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Tarnished Are the Stars
The Lunar Chronicles meets Rook in this queer #OwnVoices science-fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer and Sharon Cameron.
A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws.
Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner's son, has never had to fear the law. Determined to earn his father's respect, Nathaniel sets out to capture the Technician. But the more he learns about the outlaw, the more he questions whether his father's elusive affection is worth chasing at all.
Their game of cat and mouse takes an abrupt turn when Eliza, a skilled assassin and spy, arrives. Her mission is to learn the Commissioner's secrets at any cost -- even if it means betraying her own heart.
When these uneasy allies discover the most dangerous secret of all, they must work together despite their differences and put an end to a deadly epidemic -- before the Commissioner ends them first.
A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws.
Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner's son, has never had to fear the law. Determined to earn his father's respect, Nathaniel sets out to capture the Technician. But the more he learns about the outlaw, the more he questions whether his father's elusive affection is worth chasing at all.
Their game of cat and mouse takes an abrupt turn when Eliza, a skilled assassin and spy, arrives. Her mission is to learn the Commissioner's secrets at any cost -- even if it means betraying her own heart.
When these uneasy allies discover the most dangerous secret of all, they must work together despite their differences and put an end to a deadly epidemic -- before the Commissioner ends them first.
372 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2019
About the author
Rosiee Thor
13 books412 followersRosiee Thor began their career as a storyteller by demanding to tell their mother bedtime stories instead of the other way around. They spent their childhood reading by flashlight in the closet until they came out as queer. Now, they write stories for all ages, including young adult novels Tarnished Are The Stars and Fire Becomes Her, the picture book The Meaning of Pride, and tie-in novels for franchises like Life is Strange and Firefly. Their short fiction appears in many anthologies, including the Lambda award nominated Being Ace, and they are the editor of Why On Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology. Their debut cozy mystery, The Dead & Breakfast, is forthcoming from Berkley Press. Rosiee lives in Oregon with a dog, two cats, and an abundance of plants. You can find them online at www.rosieethor.com or on social media @rosieethor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 491 reviews
September 30, 2019
An incredible YA sci-fi book absolutely brimming with heart, understanding, and the power of coming together to defeat injustice. Not to mention it’s queer as hell and I absolutely loved that this book set in the future unapologetically embraces queer identity and the lasting influence of finding a word that helps to explain who you are. Nathaniel is asexual and aromantic, and whether or not he wants to continue using those words is up to him. What matters is the power he gains by having a word to explain what he has always felt. I want to hug this book for that, and for an absolutely killer f/f romance to top it all off.
Longer review to come! For now, just please pre-order and support this awesome book.
**early copy gifted to me by a friend, but all opinions are still entirely my own**
Longer review to come! For now, just please pre-order and support this awesome book.
**early copy gifted to me by a friend, but all opinions are still entirely my own**
Read
June 25, 2020CW: parental emotional and physical abuse, stabbing wounds, surgery, blood, illness, graphic death of a child
I'm sorry but....this book is a hot ass mess? I just...I didn't like anything about it. Not one thing. Well, that's a lie, I liked that out of three main characters two are sapphic and one is aroace, but that's it.
The writing was trying too hard, like you know when you can see the author putting words together trying to make the sentence be flowery and have a deeper meaning than they actually do but instead they just happen to not make sense at all? That's how I felt reading a lot of the passages in this book. But aside from that, it was just...too forcefully angsty and I didn't buy into that.
The concept behind this book is a really good one, but it unfortunately was executed very poorly. The worldbuilding was barely there, everything was *gestures vaguely* and the reader is just expected to go with it. I had so many questions while reading, especially regarding the history of this world. How did they find this inhabitable planet? How is it "earth adjacent" (which is the actual name of the planet)? How do TICCERs work? how does the clock component of them make the heart survive? As a medstudent, the medical aspects of the book made me lose my braincells because of how either too vague or actually impossible in practice. I just needed to know more about this whole new planet that was built on this ashes of earth, trying to do better than the humans of the past. Like, it's a really good idea. But yeah. It didn't pan out quite as well.
Then we move on to the plot. It was all over the place and infuriatingly convenient. The main characters trusted each other 0.2 seconds after they met, information happened to fall into their laps when they needed it, high security was pretty much non existent when the characters needs to go past it, no real danger was extended enough for the reader to feel the stakes of remotely stressed for these characters. And then, none of the reveals landed true, they were all anticlimactic, for the simple reason that they were predictable and things that I saw coming for the first 100 pages of the book. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind predictability. Unless the narration acts like it's something that should shock me when it doesn't.
If I'm being completely transparent here, the only reason I didn't DNF this book is because it was a buddy read.
I'm sorry but....this book is a hot ass mess? I just...I didn't like anything about it. Not one thing. Well, that's a lie, I liked that out of three main characters two are sapphic and one is aroace, but that's it.
The writing was trying too hard, like you know when you can see the author putting words together trying to make the sentence be flowery and have a deeper meaning than they actually do but instead they just happen to not make sense at all? That's how I felt reading a lot of the passages in this book. But aside from that, it was just...too forcefully angsty and I didn't buy into that.
The concept behind this book is a really good one, but it unfortunately was executed very poorly. The worldbuilding was barely there, everything was *gestures vaguely* and the reader is just expected to go with it. I had so many questions while reading, especially regarding the history of this world. How did they find this inhabitable planet? How is it "earth adjacent" (which is the actual name of the planet)? How do TICCERs work? how does the clock component of them make the heart survive? As a medstudent, the medical aspects of the book made me lose my braincells because of how either too vague or actually impossible in practice. I just needed to know more about this whole new planet that was built on this ashes of earth, trying to do better than the humans of the past. Like, it's a really good idea. But yeah. It didn't pan out quite as well.
Then we move on to the plot. It was all over the place and infuriatingly convenient. The main characters trusted each other 0.2 seconds after they met, information happened to fall into their laps when they needed it, high security was pretty much non existent when the characters needs to go past it, no real danger was extended enough for the reader to feel the stakes of remotely stressed for these characters. And then, none of the reveals landed true, they were all anticlimactic, for the simple reason that they were predictable and things that I saw coming for the first 100 pages of the book. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind predictability. Unless the narration acts like it's something that should shock me when it doesn't.
If I'm being completely transparent here, the only reason I didn't DNF this book is because it was a buddy read.
July 25, 2018
So I read an early version of this book and it was GREAT, and basically, everyone should be adding this to their to-read lists because it's a great ride full of lesbians and aces in space with cool world-building. Why are you still reading this, go add this book to your lists!!!
June 19, 2019
DISCLAIMER: I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review. I'm also friends with the author.
cw: abuse, parental death (on and off screen), surgery
Finishing books past midnight always messes up with my ability to write proper reviews, but also... it tells you how incapable of going to bed I was!
TARNISHED ARE THE STARS is a beautiful and incredibly queer book at the heart of which lies the power of trust and friendship, especially in breaking out of abusive relationships. It's fast paced but gives plenty of time to self-reflection, its characters breathe and live fully, especially when interacting with one another, it layers its plot little by little, complexifying as it goes... Honestly, it's a solid book in just about every aspect. I DO think the end felt a little rushed, like revelations and final confrontations had been pushed too tightly together for us to absorb, but that might also have to do with me blasting through it while tired. Probably a bit of both.
The other thing I deeply want to talk about is the absolutely lovely aro and ace rep in this. I love Nathaniel's relationship to his queerness throughout the story. He doesn't have the words for it at first, and he struggles with the expectations placed on him, but he is very confident that he -doesn't- and -won't- experience attraction; the way he simultaneous knows himself but feels left out by the world is so well done, and not something I've often encountered, especially in YA. It was amazing to read, and I'm looking forward to re-reading so I can see how it's done. I also really appreciate the way Rosiee Thor compares and contrasts some elements of queerness with Eliza (who is a lesbian), how their entire discussion about it and labels is warm, fuzzy, and flows naturally. I have the whole thing highlighted, I swear.
All in all, keep an eye out for this book. It's a great read, it's good queer rep, and it makes my aroace heart sing.
cw: abuse, parental death (on and off screen), surgery
Finishing books past midnight always messes up with my ability to write proper reviews, but also... it tells you how incapable of going to bed I was!
TARNISHED ARE THE STARS is a beautiful and incredibly queer book at the heart of which lies the power of trust and friendship, especially in breaking out of abusive relationships. It's fast paced but gives plenty of time to self-reflection, its characters breathe and live fully, especially when interacting with one another, it layers its plot little by little, complexifying as it goes... Honestly, it's a solid book in just about every aspect. I DO think the end felt a little rushed, like revelations and final confrontations had been pushed too tightly together for us to absorb, but that might also have to do with me blasting through it while tired. Probably a bit of both.
