Title: The girl of ink and stars
Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Format: Paperback (from library)
Publisher: Chicken House
Page count: 222
Release day: May 5th 2016
Series: Standalone
Rating: 3 stars
What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)
Forbidden to
leave her island, Isabella Riosse dreams of the faraway lands her father once
mapped.
When her closest friend disappears into the island’s Forgotten Territories, she
volunteers to guide the search. As a cartographer’s daughter, she’s equipped
with elaborate ink maps and knowledge of the stars, and is eager to navigate
the island’s forgotten heart.
But the world beyond the walls is a monster-filled wasteland – and beneath the
dry rivers and smoking mountains, a legendary fire demon is stirring from its
sleep. Soon, following her map, her heart and an ancient myth, Isabella
discovers the true end of her journey: to save the island itself.
What I thought:
This book is promoted as YA, but many reviews say it is more a Middle Grade. And I have to agree with them, and I’m also happy I knew this before going into the book I think this made me enjoy the book more. You can definitely notice that this book is more for MG than YA in all her decisions and some of her comments.
The characters were nice, the relations were well described, but there was barely any character development. There were some changes in the relations, but they all went back to their ‘original state’.
I liked the world, it was interesting, I liked that you slowly learn more about the world and how it got into it’s current situation. But there were some things mentioned which should be either removed or more explained. Because now they would say something without any explanation and continue the story without ever mentioning it again? I’m not sure if this was meant to be, so you would fill it in yourself, but if that’s the case it was not really well done.
But besides all that, I did enjoy it. It was an easy read, and it was nice to read besides the wise mans fear, which is huge and dense 🙂
I do recommend it as an in between heavy fantasy reads!