User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
both of CTs previous books were 5 stars reads for me so, even though this third novel sounded different from her previous ones, i still had high hopes. but this is unfortunately missing everything i loved about CTs other stories. its lacking the twists, the turns, the engaging plot, the fast pacing, and just the overall wild adventure that her books tend to be.
this is pretty much only about a spoiled, selfish brat. gosh, i cant stand vika. there is a loose mystery happening, but the predictability and shallow nature of it all made my focus predominately be on how much i hated vika, which is never something you want to happen when reading a book. i actually think all of the characters are pretty one dimensional, so its such a shame that the story also suffered because of the lack of in-depth characterisation.
i dont want to be completely negative, so i will say that because of the accessible writing, basic nature of the plot, and minimal world-building, this is a really great book for young readers who are looking to dip their toes into the sci-fi genre. there are some interesting elements when it comes of the planets and dystopian feel of it, so i think that might excite some readers.
so there are some positives here, but this story just wasnt enough for me personally.
thanks st. martins press/wednesday books for the ARC.↠ 2.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
How does it sound: Bridgerton series take place in futuristic world! Action packed sci-fi meets romcom! The author perfectly mixed different genres. The world building is unique and creative. The pacing is also keeping your attention intact. It’s wild jet ride to another planet!
Even though I mostly had hard time to connect with MC, the writing style was riveting and action packed chapters were well- constructed. I jumped up and down in my seat! It was best kind of riding roller coaster at your own living room.
Plot is also intriguing. Vika Hale: poor bartender, is given cold shoulder by her own mother and sister, raised with the help of gold hearted benefactor. Now she’s summoned to sister planet Ploutos ( different kind of Pluto) to hear the will of the same benefactor who died under very suspicious circumstances ( she finds out he’s billionaire) She cannot believe her luck because she’s been included to his will. Even though the way of his dying rings alarm bells but Vika’s only focus is adapting to her new lifestyle as a member of high society. Now she should do everything to keep her wealth and powerful position that means she has to find proper candidate to marry.
Interestingly Sky Foster who is working for her benefactor attracts her even though there’s high tension between them from their past unresolved issues which creates a nice enemies to lovers trope situation.
When Vika finds her life is in danger because somebody targets the will’s heirs, she reluctantly teams you with Sky to find the perpetrator.
Overall: even though I didn’t like Vika, the story telling style, entire world building and pacing was great enough for my four blazing, planetary stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
Rating: really liked it
Vika Hale lives on a struggling planet with her parents and little sister. She works as a barmaid even though she doesn't necessarily need to.
You see, there's a secret-side to Vika's life, a mysterious benefactor who has been watching her since she was a child and providing in certain ways for her and her sister.
As she nears adulthood, Vika suddenly gets summoned to the wealthy nearby planet of Ploutos. It's requested she attend the reading of the will of her benefactor, who as it turns out was a billionaire.
Lucky Miss Vika is included in his will. We love an inheritance story!
It's at the reading of the will that Vika first learns that she had been hand-picked by the dead billionaire to marry his son, Leo Chapin, the largest beneficiary of the will. I can hear the wedding bells now!
But then in an incredibly ill-timed twist of fate, Leo Chapin is killed in a spaceship explosion, cause unknown. Can you even believe that terrible luck?
Vika is allowed to stay on Ploutos thanks to the kindness of Leo's one-time caregivers. They have been loyal employees to the Chapin family for years and now it seems their loyalty has paid off. They've inherited a huge sum of money.
Mira and Hal, the couple in question, take Vika in, provide her with a healthy allowance and allow her to ingratiate herself into the upper echelons of Ploutos society.
Perhaps she can find a suitable
((read: rich)) husband, thus ensuring that her family will continue to be cared for. With a little sparkle and glamour, she's sure she'll be able to do it.
There are still questions surrounding Leo's death though, especially after another ship carrying Chapin heirs is attacked. Vika vows to get to the bottom of it.
This book was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed Terrill's writing and like the world she created here. I found the tone of the novel especially interesting.
I read in another review that this felt like a retelling, original source material unspecified, and I absolutely agree with that. It does feel like a retelling. It carries similar themes to a lot of Victorian literature. I was personally channeling a bit of futuristic
Great Expectations, or
Vanity Fair vibes.
