REVIEW: A Dark and Hollow Star

A Dark and Hollow Star

Ashley Shuttleworth

Published February 23rd, 2021 (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

512 Pages

3/5 Stars

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SYNOPSIS

Choose your player.

The “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family.

A tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm and hellbent on revenge.

A dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne.

The prince’s brooding guardian burdened with a terrible secret.

For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. This arrangement has long kept peace in the Courts—until a series of gruesome and ritualistic murders rock the city of Toronto and threatens to expose faeries to the human world.

Four queer teens, each who hold a key piece of the truth behind these murders, must form a tenuous alliance in their effort to track down the mysterious killer behind these crimes. If they fail, they risk the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. If that’s not bad enough, there’s a war brewing between the Mortal and Immortal Realms, and one of these teens is destined to tip the scales. The only question is: which way?

Wish them luck. They’re going to need it.

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REVIEW

I wish I loved this more.

To start this off: this is not a bad book at all. I really enjoyed it! I just had super high expectations because this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year.

The first half of the book was nothing short of a dumpster fire. It was clogged with info-dumps, excessive description, and lack of direction. The multiple POVs were clunky and it was hard to get a grasp on the world with a constantly changing setting. I would've loved this book from just Arlo and Nausicaa's points of view. Vehan and Aurelian, bless their gay souls, just didn't add much for me.

Shuttleworth writes dialogue incredibly well. I loved the character dynamics and their interactions. However, I am curious to see how readers feel 10 years from now and reading this book. There are many pop culture references like Pokemon Go, and I don't know how future readers will react to those references. I personally loved the references, it really set the urban in urban fantasy.

The best part about this book was the characters, specifically Nausicaa and Arlo. Nausicaa was such a well-rounded character and I wish we got more of her perspective. She and Arlo balance each other out so well, I LOVED seeing them grow together.

The plot of this novel was... very lackluster. It kinda loses its intrigue around halfway because the reader know's who the killer is and the characters don't.

All in all, this book just fell very flat in my book but I'm interested to see where the sequel goes.