Hello everyone!
That might sound shallow considering, but honestly? I really don't usually go for this type of thing, so here we are.
There's something to be said about winged characters, which have definitely been on the rise since the Court of Thorns and Roses series, but it's been a while since I've personally read about any of them, as I usually stick to different genres nowadays.
However, a good fantasy romance, paranormal romance, or anything of the sort hasn't killed anybody yet, so here we are, right?
Right!
Olivia Hart is an author unknown to me, and I will admit that the founding idea for the story held a lot of potential - the execution though, not so much. Sadly.
Let's have a look at Sand and Stars, shall we?
I'll be linking the ACOTAR series down below as it's probably the closest thing to this book's storyline.
Onwards!
We begin our book with an Elf on the run who leaves her daughter in the middle of a field for a human couple to raise, taking her magic and suppressing it before running and ending up killed by a hunter who's looking for something called the Gates of Undying.
Flash-forward to present day, the girl, Talia, is living a regular, peasant life among humans and has no idea who she really is until her village is attacked by a group of soldiers led by the winged warrior, Marcellus.
Marcellus recognizes Talia to be the Elf from a prophecy which foretells a whole lot of doom and gloom, based on the fact she's star-kissed - namely she has a sprinkle of white freckles down her cheek to her collarbone indicating that she draws her Elven power from the stars, not the sun or the moon like everyone else of her people.
And she knows the way to the Gate that Marcellus' father has been looking for, using his brother as hunter for the Elves because he can sense their magic.
Why does the man want the Gates? Well, being Emperor, he would have wanted the entryway to the Elven lands anyway, but the point is you're immortal once you enter those lands, and once Talia reveals the entrance it won't be hidden or locked anymore, so it's a bit of a conundrum, as you can see.
Especially as her aunt, in disguise, slips her the half of her necklace which was missing and unleashes her power, which Talia then keeps hidden from Marcellus while she starts falling in love with him, until the moment there's an enemy force coming to take back the castle Marcellus and his men defeated earlier, and they have this creature called an ifrit with them.
An ifrit is basically just a whole lot of rocks and lava, but even Marcellus won't be able to fight it without some help, and Talia cares for him enough at this point to reveal her powers of prophecy to him so they can work out a strategy together. Afterwards, they also end up in bed together and he reveals a slightly darker side (a part which this book is billed for, as a darker romance) as he is of a dark subgroup of the Fae with a would-be beast hiding within.
But he's fallen in love with Talia, too, and so he'll ask his father for permission to marry her after they arrive at the Emperor's capital city. Naturally, this doesn't actually happen since daddy dearest also has the powers of foresight (he can suck up powers from the dying which is what he did with his wife, whom he loved more than anything, but because he killed her father she never loved him, and ended up committing suicide after realizing her firstborn son was turning out just the same as his father). The Emperor takes Talia as prisoner and tortures her to get the information he wants, and Marcellus is powerless to stop him since he has no magic of his own.
Thankfully, his brother Darius steps in and rescues her before things get too far, and all three go on the run together until Talia dreams of the eldest brother finding them, so she turns the tides and shows him some visions, exploring just what led him to the person he is today, and he eases off the pursuit, but says the Emperor will be coming for them.
Marcellus & Co then take refuge in that original castle, where Talia's aunt is finally revealed, explaining that the Elves needed Marcellus to fight because he's the only one even remotely capable of standing up to the Emperor; Marcellus sends Darius to gather allies while Talia goes to the Gates of the Undying and finally enters the Elven-lands, meeting the king, who just so happens to be her grandfather. She also has Marcellus as a life-mate and they're planning this rebellion against the Emperor, but the Emperor is over there cooking up some sort of scheme which will eventually reunite him with the woman he loves so desperately - since she'll be reborn eventually, and then he just has to find her.
DUN DUN DUN!
First off, I received an advance review copy from BookSirens for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
As said before, Sand and Stars caught me because of three things: one, purely shallow, the cover, which I think is lowkey gorgeous; two, because it's fantasy and the main male character is winged; and three, the promise that there would be some darkness explored in the main romance.
I'm a little bit sad to report that not all of the above paid off.
The author built a pretty great world, all in all, with a rich history and characters that sound incredibly interesting and you'd think they'd be able to fuel the story, but as I learned through reading they actually hinder it instead. The world-building is wonderful, however, and the main idea had a spark that I could totally get behind.
A power-hungry, greedy king who wanted immortality from the Elven kingdom, and so the Elves went into hiding until the time was right and a prophesized child was born? Said child to be hidden among humans, and then launched into the mystifying world of political intrigue when her village and the castle it answers to gets razed by one of the king's sons? And then that sort of Beauty and the Beast quality to the story when love begins to unfold?
Oh yeah, on the surface, this is perfect. But the problem is that it really does feel only surface-deep, as if there should have been a lake underneath but it's actually just a bit of puddle that it all reflects back from.
The point I'm trying to make, and not very well I'm afraid, is that the characters SOUND great, but don't turn out to be as much. Our main ones, Marcellus and Talia, the king's son and the Elf (who doesn't know she's an Elf), fall in love. This is fine, it's anticipated, it goes as predicted. The problem arises when the book shifts into its second half, and Talia suddenly becomes the only competent character in the book.
