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allonsythornraxx 's review for:
Stars Above
by Marissa Meyer
FIND MY REVIEW OF THIS SERIES AND OTHERS ON MY BLOG *Mild Spoilers*
20/06/2019 (re-read)
2.5 ⭐
The first time I read this I rated it a 4.5 stars but this time I can't get myself to rate it any higher than a 2.5. I enjoyed this because of course, I love the characters but, overall this felt off to me. I've enjoyed all the books in this series, even Fairest, but I felt disconnected from this bind-up as a whole. I think my problems with this short story collection are purely that it comes across as a huge cash grab, more than anything else. I didn't dislike the stories, and I love the characters but the collection as a whole felt disingenuine because we already knew most, if not all of the information in the collection. Aside from 2 stories, we had heard all the stories before, throughout the series.
There were 2 stories that stood out, The Little Android (a new take on The Little Mermaid) and
Something Old, Something New. The Little Android, however, felt more like a random thought or a deleted scene/character that never made it to the final cut. And, Something Old, Something New was the only story that I really felt connected to because it occurred 2 years after Winter (book 4) ended.
Honestly, I feel like this anthology would have benefitted a lot more by just being a couple of stories set 2 years after book 4 (like the last story) and showing where all of the characters are individually - starting with Something New, Something Old, instead of ending with it. Especially, since I'm pretty sure, at the time this came out, all of the other stories had already been released on Kindle anyway.
Individual story reviews:
The Keeper - I appreciated this little glimpse into Michelle Benoit's life and how she kept Cinder alive. It was also really interesting to get a look into Scarlet's family background. We also got to meet Logan but, mostly I just felt really detached from all of the characters in the story. That being said, the only thing that really caught my attention was how neglectful Scarlet's father was.
Glitches - This really did nothing for me, I already knew Cinder's adoptive family was trash. I mean, I feel like I'm going to keep saying this, but we already knew all of this.
The Queen's Army - I honestly completely forgot about this story, until I went to write up this review. That being said, while I was reading this I did enjoy it. My heart hurt for Wolf, I feel like it always does whenever he's on the page. Out of all the stories up to this point, this was definitely my favourite. I always appreciate more Wolf, even though what I'm ready is usually pretty sad.
Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky - This was so pointless it's not even funny. We already knew all of this. I feel like Meyer was trying to write a story for all of the characters but got stuck with Thorne.
After Sunshine Passes By - I love Cress but, again, we knew all of this and it served no purpose.
The Princess and The Guard - I will say that I will always be here for more Winter x Jacin content and it was certainly interesting to read about Winter's descent into insanity. But, and I hate to sound like a broken record here, we already knew all of this stuff and it really wasn't necessary. God, I sound like such a pessimist. I swear, I love them, but everything about these stories was so underwhelming to me.
The Little Android - This was the only story in the collection revolving around a character we had never met before, though Cinder did pop up at one point. It was a quick take on The Little Mermaid and I think it was included because at one point Meyer was considering a Little Mermaid storyline in the series. honestly, this was kind of pointless and I felt the least interested in this story because there was really no time to ever get attached to any of the characters.
The Mechanic - This was literally just Cinder and Kai's first meeting but in Kai's pov. It wasn't anything special tbh.
Something Old, Something New - They're all cuties and I love them. Especially Jacin and Winter and Wolf. (also Kai, Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Thorne and Iko). Honestly, this is exactly what the entire anthology should have been like.
20/06/2019 (re-read)
2.5 ⭐
The first time I read this I rated it a 4.5 stars but this time I can't get myself to rate it any higher than a 2.5. I enjoyed this because of course, I love the characters but, overall this felt off to me. I've enjoyed all the books in this series, even Fairest, but I felt disconnected from this bind-up as a whole. I think my problems with this short story collection are purely that it comes across as a huge cash grab, more than anything else. I didn't dislike the stories, and I love the characters but the collection as a whole felt disingenuine because we already knew most, if not all of the information in the collection. Aside from 2 stories, we had heard all the stories before, throughout the series.
There were 2 stories that stood out, The Little Android (a new take on The Little Mermaid) and
Something Old, Something New. The Little Android, however, felt more like a random thought or a deleted scene/character that never made it to the final cut. And, Something Old, Something New was the only story that I really felt connected to because it occurred 2 years after Winter (book 4) ended.
Honestly, I feel like this anthology would have benefitted a lot more by just being a couple of stories set 2 years after book 4 (like the last story) and showing where all of the characters are individually - starting with Something New, Something Old, instead of ending with it. Especially, since I'm pretty sure, at the time this came out, all of the other stories had already been released on Kindle anyway.
Individual story reviews:
The Keeper - I appreciated this little glimpse into Michelle Benoit's life and how she kept Cinder alive. It was also really interesting to get a look into Scarlet's family background. We also got to meet Logan but, mostly I just felt really detached from all of the characters in the story. That being said, the only thing that really caught my attention was how neglectful Scarlet's father was.
Glitches - This really did nothing for me, I already knew Cinder's adoptive family was trash. I mean, I feel like I'm going to keep saying this, but we already knew all of this.
The Queen's Army - I honestly completely forgot about this story, until I went to write up this review. That being said, while I was reading this I did enjoy it. My heart hurt for Wolf, I feel like it always does whenever he's on the page. Out of all the stories up to this point, this was definitely my favourite. I always appreciate more Wolf, even though what I'm ready is usually pretty sad.
Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky - This was so pointless it's not even funny. We already knew all of this. I feel like Meyer was trying to write a story for all of the characters but got stuck with Thorne.
After Sunshine Passes By - I love Cress but, again, we knew all of this and it served no purpose.
The Princess and The Guard - I will say that I will always be here for more Winter x Jacin content and it was certainly interesting to read about Winter's descent into insanity. But, and I hate to sound like a broken record here, we already knew all of this stuff and it really wasn't necessary. God, I sound like such a pessimist. I swear, I love them, but everything about these stories was so underwhelming to me.
The Little Android - This was the only story in the collection revolving around a character we had never met before, though Cinder did pop up at one point. It was a quick take on The Little Mermaid and I think it was included because at one point Meyer was considering a Little Mermaid storyline in the series. honestly, this was kind of pointless and I felt the least interested in this story because there was really no time to ever get attached to any of the characters.
The Mechanic - This was literally just Cinder and Kai's first meeting but in Kai's pov. It wasn't anything special tbh.
Something Old, Something New - They're all cuties and I love them. Especially Jacin and Winter and Wolf. (also Kai, Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Thorne and Iko). Honestly, this is exactly what the entire anthology should have been like.