The whole idea of a have-not plucked from their dire existence and place into the sphere of the wealthiest families in their society; that entire dynamic is fascinating and watching Vika navigate it, the choices she made and the motivations behind her choices, I found to be completely engaging.
This novel is told as a dual-POV. You mainly follow Vika, but you also get the perspective of Sky Foster, a rather mysterious young man who she met just prior to leaving her home planet. He actually is a lodger at her parent's home.
Sky does work on Ploutos though, for Hal, the man who has taken Vika in. The pair have a relationship fraught with tension, but when Vika fears her life may be in danger by whoever is coming after the Chapin heirs, she turns to Sky for help.
I really liked the relationship between Vika and Sky. Make no mistake, Vika is not a perfect character. She struggles with making choices that feel right to her.
After moving to Ploutos, she sort of cuts herself off from her family. She feels like she is doing things for them, but to them, it doesn't seem that way. It's a really tough position for her to be in.
I felt for her, I really did. Some may see her as selfish, but I felt like she was doing the best she could. She's young, torn between two worlds, trying to figure out what would be best for her future. There were a lot of people willing to take advantage of her, but she had to learn how to be cunning enough to prevent that from happening.
It's all a game. It's chess pieces moving around a board. Eat or be eaten; extremely engaging content.
With this being said, I'm not sure how long this one will stay in my memory, but I'm happy for the time I spent with this story. I loved the futuristic world with the classic themes woven throughout.
Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
I am definitely interested in reading more from Cristin Terrill!!
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars
While
The Stars Between Us is not quite as strong as Terrill's debut All Our Yesterdays, it is still a very solid novel that perfectly blends science fiction, romance, and murder.
When one of the richest men in the universe dies, he leaves behind a startling will: he will only give his son Leo his inheritance if Leo agrees to marry a mysterious girl named Vika.
The story is told through Vika's perspective, and she is rather unlikable in the beginning. Clearly the enactment of the will turns Vika's life upside down. She goes from living in poverty to having more money than she could have ever dreamed possible. Yet she is so busy being swept up in the newfound glitz, glamor, and money that she forgets all about the family she left behind. She barely spares them any thought. However, Vika does undergo some well-written character growth; as the novel progresses she starts becomes less selfish and more attentive to the world around her.
The romance here borders on instalove. Leo becomes enamored with Vika the moment he meets her, and goes out of his way to win her affections thereafter. Their relationship is sweet, but it would have been stronger if there was more interaction between the two before they fell in love.
Ultimately,
The Stars Between Us is an entertaining read that will appeal to fans of These Broken Stars or Illuminae. It proves again that Cristin Terrill knows how to write incredibly entertaining science fiction.
Rating: really liked it
Vika works in a bar on a struggling planet and does her best to help her family make ends meet. She’s always felt that she’s destined for more, and one day finds out that she was included in a millionaire’s will with one caveat – she must marry his son. Vika struggles to find a balance between the desire for comfort and the desire for happiness, thinking that being rich may just be the key to happiness after all.
I never thought I would read a take on one of Charles Dickens’ works set in space – this was an interesting choice, and I think the author successfully executed it. However, the book blurb says this is Dickensian-inspired, but it should say that this is a retelling of Our Mutual Friend. If you’ve read this Dickens book, there aren’t many surprises for you with this work. This is definitely a simplified version of the Dickens work, dropping most of the secondary plots, but it borrows much from the original work, including some direct quotes, character names, etc. That being said, Our Mutual Friend is one of my favorite Dickens’ books, and I believe that Terrill did an excellent job at reimagining this story and making its plot accessible to Young Adult readers.
I’ve seen some comments where people disliked Vika because she was spoiled even into the second half of the work, but that’s the point of this character. Her character growth is slow but it’s there, and I think that it was handled well in this work. Her character isn’t likeable, but she is relatable, and I do love a flawed protagonist. The characters overall were well written while not being the most memorable, but it was still easy to become immersed in this story. The plot was fantastic because most of Dickens’ plots are.
