I received an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

In YA, it is not uncommon to have teenage protagonists lead armies, or be the smartest, most dangerous person around by the end of the book. Ia is not one of those protagonists. She is already the most dangerous criminal in the galaxy by the time she turns seventeen, and has been building her reputation for years.

I admit that this tested my suspension of disbelief, which sounds strange to say in a sci-fi book with aliens. Still, it was interesting to see how Ia's character arc was in a way the opposite of a standard YA character arc: instead of becoming someone strong and feared, she already starts out that way, and her character arc is instead about letting people close.

I loved how this book was told from three different perspectives, how the three protagonists came from very different backgrounds, and how they all had a distinct character arc where they changed the way they view the world. Ignite the Stars also had some genuinely scary/creepy scenes where I could really feel the tension and worry about what was going to happen.

I certainly didn't see the twist coming, although that might have been because I didn't want to believe it would come. If this was a standalone, then I really wouldn't be content with the villain, but the end suggests that there's going to be a sequel that puts more focus on that relationship, so I'm holding out for that.

I have to say that I'm not sure I like Ia's change of affiliation, though. I can see her loyalty to her friends like Brinn or Knives, but I don't really see any basis for her to have loyalty towards the system they are part of. I'm sure she will still be critical in the future, but this made the ending strange for me.

Extra kudos for an awesome female friendship.