Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
Release Date: May 31, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 496
Received: ARC through blog tour
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page
Summary
From Goodreads:
How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.
Writing issues
I've read some...not very nice reviews about this book. Is there a lot to complain about? Yeah, I guess. The two main complaints I've heard is that a lot of the basics are reminiscent of Twilight and the writing isn't flawless. Ok, I can see that to an extent.
Except, I don't care. I was wrapped up in the book and I finished this gigantic near-500 page tome in just three days. For me, this was one of those books that I just
wanted to read. Whenever I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. When I was reading it, the world disappeared. By the end of those near-500 pages all I wanted was 500 more!
The only thing that did give me pause was the narration style. Most of the book is told in the third person with a subjective focus on Helen, but every rare once in a while the view shifts for a scene or two to another character. This almost always happened when Helen wasn't present, so I get why the author did it, but it did feel a little bit like "one of these things doesn't belong." I'm not really sure what the solution would be (maybe include more chapters from other characters' points of view so it doesn't stand out and feel so random?), but something should be done with that.
There was also some room for improvement with the pacing. Objectively, I think Starcrossed was hit with a major case of
Twilight Pacing Syndrome and should have been more tightly edited. There's a huge info-dump toward the end that can be a little overwhelming. Still, as with when I read Cynthia Hand's
Unearthly, I wasn't really bothered. I liked the characters and even if they weren't doing much, I was still content to follow along with whatever it was they were doing.
Love is in the air
What started out as MEGA insta-hate rapidly turned into insta-love. Unlike most YA insta-love books, at least we're given an explanation for their quick feelings...sort of. I'll buy it and go with it for now to see where Josie takes things, but it's still just a little *too* insta-love for my tastes. Circumstances keep our star-crossed lovers separated for most of the book though, so at least I wasn't bored with extended soul-gazing scenes. Plus, no love triangle in sight, so yay for that!
As far as Helen and Lucas go, I like Helen and I'm cool with Lucas. Helen is the girl who didn't know she was special, but now realizes she's super-girl. Helen is almost a Mary Sue, but what saves her is how "normal girl" she is. She reminded me a lot of Clara from Unearthly. Yes, she's special, but at the end of the day she's a teenage girl with all of the insecurities, hopes, and fears that normal teenage girls have. I would invite her to my sleepover party. Plus, she's not weak and useless, so major points for saving me from that annoying plot device.
Lucas is nice and I'm very happy for Helen because he seems like a great catch, but I'm not jealous. She can have him. I want Hector (Lucas's cousin and NOT a romantic interest for Helen. He's more cocky alpha male). Don't get me wrong though, Lucas is totally swoon-worthy in both looks and personality.
Twilight 2 + Greek
Yes, there are numerous Twilight similarities here and I know I'll be handing a copy of Starcrossed to all my library people who loved Twilight. But so what if there are similarities? It's a totally different story and I think even people who disliked Twilight could get on board with Starcrossed (Helen is like the anti-Bella and Lucas isn't weird). There were two things I really liked about Twilight, and those two things are present here: Family and history.
I absolutely loved the big family feeling we got from the Cullens in Twilight, and we get that same feeling here with the Delos clan. I don't care if I'm reading scenes about the Delos clan ordering a pizza or some other mundane and otherwise boring event. I just want to vicariously be a part of their family.
The history in Starcrossed takes its inspiration from Greek mythology, but Josephine Angelini really made it her own. Yes, I'm sure Greek myth sticklers will have a field day with this, but whatever. Bottom line is, Josephine Angelini has created an epic story with likable characters, an engrossing history, edge of your seat fights, star-crossed love, and super high stakes. I thought it was pretty awesome.
Enough of the history is explained here that I feel grounded and satisfied, but there's still so much more yet to uncover. The peeling back of these layers and learning all about the history really kept me turning the pages. Josephine Angelini sweetens the pot even more by adding a few really duplicitous characters. Not only do you have a ton of history, but unraveling it all is complicated by the lies spun by these sly characters. The final 1/4 had me at the edge of my seat and gasping at what was going on. I cannot
wait for the next book to come out so I can find out more!
Please don't leave me like this!!
The bane of YA books: The CLIFFHANGER!!! Yep, it's here. I tried making notes, but even writing down the family tree was a complicated mess with a bizillion annotations and asides (I'm in heaven!). A TON of stuff happens here, and it's all twisty like a soap opera. I'm so going to have to reread Starcrossed before I read book 2 if I want to understand anything. But I will SO DO THAT because I am 100% definitely and with no reservations going to be continuing on with this series (Book 2:
Dreamless, published sometime in 2012).
Explanation of rating system:
Star Rating Key
Do you have any questions about Starcrossed that I haven't addressed?
Feel free to ask in the comments!
If Starcrossed sounds like a book you might enjoy, then be sure to stop by on Wednesday when I post up my part of Lucas's letter to Helen as part of the blog tour!
Check out the previous stops HERE.
Not only will you get a chance to win Starcrossed, but you can also enter for a chance to win a Kindle 3WiFi, a personalized letter from the author, and a Gelaskin of Starcrossed's cover art!
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Click on the cover to go to my review.
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