Thanks to Netgalley and to Wise Ink Creative Publishing for giving me an ARC of this book.
Hello Everyone!
Finals are finally over! Yay! I am so excited that I am on Christmas break and can spend time catching up on reading and the blog. The Blazing Star was actually a book that I started reading a while ago, in hopes of reviewing it before its December 1st publication date. Unfortunately, thanks to my lovely professors and their end of semester work, I had to put if off until after finals. I binge read the last 50% of it last night, so all of my thoughts are still fresh. I was rather excited about this book when it was given to me. I love Egypt. Egyptian mythology, history and day to day culture has always intrigued me. So naturally, I was pretty stoked to find a book that promised to deliver on all of these fronts. The premise also had me intrigued, as I always down for a sister-sister bonding trip through time. Needless to say, I was optimistic when I started reading.
What Worked:
-The women of the story. We have our primary characters, Portia and Alex, who are twins that are in high school with our story’s other leading lady, Selene. Alex has always been the genius of the family, leaving Portia in the shadows. One day these two run into Selene, who is being beaten up by the school bullies. Together, the trio function as our story’s protagonists. On top of these three, the story also predominantly features the Head Priestesses of Isis, Weret and Sikara, as well as the princess to be, Tuya. I loved all of these women. They were strong, educated and understood how to maneuver the world around them. They were also powerful and graceful at the same time, specifically the princess to be, Tuya. She might have been my favorite character.
-The cultural shift from Modern Day to Ancient Egypt from the perspective of Portia, Alex and Selene. Seeing the trio get used to the way in which Egypt functioned was interesting. It was also very amusing to see how all of our Egyptian characters reacted to Portia, Alex and Selene.
What Didn’t:
-The side plots that came out of nowhere. GOODNESS GRACIOUS! These side plots made up the last 75% of the book and I could not get over them. It could have been a drinking game. Drink every time a side plot is introduced, not developed, and discarded 50 pages later. The side plots wove in perfectly with the story’s plot holes. There were a couple of these that made me think that some parts of the book were just torn out and never replaced.
-The insta-lovey almost romance. It was predictable and unnecessary. I think there was one scene between Seti and Portia that I enjoyed, and it was before their relationship was even established. There was also an event that occurred in the last 50 pages that only happened so that one of Seti’s love interests could be replaced by Portia, which made me irritated.
-The direction of the plot. I think that this book was just trying to go in too many different directs and none of them were fully flushed out. It seems like there is going to be a second book in this series, which makes me concerned because there wasn’t much of a foundation in The Blazing Star. There were a lot of ideas thrown together to make something that wanted to be a magical-sister bonding-romance-action-adventure-historical drama-inspiring-diverse-adventure for middle grade-ish-YA-audiences looking for the next big thing.
The Burning Star had a lot of potential but I think, overall, it didn’t deliver enough of its claims for it to be rated any more than a two stars, and those two stars are made up of enjoyment and the ability to turn a blind eye to some major plot holes. I think if the author had the ability to go back and chose what she really wanted her story to focus on, maybe a plot line and two or three subplots, that the book would flow really well. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to happen. One can only wish though!
Overall:
2 stars out of 5
65% out of 100%
-Jaime