Reviews
Anticipated Publication Date: March 28, 2023
Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu
Stars and Smoke is a young adult spy/thriller/romance by best selling author Marie Lu. This book is a departure from her usual storylines, and I wish she'd done it sooner! The story follows superstar Winter Young and covert spy Sydney Cossette as they take on one of the world's biggest international criime bosses, Eli Morrison. Morrison's daughter is one of Winter's biggest fans and when he invites Winter to perform at her birthday party, it gives Winter and Sydney a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gather the evidence needed to take Morrison and his operations down.
Stars and Smoke delivers on so many fronts. The plot is character-driven with Lu giving dimension to even the side characters. Most enjoyable is the development of Winter and Sydney's relationship which does not begin well. The romantic sub-plot pulls the reader more fully into the plot and adds depth to the storyline. I would be loathe not to mention that Lu also includes one of the best action scenes I've read in a long time. My only criticism is that it felt like the beginning of the story dragged; however, once it got going, I couldn't put it down.
I give Stars and Smoke a solid 4.5 stars, and I can't wait for the sequel!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Ghosts is a graphic novel about Catrina, a preteen, who has to move with her family to a new town that the doctors say will be better for her little sister, Maya, who has cystic fibrosis. Shortly after arriving at their new home, Catrina learns that Bahía de la Luna is full of ghosts who especially love making an appearance on Dia de los Muertos. The story follows Catarina as she deals with complicated feelings surrounding her move and the town's belief in their ghostly residents.
Catrina's life circumstances have forced her to be both mature beyond her years and a typical 11 year old. I found her annoyance with and love for her sister to feel geniune. Her fears of the ghosts reminded me of the illogical fears I experienced at her age, making her even more relateable. Are there actually ghosts in Bahía de la Luna? I highly recommend reading Ghosts so you can find out for yourself.
I give Ghosts 5 stars and will be making sure it becomes part of my home library.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Gilded and Cursed by Marissa Meyer
The Guilded duology follows Serilda, a poor miller's daughter, who becomes entrapped in a deadly game of lies with the king of the dark ones, the Erlking. In a world that seems to have been forsaken by the old gods, every full moon, the Erlking leads the Hunt searching for rare and magical creatures, leaving death and loss in his wake. To save the lives of two of these creatures, Serilda tells the Erlking that she is god-blessed and can spin straw into gold. In her trimph, she doesn't realize that she has trapped herself, for the Erlking comes to collect her on the night of the next hunt so she can use her powers for his benefit. There is only one problem - Serilda is god-blessed, as a story teller, not with the ability to spin gold - but the Erlking makes it clear that he expects just that every full moon or she and everyone she loves will pay.
I loved the premise and overall storyline of Gilded and Cursed. The main characters develop and grow, pushing the plot forward. However, while Serilda is a strong young woman who grows in strength and wisdom throughout the books, she also gives up too easily when things get difficult which grew to be quite annoying. The growth of the other primary characters is satisfying, almost making up for Serilda's deficits. I think the primary mistake that Meyer made was dividing this into a duology. There were far too many places where the action dragged, and I was tempted to stop reading. I think had she sped up the action and cut down on some repetition and unneeded description, I would have enjoyed the plot much more.
As it stands, I give the Gilded duology three stars. I'm glad I read it, but I can't see myself picking it up again.
⭐⭐⭐
Book covers courtesy Goodreads; Last updated 2/5/23