The other thing I deeply want to talk about is the absolutely lovely aro and ace rep in this. I love Nathaniel's relationship to his queerness throughout the story. He doesn't have the words for it at first, and he struggles with the expectations placed on him, but he is very confident that he -doesn't- and -won't- experience attraction; the way he simultaneous knows himself but feels left out by the world is so well done, and not something I've often encountered, especially in YA. It was amazing to read, and I'm looking forward to re-reading so I can see how it's done. I also really appreciate the way Rosiee Thor compares and contrasts some elements of queerness with Eliza (who is a lesbian), how their entire discussion about it and labels is warm, fuzzy, and flows naturally. I have the whole thing highlighted, I swear.
All in all, keep an eye out for this book. It's a great read, it's good queer rep, and it makes my aroace heart sing.
January 29, 2020
Disappointing YA SF with overly simplistic world-building and characters whose behavior comes across as random in many places. A relatively diverse cast does not make up for its other failings.
Humanity has fled an Earth destroyed by humanity with the majority of people living in a space station and waiting to colonize Earth Adjacent. A small community of people are living on Earth Adjacent in "the Settlement" as a sort of pilot program. The Settlement is under the tyrannical rule of a man named the Commissioner who's the son of the Queen, the ruler of the space station where the rest of humanity lives. The Commissioner has banned all complex technology, particularly medical technology, which makes all the people trying to live outside the Settlement into criminals, as many require medical tech to survive.
Anna Thatcher aka "the Technician" is a medical technology expert and a wanted criminal. She's the only reason that anyone can live outside the Settlement at all. Nathaniel Fremont is the Commissioner's son, emotionally and physically abused for his entire life and desperate to earn his father's love and sees in Anna an opportunity to capture the Technician. Finally there's the Queen's protege and spy Eliza who's also Nathaniel's betrothed. Initially at odds, the plot railroads them into forming an alliance against Nathaniel's father and into exploring relationships between them that just appear out of thin air.
This story is half-baked. The world-building doesn't bear much thought, the villains of the piece have an agenda that makes no sense, and the main characters make sudden changes in behavior without doing any of the work to justify them, particularly with Eliza, but all three of the main characters do this. The main character is ace, Eliza is lesbian and Anna seems pan/bi, but very little of that is plot-relevant except perhaps almost justifying one of Eliza's whiplash about faces.
Very disappointing.
Humanity has fled an Earth destroyed by humanity with the majority of people living in a space station and waiting to colonize Earth Adjacent. A small community of people are living on Earth Adjacent in "the Settlement" as a sort of pilot program. The Settlement is under the tyrannical rule of a man named the Commissioner who's the son of the Queen, the ruler of the space station where the rest of humanity lives. The Commissioner has banned all complex technology, particularly medical technology, which makes all the people trying to live outside the Settlement into criminals, as many require medical tech to survive.
Anna Thatcher aka "the Technician" is a medical technology expert and a wanted criminal. She's the only reason that anyone can live outside the Settlement at all. Nathaniel Fremont is the Commissioner's son, emotionally and physically abused for his entire life and desperate to earn his father's love and sees in Anna an opportunity to capture the Technician. Finally there's the Queen's protege and spy Eliza who's also Nathaniel's betrothed. Initially at odds, the plot railroads them into forming an alliance against Nathaniel's father and into exploring relationships between them that just appear out of thin air.
This story is half-baked. The world-building doesn't bear much thought, the villains of the piece have an agenda that makes no sense, and the main characters make sudden changes in behavior without doing any of the work to justify them, particularly with Eliza, but all three of the main characters do this. The main character is ace, Eliza is lesbian and Anna seems pan/bi, but very little of that is plot-relevant except perhaps almost justifying one of Eliza's whiplash about faces.
Very disappointing.
May 17, 2020
"We do not have to use the same words or share the same definitions to be similar, to understand one another."
This quote captures what I think is so important and so wonderful about the LGBTQ+ community. All of our experiences are different, but in a way, we're all the same too.
I do have sort of mixed feelings about this book though. Because I did love the rep. And at the start, I really enjoyed the plot too. But I ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by the story itself.
CWs: death of a child, past death of a parent, parental abuse, surgery, blood, amputation
This quote captures what I think is so important and so wonderful about the LGBTQ+ community. All of our experiences are different, but in a way, we're all the same too.
I do have sort of mixed feelings about this book though. Because I did love the rep. And at the start, I really enjoyed the plot too. But I ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by the story itself.
CWs: death of a child, past death of a parent, parental abuse, surgery, blood, amputation
Read
May 24, 2020
December 18, 2019
A solid debut! If you like YA sci-fi with elements of mystery, political intrigue, and has an all-queer cast, then you'll like this!
- Follows three perspectives:
* Anna, who operates under the moniker of 'The Technician', who provides illegal medical technology to help the sick and injured.
* Eliza, a lesbian orphan-turned-spy trained by the Queen, sent on a mission to spy on the Commissioner.
* Nathaniel, aro and ace, the son of the Commissioner, who is betrothed to Eliza.
- The story follows the three characters and how their stories and motivations and journeys converge and intertwine together, as they become unexpected allies to fight injustice.
- I really enjoyed the worldbuilding! After Earth was destroyed by technology, some humans have settled in a new planet, Earth-Adjacent, while aristocratic elite live in a space-station governed by Queen Elizabeth. However, the people who live in Earth-Adjacent are born with a congenital heart disease, caused by an element in the environment. I thought this was really interesting, and I liked how the worldbuilding had such a significant impact on the characters and their motivations.
- I really loved Eliza's story arc, and thought it was genius that, despite helping Nathaniel work through his abuse, Eliza was blind to what she experienced.
However:
- I loved the worldbuilding, but the story didn't really engage me? I don't think this is a fault of the book, but more of my preferences of what I like from science-fiction.
- Apart from Nathaniel and Eliza, I felt like the characters (side-characters included) missed on plenty of opportunities for development.
- I don't expect all stories to be original or completely new ideas but I think the story didn't do quite enough to set itself apart from other science-fiction stories for it to be memorable for me. There are a lot of interesting and unique things in the worldbuilding, but not really much else.
Nonetheless, I still think it's a good read! And I think many readers will enjoy this.
Trigger/content warning:
- Follows three perspectives:
* Anna, who operates under the moniker of 'The Technician', who provides illegal medical technology to help the sick and injured.
* Eliza, a lesbian orphan-turned-spy trained by the Queen, sent on a mission to spy on the Commissioner.
* Nathaniel, aro and ace, the son of the Commissioner, who is betrothed to Eliza.
- The story follows the three characters and how their stories and motivations and journeys converge and intertwine together, as they become unexpected allies to fight injustice.
- I really enjoyed the worldbuilding! After Earth was destroyed by technology, some humans have settled in a new planet, Earth-Adjacent, while aristocratic elite live in a space-station governed by Queen Elizabeth. However, the people who live in Earth-Adjacent are born with a congenital heart disease, caused by an element in the environment. I thought this was really interesting, and I liked how the worldbuilding had such a significant impact on the characters and their motivations.
- I really loved Eliza's story arc, and thought it was genius that, despite helping Nathaniel work through his abuse, Eliza was blind to what she experienced.
However:
- I loved the worldbuilding, but the story didn't really engage me? I don't think this is a fault of the book, but more of my preferences of what I like from science-fiction.
- Apart from Nathaniel and Eliza, I felt like the characters (side-characters included) missed on plenty of opportunities for development.
- I don't expect all stories to be original or completely new ideas but I think the story didn't do quite enough to set itself apart from other science-fiction stories for it to be memorable for me. There are a lot of interesting and unique things in the worldbuilding, but not really much else.
Nonetheless, I still think it's a good read! And I think many readers will enjoy this.
Trigger/content warning:
January 9, 2022
Eat the rich
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Bookish Brews | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Facebook
October 2, 2020
"Don't judge a book by its cover" is as well-worn a proverb as any in literature, but of course first impressions of a book are influenced by cover art. The swirl of metallic purples, blues, and the stars in constellation is what drew me to Tarnished Are the Stars, making me want to like the book even before I learned what it was about. Human existence in the 2800s is quite different from that on Earth eight centuries earlier. Abuse of technology led to the planet's destruction long ago, but a new planet has been colonized, named Earth Adjacent. Here the Settlement thrives, led by Commissioner Oliver Fremont, who treats his eighteen-year-old son Nathaniel with a mixture of cruelty and pity. Unlike everyone else in the Settlement, Nathaniel suffers from the Tarnish, a terminal heart ailment that required him to receive a technological implant at birth called a TICCER. Like all human-augmentation technology, the TICCER is outlawed, but the Commissioner bent the rules for his son, and Nathaniel lives with a heavy feeling of perpetual indebtedness to him. Nathaniel will one day take over his father's position as leader of the Settlement, but it's difficult for him to imagine the Commissioner ever trusting him that much. Subject only to his own mother, the Queen, who wields authority from a satellite around Earth Adjacent, the Commissioner is not a man who accepts mediocrity.
