While I really liked Astraea and Nyte in The Star are Dying, I felt like this book was confused about what it was supposed to be. There were so many plot points, it was hard to grasp any underlying theme. Astraea has no recollection of her life beyond 5 years prior, yet she doesn’t seem overly concerned figuring out who she is. She enters a competition, but that seems to be a side plot. The only somewhat constant is her relationship with Nyte, but she’s very fickle about that as well. Even though Nyte repeatedly asks her to trust his actions, she’s constantly doubting him and second-guessing. It got a little frustrating. Additionally, there were quite a few things where I was thinking, hmm, I’ve read this before. It seemed like a lot was borrowed from other popular romantasy series. I don’t think the book necessarily ended on a cliffhanger, it was almost as though the book just stopped. Usually there is an organic stopping point in a series, not just a full-stop. It was like the author just arbitrarily decided on a stopping point and the next book will just lock back up. Finally, the writing was very confusing and difficult. For example, “The sun was setting, spilling serene warm hues like glitter on the top level of the city, and this time nothing in me surged with the urgency to be somewhere I’d never wanted to be anyway.” There has to be a more direct way to say whatever this is. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what the author was trying to say here. Overall, while I like the idea of this book, I think it just needs more work. 

I received a copy of The Star are Dying from NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.