Even the Darkest Stars was unlike anything I’ve ever read before! The premise is incredibly unique, the setting was vast and eerie and the characters were wonderfully written. There’s also magic! This book is a new favorite of mine!

I adore fantasy books with an epic journey and that’s definitely what Even the Darkest Stars is. Kamzin, River, and their rag tag crew set out at the beginning of this book to do something that’s never been done. Climb to the top of Raksha. Their journey was captivating from the start. Of course there’s immense challenges and frightening encounters. I could not stop reading!

The characters were so well done. Kamzin does have a bit of the super special YA girl trope going on, but it was well done. Well done tropes don’t bother me at all. I felt like she was interesting and likeable. I love how confident she was in her abilities. River was fantastic and pretty swoon-worthy. I loved the mystery surrounding him. I did figure it out early on but it still made him a very intriguing character. There’s a bit of romance, but not a lot. There was definite chemistry and I’m really anxious to see how things play out in the sequel.

Even the Darkest Stars is set in a Himalayan like world. There’s unforgivable, vast mountain peaks and treacherous ice and snow. As if that’s not enough there’s ghosts and witches haunting the mountains. The world was absolutely thrilling. I’ve never read anything like it. There’s also an incredible history. I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface on how the past is affecting Kamzin’s world now.

I have to mention the magic! There’s so much magic in the book! Shamans, fire demons, familiars, witches, domestic dragons, and scary ghosts! Ah! I haven’t read a book with this much magic and magical creatures in a long time. I’m so enamored with this world, you guys. I loved it!

If Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett isn’t on your radar now, it needs to be! This is a world and journey you don’t want to miss. The ending blew my mind. The sequel is already on my most anticipated of 2018 list! I can’t wait. I highly, highly recommend devouring this incredible debut as soon as possible.

DNF
Accepted I won't pick this book up again after 2 years. Unsure why I dropped it but I'm not going to pick it up again.

I really wanted to love this book, but, unfortunately, it just didn’t grip me. I’ve heard the sequel is better, so I’ll give it a try!

4 stelle!

“And as for my soul--
I saw black fire sweeping the village, heard the anguished screams. What use would I have for a soul, if everyone I loved was dead?”

(Recensione in italiano sotto

As you can tell from the summary, this is an adventure book. I'm not going to summarize what's already been said about it, therefore I'll put down my thoughts and opinions on this book, which I had

DNFed after two chapters. I get the picture, I see where this is kind of going. I've read some negative reviews at that.

I like the way it was written, I really do. Kamzin has her quirks, however, I have to agree with Tam on this one. I'm just not that much into reading a travelling story, where they sleep on the ground and according to some reviewers, nothing really happens throughout the majority of the book.

“I never thought someone like you could exist.” He watched me with a half smile on his face. “A girl from a tiny village many explorers have never even heard of, with greater skill than most of them will ever possess.”

Super special heroine... ✓
Love triangle... ✓
Hot dude #1 is lifelong best friend... ✓
Hot dude #2 is an obnoxious newcomer... ✓
Virtually nothing happens for 75% of the book... ✓

The only reason I am not giving this one star is because the setting is so excellent. The author's world-building is undeniably strong and I have never read about a fantasy version of the Himalayas with a culture based on that of Nepalese people. I want to rate it higher based on that premise alone.

Unfortunately, though, nothing else impressed me. The characters were stock and forgettable, and I seem to often have a problem with journey books when the plot in its entirety consists of a bunch of people moving from one location to another. It is especially dull in cases like this when the narrator (and, therefore, the reader) is not told why they are going or what they are looking for. It leaves me asking the question: why should I care?

The strong sense of place cannot hold this book up on its own. It's a painfully-boring slow trek through the Himalayan wilderness as Kamzin develops feelings for the mysterious River Shara, whilst also trying not to hurt her best friend and ex - Tem. All we know is that River has been sent on an expedition by the Emperor to find something and he needs Kamzin to lead him there. By "there", I mean through the perilous Mount Raksha.

There's too much conversation and journeying and not enough action. If you are a huge fan of mountaineering and think a mountain expedition sounds like an exciting story, then you might have more luck with this. But without more exciting characters, or just some tension or drama in general, I found it very hard to persevere. There was once in the whole book when my interest stirred - I made a note of it! - and that was at 75%, and it unfortunately didn't mark a turning point. The brief excitement quickly died down again.

I thought there was a lot of missed potential, to be honest. In the early chapters, we hear about witches and mountain spirits - I was really intrigued by the bird-human monsters - but for the vast majority of the book, these are just stories and very little is done with them. The witches, especially, are notably absent

Spoiler

with the obvious exception

, though theories about them pop up in many conversations.

Ultimately, I just think neither the story nor the characters are particularly interesting. I applaud the author for heading into new territory, but this journey did nothing for me.

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