Title: Even The Darkest Stars (Even the Darkest Stars #1).
Author: Heather Fawcett.
Format: E-book.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray.
Page count: 404.
Release day: September 5th 2017.
Genre: YA, fantasy.
Rating: 4 stars.
Rating:
Characters: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Average: 7.29
My thoughts:
For some reason I always thought this book would not be for me.. But back in February there was Polarthon and I decided to pick it up because Jade (the organiser) really recommends it!
And am I glad that I did! I had such a great time reading this! I did not expect I could enjoy reading about people climbing haha! But I absolutely loved this icy setting and the writing was amazing 🙂
We follow Kamzin who is going on a expedition to climb the highest mountain with the greatest explorer to retrieve a talisman for the Emperor! Them together with three others go on this expedition and of course they come along a lot of dangers, avalanches, ghosts, dangerous climbs! I was on the edge of my seat for so many parts!
All the characters were so interesting! They all had some great development, I enjoyed the relations developed! One reason why I lowered my rating for the plot, is that there was one character that I mistrusted from the beginning, and I ended to be right. So the big reveal that this character was betraying them was not really as surprising as it was supposed to be!
Besides the betraying part, there was another twist at the end that I did not expect! And it was definitely different from what we see in most books, so this made me very eager to continue on with the sequel ASAP
The thing that surprised me the most about this book, was how much I loved the writing! I just fell in love with it from page one!
I expected this book to be very romance heavy, and there definitely was some romance, but not very much! So I definitely recommend this one if you want a fantasy with no-to-little romance!
This book was recommend to me for a book with dragons, and while there are dragons, they are not really a big part of the book. As in they are mention once or twice.. So don’t expect loads of dragons in this one!
Title: All the Wandering Lights (Even the Darkest Stars #2).
Author: Heather Fawcett.
Format: E-book.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray.
Page count: 408.
Release day: December 4th 2018.
Genre: YA, fantasy.
Rating: 3 stars.
Rating:
Characters: 6/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 5/10
Intrigue: 6/10
Logic: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Average: 6.43
My thoughts:
I liked the first book more then this one! I think that is mainly because I really liked the first half of this book, but not so much the second half. And surprisingly that is because the first half still contained climbing while the second half did not at all. And I say surprisingly since I never knew I would like books about climbing haha!
I rated characters lower for this book compared to book one, since I wasn´t liking some of Kamzin´s development throughout the book. I did really like Lusha and Tem, but not how Kamzin was treating them most of the book. Also I felt like River´s story could have been more explained or explored.
Also there is definitely more romance involved in this book compared to book one!
I still really enjoyed most of the atmosphere, again more in the first half then the second half, since I really liked the mountain setting!
I did enjoy my time reading it, and I kept wanting to continue. Since even though I was liking the second half less I still really wanted to know how it was going to end!
In my opinion, this sequel was not very necessary, but it was still a good book! I just cannot say too much about it since I don´t want to spoil anything about the first book!
Really loving Heather Fawcett´s writing, so I´m definitely checking out more work by her! Next I would like to read Ember and the Ice Dragons!
I’ve had the first book on my TBR for ages now, and this review has made me want to pick it up even more! We’re getting to warmer weather where I am, so I might have to sneak this in now and soak up the last of the chilly winter vibes!
I hoep you do! It was surprisingly good!
Definitely gives more wintery vibes haha!
I’m so glad you liked Even the Darkest Stars! I never thought I’d like a book about climbing either but it was a surprise in many different ways. I miss it and its atmosphere, it was very unique (and it was refreshing to read a YA fantasy whose focus wasn’t saving the world)
Even though I read it when it first came out, I never got around to reading the sequel, and I don’t think I will at this point; I haven’t seen anyone say it was as good as the first.
Great reviews!
It really was unique! And definitely refreshing!
First book was definitely better, and I also recommend reading them close to each other! But I don’t think you will miss too much skipping it haha
I have this duology on my TBR. I’ve heard amazing things overall, but I’ve always been worried about not liking it too. Glad to see, at least overall, it was a good series.
Definitely recommend! Maybe it helped that I went in with low expectations haha!