Stardust in their Veins

I remember finishing the first book, Castles in Their Bones, in early February this year and imagined I would die waiting for the second book, I wouldn't, but I think there is a higher chance now! :)
And yes, I mentioned that it is not fair to choose my best book of the year in February, but now in the middle of December, I can honestly say Castles in Their Bones and Stardust in Their Veins are my best reads in 2022!

My favorite girls, I loved it, every word, every page, in this case, the narrator, Roisin Rankin. I finished it last night and still thinking, what the hell just happened! and how on earth I could write something without a spoiler!?

Generally for everybody who wants to know what is this book, and to understand their huge mistake of not read it yet,
In Kingdom of Stars, seventy years old Emperor of Bessemia suddenly fathered three daughters, some rumors say princesses are born with magic. Princesses mother, Empress Margaraux educated them to fulfill one duty;
Beatriz, Daphne and Sophronia should marry one of the princes or king of Vesteria, with conspiracy and chaos drive the countries to war till their mother conquest Cellaria, Friv and Temarin.
This was a task in the first book, twist and surprise were unbelievable!

For the second book, Stardust in Their Veins, I may warn you if did not read Castles in Their Bones, don't read the following,
About a week after the three sisters talk to each other, Beatriz was imprisoned in Cellaria and tries to figure out if is it wise to escape with her magic power and the help of Nigellus and come back to her mother!
Daphne in icy Friv still struggling with rebels and not sure whom should trust, Temarin is almost in her mother's hand and she should decide, choose her loyalty!

There is much to say and I really want to talk to someone about this book, I actually want more to scream, but this was all I could express. I think the last book I've read and felt so much tension and stress was in Martin's books! Highly recommended!

I am so grateful to Hodder & Stoughton Audio via Netgalley for ARC, I have given my honest review! Pub Date 07 Feb 2023

A fantastic sequel to one of my top reads of last year! LS has woven an intricate tale of the love between sisters and the extent that some will go to for power. Empress Margareux is terrifying but somewhat fascinating as the villain of this series, and I'm a little scared as to what she's going to do in the next instalment. I loved the introduction of Violie's POV and found her to be an interesting character. Bring on the next book!

A fantastic read. I love Laura Sebastian's writing style. As powerful, dark and intriguing as the first book in the series. I would highly recommend this series.

This was one of my most anticipated books of this year, and I was delighted to be given the chance to review an early copy! Castles was an unexpected surprise for me last year, I loved it a lot and way more than I was expecting to, and I had high hopes for its sequel. Given the way that Castles ends, Stardust had a lot to live up to.

Even though Sophronia was my favourite of the three sisters, I’m glad that her death stuck. It wasn’t a trick and there are no resurrections. Sophie is dead, and a lot of the emotional weight of this book stems from the people she’s left behind having to come to terms with that. Grief can be messy and it can look different for everyone, and I think this book managed to reflect that well. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is a book about grief, but the grief is very present throughout.

Daphne was my least favourite of the sisters in the first book, but with this one I’m pretty sure she’s nudged her way into second place. She was always the most loyal of the three to their mother, and that loyalty is still sticking in this book even despite the building evidence that their mother may have had a hand in Sophie’s death. The thing with an upbringing like the sisters had is that unquestioning loyalty as a survival mechanism isn’t an unrealistic outcome, and it’s inevitably going to take a long time for that loyalty to break down. Daphne’s arc over the course of this book is slow as she deals with her grief and her suspicions and her denial and her mother’s new shocking orders that might just be a step too far, and it can be a little frustrating as a reader, but I strongly suspect that that’s the point. It all just serves to make her actions nearer the end hit all that much better. The build up most definitely pays off.

A few months ago, Sebastian posted on Instagram to say that where Castles is Sophronia’s book, Stardust is Beatriz’s. The book’s dedication reinforces this, as it’s dedicated to ‘all the difficult girls’, a description which is lobbied at Beatriz near the book’s end. But do I think this is truly Beatriz’s book? No I do not. Beatriz’s pov was largely dedicated to her exploring her newfound magical abilities and the limits of the magic system. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad for this exploration. I thought it was interesting and it answered some questions I’d had about it from the first book while also investigating some other questions I hadn’t thought of. But Beatriz as a character didn’t develop alongside this. Daphne and Violie grow by leaps and bounds over the course of this book, with the people they are by its end being far from the people they are at its start. Beatriz doesn’t change. Beatriz from the end of the book is very much the same girl she was at the start. The moment that I’d probably describe as The Emotional Climax of the book happens to Daphne, not Beatriz. I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed Beatriz’s chapters, and this is basically my only complaint about it. It hasn’t affected my star rating because it’s technically not something that came from within the book itself. As the most typical YA protagonist of the bunch it’s not wholly surprising that her arc would be the least intricate, but if this was supposed to be Beatriz’s book then Beatriz is simply not getting a book.

I did really love the level of ride-or-die Beatriz and Pasquale are at for each other though. Beatriz has found a best friend in the most unlikely of places and I hope they never let each other go.

Violie my beloved. Sophronia’s maid, and Margaraux’s spy, from Castles is a point of view character alongside Daphne and Beatriz here, and oh does she shine. It’s about the grief and the regret and the trying to make it right in whatever way you can while knowing that no matter what you do it will never, ever be enough to make up for what you did. I love her. I also enjoyed watching her relationship with Leopold go from her barely being able to tolerate him to a genuine friendship that has outgrown her original promise to keep him safe. Maybe saying this is jinxing it, but I hope their friendship doesn’t turn into a romance in the next book. I’m enjoying their friendship as it is. Not everyone needs to be coupled up.

Where Castles felt very much like three books in one, with each narrator having their own separate plots with very little crossover, the same doesn’t hold true here. Beatriz and Daphne are still separated, but Violie is under no such restrictions. As a result these three girls’ actions have a much bigger impact on each other than the previous trio’s did.

I listened to an audio copy, and Roisin Rankin did a good job narrating! She was engaging and her use of differing accents where appropriate helped make the wide world of Vesteria feel more realistic. There were one or two lines here and there where the pauses in a sentence felt a little unnatural, but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t make much of a difference. If you were looking to give the audiobook a go I’d thoroughly recommend it.

If you liked the first book then this follow up won’t let you down! If you want a series with fairytale vibes, star based magic, politics and plots, and princesses who are nowhere near as helpless as it benefits them to pretend to be, then I encourage giving this series a try!