Concealed from the Commissioner's eyes is the small town of Mechan, where technology continues to be used in defiance of Settlement law. Eighteen-year-old Anna is a mechanic and surgeon known as the Technician, a "criminal" wanted by the Commissioner for breaching the edict against technology. Her grandfather, Thatcher, has taken care of Anna since her parents' death when she was a child, instructing her in science and medicine to eventually be the face of the resistance. Roman, the seven-year-old adopted son of Anna's friend Ruby, was born with the Tarnish as every child in Mechan (including Anna) is; the TICCER is an effective stopgap measure, but giving Roman a longterm future motivates Anna to look for a cure to the disease. She must avoid capture by the Commissioner, but interacting with his agents may boost her odds of solving the puzzle that is the Tarnish; Anna disregards Thatcher's warnings and engages in a dangerous game of wits with Nathaniel. He doesn't know she is the Technician, but if he uncovers her secret, the consequences will be dire.
"Just because the law isn't on my side, it doesn't mean I'm evil."
—Anna, Tarnished Are the Stars, P. 131
"But that was the thing about loss: Death could rip love from life, but those memories stayed behind, burning a hole through the heart."
—Tarnished Are the Stars, P. 242
The Commissioner is physically and emotionally abusive to Nathaniel, and a tyrant over the Settlement, but the Queen has her own dubious agenda. She dispatches Eliza, an eighteen-year-old covert operative known as the Queen's Eyes, to infiltrate the Fremont family as Nathaniel's new fiancée, a deal the Queen has been building toward for years. Her objective is to upend the Commissioner and tilt the balance of power back to the Queen, but Eliza changes the plan once she meets Nathaniel and observes his oppression at the Commissioner's hands. She has no romantic interest in him—Eliza's tastes are toward members of her own gender—but she and Nathaniel have written letters to each other for years, and now she reveals her true mission to him in exchange for help defeating the Commissioner. Nathaniel is torn between allegiance to his father and a decent future for himself; is he really willing to betray the Commissioner and ally with Eliza? The existence of Mechan is soon at stake as Nathaniel, Eliza, and Anna probe the Settlement's secret history and discover the Commissioner will do anything, even harm the ones he supposedly loves, to ensure his own continued power. The Queen is a cynical politician who cares for the people only as a support structure for her own glory, so which side should Nathaniel, Eliza, and Anna fight on? Is there a future for mankind on Earth Adjacent, or will selfishness and lust for power doom our species to extinction in the distant reaches of outer space?
"It isn't how you feel that makes you a leader; it's what you do."
—Anna, P. 366
Striking as the original cover art by Vault49 is, Tarnished Are the Stars lacks the narrative oomph and discipline I hoped for. The world-building and backstory are ill-defined—I'm not sure why the Settlement is so opposed to technology—and the motivations of the villains are murky at best. No big plot surprises lie in wait to reenergize the narrative in its moments of lag, and such a stimulus is sorely needed; it may have made the difference between an average book and an extraordinary one. Author Rosiee Thor's language and story skills show promise, but Tarnished Are the Stars falls flat more than it comes alive, which isn't uncommon for a debut novel. I enjoyed the read even if I couldn't emotionally connect with it, though, and Rosiee Thor's narrative insights indicate the potential to grow from here into an excellent career.
Concealed from the Commissioner's eyes is the small town of Mechan, where technology continues to be used in defiance of Settlement law. Eighteen-year-old Anna is a mechanic and surgeon known as the Technician, a "criminal" wanted by the Commissioner for breaching the edict against technology. Her grandfather, Thatcher, has taken care of Anna since her parents' death when she was a child, instructing her in science and medicine to eventually be the face of the resistance. Roman, the seven-year-old adopted son of Anna's friend Ruby, was born with the Tarnish as every child in Mechan (including Anna) is; the TICCER is an effective stopgap measure, but giving Roman a longterm future motivates Anna to look for a cure to the disease. She must avoid capture by the Commissioner, but interacting with his agents may boost her odds of solving the puzzle that is the Tarnish; Anna disregards Thatcher's warnings and engages in a dangerous game of wits with Nathaniel. He doesn't know she is the Technician, but if he uncovers her secret, the consequences will be dire.
"Just because the law isn't on my side, it doesn't mean I'm evil."
—Anna, Tarnished Are the Stars, P. 131
"But that was the thing about loss: Death could rip love from life, but those memories stayed behind, burning a hole through the heart."
—Tarnished Are the Stars, P. 242
The Commissioner is physically and emotionally abusive to Nathaniel, and a tyrant over the Settlement, but the Queen has her own dubious agenda. She dispatches Eliza, an eighteen-year-old covert operative known as the Queen's Eyes, to infiltrate the Fremont family as Nathaniel's new fiancée, a deal the Queen has been building toward for years. Her objective is to upend the Commissioner and tilt the balance of power back to the Queen, but Eliza changes the plan once she meets Nathaniel and observes his oppression at the Commissioner's hands. She has no romantic interest in him—Eliza's tastes are toward members of her own gender—but she and Nathaniel have written letters to each other for years, and now she reveals her true mission to him in exchange for help defeating the Commissioner. Nathaniel is torn between allegiance to his father and a decent future for himself; is he really willing to betray the Commissioner and ally with Eliza? The existence of Mechan is soon at stake as Nathaniel, Eliza, and Anna probe the Settlement's secret history and discover the Commissioner will do anything, even harm the ones he supposedly loves, to ensure his own continued power. The Queen is a cynical politician who cares for the people only as a support structure for her own glory, so which side should Nathaniel, Eliza, and Anna fight on? Is there a future for mankind on Earth Adjacent, or will selfishness and lust for power doom our species to extinction in the distant reaches of outer space?
"It isn't how you feel that makes you a leader; it's what you do."
—Anna, P. 366
Striking as the original cover art by Vault49 is, Tarnished Are the Stars lacks the narrative oomph and discipline I hoped for. The world-building and backstory are ill-defined—I'm not sure why the Settlement is so opposed to technology—and the motivations of the villains are murky at best. No big plot surprises lie in wait to reenergize the narrative in its moments of lag, and such a stimulus is sorely needed; it may have made the difference between an average book and an extraordinary one. Author Rosiee Thor's language and story skills show promise, but Tarnished Are the Stars falls flat more than it comes alive, which isn't uncommon for a debut novel. I enjoyed the read even if I couldn't emotionally connect with it, though, and Rosiee Thor's narrative insights indicate the potential to grow from here into an excellent career.
January 18, 2020
this was a wonderful book filled with so much heart, and i absolutely loved the queer rep 💜 It was just extremely obvious that this book is a debut from the numerous discrepancies in the writing.
May 15, 2019
Sharply characterized and beautifully written, Tarished Are the Stars was a look at a too-close-for-comfort earth-like planet and the way the best of intentions in trying to create a better future can go awry. I loved the complexity of the interactions, motivations, and the machinations--nothing was black or white. The characters were my favorite part of all, and they especially shined in the form of Anna, Nathaniel, and Eliza and their entanglements with each other. I love how they came up against incredibly difficult choices and made mistakes with weighty consequences--Rosiee Thor did not go easy on them. And yet they were entirely sympathetic, and all so distinct in the way they handled their respective journeys. So much character growth! As a cherry on top, the f/f romance was incredibly swoon-worthy, and yet the ace friendships carried just as much emotional weight as those with sexual tension. Highly recommended for fans of the Lunar Chronicles, "morally complex" YA, and anyone needing more queerness in their SFF. A strong debut!
December 9, 2019
This book has so many plot holes and logistical problems I feel like a master of patience and second chances for sticking it out to the end. The story takes place in the year 2892, a future in which technology is banned because Earth is still recovering after having been destroyed by technology. There is a Settlement that is governed by a Commissioner and a council, and they in turn are governed by the Queen, who lives in a space station called the Tower along with a large number of her subjects. The Queen wants to complete the process of terraforming Earth so that she and the rest of her people can join those already living there.
Anna is the Technician, a girl who deals in illegal medical tech on the black market. She lives in hiding in a village called Mechan. Anna makes appointments with her clients by giving them riddles that they have to solve to learn the time and place of their meeting. How convenient that her clients are always smart enough to figure out the riddles but the Commissioner's investigators are not. Nathaniel is the Commissioner's son, and he's so desperate to please his father he decides to go after the Technician himself. Eliza is the Eyes of the Queen, the Queen's spy and assassin. The Queen sends Eliza to Earth to infiltrate the Commissioner's manor.
The world-building is inadequate to answer any of the questions you'd have while reading and the politics make little to no sense.
