ReRead #1 (2019): ★★★★★

Buddy reading with my fave Brooklyn

Original Read (2016): ★★★½☆

Of Fire and Stars has been getting a lot of negative reviews lately despite being one of the year’s most highly anticipated debuts. Every single one of my friends' reviews contains the word ‘disappointing’ and I can see why. This book promised to be a dark and enthralling fantasy but it is more of a light-hearted romantic fantasy… which was probably why I adored it so much more than everyone else. These sorts of fantasy are my jam at this time of year! I’m in no mood for a long, drawn-out political fantasy with the amount of intense studying I am currently in the middle of. I could not have asked for a more apt story.

One of my favourite things about this book was the writing style. For a debut, I have to say that I am impressed! The way that the two perspectives - our protagonists, Mare and Dennaleia - were written was incredible. There was a slight overlap, which is something that would normally irritate me, but the author used these moments to show how a single event can be interpreted differently, depending on the observer. There was a moment in an action sequence where Mare thought that Dennaleia was cowering in the corner, acting cowardly and only trying to save herself, but Dennaleia was actually shielding her sister while recovering from using magic. It may seem like a minor thing but I loved how these moments showed the differences in personality of our two protagonists.

In multi-perspective stories, I normally tend to favour a particular protagonist but I could not choose who I admired more: fierce and unflinching Mare who stood for what she believed and never let herself get bossed around or Dennaleia who used her intelligence to make her kingdom a better place for all. I really loved seeing these characters develop throughout the story as they were confronted with numerous challenges. Their relationship was also very well-written. It had just the right amount of slow-burning tension. It developed from this sort of mutual indifference to friendship to… more. I thought that this made their relationship so much more believable, especially when instalove is such an easy trope to fall back on. It was also good that they were conscious of Dennaleia’s betrothal. I wholeheartedly shipped them!

I know that the plot was a major annoyance to a lot of readers but I think your enjoyment of it will depend on what you want to get out of this story. Personally, I went into this story wanting something entertaining and I think this story definitely achieves that. The mystery and romance were balanced out well. However, if you wanted extensive world-building and layers of political intrigue, you will be disappointed. Would I have liked for the world and magical system to be fleshed out a tiny bit more? Definitely, but, at the same time, I liked that the world was simple enough to understand with relative ease. I was never confused about any of it - which is always nice - and I think it is also believable that our protagonists would have been a little naive to the outside world, seeing as they were technically not even allowed to leave the palace grounds. While the ending was also satisfying, I do hope that we are given a sequel (which will allow us to explore the world more too)!

With that being said, there were two things which did slightly irritate me. The first being the secondary character’s lack of development. We focused on our two protagonists to the extreme and while I enjoyed them both as characters, I do think spending time on fleshing out the major secondary characters would really have helped to bring the story to life. At the very least, I think we needed more from Thandi and Nils' characters. They were both present for a lot of the story but I never thought was got to know them on the level we should.

The other thing which annoyed me was how this fantasy world continued to perpetuate stereotypical gender roles but completely accepted m/m and f/f relationships. I love that an author finally wrote about a fantastical f/f romance but at the same time, I was confused by the fact that all of this world’s arranged marriages were m/f. They also made Dennaleia participate in stereotypically feminine activities, like poetry reading and embroidery, despite her dislike for it. I thought this was a really odd balance. Surely, the idea of an arranged marriage is to unite countries so the fact that Dennaleia was forced to marry Thandi, instead of Mare, befuddled me. Was it simply because she could not produce an heir that way? If so, why wouldn’t they just have married Thandi off to someone else and kept the Mare/Dennaleia relationship seeing as it still bonded their two countries? I don’t know if I’m oversimplifying the situation or something but I did find it a little confusing.

Overall?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Of Fire and Stars and thought that it was quite a strong debut. Coulthurst’s writing style was incredible and she really succeeded in bringing Mare and Dennaleia to life. Their relationship was so well done and the plot as a whole was incredibly entertaining. Apart from some minor complaints about the secondary characters, I was definitely impressed with this book and will certainly be anticipating Coulthurst’s next release.

◯ Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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