The worldbuilding is what gave this work its uniqueness and made it distinct from the original work. I really enjoyed the vocabulary that the author used for the uneducated/poorer people’s vernacular – this breathed life into the characters and the setting. There wasn’t a lot of exploration of the greater planets and society, but that’s acceptable since this story focused on one girl’s life and she didn’t travel all that much. The inclusion of a rebellion was different from Dickens’ work, and I think that added new and interesting tension to the plot.
I enjoyed this audiobook (the narrator did an excellent job) and recommend it to fans of Our Mutual Friend, fans of Young Adult works, and people who like soft science fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a review copy of this work, which will be published on August 2, 2022. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Rating: really liked it
pre-read: listen… i am tired of being traumatized. i just want to read a little murder space story. is that a crime.
-
read: thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC! giving this 3.7 stars- i enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i was going to, honestly. in ARC fashion, here are my positives and negatives:
(+) accents. i like when the accents are written out, sorry! adds more flavor. if this is a peeve of yours, note that the accents don’t take up a majority of the dialogue. but i liked them, so i’m putting it up as a positive.
(+) vika. she’s a refreshing main character to follow. “i would never (insert super minor spoiler from the beginning), i have morals” okay well vika would! and i respect that! i just love when we go unconventional routes and the mc ends up being a bad person.
but also (-) vika. i can only handle so much snobbish disrespect coming from a single person and still root for them. by the time we hit 50% this revolutionary attitude got old.
(?) planets. not something i liked or disliked, but i just wanted to comment that the movement between planets is less interstellar and more fresh prince of bel-air. vika goes from her broke planet to a super rich one, but you could have just switched the planets’ names out with places in new york and changed nothing else and i would have read this book the exact same. now that i think about it, (-) world building was lacking.
(?) sky. legitimately the most spineless character i’ve ever met. not a spine in sight. at all. i can respect it, but vika needed to be put in her place with her horrible attitude and it never happened. no further comments. i do, however, appreciate that we got his POV.
(-) the insta-love? romance. is it enemies to lovers if one of them has always been in love with the other and the other jumps immediately to love after realizing they no longer dislike the other? is it really?
(-) murder. was lacking.
(+) this is super minor, but: the immediate reveal of the reasoning for the mysterious old man benefactor. honestly, i’m just glad we didn’t hold this information in until the end as a “surprise! here’s why the rich old man put you in his will!” moment. mentioning it at the beginning made the plot a bit more interesting, and i can also just imagine myself rolling my eyes to the ground if this information was held as a plot twist.
-
recommend: mmm, sure. was it predictable? yes. were the space and murder parts underwhelming? yes. but was it easy to read and enjoyable? also yes.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.make sure to check out my blog!
rating:
5 stars!I did not start reading this book with my expectations too high but now I'm obsessed with it and I need more. I wish this wasn't a standalone but I have to admit that the story was wrapped up really nicely by the end and nothing was left unresolved.
„The Stars Between Us“ follows Vika Hale, a poor girl living on a struggling planet. Since she was little she had an unknown benefactor providing for her and her family. One day Vika learns that her benefactor was a billionaire who recently died under suspicious circumstances, and Vika has shockingly been included in his will. After moving to a glittering neighboring planet she realizes that someone is targeting the heirs to the will. Together with Sky Foster, a handsome but mysterious young man, she must find out who is behind the attacks on their lives before it's too late.
This book was honestly so easy to read and I finished it in less than two days even with my busy schedule.
First of all, I will talk mostly about the characters because that is what interested me the most while reading this book. The main character Vika was maybe the most frustrating character I've read about in a while. In the beginning of the book she is extremely greedy, selfish and self-centered. She gets so extremely corrupted by money and privilege that she even forgets about her family and the fact that they're struggling while she's enjoying herself. Vika thankfully does realize that her actions were disgusting and returns to the person she was before the money ruined her. The same can't be said about a certain side character who also went from being loving and kind to a emotionless monster who cares only about being rich and everything that comes with that. The book perfectly portrays what happens to most people when they become money obsessed.
My favorite character was definitely Sky cause he's the absolute sunshine of a person. He is kind and compassionate and not your typical male lead. I loved how he was shy and nervous around Vika and always saw the best in her even during her lowest moments.