First of all, there is no logic to the blanket ban on all technology. The government says it wants to prevent another disaster from destroying the earth, but they make no distinction between technology designed to kill, like guns and nuclear bombs, and technology designed to help and save, like mechanical limbs and cardiac regulators. If the Commissioner had been a full-on Luddite who feared and avoided all technology, I would have let this particular plot point slide, because at least his beliefs and actions would have been logically consistent. But the Commissioner knows that technology isn't inherently bad; he uses it regularly. And you know what a government would realistically do when introduced to tech that could benefit people's lives? They'd make it widely available so they could profit from it.
It's not even clear just how far the anti-tech laws go. (Technology is a very broad term. Once upon a time, the invention of the wheel would have been considered the height of technological innovation.) In the first chapter Anna washes her hands at a sink, so they do at least have running water and plumbing; and Anna's grandfather uses bright lighting to perform surgeries, so they have lamps of some sort. Hilariously, Nathaniel mentions at his father's council meeting that the anti-tech laws' definition of technology is insufficient to inform the citizens how much the laws affect something like medical technology, but this topic is never revisited.
There is no explanation of what exactly happened to destroy Earth to the point of making it uninhabitable for so long, and there is little description of what it looks like now. All you get is some vague ecological threat that gives people heart disease. I also would have liked to get a little bit of insight into how Anna's tech worked and what the "maintenance" she talked about consisted of.
Second of all, what political advantage is gained from an arranged marriage between Eliza and Nathaniel? The point of an arranged marriage is to secure a political alliance through family ties. But the Queen and Commissioner, being mother and son, are already family, and they dislike and distrust each other. So how would Eliza change that relationship? She's important to the Queen in a way, yes, but she's also replaceable.
Third of all, the characters make such stupid decisions just to move the plot forward and not because it makes any rational sense to do them. Early in the book Anna and Thatcher have a strong disagreement about Anna's decision to share medical technology with the people of the Settlement. Thatcher thinks it's too dangerous for her to go there, and reasonably so, since the Commissioner has a warrant for the Technician's arrest. Anna insists she needs to go to the Settlement to help all the people who need her life-saving tech, and so she goes there against his wishes. Everything that happens as a result of Anna's choice is as much Thatcher's fault as it is Anna's because he failed to tell her until much later that . Why did he not tell her this?? There was no reason for him to keep this information to himself! Anna ended up risking her life for nothing.
The main characters' stupidity is usually rewarded with success because the other characters are even more stupid than the main characters. Nathaniel's father forbids him from leaving the Settlement but does absolutely nothing to prevent him from leaving. In fact, the Commissioner's manor is so easy to sneak in and out of that Nathaniel, Anna, and Eliza scale up and down the walls with regularity because the Commissioner apparently pays his guards to sleep on duty. Where is his security?? The Commissioner should have fired all his guards and hired better ones who could actually do their damn jobs.
The characters are not only stupid, they change their goals and allegiances at the drop of a hat. They trusted each other way too easily, especially Anna. Even the lesbian romance couldn't save this book. There was no chemistry whatsoever between Anna and Eliza, just instant attraction and insta-love. If a woman I just met is holding a knife to my throat, it doesn't matter how attractive she is, I am definitely not going to be turned on or excited about her touching me while she's threatening to kill me.
This book is an unintentional comedy at times.
Another great moment:
I don't know enough about stab wounds to know how likely you are to survive a stabbing that misses the heart and hits the lungs or how long it would take to bleed out, but I googled how long it takes to heal from a punctured lung, and it's 6 to 8 weeks. Even if I suspend my disbelief that could have survived such an injury, she should have spent a lot more time recovering.
I was initially going to give this 2 stars because my first thoughts while reading it was that it was just okay, but upon having finished it, I can't think of a single thing that I liked about it.
Anna is the Technician, a girl who deals in illegal medical tech on the black market. She lives in hiding in a village called Mechan. Anna makes appointments with her clients by giving them riddles that they have to solve to learn the time and place of their meeting. How convenient that her clients are always smart enough to figure out the riddles but the Commissioner's investigators are not. Nathaniel is the Commissioner's son, and he's so desperate to please his father he decides to go after the Technician himself. Eliza is the Eyes of the Queen, the Queen's spy and assassin. The Queen sends Eliza to Earth to infiltrate the Commissioner's manor.
The world-building is inadequate to answer any of the questions you'd have while reading and the politics make little to no sense.
First of all, there is no logic to the blanket ban on all technology. The government says it wants to prevent another disaster from destroying the earth, but they make no distinction between technology designed to kill, like guns and nuclear bombs, and technology designed to help and save, like mechanical limbs and cardiac regulators. If the Commissioner had been a full-on Luddite who feared and avoided all technology, I would have let this particular plot point slide, because at least his beliefs and actions would have been logically consistent. But the Commissioner knows that technology isn't inherently bad; he uses it regularly. And you know what a government would realistically do when introduced to tech that could benefit people's lives? They'd make it widely available so they could profit from it.
It's not even clear just how far the anti-tech laws go. (Technology is a very broad term. Once upon a time, the invention of the wheel would have been considered the height of technological innovation.) In the first chapter Anna washes her hands at a sink, so they do at least have running water and plumbing; and Anna's grandfather uses bright lighting to perform surgeries, so they have lamps of some sort. Hilariously, Nathaniel mentions at his father's council meeting that the anti-tech laws' definition of technology is insufficient to inform the citizens how much the laws affect something like medical technology, but this topic is never revisited.
There is no explanation of what exactly happened to destroy Earth to the point of making it uninhabitable for so long, and there is little description of what it looks like now. All you get is some vague ecological threat that gives people heart disease. I also would have liked to get a little bit of insight into how Anna's tech worked and what the "maintenance" she talked about consisted of.
Second of all, what political advantage is gained from an arranged marriage between Eliza and Nathaniel? The point of an arranged marriage is to secure a political alliance through family ties. But the Queen and Commissioner, being mother and son, are already family, and they dislike and distrust each other. So how would Eliza change that relationship? She's important to the Queen in a way, yes, but she's also replaceable.
Third of all, the characters make such stupid decisions just to move the plot forward and not because it makes any rational sense to do them. Early in the book Anna and Thatcher have a strong disagreement about Anna's decision to share medical technology with the people of the Settlement. Thatcher thinks it's too dangerous for her to go there, and reasonably so, since the Commissioner has a warrant for the Technician's arrest. Anna insists she needs to go to the Settlement to help all the people who need her life-saving tech, and so she goes there against his wishes. Everything that happens as a result of Anna's choice is as much Thatcher's fault as it is Anna's because he failed to tell her until much later that . Why did he not tell her this?? There was no reason for him to keep this information to himself! Anna ended up risking her life for nothing.
The main characters' stupidity is usually rewarded with success because the other characters are even more stupid than the main characters. Nathaniel's father forbids him from leaving the Settlement but does absolutely nothing to prevent him from leaving. In fact, the Commissioner's manor is so easy to sneak in and out of that Nathaniel, Anna, and Eliza scale up and down the walls with regularity because the Commissioner apparently pays his guards to sleep on duty. Where is his security?? The Commissioner should have fired all his guards and hired better ones who could actually do their damn jobs.
The characters are not only stupid, they change their goals and allegiances at the drop of a hat. They trusted each other way too easily, especially Anna. Even the lesbian romance couldn't save this book. There was no chemistry whatsoever between Anna and Eliza, just instant attraction and insta-love. If a woman I just met is holding a knife to my throat, it doesn't matter how attractive she is, I am definitely not going to be turned on or excited about her touching me while she's threatening to kill me.
This book is an unintentional comedy at times.
Though the girl had proved trustworthy thus far, Eliza still had not forgotten that Anna had tried to stab her only yesterday.I would question the mental faculties of anyone who thought someone was proving herself trustworthy by not having turned on them in a single day. (Also it was actually that Anna tried to stab, not Eliza.) But the point remains that none of these characters have any reason to trust one another.
Another great moment:
Eliza secured herself a place in the outer ring where she could lounge and read old scannings of Judith Butler and Sappho from her wrist tab, undetected by the other courtiers.The idea that Judith Butler's incoherent, nonsensical clown gibberish will be relevant to any lesbian in the 29th century is peak comedy. Judith Butler and Sappho should not even be in the same sentence.
I don't know enough about stab wounds to know how likely you are to survive a stabbing that misses the heart and hits the lungs or how long it would take to bleed out, but I googled how long it takes to heal from a punctured lung, and it's 6 to 8 weeks. Even if I suspend my disbelief that could have survived such an injury, she should have spent a lot more time recovering.
I was initially going to give this 2 stars because my first thoughts while reading it was that it was just okay, but upon having finished it, I can't think of a single thing that I liked about it.
