The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
Publication Date: January 30, 2024
Summary from NetGalley:
Slip into a lush world of magic, stardust, and monsters in this spellbinding contemporary fantasy from debut author Georgia Summers.
For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
Violet Everly was a child when her mother left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer. Unless she can break the curse first.
Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.
With her time running out, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.
ARC provided by Redhook Books via NetGalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I liked this debut book for the most part, there are some things that are really well done, but there are also things that didn’t quite work for me. The characters were all very morally grey, which I love, and the plot was interesting, but it is the writing that truly shines in this story of gods and curses
Violet starts out as a likable enough character. She is strong willed and has a strong moral compass, but she is very naive when it comes to other people and society as a whole. This isn’t her fault really, she was kept very isolated as a child. But she does manage to navigate her way through the world as she hunts for her mother. She becomes slightly less likable as the story unfolds, due to some of the choices she makes. She also never felt as fully fleshed out as Aleksander.
Aleksander was also likable to a point. Mostly you just feel sorry for him, as he has a well fleshed out and horrible backstory. But he too makes some bad choices, although his are a bit more understandable and he does get it right in the end. He has a very complex relationship with both Violet and Penelope. The romance between Violet and him, wasn’t really a romance. They have feelings for each other, but they are so busy with other issues that the romance part never really meshes, even when they do finally admit their feelings for each other.
Penelope was pretty evil, and was perhaps my favorite of the bunch. Her backstory was complex, and one I’m not sure I ever fully understood. There were a lot of stories told about who she was and why she needed the Everlys but none of them were ever related as the truth. I really hated how she used and manipulated Aleksander, but I’m pretty sure I was meant to.
The author’s writing style was wonderful and it was this more than anything else that kept me going to the end of the book. There were wonderfully lush descriptions and turns of phrases that were perfect. The world building was also well done for the most part, except that there were times when I felt that things were not explained as well as they could be. The premise of the story, that there are worlds that can be accessed through doors and keys, never felt fully explored. The pacing was steady through out and sometimes lacked the excitement it needed during the few action sequences. The ending was satisfactory, but better closure for Violet and her mom would have been nice.
Overall, even with the issues, I thought this was a pretty good book. I would recommend looking at other reviews before deciding on whether to read this one or not. There are many people who really enjoyed the story and the characters, much more than I did. But I will say that I will be keeping an eye out for another book by this author. I really enjoyed her writing and her wonderful descriptions. I think this might be an author to watch as she develops her craft.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 
The descriptive writing was the strongest part of the book for me. I did enjoy it but the characters didn’t really come alive for me in this one.
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Yes sadly, that was the case for me too. But I’m still willing to try this author again because of that beautiful writing.
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oooh i’m so interested in this one
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