I also have to mention Ariel because she made this book so much better with her presence.
Next, the plot of the book was full of mystery and even though some of the plot twists were obvious it was still satisfying and enjoyable. In my opinion this book had the potential to be a duology or trilogy and then some of the aspects of the story could have been explored more thoroughly like for example the PLF rebelion.
All in all, The Stars Between Us is perfect for fans of sci-fi and mystery and I highly recommend it!
Rating: really liked it
OHMYGOD
I don’t even know if this is too sciencey for me (girl gets the chance to leave her planet behind but realizes things are not what they seem) BUT it’s CRISTIN TERRILL and SCI-FI THRILLER and after the PERFECTION that All Our Yesterdays is, I don’t really care.
I waited so long for this to happen!
Rating: really liked it
I loved this book!!!! Thank you so much Wednesday Books for sending me a beautiful arc. I will cherish it forever.
This story was super atmospheric, full of sparkles, and packed with alluring intrigue. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, the execution, the pacing, ALL OF IT.
I did have one problem which I will address at the end after the spoilery section.
Viktoria was an interesting protagonist. She had a lot of traits that I wouldn’t have expected considering her upbringing. Most notably she was selfish, completely self absorbed but not in a way that was distasteful. That stood out to me as we progressed through the book because of how she battles that fact about herself, and how she feels so guilty for allowing her “selfishness” to overcome her when it reality she is just enjoying the one time she allows herself some sort of happiness. Besides that, she was stubborn and caring and she fixated a lot. I feel like this combo is something I haven’t seen before, which I liked. Also, she wasn’t perfect by any means, and I respect the author for writing her like that because it just added dimension to her character.
S P O I L E R S 🛑 PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
I was very ecstatic with how Cristin revealed to us the true identity of Sky Foster. To me, it wasn’t extremely obvious, but, I’m sure other readers would disagree. It just that I’m easy to trick since I’m so god damned gullible. (Jokes on you because I get more out of books that way). Anyways, I liked how this was executed because once we did find out who Leo was, it was cool to watch his character develop. Overall, I appreciated his softness and his politeness too, he was such a sweetheart and a gentleman.
Second surprise was finding out the identify of the villain. I was so blindly set on Hal because of course. Of course, it’s the nice-guy-turned-scumbag who cheated on precious Mira. Why wouldn’t it be? He grew to be a bitter, distant asshole; going as far as to treat Sky like absolute garbage and as I mentioned before, he cheated on Mira. Also, Cristin literally threw evidence of him being the culprit in our face— and no I’m not that stupid, THAT is when I started to doubt that he was the villain. LOL.
Anyways, learning that it was actually Archer was both shocking and blatantly obvious once you get to a certain part of the book, but all in all Cristin managed to get me. I enjoyed how it all unfolded at the end and how we are given yet another plot twist within the twist. I was just truly entertained the whole way through.
My only gripe is the ending itself. It sort of reminds me of Jade Legacy where we are given this beautiful and lush world, but then we’re left with such a short, simple, and furthermore, vague ending.
Right after the reveal of Archer as the villain takes place, the book just speed runs the rest of the way through. There is a brief meeting between Sky and Archer in which Sky barley asks any questions. There’s no real conclusion between them—not one that satisfied me anyway. After that there is a brief period of our two protagonists being apart, and then brought back together by none other than their number one supporter Ariel. After they come face to face? Book over.
This is, of course, NOT Jade Legacy so I didn’t expect some grand extravagant finale, buuuuuuut I do wish that we were given a concrete ending; one that left me complete and whole rather than wanting more (unless there’s gonna be more 👀). Anyways, that is what brought my review down one star. Other than that? Extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend this one!
Rating: really liked it
That cover drew me in and I wanted to be in love with this so much!!! So I’m disappointed that I don’t. To start, Vika was cool for a hot minute in the beginning, but then she morphs into this super mega B that I just can’t stand. A little bit of bristling and snapping is understandable, but hot dang she really goes off the mean girl edge. And that, to me, was very off putting.
Sky, oh Sky… let’s discuss Sky for a moment. He had such potential!!! He could have been anyone he wanted to be, but it seems he couldn’t help being a simpering, timid, scared boy. Which is also fine for a hot minute, but gets annoying real quick.
