I regretfully had to dnf this book after around 20% of reading it. As much as I tried, I was unable to relate to any of the characters in this book. It has a good premise actually, but the execution could have been better.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc.

Synopsis: The surname Everly is a curse in itself. Violet Everly is the youngest Everly heir , who has to either break the curse or succumb to it. She embarks on a quest uncovering some of the darkest secrets of the world.
What I loved: This is an adult debut fantasy with dark elements. The best thing about the book is Georgia Summers' prose. It is alluringly beautiful, drawing the reader into the world. There is a mystery/suspense she maintains throughout the story evident even in the epilogue. The premise of the story is quite promising and would be intriguing to people who love dark fairy tales. I loved the beginning and the end and would have had been one of my all time favourites, if not for the following:
What could have had been better: The female main character is shown to be talented/gifted but what her gifts are remain unexplored till the very end. Though she is valiant and adventurous, she is portrayed as dumb. I mean , who falls for a person who is treacherous just because he is unfairly handsome and talented? This might be the
reason why I felt that the romance in this was lacking depth . The magic system could have had been explored better, instead of the romance. The middle portion was being dragged a lot with unwanted elements.
Inspite of the above I would be definitely waiting for her next book, since I feel she is an author with immense potential and hauntingly beautiful writing. So my rating is 3.6/5

A beautifully written debut from Georgia Summers about family curses and eternal redemption. The worldbuilding is very accomplished and the characters are wonderfully presented. Violet and Aleksander are both flawed and single-minded yet intricately involved.
With shades of Starling House and His Dark Materials, this is a fantastic read. Keep an eye on the author – I predict that she’s going to be hugely successful.

This was incredibly intriguing from the very offset of the prologue with children vanishing seemingly into thin air. The author also has incredibly beautiful prose that added to the atmosphere and was perfect for this magical, whimsical world. That being said, it was quite a dark story, with much more gore than I was expecting. I have to say that I don't entirely know what happened in this book; I couldn't really tell you how it ended or what happened to Penelope or Violet or Alexsander. The characters of Violet and Penelope really stole the show; Penelope was a very multi-faceted villain and I really enjoyed the scenes with her, she brought a whole new dimension to the story. There was a lot about the world that I wanted answers to that I just felt we didn't get (unless I completely missed it). For example, the question that lies behind the entire premise of the story... didn't get answered? Which was quite disappointing. However, I still feel really taken in by this world and this author's writing, and I really enjoyed reading this - I'm very excited to see what the author brings out next!

Sadly I had to dnf this one. I didn't feel like i was connecting to any of the characters at all, and it just made me want to not read anymore.

I'm sure it will appeal to other people, but I couldn't get past the first 20%.

The first thing that struck me was the quality of the writing. Summers is a talent – her poetic, vivid prose wound through me and had me immediately rooting for Violet. Though for me to continue to be impressed, I needed to also bond with the story – over the years I’ve read far too many books where glorious writing stood in for a plot worth the name. It wasn’t the case here. Violet’s sense of anger and grief at her uncle’s refusal to tell her what was going on is palpable.

We also have Penelope, the antagonist who is threatening the Everly family. It was impressive just how her cruelty and malign presence pervades the book, as it is Violet’s desperate search for her mother and the supposed solution to the curse blighting the Everlys that powers the narrative drive throughout. I was a tad worried that when we finally discovered Penelope’s reason for hounding the Everly family that it would fall a bit flat. It didn’t. Summers manages to depict the haunted individual at the heart of the curse with both compassion and a clarity that doesn’t mask his terrible cowardice. It takes serious writing chops to bring that off.

I loved this spellbinding tale that pulled me in to experience Violet’s quest with all its desperation and sadness as well as the excitement and anticipation. I look forward to reading what else Summers produces – she is a talent to watch. While I obtained an arc of The City of the Stardust from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Wow! A beautiful standalone that feels like Nevermoor meets Shadowhunters without the teenage cringe. Well written characters, a beautiful type of magic, and a thrilling story. I loved it!

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers is a really magical almost whimsical fantasy debut, it's very lyrical with dark moments. I've seen this been compared to The Night Circus and I think those comparisons are spot on, so if you enjoy those kinda vibes you'll enjoy this book. I enjoyed our main characters but I do wish they had a bit more development.

I just love books like this with multiple worlds and epic quests. The description of the worlds and the society they lived in were just wonderful. I loved how dark it got towards the end as well, the lengths that Penelope was willing to go to just to get Violet.

This book felt like a modern day fairytale. The way it was written and the writing itself gave it a dreamlike quality that added to this. Even when they were using phones and working in a cafe, it felt like a book from another age, another world and everything tied into this.

The narration was very good. Again it had a lovely dreamlike quality to it that added to the text and made it all the more delicious to read. I would definitely pick up a book from this narrator again.

The Astrals were my favourite. They were so dark and all powerful. It gave them a real dangerous quality to them whether they were aiding or hindering Violet’s progress.

This is definitely one for fans of The Night Circus or His Dark Materials.

I thought this was lovely -- it made me feel the same way that The Starless Sea and The Ten Thousand Doors of January did. Full of magic and whimsy with a naive but loveable MC. The writing was beautiful, but I did feel like there were some technical issues in how the story was constructed that kept me from giving it 5 stars. Still, I highly recommend it.

This is by far one of the most enthralling books I've read in quite sometime. I felt very fortunate to have read it as an ARC and I hope that it goes on to attain the status it deserves in the book community.