Marcellus and Darius, two beings who happen to have been alive for CENTURIES, are somehow only capable of staying in one lane (each in their respective ones) without deviation or change. Meanwhile Talia, it's emphasized, is capable of GREAT change on a very quick pivot, and then she lords it over them. I hate using that word, but really, when you get a barely eighteen-year-old trying to teach two hundreds of years old beings how they should be dealing with things, there's something going on that isn't quite on point.
Plus, it's also purely WRONG. For example, during a scene in the book, Talia - with her powers - can visually see that Marcellus is blocked and caught by magic. She knows that he can't do anything, and the only result there is death if he does. But she gets mad at him because he doesn't do anything. Apparently, if he'd died, she would have been happy - until the point when she realized there was no one to advocate for her anymore, then she'd have probably, most likely, been mad at him for dying.
A point is also made that Marcellus doesn't plan, he simply goes and does things, which is against everything we learn of the man through the book. All he DOES is plan. He plans it so that he's the only one at maximum risk and everybody else is at a minimum risk. I could go on, but the man Talia seems to be looking at in this second half isn't the man we actually meet, so I'm not sure where this disconnect is coming from. Other than having this one theory, which is very basic and may not be what the author was going for, but what it evoked in me:
It feels a very basic male vs female here. In the sense that, purely what people used to say (and no I don't believe it), men are generally only capable of doing one thing at a time, and one thing only, and don't do well with changes on a whim. Meanwhile women are multitaskers extraordinaire who can turn on a dime and get things done, no problem.
The book boosts Talia so much without any specific reason, rhyme or logic, and dumbs down characters who SHOULD have, by default, been way ahead of her, and it hurts the overall story. Especially since we never really learn anything else about her powers other than, hey, she can see the future! Sweet. Now what?
It could have been spectacular. The groundwork is all there. But there are too many character problems in here (and plotholes; how come none of the King's sons know of his gift of prophecy, among other things, or don't seem to remember it until it's too late?) to really make this something enjoyable, at least for me. I'm sure there are others who loved it, but, sadly, I won't be picking up the second book of this duology.
As said before, Sand and Stars caught me because of three things: one, purely shallow, the cover, which I think is lowkey gorgeous; two, because it's fantasy and the main male character is winged; and three, the promise that there would be some darkness explored in the main romance.
I'm a little bit sad to report that not all of the above paid off.
The author built a pretty great world, all in all, with a rich history and characters that sound incredibly interesting and you'd think they'd be able to fuel the story, but as I learned through reading they actually hinder it instead. The world-building is wonderful, however, and the main idea had a spark that I could totally get behind.
A power-hungry, greedy king who wanted immortality from the Elven kingdom, and so the Elves went into hiding until the time was right and a prophesized child was born? Said child to be hidden among humans, and then launched into the mystifying world of political intrigue when her village and the castle it answers to gets razed by one of the king's sons? And then that sort of Beauty and the Beast quality to the story when love begins to unfold?
Oh yeah, on the surface, this is perfect. But the problem is that it really does feel only surface-deep, as if there should have been a lake underneath but it's actually just a bit of puddle that it all reflects back from.
The point I'm trying to make, and not very well I'm afraid, is that the characters SOUND great, but don't turn out to be as much. Our main ones, Marcellus and Talia, the king's son and the Elf (who doesn't know she's an Elf), fall in love. This is fine, it's anticipated, it goes as predicted. The problem arises when the book shifts into its second half, and Talia suddenly becomes the only competent character in the book.
Marcellus and Darius, two beings who happen to have been alive for CENTURIES, are somehow only capable of staying in one lane (each in their respective ones) without deviation or change. Meanwhile Talia, it's emphasized, is capable of GREAT change on a very quick pivot, and then she lords it over them. I hate using that word, but really, when you get a barely eighteen-year-old trying to teach two hundreds of years old beings how they should be dealing with things, there's something going on that isn't quite on point.
Plus, it's also purely WRONG. For example, during a scene in the book, Talia - with her powers - can visually see that Marcellus is blocked and caught by magic. She knows that he can't do anything, and the only result there is death if he does. But she gets mad at him because he doesn't do anything. Apparently, if he'd died, she would have been happy - until the point when she realized there was no one to advocate for her anymore, then she'd have probably, most likely, been mad at him for dying.
A point is also made that Marcellus doesn't plan, he simply goes and does things, which is against everything we learn of the man through the book. All he DOES is plan. He plans it so that he's the only one at maximum risk and everybody else is at a minimum risk. I could go on, but the man Talia seems to be looking at in this second half isn't the man we actually meet, so I'm not sure where this disconnect is coming from. Other than having this one theory, which is very basic and may not be what the author was going for, but what it evoked in me:
It feels a very basic male vs female here. In the sense that, purely what people used to say (and no I don't believe it), men are generally only capable of doing one thing at a time, and one thing only, and don't do well with changes on a whim. Meanwhile women are multitaskers extraordinaire who can turn on a dime and get things done, no problem.
The book boosts Talia so much without any specific reason, rhyme or logic, and dumbs down characters who SHOULD have, by default, been way ahead of her, and it hurts the overall story. Especially since we never really learn anything else about her powers other than, hey, she can see the future! Sweet. Now what?
It could have been spectacular. The groundwork is all there. But there are too many character problems in here (and plotholes; how come none of the King's sons know of his gift of prophecy, among other things, or don't seem to remember it until it's too late?) to really make this something enjoyable, at least for me. I'm sure there are others who loved it, but, sadly, I won't be picking up the second book of this duology.
xx
*image not mine
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