I wish I could have overlooked the fact that I wasn’t into the characters, but they’re the main part of the story!! The plot was fine and I was fairly interested throughout, but the main characters!!!! They just rubbed me the wrong way and honestly brought the quality of this read down for me. So I settled on 2 1/2 stars rounded up.
Thanks so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Cristin Terrill for the opportunity to read this for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.This was a case of pretty cover, okay story.
The Stars Between Us follows Vika Hale, a poor worker who is suddenly elevated to wealthy status when it's revealed she's to marry Leo Chapin, heir to a billion dollar fortune/company. Then Leo dies in a spaceship explosion and all Vika's chances of escaping are crushed. Or so she thinks. Then the Gardeners, the new will benefactors, come to meet her and offer to take her in. Vika jumps at the chance, but what she doesn't expect is to meet Sky Foster again, a mysterious young man she met briefly before leaving her home planet. Sky works for her benefactors and the two begin to suspect outside forces are trying to shape who receives the Chapin fortune.
There were times this felt like a retelling of something. I don't know what exactly, but the vibes were there? Times I did enjoy the story, but a majority of the time I was just meh. I did really like Sky, he's such a cinnamon roll. I'm kind of surprised I didn't like Vika, but she read so shallow to me and it really did not ingratiate her to me.
Vika basically ditches her family and forgets about them when she's showered in nice things. Like she only starts sending them money after Sky suggests it to her. And she hardly talks to them after leaving, unless Sky mentions something or asks how her family is. I get she wanted to distance herself from them, but she completely shuts them out and like damn that was harsh. Especially since neither of her parents are particularly mean. Her dad is a huge softie but he gets nothing. Idk it made me sad for her family.
The mystery part was interesting, but it was shoved to the back of the story for a good part so we could see Vika living it up, blowing money on things and trying to find a rich husband. I wish there was more to the mystery and that instead of completely ignoring him at every turn, Vika gave Sky a chance at first to even be her friend. But nah this bitch is too busy looking down her nose at him.
I wanted to like this but the focus on ridiculously wealthy people is just not for me. I did like the space stuff!
Rep: All white cishet cast, majority of characters are wealthy.
CWs: Fire/fire injury, explosion of spaceship, attempted murder/murder, classism. Moderate: abandonment, parental emotional abuse, grief, infidelity (of side character), injury/injury detail, alcoholism (side character), colonisation.
Rating: really liked it
Interesting young adult science fiction novel! Vika was an aggressive teen stuck on an impoverished planet. At the first opportunity to leave, she ran without looking back. But I found her character to be flat and predictable, lacking kindness and compassion.
There were a few surprises in this “who did it”, with enough uniqueness to keep the story flowing. Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. Overall, 3.5 ⭐️ stars.
Rating: really liked it
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!
I have to be honest, I couldn’t get into this book. I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood or if I didn’t actually like the plot/characters, but something was stopping me from actually caring about this.
First of all, the
writing style felt pretty inconsistent. I could get over the grammar and the slang, even though they felt kind of awkward, because at least they went with the world-building. It bothered me at first, but I could adjust.
But sometimes the writing was really nice and descriptive and it flowed well, and sometimes it was pretty clunky and annoying, and that made my reading experience just kind of rough. And what was worse, the slang and adapted grammar that I mentioned earlier was also patchy.
It came up mainly in the beginning but then petered out. I guess it was a reflection of Vika’s adaptation to high society rather than the slums, but it’s not that easy to change your thought styles and preferred phrases.
The
world-building was actually really good. I loved the whole galaxy theme and the dystopian setting and how fleshed out all of society was. The economy of Philomenus and the corruption on Ploutos felt very realistic and well-thought-out. Not to mention the aesthetic this provided.
My one complaint is that the world-building within the book is mainly centered on the sister planets of Ploutos and Philomenus, and nothing outside of it - though it’s heavily implied that there’s much more in the galaxy beyond. I would have been interested in seeing more of this system of planets and how it all fit together.
