Early Review – Star Eater by Kerstin Hall (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Tordotcom
Release Date: June 22, 2021
ASIN: B08HKXRQ54
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“ All martyrdoms are difficult.
Elfreda Raughn will avoid pregnancy if it kills her, and one way or another, it will kill her. Though she’s able to stomach her gruesome day-to-day duties, the reality of preserving the Sisterhood of Aytrium’s magical bloodline horrifies her. She wants out, whatever the cost.
So when a shadowy faction approaches Elfreda with an offer of escape, she leaps at the opportunity. As their spy, she gains access to the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, and enters a glittering world of opulent parties, subtle deceptions, and unexpected bloodshed.
A phantasmagorical indictment of hereditary power, Star Eater takes readers deep into a perilous and uncanny world where even the most powerful women are forced to choose what sacrifices they will make, so that they might have any choice at all.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley of this through NetGalley to review.
Story (4/5): I really enjoyed this. This is a longish book but I never lost interest. It’s a different book that has a fantasy/horror theme to it but is written a bit more like a classic fantasy in style. This book is all about world-building and what an interesting world it is!! The story is mainly about a sort of cannibalistic priestess, Elfreda, who ends up spying on her own order. In the process of this spying she learns some disturbing secrets of the history of the Sisterhood. As Elfreda is plagued by increasingly gruesome visions, she realizes that she has some very tough decisions to make.
Characters (3/5): The characters were the weak point of the story for me. Elfreda just kind of goes along with everything, until she doesn’t. She had very little personality and instead seemed to let both circumstance and others guide her actions. Elfreda’s love interest felt fairly hollow as well. Some of the side characters are much more interesting. In general this is a book that could have used some more work on solid characterization but did a pretty good job on having interesting characters surrounding our protagonist.
Setting (5/5): This book is all about world-building. The world here is intricate, creative and just awe-inspiring. Aytrium is a floating island run by the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood controls their magic in a weird and slightly disgusting way. In addition to this the Sisterhood can pass on a disease that turns men into crazed super zombies (kind of a zombifying STD…yes, I know). The whole thing is pretty out there, but was done in such a way to make an amazingly believable if slightly insane setting for this story.
Writing Style (4/5): This was well written. The story moves at a more deliberate and slow pace but always kept me intrigued. The main driver was trying to figure out what Elfreda was going to do with the knowledge she uncovered. The world was amazing, the story intriguing, but the characterization could have been better. I also thought things wrapped up a bit too conveniently. There are also sequences that come off as a bit ambiguous as Elfreda falls in and out of visions; these were somewhat confusing while they were happening but made sense by the end of the book.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. The book has a very classic dark fantasy to it and moves at a deliberate pace. However, the story was intriguing and very different and the world-building was stunning. I didn’t love the characters but the world was unique enough to keep me entertained. I plan on checking out Hall’s other (and future) books because it’s hard to find an author that builds such unique and intriguing worlds.
