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A review by fatimareadsbooks
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
2.0
Honestly, the f/f romance is the only thing that intrigued me about this book. If it weren't for the romance, I probably would have skimmed right past this book and onto the next one. It's that unmemorable. The most frustrating thing in the whole entire world is reading a book with such.good.potential. I didn't even have any expectations and this book managed to let them down.
Firstly, what irked me the most was the complete, utter lack of character depth. This isn't like in most books, where only the secondary characters lack complexity. Here, even our main protagonists are as shallow as a kiddies pool. Denna was so incredibly boring. I'm glad hers is not the only POV, because I might not have been able to finish the book otherwise. It's obvious Denna is meant to be the "good" one, with repeated mentions of how sweet-tempered, polite, and intelligent she is. The literal embodiment of a princess. Mare, on the other hand, is the "wild" princess; she's fiery, tomboyish, and disobedient, as is repeatedly stated every few chapters. I liked their relationship and how it progressed from enemies to friends to lovers, but I did feel like there was certainly an element of unnecessary angst. The forbidden romance wasn't even "forbidden". The 'I-love-you-but-I-can't-be-with-you' trope was heavily employed as a means to further the plot's angst, which was very annoying.
Aside from Mare and Denna, literally no one else is worth mentioning. The secondary characters are even more unmemorable and shallow than the main characters. What even was their purpose? I wouldn't even be able to tell you their personalities, because they have none!! Go ahead, ask me their names. I guarantee you, the only name I'd be able to recall is Mare. She's the only character who was on the right track to being properly fleshed out.
The second thing that bothered me about this book was the insane amount of plot holes and nonexistent world-building. We're plunged into this world with no knowledge of the political and cultural workings of the land we are in, and no knowledge of the magical system there -- something about ambient magic and a siphon and a silver bowl was dropped three-fourths through the book, what is all that? Also, why do the Mynarians hate magic? Who are these 'Six' that everyone keeps running around and cursing? Why is there even a need for a political alliance between Havemont and Mynaria? Why does everyone hate the Zumordans when they've done nothing to you? I understand this is YA Fantasy, but I'm not expecting Game of Thrones level world-building. Is it too much to ask for at least some semblance of an explanation for the world we're plunged into? Unfortunately, this book reads like it was written for a much more juvenile audience that wouldn't care much for character complexity and world-building.
Thirdly, nothing remotely intriguing occurs in the entirety of the book! The politics were extremely yawn-inducing and the incompetence of the adults extremely frustrating. I was looking forward to Mare and Denna's horse training, but that (like many other aspects of the book) completely fell short. Frankly, I felt like the horses were given more depth, complexity, and attention than the main characters.
In conclusion, I could go on and on about so many other disappointing aspects, such as the obvious contrivedness of some scenes and the predictability of the whole book in general. Of Fire and Stars is a book that had great potential with its f/f romance, but failed to follow through on that potential. Lack of character complexity, one-dimensional relationships, nonexistent world-building, and a tedious plot are mainly what ruined this book for me and many others who had eagerly anticipated this read.
Thanks to the publisher, HarperCollins, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views and opinions above.
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Firstly, what irked me the most was the complete, utter lack of character depth. This isn't like in most books, where only the secondary characters lack complexity. Here, even our main protagonists are as shallow as a kiddies pool. Denna was so incredibly boring. I'm glad hers is not the only POV, because I might not have been able to finish the book otherwise. It's obvious Denna is meant to be the "good" one, with repeated mentions of how sweet-tempered, polite, and intelligent she is. The literal embodiment of a princess. Mare, on the other hand, is the "wild" princess; she's fiery, tomboyish, and disobedient, as is repeatedly stated every few chapters. I liked their relationship and how it progressed from enemies to friends to lovers, but I did feel like there was certainly an element of unnecessary angst. The forbidden romance wasn't even "forbidden". The 'I-love-you-but-I-can't-be-with-you' trope was heavily employed as a means to further the plot's angst, which was very annoying.
Aside from Mare and Denna, literally no one else is worth mentioning. The secondary characters are even more unmemorable and shallow than the main characters. What even was their purpose? I wouldn't even be able to tell you their personalities, because they have none!! Go ahead, ask me their names. I guarantee you, the only name I'd be able to recall is Mare. She's the only character who was on the right track to being properly fleshed out.
The second thing that bothered me about this book was the insane amount of plot holes and nonexistent world-building. We're plunged into this world with no knowledge of the political and cultural workings of the land we are in, and no knowledge of the magical system there -- something about ambient magic and a siphon and a silver bowl was dropped three-fourths through the book, what is all that? Also, why do the Mynarians hate magic? Who are these 'Six' that everyone keeps running around and cursing? Why is there even a need for a political alliance between Havemont and Mynaria? Why does everyone hate the Zumordans when they've done nothing to you? I understand this is YA Fantasy, but I'm not expecting Game of Thrones level world-building. Is it too much to ask for at least some semblance of an explanation for the world we're plunged into? Unfortunately, this book reads like it was written for a much more juvenile audience that wouldn't care much for character complexity and world-building.
Thirdly, nothing remotely intriguing occurs in the entirety of the book! The politics were extremely yawn-inducing and the incompetence of the adults extremely frustrating. I was looking forward to Mare and Denna's horse training, but that (like many other aspects of the book) completely fell short. Frankly, I felt like the horses were given more depth, complexity, and attention than the main characters.
In conclusion, I could go on and on about so many other disappointing aspects, such as the obvious contrivedness of some scenes and the predictability of the whole book in general. Of Fire and Stars is a book that had great potential with its f/f romance, but failed to follow through on that potential. Lack of character complexity, one-dimensional relationships, nonexistent world-building, and a tedious plot are mainly what ruined this book for me and many others who had eagerly anticipated this read.
Thanks to the publisher, HarperCollins, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my views and opinions above.
Follow me on my blog, Book Whizz | Bloglovin' | Twitter