The Stars Between Us / Cristin Terrill / Book Review

All her life, Vika has had a mysterious benefactor, someone who paid for her education and her medical bills but didn't otherwise interfere with her impoverished existence. It's been a few years since her benefactor has sent anything her way, and Vika believes this magic bit of her childhood is over. Until a billionaire magnate from the next planet over dies, willing his fortune to his only son... on the condition that his son marry Vika.

Vika is shocked and appalled, but she doesn't have to decide whether or not to play into this dehumanizing plot (though she would; she definitely would). When her husband-heir dies in transit, the fortune changes hands yet again, and the new heirs invite Vika in as their ward. In a new world of dazzling finery and glittering parties, Vika is living a better life than she ever could have dreamed. But her husband's death was no accident, and whoever killed him isn't done yet, not with such a large fortune on the line. 

Thoughts

I love that this book was sci-fi. I don't read enough sci-fi. That being said, this book did not live up to all of the potential it had. That might come down to the fact that I absolutely hated Vika. Even though I was meant to be rooting for her. 

Pros

• Space Tropes: This book is full of good tropes that haven't been overused, all set to a backdrop of dazzling new planets. There's an arranged marriage plot. There are an abundance of secret and hidden identities. A murder mystery, complete with a fair bit of conniving on all sides, takes the stage for a bit. There are illegitimate children, ballroom dances, and gossip circles all playing out. Ultimately, every element of this plot is good fun. 

• Fairytale Feel: This book feels like a Cinderella story--one that doesn't require a prince for that "happily ever after." It has all the wish-fulfilment of Bridgerton, but set in space. It has social rules, the rich elite, ballroom dances, and fancy dresses, and Vika is new to all of it. It has a bit of a Beauty-and-the-Beast undercurrent to its romances, too. It's not a serious book, but it's a fun book. Sometimes we need that. 

• Worldbuilding: I'm more likely to list "worldbuilding" as a con in a review. I take worldbuilding very seriously because it most certainly impacts my enjoyment of a book. The worldbuilding here is no more serious than the plot, but I enjoyed it anyway. I almost wish the world itself had become a more dominant part of the book. A hazy, polluted, impoverished planet sits in the shadow of a rich planet, bright sunshine and unending galas. The interplanetary travel sets up this Bridgerton-in-space book with its sci-fi façade, and I didn't mind that the worldbuilding didn't go deeper than that. This worldbuilding was the perfect setup for the plot that ensued. 

Cons

• Obvious Twists: This book had twists galore, and it would have been great... if only the twists weren't so painfully obvious. I spotted each twist a mile away, and I never actively try to guess what's coming next. This was very irritating to me. My first thought always ended up being the "big reveal" pages down the line, and I didn't like that. Nothing was secret or hidden even though it was supposed to be. And that's just disappointing. 

• Vika: There's a big problem when the main character's supposed to be sympathetic but isn't. I absolutely hated Vika. She was incredibly selfish and wasn't meant to be (at least, not to the extent that she was). She was unnecessarily rude and surprisingly condescending for a girl who was, you know, incredibly impoverished just a page ago. Her treatment of poor assistant Sky was awful and unexpectedly harsh. Why hate him so strongly and so suddenly? She was mad at any- and everything Sky did, all the way through the end of the book (at which point, I could do nothing but roll my eyes and hope for it to be over soon). And Sky still likes her, somehow? There's absolutely no reason for him to like her, and that made it hard for me to enjoy his parts of the plot, too. Because I liked Sky, but I had no idea where he was coming from. I thought Vika was going to be a scrappy sort of space-girl protagonist at the beginning, but alas, she was just petty, shallow, selfish, and mean. 

• Sharp Personality Turns: The twists in the plot might not have been that sharp, but the turns in personality were. Sure, there can be a lot hiding beneath a first impression, dark intentions beneath the surface, but the personality twists here were not well executed. I hardly got a chance to get a first impression before characters were suddenly revealed to be not-like-that, and that's just irritating. I need to know the rules, including the rules for the characters themselves, before a twist can be effective. 

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

6/10

Fans of Marissa Meyer's Cinder will enjoy this new space fairytale. Those who liked E.K. Johnston's Aetherbound will appreciate this new protagonist who will do what she must to get what she wants. 

Details

Publisher: Wednesday Books
Date: August 2, 2022
Series: N/A

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Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.