Starlight Jewel

Starlight Jewel may be one of the more interesting worldbuilding settings I've read in a while. The cultures and relations of sprygans and humans and hybrids (oh, my!) felt very well thought through and well rendered, resulting in a world of nations and cultures with a lot of interesting complexity while still not difficult to grasp enough to understand the setting of the story. (BTW, more preview of this is available at lyonspen.com/starlight-jewel.) This is not an easy feat, and I much appreciate finding a writer that can do this well.

And then there're the characters. All different, all interesting, all reasonably consistent in their behaviors (even when they surprised me, which some of them did), and all with a degree of depth, show more background, motivation, etc. Especially Axly, with all her tortured and conflicting motivations driving a series of incredibly difficult decisions and the inevitable self-imaging that such a history will build in a person. Which, of course, also makes for an equally interesting and evolving story.

If I had any complaint, it would be of a few points at which the story jumps forward in time too sharply. Particularly, at 25% in, the story jumped about a year with no transition; a little coverage of that time, especially near its end (was this departure as messy as the previous one?), would have gone a long way in easing or avoiding the stark disorientation of that jump. Overall, it didn't detract that much from the overall experience; just a somewhat stumbly bit that could have been smoother.

The story does include a great and climactic resolution to the immediate crises, albeit with many open questions about the immediate future and an assortment of loose threads that promise of much more story to come. This should not surprise anyone, as it is Book One in a series, after all.

I'll definitely be watching for Book Two. show less

I received this book as part of the LT early review program and can’t thank the author enough for allowing me to read her lovely book! Perfect for readers who live epic fantasy or readers of authors like Samantha Shannon, this is a great story full of magic, adventure, romance and a crazy level of world building. This is a book that makes you pay attention and was on the longer side, but unique and full of morally gray and likable characters!

Starlight Jewel got under my skin. Sometimes its tensions had me reluctant to pick it up again for a few days, or I read only a chapter at a time. That's how much I liked its heroine Axly, the Starlight Jewel. Axly is one of the hybrids born of humans mating with humanoid woodland sentients called sprygans. There's an illustrated page between a double-page map and the table of contents that is 'Anatomical Manifestations of Sprygan Gifts in Sprygan-Human Hybrids'. The information on that page is useful, just as the illustrations give us a good idea of what a Sprygan looks like.

This was a wonderfully written novel with a morally grey MC, which I loved. We get a kickass female who makes questionable decisions at times, yet Lyons still made her loveable and entertaining. I really enjoyed reading this!

“Don’t feed a fire that will burn you.”

“Starlight Jewel,” by E. L. Lyons

In the city of Minalay, humans come from all over to be romanced and robbed by the half-human people who live under the city. Axly, is one of the half-human people that was raised to be an escort and thief. But she has secrets and someone she must hide when she finds a human with the aura perfect to help her.

I loved this book so much. The world was so unique and interesting throughout the entire book. The half-human people are like tree people with unique magic of memory manipulation, and they allure humans in. The entire escort thing was written so it wasn’t weird at all which I loved. The MC is so tough and cool, and her perspective was so interesting. show more This is a book I’m going to end up re-reading again. 5 out of 5 stars, so good.

-Enemies To Lovers
-Escort
-Thieves
-Tree People
-Magic
-Forbidden Romance show less

Axly is a hybrid, a person with human and sprygan parentage created to maintain the treaty between the two races. Relatively recently, she killed three other hybrids and fled with her entirely human half-brother because they became aware of his existence and he poses an (initially unspecified) threat if the chief hybrid (the Austringer) were to learn of his existence and abilities. While she is soon forced back to the other hybrids, she manages to keep his existence hidden and arranges for him to be taken far away by a human general in exchange for a deal for sprygan weapons despite his memory of her being erased not long after they spend the night together (something she knew would happen and had made plans to work around). When she show more manages to reunite with him several months later, she finds that he’s been accepted as the son of the general’s late brother by the general’s family, and a relationship begins to develop between herself and the general after he’s convinced of their past connection. Things are further complicated by discoveries about the Austringer’s actions in relation to both of her desertions of the hybrids.

On the cover, the book describes itself as “Gifts of the Auldtree Book One,” and it very much reads like the start of a story rather than a complete one. While the book can stand on its own to a degree, with the immediate main problem resolved by the end, there are far too many loose ends, unresolved issues, and clearly significant matters that don’t have anything to do with the story in this book for it to feel like a satisfying end. (With that said, I will note that the author said they were working on the sequel in the material that accompanied the ARC.) I also felt that the end felt a bit rushed, with a major confrontation between two significant factions taking place in about a dozen pages after planning for the battle falls apart off-screen between chapters and for reasons that weren’t entirely clear.

With that said, I’ll at least consider the sequel when it comes out; my issues are mostly due to the feeling that things aren’t even close to finished. show less

Enjoyable epic fantasy but the first in a series leaving many unresolved points that you really want book 2 for. But I went into reading it with that in mind (it does say Book 1 after all) and found major storyline issues resolved at the end of the book. But there's room for so much more development that I'm looking forward to book 2.

I enjoyed the character development and storyline with some indepth worldbuilding. The main character, Axly, is a hybrid with Human and Sprygan parentage created to maintain the treaty between the two races. I enjoyed this set up for a balancing character between such different races.

Overall it was an enjoyable read.