Tarnished Are the Stars Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

Tarnished Are the Stars
Author: Rosiee Thor 
Genre: YA Science Fiction/LGBT
Release Date: October 15, 2019
Publisher: Scholastic Press

Synopsis:

The Lunar Chronicles meets Rook in this queer #OwnVoices science-fantasy novel, perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer and Sharon Cameron.

A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws.

Nathaniel Fremont, the Commissioner's son, has never had to fear the law. Determined to earn his father's respect, Nathaniel sets out to capture the Technician. But the more he learns about the outlaw, the more he questions whether his father's elusive affection is worth chasing at all.

Their game of cat and mouse takes an abrupt turn when Eliza, a skilled assassin and spy, arrives. Her mission is to learn the Commissioner's secrets at any cost -- even if it means betraying her own heart.

When these uneasy allies discover the most dangerous secret of all, they must work together despite their differences and put an end to a deadly epidemic -- before the Commissioner ends them first.

Tarnished Are the Stars is thrilling young adult science fiction novel that will have readers hooked until the very end. There are a couple major things that stood out to me about this book. First was the plot. I really enjoyed it - more than I thought I was going to - and I found it to be really unique. I haven't really read anything like it before, so it was fresh and original without being just another version of a book template. Secondly, the characters were very interesting. I found the three main characters - Anna, Nathaniel, and Eliza - to be very realistic and easy to identify with (which is odd for me considering the writing style). I loved the duality that each of these characters showed. They each seemed to have two sides of themselves - the one that they "put on" and showed others and the other was their true self, which was full of self doubt, shame, regret, and lots of other things that they would never want anyone else seeing. I loved that the author pointed this out in each of the characters because it's honestly the one of the most realistic ways I've seen characters portrayed. Everyone has a side of themselves that they keep hidden away from the world (or at least the majority of it) and a side that they show everyone - their "mask." This hit a huge mark for me personally because I can definitely identify with this duality, along with the rest we learn about them. Finally, the writing style is always a big deal for me and can make or break a book. The author wrote this novel in the third person from three different main characters' perspectives. I normally don't like the third person point of view at all because I don't think it allows the reader to identify deeply enough with the narrator. However, I see why she chose to tell the story in this way and it makes sense to me - and for once I didn't hate it. I didn't absolutely love it and definitely think it would've been much better done in the first person (which is what I say about every book). But the way she creates the characters and how well we get to know each of them - and who they are - along with watching them change and mature, and see how their relationships with the other characters also change and grow made them easy for me to connect with early on in the story. Like I said, I don't normally identify that deeply with characters that aren't written in the first person, but somehow the author managed to pull it off with this book. I definitely recommend it for fans of YA science fiction, LGBTQ+, romance, action and adventure, and diverse characters.

 

Rosiee Thor began her career as a storyteller by demanding that her mother listen as Rosiee told bedtime stories instead of the other way around. She lives in Oregon with a dog, two cats, and four complete sets of Harry Potter, which she loves so much, she once moved her mattress into the closet and slept there until she came out as queer.

Win a signed hardcopy of TARNISHED ARE THE STARS by Rosiee Thor (US Only)

Starts: October 15, 2019

Ends: October 29, 2019

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