The
plot of this book was something I expected to be much more exciting. I kind of knew from the synopsis vibe of “poor girl with a mysteriously charmed life transforms into a fancy lady” that this was going to include some cliches, but it just didn’t feel that intriguing to me.
It took me a long time to understand what was going on and how relevant those things were to the plot, and by the time I was near the ending, I still hadn’t formed any connections to the story. I just found it hard to care.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have always and will always be a guilty bitch for the rags-to-riches trope, no matter how trashy it is. This was no different. When an unsuspecting girl has to navigate the bloodthirsty, glittering society she’s been sucked into?? Pure gold.
And
Vika’s character did that a little too well. The second she went from Philomenus to Ploutos, she became this selfish, spoiled brat who refused to let herself feel anything but contempt.
I loved how scrappy and bitter she was in the beginning, because I thought it was setting up for
actually good character development. It didn’t. It just made her ~ambitious~ and ~ruthless~ within the ranks of Ploutousian upper society. She became this self-absorbed pick me girl with no remorse and no emotions other than anger, scorn and stupidity.
I might be exaggerating. She certainly had the redeeming quality of being aware of everything around her. But the way she settled from poverty into wealth without even caring that much about the corruption of that wealthy (until it started affecting here) was just not it.
I love bitter protagonists. I love angry protagonists. I don’t like protagonists who acknowledge that “oh I should probably send my starving family money because I’m not working and providing money for them anymore” and then saying in the same breath “but they’re fine because I’m not taking up space and they never loved me so why should I care”
Like…girl??? Your sister and mother might be absolute bitches but they’re STARVING bitches, meanwhile you get yourself drunk every day and spend thousands on jewelry just so you can make friends with fake girls married to rich men twice their age.
Oh wait, you plan to be one of them too.
Then there was
Sky Foster, who had as much personality as he did brain cells. That is to say, almost none. His entire narrative was pining after Vika or his ~awakening~ in finally seeing the ~bad things~ in the world.
He was so passive, it was pretty obvious his only role was to awaken sympathy in the audience for his horrible plight and to give Vika a love interest. Because no one else was going to fall in love with someone like her.
Speaking of which, the
romance? Was literally not romance. It was Vika being a bitch and Sky being bland as hell, to the point that neither of them knew what to do in the same room except make eye contact and have ~internal monologues~. Vika looked down on Sky so much, and for what? Because he was creepy?
That didn’t stop her from going after an old divorced guy just because he owned a business.
The
love triangle was just not even a love triangle because there was no relationship. Archer (who I didn’t talk about simply because he only appeared when it was necessary to lend more ~tension~) was just sooooo fascinating and handsome to Vika. Sky scared her because he made her feel guilty about being a spoiled bitch.
And Sky? He found Vika so perfect no matter how selfish she was. Because he just had no room in that brain of his for any other thoughts.
My main problem with this book was that everything felt so
useless. Things happened to the characters, but were they actually doing anything? No. The story was driven by outside forces only, and they were just along for the ride, which gave the audience literally no interest in anything they actually did within the story.
The one climactic scene near the end was the only time I really actively read what was going on, and while that was actually really good, it wasn’t enough to carry the remnants of the plot for me.
I liked the
messages this book carried about poverty and rebellion, but it honestly felt like such a constant dystopian trope that it was easy not to pay attention to. Nothing excited me, and nothing made me want to pay attention to what was happening.
Overall, this book was not my kind of thing. It’s probably correct to describe it as a “intergalactic Bridgerton” type of set, but I haven’t seen Bridgerton so don’t quote me on that. I just know it gives me very futuristic-Victorian-romance vibes with a little rebellion thrown in.
Maybe this book would be perfect for someone else, but to me it just wasn’t that great of a read. The characters were unlikeable, the story didn’t feel compelling, and the romance was just not really there. It would be a fun trash read in my opinion, but I couldn’t get myself to care past that.
Rating: really liked it
I so wanted to love this one, but unfortunately, it wasn’t my favorite read. It has a great premise, and I love the cover. However, the story fell a bit flat for me. I wanted more world-building, and I didn’t love the protagonist Vika or the romance.