October 18, 2019
Okay, hear me out. I was so excited for this release, and when I saw the audiobook came out a full two weeks before the physical book, I decided to listen right away. BIG MISTAKE. The narrator just didn't work for me. The voices she chose for the characters felt like caricatures, which made the dialogue feel inorganic (which is too bad because it seemed like there was some good sarcastic banter written...it just didn't come across in the performance) and made a lot of the characters seem more like stereotypes than like real people. Her American accent that she used for Anna was just plain bad (and sounded like she always had a cold?), and she made Nathaniel sound like a wimpy, hesitant child at all times.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the concept. I loved the asexual representation. I loved the growth of the characters. But the story did have some minor plot holes, the ending was a little abrupt, and some things--like the moment where a certain character finally realizes they're asexual--felt way too heavy-handed. I think, if I had read this one rather than listened, it would have been an easy 4 stars. As an audio, though...do yourself a favor, and just don't make the same mistake I did, because it ruined a book I could have loved :(
Don't get me wrong, I loved the concept. I loved the asexual representation. I loved the growth of the characters. But the story did have some minor plot holes, the ending was a little abrupt, and some things--like the moment where a certain character finally realizes they're asexual--felt way too heavy-handed. I think, if I had read this one rather than listened, it would have been an easy 4 stars. As an audio, though...do yourself a favor, and just don't make the same mistake I did, because it ruined a book I could have loved :(
June 12, 2020
The idea of this book was really good, but it wasn't thaaat great. Still pretty interesting, however.
It was also really similar to Cinder by Marissa Meyer, soooo.
It was also really similar to Cinder by Marissa Meyer, soooo.
January 12, 2020
3.5 rounded up. I don’t always love YA so that probably takes away at least 1/2 star in most cases- but the relationships between the three main characters in this book are complex with little of the usual plot lines of romance and/or sexual attraction. Thus the book is more nuanced and I appreciated the author’s ability to explore different feelings between people.
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August 3, 2019Hello lovely readers! I don't spend much time over on goodreads anymore, so if you have any questions, please reach out over on twitter or on my website! Since advance copies are out in the world now, I wanted to share a list of content warnings for anyone who would like to review them before reading: http://www.rosieethor.com/tarnished-a...
I hope you enjoy! Happy reading :)
I hope you enjoy! Happy reading :)
October 20, 2019
Tarnished Are The Stars is a story that revolves around characters who are bearing weights of expectations, who are discussing the good and bad of technology, who are exploring, discovering, or creating their identities, rebelling against the wrong, and building a strong friendship; and are doing all of this on a planet that is not Earth (since it was destroyed by the technology doom) but is filled with something that is toxic to the ones born on there, aka the Tarnished.
The Settlement and the Tower adorn themselves with pieces of culture and history like they're accessories. They pick and choose the ones they like and cast away the rest without a care for why or how they came to be.
✔Set on a new planet
✔An all queer main cast
✔Sapphic romance with a kiss or kill attitude
✔Asexual & aromantic representation
✔Young adult trio with friendship goals
✔Medical mystery with political intrigue
✔Personal goals meet superior's expectations
✔Saving lives is the only motive
✔Unexpected revelations
✔Science-fiction lined with some fantasy
Whatever her nature, she was definitely dangerous. The danger came not from her fists, but her words.
I had been eyeing this book since the end of last year because it did sound right up my alley, so when I had a chance to be a part of the blog tour and read an early copy of it, I jumped on the chance. Tarnished Are The Stars certainly impressed me in a lot of aspects and made for a good read, but there are some trigger warnings you might want to look through before jumping into the book.
⇾ Physical descriptions of surgery
⇾ Discussions of medical procedures
⇾ Blood test anxiety
⇾ Blood spill and contact
⇾ Child death and discussion about it
⇾ Pregnant woman and minimal description of childbirth
⇾ Grief following the death of closed ones
⇾ Holding on to grief of a lover's death
⇾ Conversations surrounding passed away mother
⇾ Being held by ropes; taken away by force
⇾ Offensive dialogue to a disabled child (soon confronted and corrected by another character)
⇾ Being betrothed under pressure while under-age
⇾ Excessive parental expectations
⇾ Physical and mental abuse by father
⇾ Thoughts about killing someone
⇾ Ableism, especially in the context of physical health
⇾ Classism
"Don't be nervous."
"Right, because I can just turn that on and off."
The plot is worth mentioning first because it's different—the futuristic setting of a new plant lined with fantasy elements—but still uses some tropes like the young adult trio rebelling against the law and working together to find the truth in a refreshing manner. While the three main characters are tied together to work for the same result, each of them is motivated for their own personal reasons which give some depth to the story. The growing number of Tarnished people—those who are born with disorders that can be fatal—need the help of technology to survive but technology was exactly what doomed the Earth so it's no longer legal to use, especially not for medical purposes. However, one surgeon and his granddaughter are set on helping those they can even if it means risking their lives. There's a medical mystery involved with political aspirations and clever manipulations for power.
Even if she couldn't mend everything and everyone, each bolt and cog she tightened against the skin of her clients brought her closer to redemption, closer to forgiving herself [redacted].
The world-building is vivid. The new planet called Earth Adjacent is home for The Settlement while the nobles are living high away in the orbits called The Tower, waiting for the day when their data and tests speak to mark the planet safe for everyone, safe as a new Earth. However, some are Tarnished, especially babies born on this new planet. The setting created is dystopian but filled with hope so it isn't too dark but the themes of ablesim and classism are explored through the characters and that brings some complexity to the table.
There are no mistakes, only choices and what you do with them.
The writing flows smoothly and works well to transition the POVs for a story-telling from multiple POVs. The voice of each character is distinct enough and sits perfectly with their personalities to bring them to life. The story is written in a third-person limited narration and creates scenes that are easily imaginable.
"We do not have to share the same words or share the same definitions to be similar, to understand one another."
The representation in Tarnished Are The Stars must be greatly appreciated. Though, I don't belong to the community of those being represented so my opinion should be considered secondary to an ownvoices reviewer. It brings sexual diversity to the pages with such ease and without any offense, it's pleasantly surprising. The sapphic characters are slowly getting romantically involved with each other and that's a journey worth witnessing, particularly because the dialogues are gold with the right amount of sass and innocence. The trope of two lovers wanting to kiss each other in a moment and wanting to kill each other in the next is perfectly explored.
...but when she had imagined it—the future, a marriage, a romance—it had never been a man at her side.
Moving on to the asexual and aromantic rep: the male character explores his sexual identity through the story itself and his thoughts are shown to be valid which is exactly what they are. The idea of no identity can be defined by a fixed set of words is learned by him and that helps him live his orientation with pride. I won't say much about it since I'm not the person to do so, but I would say that as a reader, I grew more toward these characters because of the great manner in which they were being represented.
But Nathaniel was older, and age had not brought with it the sweeping desire to fall in love or kiss or sit shoulder to shoulder with someone he'd just met.
Lastly, the characters who are amazing with their distinct personas and ultimate goals:
✹ Anna : queer, mechanic + surgeon, robinhood-like work ethic, STEM female character, emotionally driven, rebellious, stands up for the truth.
✹ Eliza : sapphic, spy of the highest authority, wants to climb the political ladder, loves fashion, immense stabbing energy, will kill you first and ask you later.
✹ Nathaniel : aro/ace gentleman, weighed down by father's expectations, quiet but strong, will stand by you if you're right.
✹ Thatcher : Anna's grandfather, surgeon, creator of TICCER (artificial heart), loves his town, will save lives even if it's risky.
✹ Fermont : Commissioner of the Setllement, wants to take all the power in his hands, banned technology, has secrets you will be shocked to know.
✹ Queen : veils herself, brilliant at sparring, has political motivations, Eliza looks up to her, has dialogues that will fail motivational speakers.
"Power is not the same as strength."
Overall, this YA sci-fi fantasy will surprise you with the revelations and emotionally affect you with the themes explored while you fall in love with the characters and support them through their mission.
Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this via my participation in a blog tour but that, in no way, affects my rating and/or review. Thank you, FFBC tours, Scholastic Press, and Rosiee Thor.
December 13, 2018 I haven't read any of the books or the authors mentioned in the pitch but LOL as if that makes me any less excited for T H I S
November 26, 2019
Tarnished Are the Stars is one of the Reader Voracious Novel19 Books ! You can read my interview with Rosiee here!
This science-fiction debut is so incredibly special, friends. I didn't expect to adore these characters, but here I am, utterly attached and wishing it wasn't a standalone novel so I could go on more adventures with them.
"There was nothing quite like the first tick of a new heart."The book instantly sucked me in with its opening chapter, situating the reader within the world and providing so much backstory in an easily digestible way. It starts at the operating table; a young boy named Roman needs a mechanical heart to stay alive. Lucky for him, they are outside the walls of the Settlement and the life-saving technology is available to him.
"In Mechan - their hidden village of outcasts - tragedy hung in the air like fog. It was their maker, their neighbor, their constant companion."You see, Earth was destroyed by the technology created by humans. The government vows to not repeat the mistakes of the past and bans all forms of technology. But some of the people who live in Earth-Adjacent are sick with heart disease called Tarnish. The only way to survive is with the very technology that is forbidden. I love the way the world-building is unfurled for the reader: it's engaging and easy to follow.
