This sweeping YA fantasy romance full of star-crossed love, complex female friendship, and astrological magic is perfect for fans of Laini Taylor, Alexandra Bracken, and V.E. Schwab. From the acclaimed author of The Beholder.
Best friends Rora and Claudia have never felt more like their lives are spiraling out of control. And when they meet Major and Amir--two boys from one of the secret cities of the spheres, ruled by the magic of the astrological signs--they discover they're not alone. There is a disruption in the harmony between the spheres, and its chaos is spreading.
To find the source of the disharmony, Rora and Claudia will embark on a whirlwind journey of secrets, romance, and powerful truths--about themselves, each other, and two long-ago explorers named Dante and Beatrice, who were among the first to chart this course toward the stars.
Inspired partly by the classic works of Dante Alighieri, this gorgeous stand-alone contemporary fantasy will captivate readers of Lore and Star Daughter.
Review:
This ARC survived my move. I think because of the pretty cover and the blurb that marked it for fans of Laini Taylor, Alexandra Bracken, and V.E Schwab….I had to read it. I’m not a huge horoscope person, so that didn’t super appeal to me, but I have to admit I’ve never read about a world determined by your star chart before…And I like reading about new things.
Did it make sense? Not really…I found myself scratching my head a lot. The reasoning behind why the worlds all worked the way they did was because of one bad break up. Well, I guess for a universe centered around horoscopes….And there were way too many point of views. Some time I love a good YA novel with some point of view shifts, but that’s when each character is extraordinarily different, and in a different place. Here, often, the characters were all in the same room. And some of them seemed like the same person! I wish it was maybe just in two people’s points of view. Either the two best friends or the two love interests.
And I didn’t love the love interests. I guess this goes back to all the points of view switching, but I was constantly confusing the guy characters. They were basically the same person to me by the end of the book. One just had royal parents. One liked to be outside on the farm. Or, maybe that’s the same guy? Regardless, there was a problem here.
The book also sometimes went back in time hundreds of years to another set of point of views! I’m not joking about the point of views. But, at least those ones definitely stood out. They were the original explorers/colonizers/whatever you want to call them. And I didn’t hate getting that perspective.
I did like the back and forth between the best friends. And I like the focus on trauma and mental illness. It was a different type of mental illness than we typically see in YA, so I’m glad it was represented, and in a sci-fi romance book too! The girl characters were definitely distinguishable. Most of the time. I liked watching them shine.
I liked the characters, the world-building, and the concept of this universe. It was rather unique for me. It made kind of want to go look up my horoscope/star chart. I just wish there were not so many points of view confusing things. And maybe if the focus was more on the friendship story and less on the romance, the book would have felt more whole. All in all, I give it an 7/10.
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