The setting of the story is fascinating, and I liked how the two contrasting worlds were presented, but I wanted more. I feel like there was so much more to explore. That being said, there were some major disparities between social classes and planets, which I found interesting, and I like how the author created such a unique dystopian society. There are some strong social messages throughout the story specifically connected to the setting that I appreciated.
Vika wasn’t my favorite character, which is disappointing since she’s the protagonist. She comes across as very selfish, vain, and judgmental, though she does change as the story progresses. I think making her unlikable was purposeful, so that you could see how much she learned and grew, but I never really got past her poor behavior and words.
The love story was just ok for me too, which surprised me because it’s usually my favorite part of the story. I feel like Vika could do no wrong in Sky’s eyes, and she walked all over him. Personally, I think he’s too good for her. I think some readers who enjoy sci-fi or dystopias with mystery and an enemies-to-lovers romance will enjoy the book. It just wasn’t the book for me. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
Rating: really liked it
thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc!
the stars between us promises a sweeping sci-fi mystery starring a main character with a rags to riches arc. ultimately, the reason that the book falls flat is because you never care enough about the main character to cheer for her.
vika is a working class girl who’s informed that she will get a huge part of a dead billionaire’s inheritance if and only if she marries his grandson. however, when the grandson is killed in a spaceship crash, vika inherits the fortune anyway and goes to live with the former caretakers (who have also inherited part of the fortune) on the billionaire’s grounds. here, she meets a young man, sky, who works for the caretakers. despite initially distrusting sky, after vika is targeted in another spaceship explosion the two end up working together to unravel the mystery of who’s targeting the heirs of the billionaire’s will.
keep in mind that this is a paraphrased summary from the back of the book, and it’s already confusing. though you do get to know characters and their motivations over time (especially through the dual pov) it’s hard to keep track of who the characters are, what they want, and why.
this is perhaps most true for the main character, vika. at the beginning of the book, vika is a working class barmaid who understandably resents the rich for their wealth and their reluctance to help the impoverished. but when she does luck into a fortune, she seems to have forgotten her past. because her money is new, vika isn’t taken seriously in high society, and to solidify her position among the upper circle, she devotes herself to finding an old-money husband, completely forgetting about her past in the process—she literally forgets to send money back to her family (who are still poor) because of this. this is the perfect example of the ultimately lacking characterization in the book. it becomes impossible to sympathize with vika when we see how weakly principled she is. throughout the book, we are left questioning how much vika really cares about solving the mystery and why she’s trying to solve it— is it because she cares for her caretakers’ safety, as they are potential targets? or is it just because she wants this inconvenience in her new, shiny life to be pushed aside as soon as possible, so that she can solidify her place as a woman who belongs in high society?
what’s more, the book fails to deliver on key components of its pitch: the dickensian space opera worldbuilding and the romance.
to be considered dickensian, a book must be characterized by honest representations of poverty, exaggerated characters, and/or plot contrivances; all of which the stars between us fails to deliver on. the majority of the book occurs when vika has lucked into a fortune and revolves around high society, the characters are not interesting enough to be considered over-the-top, and the plot is not unbelievable more than it is simply unengaging. the space setting has almost no bearing on the actual plot— aside from the fact that characters have to travel in spaceships in between planets every once in a while, this book could have been taking place on earth. a setting should be more than just the backdrop of a story; it should mold the plot in a way that makes the two inseparable.
the romance was pitched on the author’s twitter as an enemies-to-lovers, but the two leads aren’t actually enemies. sky never hates vika, and falls for her almost as soon as he meets her. vika doesn’t hate sky either, she just doesn’t trust him because she suspects that he’s hiding something. if anything, the romance should be considered boy falls first. aside from the tropes, the romance subplot feels like it was thrown in last minute, as though the author couldn’t think of how else to change the dynamic between sky and vika. there was very little romantic buildup from vika’s side, and i genuinely thought it would make more sense for them to stay friends rather than actually get together.
however, i feel that it’s important to point out that i didn’t find this book actively bad, it was just underwhelming. in fact, i was shocked to find out that this wasn’t terrill’s debut, because the book has potential and ultimately lacks in execution that i would chalk up to inexperience. the book does have aspects that i enjoyed. sky was an interesting character that i would have loved to learn more about, and the descriptions throughout the book were vivid and detailed.