"'Tech is dangerous! We destroyed Former Earth with technology. [...] Tech is dangerous - it's potential is dangerous.'"There are three points of view, and each of their perspectives feels distinct from one another.
💖 Anna, also known as the Technician, is a mechanic who defies the Commissioner's ban on technology by providing aid to those in need via a clandestine black market system. Anna is queer (potentially bisexual or demisexual, but the representation is not explicit).I love books with uneasy allies and conflicting goals, and Tarnished Are the Stars does this well. I love and will die for these characters. Thor did an amazing job developing three-dimensional characters who each have their own goals and development arcs. But not only that, they act like the teenagers they are, impulsive in their pursuit of achieving their goals only to have to suffer the consequences. I like how the characters have clear wants and needs, their decisions not always being the best but clearly in line with achieving their goals. Even when its at odds with conscience. And consequence. There are real stakes.
💖 Nathaniel is the Commissioner's son, and all he wants is his father's approval. But his father is as rough with his son as he is with his laws. Nathaniel is aro/ace.
💖 Eliza is the Eyes of the Queen, a spy and assassin betrothed to Nathaniel. But marrying him is the last thing she wants to do because she is a lesbian, but is a means to an end for her.
"Once made, a mistake cannot be unmade."I like it when characters are confronted with their privilege and their eyes are opened to the reality of the world outside of their understanding. I found Nathaniel's character development to be particularly compelling for me as he struggles to reconcile what he has grown up to believe with what he learns in the course of the book.
As much as this book is about technology and finding the cause for Tarnish, at its heart it is a book about identity. All three of our characters are in the process of finding themselves, figuring out who they are. There's a particularly touching scene between Eliza and Nathaniel about sexual identity that will resonate with anyone questioning or trying to find out where they fit. The three of them are so accepting of one another's identities and supportive of their own journeys in that regard, which is truly special.
"'Maybe it's silly, but having the vocabulary to describe what I felt made me feel less alone, made me feel like I'm not the only one.'"In addition to the aro/ace representation in the book, this book also shines with its disability rep. Thatcher is in a wheelchair and Roman lost one of his arms in a surgery accident when he was younger. Neither are depicted as weak or less than. In fact, when Anna shows Roman a mechanical arm that she's making for him, he is confused as to what he would even do it and asks if he is broken in some way. It is a touching and nuanced discussion on how sometimes the best of intentions can send a rather harmful message, and I appreciated Anna's internal dialog when she is confronted with this reality.
"'He calls us Tarnished, as if we're somehow less than - as if it's an insult, not an illness.'"I appreciated the theme of the cyclical nature of history and humanity not being trusted to not make the same mistakes. This should come as a surprise to literally no one given my obsession with Battlestar Galactica, one of my notes in my book is all of this has happened before and will happen again.
The book shines with its characters and tight pacing, but I was left wanting a bit more in the worldbuilding department. Thor did a fantastic job describing the Tower, tech, and Earth Adjacent, but I would have liked more of the history to sell me on why tech was banned to begin with and how TICCERs are installed. There was a description that sounded almost like a metal door in the chest with wires? IDK, that sounds kind of difficult to hide.
Tarnished Are the Stars is a beautiful science fiction debut with the characters at the heart of its tale. In the various kinds of love we experience as well as the different kinds of strength we all possess. I loved the world that Thor crafted and the steampunk elements, as well as the discussion of the positives and negatives of technology in a world destroyed by it. The question explored in this book is "are we as a species capable of learning from our mistakes, or are we doomed to repeat them?" and I loved Thor's take on this central question in the genre.
Representation: aro/ace rep, (potential) bisexual/demisexual rep, f/f relationship, lesbian rep
Content warnings: parental abuse (verbal and physical), death of a child, murder
eARC provided by Scholastic via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review. I have since purchased a final copy. Quotations are taken from an uncorrected proof and may not match final publication.
Pre-release thoughts:
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August 9, 2020
Tarnished are the Stars by Rosiee Thor is a sci-fi novel with so much potential. There's so much about it that I enjoyed, especially the world building. As solid as it is for some reason it never managed to quite hook me. I never quite lost myself in the story. That said, I'm really interesting in seeing what Thor will do next.
October 26, 2019
I don't think I can describe how excited I was when I was given a chance to read Tarnished Are the Stars. I mean, it's LGBTQ+ steampunk sci-fi with a mechanic as the main character. I was in love the moment I saw the cover and read the blurb (found out the MC is a mechanic and hella gay. I'm a simple gal, people.) And when I read it's a romance between a spy and a mechanic and that it's kinda similar to my rarepair that's literally nicknamed "spy mechanic"? And that Eliza might resemble my favorite space panda slash assassin slash spy? And that Tarnished Are the Stars is set both on Earth and in space? I was over the moon.
Unfortunately, the book didn't quite meet my expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun read with an interesting concept and likable characters, but it lacks the buildup of both the plot and the three core relationships. I also didn't enjoy the wlw romance since betrayal is a huge squeak for me. (Not being a fan of insta-love and infatuation doesn't help, either.)
It's just one these books you mildly enjoy and even remember for some time, but don't really plan on rereading. It's still a nice addition to the genre and queer YA books, though!
*Thank you to Scholastic Press for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Unfortunately, the book didn't quite meet my expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun read with an interesting concept and likable characters, but it lacks the buildup of both the plot and the three core relationships. I also didn't enjoy the wlw romance since betrayal is a huge squeak for me. (Not being a fan of insta-love and infatuation doesn't help, either.)
It's just one these books you mildly enjoy and even remember for some time, but don't really plan on rereading. It's still a nice addition to the genre and queer YA books, though!
*Thank you to Scholastic Press for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
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October 24, 2019DNF'ed at pahe 257
I loved how it began, the strenght the book showed at the beginning, but it got dilluted as the book progressed.
When the 3 players are brought together is like all the difficulties kinda got erased: the one who kept secrets suddenly spills them all, the one who cried for a death kinda forgets about ut, and the one who wanted to please his father just stops.
I mean, I would have believed it if there had been some progression, but it felt rushed and just because they had to be brought together. Suddenly the Comissioner's home is easy to infiltrate, and their previous lives kinda get suspended so they can fulfill theit new plans...
And then there is the instalove...
I loved how it began, the strenght the book showed at the beginning, but it got dilluted as the book progressed.
When the 3 players are brought together is like all the difficulties kinda got erased: the one who kept secrets suddenly spills them all, the one who cried for a death kinda forgets about ut, and the one who wanted to please his father just stops.
I mean, I would have believed it if there had been some progression, but it felt rushed and just because they had to be brought together. Suddenly the Comissioner's home is easy to infiltrate, and their previous lives kinda get suspended so they can fulfill theit new plans...
And then there is the instalove...
January 25, 2020
3.5 stars. Three complicated protagonists meet and have to work together, and there’s no tropey triangle. Nice. And the relationships that develop become much more interesting, consequently, while they’re trying to figure out political and family mysteries that connect an orbital station and two settlements on a terraformed, Earth-like planet.
The writing is a little awkward at times, and some people and/or situations lack sufficient depth or time to develop convincingly, but there’s some nice stuff happening in the relationships.
The writing is a little awkward at times, and some people and/or situations lack sufficient depth or time to develop convincingly, but there’s some nice stuff happening in the relationships.
May 15, 2019
So excellent on so many levels.
September 13, 2020
Tarnished Are the Stars is a story that follows Anna (also known as ‘The Technician’). She is a mechanic that secretly helps people with illegal medical technology. At the beginning of the story, the Commissioner has put out a new law in hopes of finding the Technician. Anna knows what she does is dangerous, but she thinks the risk is worth it because she gets to help people. But when Nathaniel, the Commissioner’s son, finds her booth and gets one of her riddles, her life changes. There’s entirely too much about this world for me to explain. This book takes place on a planet named Earth Adjacent. Earth is no longer habitable due to technology. So, the people that live on Earth Adjacent have technology very heavily controlled. There’s also a sickness on this planet. Anna lives outside of the Settlement and many people in her town are sick for unknown reasons.
When Nathaniel figures out Anna’s riddle and they meet, she realizes that he has the same lifesaving technology that she does. She was told she’s the only one that has this specific tech, as it has evolved since it was put in her. She needs to see him again so she can get to the bottom of it, but she’s realized that he’s the commissioner’s son and that it will be very dangerous for her. When she finds him again, someone very dear to her dies. (I literally sobbed.) This is when the story really gets exciting. There is a third character I need to mention before I get into my thoughts. Eliza, she is the Queen’s Eye (aka her spy). She is engaged to Nathaniel and is sent down to Earth Adjacent on a mission from the Queen.
