Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Ernshaw

10 reviews

chrysanthemum17's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was really interesting. All I have to say is there better be a second one. I hate cliffhangers. Near the end of the book the characters started cursing out of nowhere which felt kinda out of character for them but it didn't really detract from the quality of the book so I guess it was fine.
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sxl04260's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.0

Not a “magical romance” as the book description states. 

Slow paced. Finished feeling… confused. The entire book reads as a mystery, where even  though the plot isn’t all that engaging, you need to solve this bizarre mystery (because it makes no sense). So I swallowed this book in < 3 days, the “need to know” being the only really driving force for finishing it. 

Some thoughts…
  • It is extremely slow paced, and is hard to gauge how much time/distance has passed as they trek through the continent. A map might’ve been helpful… without further context, I was imagining something like the US, huge and virtually impossible to trek on foot & on horse. 
  • Too much italics, and too much repetition, both within scenes and overall in the story. Such as variations on “Out of time”, “running out of time”, “hurry”, “theres not enough time”, but thru the whole story. It was definitely a sense of urgency in the beginning, but this constant state of urgency made it seem absolutely unattainable and I lost the excitement. 
  •  on this note, the most important component for a story is its believability~ if I cannot follow the events, or if everything seems ridiculously unlikely, I lose the story. This includes
    growing up isolated from anyone else, but knowing how to be around others; trekking for literal days/weeks without proper equipment or provisions and not dying??; no water walking thru the desert for days, and the sun hadn’t burned your skin off?;
    . 
  • Plot vs romance. I did not understand the romance at all. Perhaps it was a ‘mates’ sort of situation, destined to be together, but I was having trouble buying into that. I feel the story would’ve been identical if it was a strong platonic, sense-of-belonging relationship. I just could not get behind the kisses.
    The planet is about to explode.
  • Further regarding believability- I don’t like the plot line of
    the Theorists chasing after these kids.
    It was hard to follow, popped up just when you were starting to focus on something else, and was kind of irritating. And it was hard to believe that a large group of adult men with food and horses were unable to catch/had to keep trailing behind them?
    You’re telling me (and all of it was unrealistic, here’s just one) that harrowing mountain pass experience ( no one should’ve survived anyway), the men were just right behind them? Where? We didn’t see any fires?
  • Finally, though I have many thoughts, the characters seemed flat. Some of them were dynamic and dimensional, but not the main ones. Constant secrets, esp kept from the reader, makes it harder to connect with you and encourage you to survive. I didn’t care all that much what happened to anyone. 
  • And, stop doing stupid stuff. Some of the main characters actions made no sense- even if she acknowledged some of them. 

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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theespressoedition's review

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2.5

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tessvosper's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
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phoenixlovesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bookcaptivated's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This was a really good book. The setting was so mysterious, it was hard to tell at times whether it was set in the past or the future (you do eventually find out). The story moved quickly and I was drawn into Vega's mission.

My gripes with this book were that the ending felt rushed and that we didn't get much insight or backstory into Noah and Cricket. I know the book was really about Vega's mission, but I felt this took away from the story. 
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youarethelibrarian's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I wanted to love this one. The cover is gorgeous, and so is the naked hardcover and chapter headers, and I loved two of Ernshaw’s other books. But this one didn’t work for me, probably because I’m not a fan of long-journey books, and the Insta-love was really annoying. The main character’s reactions to things didn’t make sense, because her relationship with the boy was barely developed. I did like the portrayal of grief, though. 
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caseysbooksandbrews's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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