BOOK REIEW: A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Ernshaw
This was my very first Traveling Book! I’m excited to now be able to send it on to the next lucky person and start hosting some of my own!
I went into this one not really having any idea what it was about. I liked the title, and I liked the cover, so I thought why not. (This is definitely not my MO.)
Overall, when looking back and reflecting on it, I really did enjoy it. It was different, which is something I always appreciate in genres that I read a lot. While it felt that everyone in Vega’s world was dying from “consumption” (a pandemic that was wiping out the entire planet), Vega was on a mission to find the sea. She is the last astronomer, with a map of stars and constellations tattooed on her body. She knows what to do when she gets to the sea, but she needs to find the architect who know how to get to the sea. Neither of them have the information that the other has. So secrets upon secrets which they keep from the readers as well.
What unfolds is an epic and dangerous quest to the sea, and a twist at the end that I didn’t really see coming. I many ways, I almost felt that the book started as one genre and then as the plot progressed, the book evolved and ended in a completely different genre. It was part post-apocalyptic, part Mad Max and part Scythe. It was really was interesting.
There was some moments that felt a little slow, and characters that were there for a chapter or two and then were gone. The pacing picked up as the story progressed which matched the building tension of Vega and her companions, and it was an easy read for the most part.
Vega was raised in isolation - in part to protect her and keep her hidden and in part to prepare her. However, her naivety was evident after she had to abandon her “papa” and go alone. My biggest issue was that she felt a little inconsistent. At times she was wise and aware and other times she was clueless and doing some pretty dumb stuff. Her little band of friends also feel a little inconsistent. I did appreciate the twist in the connection between the extremist group (who was hunting them with the goal to take from her what they knew she was looking for and then kill them) and the group she aligns herself with.
While it’s a heartbreaking situation, I struggled to fully connect with Vega. I’m not sure if knowing what her mission was prior to the very end would have made a difference or not. I felt more for Cricket, the girl who rescues her right after she heads out on her own. Cricket leads her to Noah, and the three of them become the group that must complete the mission. Their constant need to outrun those hunting them became more interesting than what the true mission was.
The plot is just so slow in comin to light, and even with little hints dropped along the way, I just didn’t have anything to connect actions to motives. I don’t mind that structure, but it just felt extra slow and the hints felt weak and didn’t really help in me getting to the point. As a result, the last 20% of the book was crazy and twisty as you are finally let in on the secrets of their world and Vega’s mission and Noah’s responsibility. In many ways, I felt it was awkward, so when the answers came and the “excitement” should have peaked, it was just too little a little too late.
I feel that the structure, the pacing, even the slowness surrounding the characters was all done to build suspense and anticipation. It just didn’t didn’t give a strong final punch. It was more of a shoulder check.
At the end of the day, it was an interesting concept and including a lot of fun tropes which I’m a big fan of! Some of the tropes you can find throughout the book include:
Astronomy & Constellations
Mother-Daughter Bonds & Secrets
Folktales and Legends/Myths
Outlaws & Extremists
Star-crossed Lovers
Pandemic
Dystopia
“Don’t Tell Anyone” & Adventure
Where does the book land on my bookshelf?
Middle shelf. Short of being repetitive, I just felt like I was going through the motions with this one. I loved the concept, and the twist at the end was VERY twisty. It just felt that getting from point A to point B was a struggle and the breadcrumbs disappeared before you really had anything to hold on to to get you to the ending. I will admit the ending was worth sticking with it, and I did love the focus on astronomy and the stars and the constellations. I did have questions at the end that never got answered, so that’s a little bit of a sad face!
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