In it we follow the the story of Violet Everly, as she learns and reckons with the families legacy, a binding curse that will take the best of each generation of her family. I was captivated from the first few pages; I felt like I was observing the story as it played out. The characters are beautifully done and indeed the story itself is incredibly dynamic. Penelope's presence runs quietly in the background all the time in stark contrast to Violet's mothers absence. It is a world where monsters are indeed things of cruel beauty and gods are brought to heel. It was a dark and deeply fascinating read. Solidly loved it and look forward to reading more of Summer's work in the future.

The enchanting quality of this book is truly delightful! Upon finishing the ebook, I was so captivated that I promptly bought a physical copy on its release day. I felt the need for a tangible trophy on my shelf, and the allure of the Waterstones edition was irresistible to my wallet. My love for this book exceeded my expectations!

Addie Laure meets the starless sea ☺️

I loved the setting and just the plot and the magic of this book

Such a great debut.
I absolutely loved to follow the adventure of. A little girl 😍☺️ and the writing captivated me so much

This book caught my attention because it was compared to Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. This story however is more starry — star-centric. It has an interesting cast of characters and I slowly started to enjoy their company over time. At first, though, I was a bit hesistant and was almost ready to set this book aside. But I realized around one third of my way through that I was sort of invested and wanted to know what happened next. Some of these characters feel familiar like I’ve come across them in other stories. Gabriel for example seemed to me like one of the Dr Who actors from one of the seasons — with his sunglasses, ride and bad boy/man vibe. But my favourite bits were related to the premise and concept of the story — all of the doors that connect one world to another, the way different worlds work…

3.5 stars

There were some parts that I did not enjoy. I didn’t like a certain mother and how things ended with her and all of the loose ends related to her, the repetitive lamenting about the curse, the oh-my-god-this-is-the-end-oh-no-gotcha, the sudden shift in POVs without warning…but I think it was easy to look over these things, given that Summers does a good job of spinning a compelling tale full of twists and turns. I also like how the story ends — simply.

I got an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

I ended up DNFing this around 65%.

The writing style is beautifully ambiguous but I don't think there were enough character moments and/or character/ relationship development to keep me fully invested.

I am truly sad that I didn't continue after reading quite a big chunk of it but there was no point in continuing the book if I was not enjoying it.

This one had me gripped from early on. The world-building was beautifully done and I was so invested in Violet and her story. I really loved this one and am pleased I got the Fairyloot edition.

Although I thoroughly admired the originality of the setting and the story, I found the writing style carries a lot of 'tell' rather than 'show'. This is mainly down to the third person narrative, which makes events very dialogue- and task- driven, and gives little insight into how the characters feel.
The pacing of the narrative felt somewhat inconsistent and lacking in structure, though the ethereal quality of the writing style complements the story, which I'm sure some readers will love.
Unfortunately for me, due the pacing and lack of depth of immersive writing style, I found it harder than I would have liked to empathise with the MCs, which is something that significantly defines how much I enjoy a story. Characters felt distant and their arcs sometimes underdeveloped. This also came across for what concerns the world building. I felt particularly short changed by this, as the premise held out the potential for a phenomenal read, but as I read on kept waiting for 'it', unfortunately 'it' never came. There is a vagueness to the world building which means that some elements are left to the reader's imagination, while others remain unexplained and have to be taken at face value.
One thing I did however love was the ethereal musical writing, which made The City of Stardust a joy to read, with choice words often beautiful and dialogue that was often very strong, though not strong enough, in my opinion, to convey the potential spectrum of emotions that the story begged to unleash.
Thank you very much to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

The City of Stardust is the story of Violet Everly, a young woman trying to find her mother, who left a decade ago to find a way to break their family’s curse. The clock is ticking and unless Violet finds her mother in time, she’ll have to pay the blood debt to a powerful creature with her own life. In her quest, she discovers a world of magical portals, scholars, secrets and fallen gods. She also meets Aleksander, the second point of the view of this story and the assistant of the dangerous woman to whom the Everly’s debt is owed.

This book began with an intriguing prologue: children disappearing without a trace and a woman leaving her life—and her daughter—behind. Add the beautiful prose to the mix, and the story had all the ingredients for a promising story. Unfortunately, the whimsical setting gave way to a plot and characters that I lost interest in as the book progressed. I was more interested in Violet’s uncles than her and I personally think that Aleksander’s point of view didn’t add anything to the plot. I have to say that considering this is a standalone book, I liked the ending.

Overall, I just was underwhelmed by this story, but I loved the author’s writing so much that I’ll probably check out whatever she writes next.

If you’re looking for a magical story with flawed characters and a deeply poetic writing, this is the book for you.
The greatest strength of this book was the author’s writing, without a doubt. The ethereal quality of the prose, the tone suffused with both sadness and hope, the longing of the characters for something else, somewhere else, really gripped me.
I can only recommend the audiobook, I felt the narrator did a fantastic job of highlighting those qualities.

Although I was not very invested in the romance part, I enjoyed the fact that it was not the main story and the bittersweet aspect of it fits the story and its ending quite well. Both Violet and Aleksander are flawed and terribly naive, but their growth is all the more interesting for it.
The pacing was sometimes a little bit off, but the slowness retrospectively makes for a harmonious flow. I greatly enjoyed the way the author played with time and points of view.
I would have liked more details or answers on one aspect of the plot which left me a bit disappointed, but it remains an ending that I think will stay with me for a while.

After reading more than 38% of this book I found it hard to keep going, I had little connection to the characters and felt the story was moving too slowly.