Okay, my thoughts. I really liked Anna. She’s a smart girl that really cares. She struggles with failing at training to be a surgeon, but she excels at being a mechanic. This is a point of tension between her and her grandfather, Thatcher. I really enjoyed how their relationship developed and improved before the story’s conclusion. Once Anna, Eliza, and Nathaniel finally agree to work together the story gets even more interesting. I liked that they were unlikely allies. They were all working toward the same goal for their own reasons. Eliza and Anna have feelings for one another that they’re trying to deny. I loved this part of the story. I loved Eliza’s struggle between completing her mission for the Queen and helping Anna. Nathaniel is struggling between overthrowing his father and being the child his father has tried to make him.
Overall, I loved this book. If you liked the Lunar Chronicles, you’ll probably love this one. The relationships were complex and interesting. The secrets were surprising and suspenseful. We learn that things are not what we thought they were. I think the world was fascinating. I just loved everything about this story. There are mystery and suspense, romance and betrayal, great worldbuilding, and loveable characters. What else do you need?
Quotes:
“We are made or unmade by our choices.”
“We do not have to use the same words or share the same definitions to be similar, to understand one another.”
“Some secrets are like a blade, their vengeance swift and concentrated. Others are like a pestilence, spreading without prejudice, and I fear not everyone it touches will deserve the affliction.”
“But that was the thing about loss: Death could rip love from life, but those memories stayed behind, burning a hole through the heart.”
When Nathaniel figures out Anna’s riddle and they meet, she realizes that he has the same lifesaving technology that she does. She was told she’s the only one that has this specific tech, as it has evolved since it was put in her. She needs to see him again so she can get to the bottom of it, but she’s realized that he’s the commissioner’s son and that it will be very dangerous for her. When she finds him again, someone very dear to her dies. (I literally sobbed.) This is when the story really gets exciting. There is a third character I need to mention before I get into my thoughts. Eliza, she is the Queen’s Eye (aka her spy). She is engaged to Nathaniel and is sent down to Earth Adjacent on a mission from the Queen.
Okay, my thoughts. I really liked Anna. She’s a smart girl that really cares. She struggles with failing at training to be a surgeon, but she excels at being a mechanic. This is a point of tension between her and her grandfather, Thatcher. I really enjoyed how their relationship developed and improved before the story’s conclusion. Once Anna, Eliza, and Nathaniel finally agree to work together the story gets even more interesting. I liked that they were unlikely allies. They were all working toward the same goal for their own reasons. Eliza and Anna have feelings for one another that they’re trying to deny. I loved this part of the story. I loved Eliza’s struggle between completing her mission for the Queen and helping Anna. Nathaniel is struggling between overthrowing his father and being the child his father has tried to make him.
Overall, I loved this book. If you liked the Lunar Chronicles, you’ll probably love this one. The relationships were complex and interesting. The secrets were surprising and suspenseful. We learn that things are not what we thought they were. I think the world was fascinating. I just loved everything about this story. There are mystery and suspense, romance and betrayal, great worldbuilding, and loveable characters. What else do you need?
Quotes:
“We are made or unmade by our choices.”
“We do not have to use the same words or share the same definitions to be similar, to understand one another.”
“Some secrets are like a blade, their vengeance swift and concentrated. Others are like a pestilence, spreading without prejudice, and I fear not everyone it touches will deserve the affliction.”
“But that was the thing about loss: Death could rip love from life, but those memories stayed behind, burning a hole through the heart.”
November 19, 2019
“Just because someone is not who you expect doesn’t mean they are the opposite.”
A secret beats in Anna Thatcher’s chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna supplies black market medical tech to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner’s tyrannical laws. Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner’s son, determined to earn his father’s respect, sets out to capture the criminal Anna. Eliza, assassin and spy to the Queen, has a new mission: uncover the Commissioner’s secrets… but at what cost?
Gosh. This book! While I did enjoy it, I’m conflicted on some things. But first, I loved the characters! They were so well developed and unpredictable. I think my favorite was Nathaniel: he was so real. I felt his pain, fear, and confusion and I rooted for him the whole way through.
I thought this book would have some space stuff, but I think I just got the wrong impression. Which was totally fine once I realized it and moved on. It’s very steampunk and dystopian, and you can’t go wrong with that combo! This is a settlement that is ruled by the Queen and the Commissioner, on a planet they are working to terraform and inhabit for the future generations. But with all the tech, it gives off a very strong sci-fi vibe and it was wonderfully atmospheric!
But now we get to my issues with the book… I felt like it was a 5-star read up until about halfway. And coincidentally that was when the romance started. I thought so far that it would be minimally romantic, which had me excited as I’m not a huge fan of romance in books. Don’t come at me, it’s just a personal preference. I wasn’t too upset when the romance started, my issue was that it was borderline “insta-love” and felt rushed and forced.
This comes to my second issue: the second half of the book generally just felt rushed. I think this book would’ve gotten a 5-star from me had it been a duology instead. I would’ve liked seeing certain relationships, plots, secrecies, and the final climax developed more. It felt so compacted at the end and I just wanted more. I also would’ve liked to have a bit more world-building, something that could’ve been well fleshed out had this been a duology.
A secret beats in Anna Thatcher’s chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna supplies black market medical tech to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner’s tyrannical laws. Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner’s son, determined to earn his father’s respect, sets out to capture the criminal Anna. Eliza, assassin and spy to the Queen, has a new mission: uncover the Commissioner’s secrets… but at what cost?
Gosh. This book! While I did enjoy it, I’m conflicted on some things. But first, I loved the characters! They were so well developed and unpredictable. I think my favorite was Nathaniel: he was so real. I felt his pain, fear, and confusion and I rooted for him the whole way through.
I thought this book would have some space stuff, but I think I just got the wrong impression. Which was totally fine once I realized it and moved on. It’s very steampunk and dystopian, and you can’t go wrong with that combo! This is a settlement that is ruled by the Queen and the Commissioner, on a planet they are working to terraform and inhabit for the future generations. But with all the tech, it gives off a very strong sci-fi vibe and it was wonderfully atmospheric!
But now we get to my issues with the book… I felt like it was a 5-star read up until about halfway. And coincidentally that was when the romance started. I thought so far that it would be minimally romantic, which had me excited as I’m not a huge fan of romance in books. Don’t come at me, it’s just a personal preference. I wasn’t too upset when the romance started, my issue was that it was borderline “insta-love” and felt rushed and forced.
This comes to my second issue: the second half of the book generally just felt rushed. I think this book would’ve gotten a 5-star from me had it been a duology instead. I would’ve liked seeing certain relationships, plots, secrecies, and the final climax developed more. It felt so compacted at the end and I just wanted more. I also would’ve liked to have a bit more world-building, something that could’ve been well fleshed out had this been a duology.
June 18, 2021
the easiest 5 stars i’ve ever given
October 25, 2020
This was one of my most anticipated 2019 novels that took me entirely too long to get around to read, because, hello, it's SciFi, has an f/f romance AND an aroace protagonist?! What more could I possibly want???
And it didn't disappoint!!
Read this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: child abuse, child death, violence, political engagement, surgery, ableism (challenged); mentions of: amputation, heart failure, death of family, pregnancy.
This was a lovely YA SciFi debut. The three protagonists Anna, Eliza and Nathaniel, are all strong in their own right and have interesting plotlines.
Headstrong Anna wants to keep her secret work as Technician to help her village and other people who need illegal tech to live, and she’s willing to take the risk of getting caught by the Commissioner’s officers, who are on the hunt for her.
Nathanial is cautious (I’m tempted to say soft) and under his father’s – the Commissioner’s – thumb, never able to make him proud, constantly stepping on toes, unable to escape the shadow of his dead mother and the clockwork heart that illegaly beats in his chest.
Eliza meanwhile ambitiously – and ruthlessly – works for the illusive queen in the tower, a spaceship circling Earth Adjacent, the latter of which the Commissioner is tasked to terraform. She passes as young noblewoman from humble origins, but really is a spy and assassin, and her next task entails going down to ground, wrap her fiance Nathaniel around her finger, and find out the Commissioner’s secret.
All three of them seem to work on completely opposing sides, which made it super intriguing to read and see how their separate plots start to weave together. It got even more complicated with the Queen and Commissioner in the play, both of whom clearly know more than they let on.
There are a lot of bigger and small lessons embedded in the exciting plot, about disability, illness, doing what’s right, ambition, family, taking risks, and more.
One of my favourite and bigger of these not quite plot-related issues was Nathaniel being aromantic and asexual. I loved the conversation he had about it with Eliza, who he is engaged to. I particularly loved that that conversation wasn’t centered around whether or not he liked sex.
Him being aroace aside, Eliza is lesbian, and Anna is probably bisexual. All three of them, as well as pretty much all side characters as far as I can tell, are white.
