There’s a lot happening in Stars and Soil. It’s got political intrigue, competing religious sects, forbidden magic, and deals heavily with grief. It’s all told from the POV of Caitlyn, the successful daughter of two merchants who works for the family business, although more out of a sense of familial obligation to her fathers than a true desire to do the work. The story is mostly told in the present, but there are some chapters that are memories of past events.

I liked Caitlyn as a character and empathized with her, but found myself struggling to believe the depth of some of her relationships, as there’s a lot of time spent on worldbuilding and politicking and not as much spent on developing those connections. I think it’s interesting that the world itself is very diverse, with plenty of LGBTQ couples, non-binary characters, and even a couple of non-human races, but it’s still rather misogynistic and patriarchal.

My copy was an ARC, but this is an edited republishing of an existing novel, and the eBook contained numerous grammatical errors throughout. Not enough to make me DNF or not recommend the book, but enough that I’m going with a 3.5 star rating.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.