release and Pride month, I would like to mention that something I really enjoyed about this book; seeing a variety of relationship types represented without it seeming forced or a gimmick. The author’s voice brought the world alive with what I felt was the perfect blend of show more descriptive language and astute dispensing of backstory lore in very organic ways. And all the beautifully flawed people. I could write paragraphs praising the authors that write characters that breathe and bleed as we do, in Star Eater I can even name some of my favorites: Finn, Asan and Osan. In this case, none could be claimed MC’s, but they were just as vibrantly written and burning from the page, and to me these three spoke the loudest.

History is written by the victors. This could easily be called a political read, even if it’s firmly in the fantasy genre. Power and how strongly one cleaves to it is a major theme. Now I am only just getting back into reading more fantasy after mainly straight horror for the last couple of years, so this may be the usual type of thing for it. So, sorry if you are reading this and thinking, “does she not read a lot of fantasy or something?” I do not, but am getting better. A city that floats usually is not an indicator of their overall goodness (looking at you Battle Angel), and I was absolutely floored by how everything ended up! This is a rich and complex novel, there are multiple times when I found myself caught in the moment of a scene. I am an emotional reader, no shame; there is laughter to be found here, as well as tears. Neither of these happened at the very last of the book, which I appreciated. I felt that there was a time for the reader to watch the characters after the BOOK happened, does that make sense? We get to say goodbye before closing the back cover, to let our heart calm. And it was very much a wonderful, terrifying and surreal ride at times, so I liked that I could say goodbye with my heart calm. And know that I can always pick it back up to say hello again, as well. show less

Although I enjoyed [b:Star Eater|55077680|Star Eater|Kerstin Hall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599778721l/55077680._SY75_.jpg|74138070], it suffers from the same problem as [b:The Unspoken Name|45046552|The Unspoken Name (The Serpent Gates, #1)|A.K. Larkwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576631770l/45046552._SY75_.jpg|69749498]: sufficient similarity to the Locked Tomb series by [a:Tamsyn Muir|6876324|Tamsyn Muir|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1543423040p2/6876324.jpg] that I compared them unfavourably. Thus I liked many of the concepts, but did not find their execution as visceral as the unparalleled Locked Tomb experience. Some of the body horror show more was pretty creepy, although I think the cannibalistic elements could have felt more intense. Similarly, the first person narration was fine but not terribly distinctive. Elfreda the protagonist is nonetheless interesting and I like the way she solves problems by befriending and trusting others.

Comparisons aside, the worldbuilding in [b:Star Eater|55077680|Star Eater|Kerstin Hall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599778721l/55077680._SY75_.jpg|74138070] is original and appealing; I would gladly read a whole series exploring this world. From the first page I was eager to discover more details of the magic system, social stratification, geography, and gender politics. The magic is based on ritualised cannibalism, only usable by women, and deadly toxic to men. I was very curious about how it was discovered and the power structure established, but that is only touched upon. The writing is compelling and, once I was familiar with the world, I found events exciting. While I think the plot resolved itself a little too easily at the end, overall I had a very good time reading [b:Star Eater|55077680|Star Eater|Kerstin Hall|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599778721l/55077680._SY75_.jpg|74138070]. There a lot of ingenious ideas and the protagonist is pleasingly down to earth. Also giant cats are the main means of transport, who could resist that? show less

In a Nutshell: Weird but imaginative. Not my kind of book at all! Hence, don’t judge the book by this review.

Story Synopsis:

Elfreda Raughn is the youngest acolyte in a sisterhood of magical priestesses who have a dark secret to their magic. She wants to get out of this almost dictatorial group but there’s no choice. Until now, when a shadowy rebel group has approached her with an offer of escape. But in order to do so, she needs to become a spy and connect with the head honchos of the Sisterhood. What lies in Elfreda’s fate is what you will discover by reading the book.
The story comes to us in the first person narration of Elfreda.

Where the book worked for me:

I went into this book more-or-less blind, only knowing that it was a society of cannibalistic nuns. While reading, I continually had no idea where the story would go next. I enjoyed Elfreda and her character's journey. The society itself was quite interesting - canabalistic nuns with magic that comes from eating their mothers, morally gray characters aplenty, zombie-like creatures, a floating city, etc. - but I wanted to know more! The ending did feel a little rushed, but it was overall satisfying.

I also liked the narrator (Samara Naeymi), who I thought did a really good job bringing Elfreda and the story to life.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review; all thoughts/opinions are my show more own.

3.5/5 stars show less

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this through NetGalley to review.

Story (4/5): I really enjoyed this. This is a longish book but I never lost interest. It's a different book that has a fantasy/horror theme to it but is written a bit more like a classic fantasy in style. This book is all about world-building and what an interesting world it is!! The story is mainly about a sort of cannibalistic priestess, Elfreda, who ends up spying on her own order. In the process of this spying she learns some disturbing secrets of the history of the Sisterhood. As Elfreda is plagued by increasingly gruesome visions, she realizes that she has some very tough decisions to make.

Characters (3/5): The characters were the show more weak point of the story for me. Elfreda just kind of goes along with everything, until she doesn’t. She had very little personality and instead seemed to let both circumstance and others guide her actions. Elfreda’s love interest felt fairly hollow as well. Some of the side characters are much more interesting. In general this is a book that could have used some more work on solid characterization but did a pretty good job on having interesting characters surrounding our protagonist.

Setting (5/5): This book is all about world-building. The world here is intricate, creative and just awe-inspiring. Aytrium is a floating island run by the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood controls their magic in a weird and slightly disgusting way. In addition to this the Sisterhood can pass on a disease that turns men into crazed super zombies (kind of a zombifying STD...yes, I know). The whole thing is pretty out there, but was done in such a way to make an amazingly believable if slightly insane setting for this story.

Writing Style (4/5): This was well written. The story moves at a more deliberate and slow pace but always kept me intrigued. The main driver was trying to figure out what Elfreda was going to do with the knowledge she uncovered. The world was amazing, the story intriguing, but the characterization could have been better. I also thought things wrapped up a bit too conveniently. There are also sequences that come off as a bit ambiguous as Elfreda falls in and out of visions; these were somewhat confusing while they were happening but made sense by the end of the book.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. The book has a very classic dark fantasy to it and moves at a deliberate pace. However, the story was intriguing and very different and the world-building was stunning. I didn’t love the characters but the world was unique enough to keep me entertained. I plan on checking out Hall’s other (and future) books because it’s hard to find an author that builds such unique and intriguing worlds. show less