One this I particularly loved was the emphasis on friendship, or rather, that romance wasn’t put above it or up against it. Nathaniel’s friendship with Eliza was just as important as Eliza and Anna’s romantic subplot, as was Anna’s relationship with her childhood best friend.
While I loved the plotlines and their conclusion, I gotta say that I’m still a bit confused about the whys and some of the details. This didn’t impede my reading enjoyment, however.
Overall this was everything I hoped it to be, and I enjoyed myself greatly reading it.
And it didn't disappoint!!
Read this review and more on the blog!
Content warnings include: child abuse, child death, violence, political engagement, surgery, ableism (challenged); mentions of: amputation, heart failure, death of family, pregnancy.
This was a lovely YA SciFi debut. The three protagonists Anna, Eliza and Nathaniel, are all strong in their own right and have interesting plotlines.
Headstrong Anna wants to keep her secret work as Technician to help her village and other people who need illegal tech to live, and she’s willing to take the risk of getting caught by the Commissioner’s officers, who are on the hunt for her.
Nathanial is cautious (I’m tempted to say soft) and under his father’s – the Commissioner’s – thumb, never able to make him proud, constantly stepping on toes, unable to escape the shadow of his dead mother and the clockwork heart that illegaly beats in his chest.
Eliza meanwhile ambitiously – and ruthlessly – works for the illusive queen in the tower, a spaceship circling Earth Adjacent, the latter of which the Commissioner is tasked to terraform. She passes as young noblewoman from humble origins, but really is a spy and assassin, and her next task entails going down to ground, wrap her fiance Nathaniel around her finger, and find out the Commissioner’s secret.
All three of them seem to work on completely opposing sides, which made it super intriguing to read and see how their separate plots start to weave together. It got even more complicated with the Queen and Commissioner in the play, both of whom clearly know more than they let on.
There are a lot of bigger and small lessons embedded in the exciting plot, about disability, illness, doing what’s right, ambition, family, taking risks, and more.
One of my favourite and bigger of these not quite plot-related issues was Nathaniel being aromantic and asexual. I loved the conversation he had about it with Eliza, who he is engaged to. I particularly loved that that conversation wasn’t centered around whether or not he liked sex.
Him being aroace aside, Eliza is lesbian, and Anna is probably bisexual. All three of them, as well as pretty much all side characters as far as I can tell, are white.
One this I particularly loved was the emphasis on friendship, or rather, that romance wasn’t put above it or up against it. Nathaniel’s friendship with Eliza was just as important as Eliza and Anna’s romantic subplot, as was Anna’s relationship with her childhood best friend.
While I loved the plotlines and their conclusion, I gotta say that I’m still a bit confused about the whys and some of the details. This didn’t impede my reading enjoyment, however.
Overall this was everything I hoped it to be, and I enjoyed myself greatly reading it.
November 16, 2019
I’m… really disappointed… I was excited for a queer story featuring badass female characters inside, filled with secrets waiting to be uncovered. And I was actually enjoying the first half of the story...up until the insta-lust f/f romance was introduced… Like hell yea for wlw rep but not if it’s like THAT
I mean, bonus points for wlw and ace/aro representation, but apart from that I don’t really have anything positive to say about this book.
⛈️Criticisms⛈️
⛈️Insta-lust f/f relationship – the romantic and sexual tension felt unnatural and forced, based on nothing more than feelings of lust. Like if the romance is going to be that way I’d rather have no romance at all.
⛈️Telling and not showing. Nathaniel’s fears aren’t hinted at before they’re told. We keep getting reminded of Anna and Eliza’s attraction but we don’t see that romantic/sexual tension at all.
⛈️Wasn’t emotionally invested in the story or the characters. In fact, I felt actively disconnected while reading. There were so many moments that were clearly meant to be emotional, but because of poor character/relationship development and awkward pacing, I didn’t get into those scenes at all.
⛈️Ace/aro representation felt like an unnatural tangent, like it was forced into the book just so the author could share this mini diversity lesson. It’s not really hinted at beforehand and once it’s introduced, it never comes up again which makes its inclusion even more awkward.
⛈️The climax felt so gimmicky. It was so sudden, without any tension leading up to it. It was just a bunch of really shocking moments happening at once which made it feel overdramatic and straight out of a telenovela.
⛈️Plot holes. That ending felt like just a convenient way to not have to deal with plot lines that needed closure. We never get to understand some of the characters’ motivations, or the full picture behind why and how the people of Mechan were harmed.
⛈️It felt like the author was so concerned with inserting important representation and messages that she forgot to the write characters that would adequately deliver those messages or make the representation meaningful. I appreciate the intention behind these messages, but they were poorly executed.
⛈️(Not exactly a criticism but…) I personally hated Nathaniel. He was peak misguided sad/soft boy, i.e. he let his insecurities turn into toxic masculinity and literally harm the people around him. Like I get that a lot of that is a product of how his dad treated him but ohmigod. And I didn’t feel like any of that was resolved? Like there wasn’t much of a character arc, and what little there was felt disingenuous.
I mean, bonus points for wlw and ace/aro representation, but apart from that I don’t really have anything positive to say about this book.
⛈️Criticisms⛈️
⛈️Insta-lust f/f relationship – the romantic and sexual tension felt unnatural and forced, based on nothing more than feelings of lust. Like if the romance is going to be that way I’d rather have no romance at all.
⛈️Telling and not showing. Nathaniel’s fears aren’t hinted at before they’re told. We keep getting reminded of Anna and Eliza’s attraction but we don’t see that romantic/sexual tension at all.
⛈️Wasn’t emotionally invested in the story or the characters. In fact, I felt actively disconnected while reading. There were so many moments that were clearly meant to be emotional, but because of poor character/relationship development and awkward pacing, I didn’t get into those scenes at all.
⛈️Ace/aro representation felt like an unnatural tangent, like it was forced into the book just so the author could share this mini diversity lesson. It’s not really hinted at beforehand and once it’s introduced, it never comes up again which makes its inclusion even more awkward.
⛈️The climax felt so gimmicky. It was so sudden, without any tension leading up to it. It was just a bunch of really shocking moments happening at once which made it feel overdramatic and straight out of a telenovela.
⛈️Plot holes. That ending felt like just a convenient way to not have to deal with plot lines that needed closure. We never get to understand some of the characters’ motivations, or the full picture behind why and how the people of Mechan were harmed.
⛈️It felt like the author was so concerned with inserting important representation and messages that she forgot to the write characters that would adequately deliver those messages or make the representation meaningful. I appreciate the intention behind these messages, but they were poorly executed.
⛈️(Not exactly a criticism but…) I personally hated Nathaniel. He was peak misguided sad/soft boy, i.e. he let his insecurities turn into toxic masculinity and literally harm the people around him. Like I get that a lot of that is a product of how his dad treated him but ohmigod. And I didn’t feel like any of that was resolved? Like there wasn’t much of a character arc, and what little there was felt disingenuous.
December 30, 2019
"I want you with me on my side. Working with you to' he gestured aimlessly around - 'achieve all this, that's the most alive I've ever felt. I want to keep feeling that way.'
'That's called friendship, Nathaniel. That's what friends do for each other."
4.5 stars
TW: physical descriptions of surgery & medical procedures, childbirth & pregnancy, child death, grief, death, physical violence, parental abuse, physical abuse, ableism, classism
Rep: questioning aroace MC, sapphic MC, lesbian MC
The Writing
The writing felt very fitting for this novel. It wasn't flowery or overly descriptive, but it rather read very matter-of-fact and to-the-point. While this was told in third person, I still thought each of the three main characters had a voice that was unique to them and I really appreciated that.
The Plot/Pacing
The plot does take a bit to start off because there is ~~an entire world to establish~~, however when the plot finally picks up, it was absolutely impossible to put the book down. The suspense?? The tension?? The plot twists?? Every single word of it was magical and I am honestly so in awe.
Also there is a scene in this book that discusses the importance of labels and it was honestly one of the most heartfelt, beautiful scenes I have ever read and it was so so incredibly important and godd I love it so much.
The Characters
All of the characters in this book were incredibly well established. Their motivations and personalities are so incredibly well developed and they all feel like individual people and they're so distinct and so different from each other and it makes literally zero sense for them to like,, work together but they do and I adore them. It's unlikely friends/found family at its best and we have to stan!!! The only thing I didn't absolutely love was the romance, because it did feel a bit underdeveloped, but I still really enjoyed it!! Sciency and stabby lesbians for the win!!
The World
The concept for the world wasn't like one I have ever seen before. It was also a stunning commentary on the healthcare system, which!! I love!! I really love how, while this is a standalone, the world is still so clear and well-established and although there are definitely more things to explore, it is also fine the way it is. Would honestly be down for another book just about how the world came to be tbh. Give me the backstory I deserve, Rosiee, I dare you!!!
Overall
im: in love
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