Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for providing me with an advance review copy of Starfall by Jamie Cass.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Jamie Cass successfully transported me to a new world, that was described in the perfect amount of detail - you could imagine yourself standing within the scenes. However Cass still managed to accurately capture the distinctive features of Oxford which I particularly enjoyed as a lover of the city! The characters were also well developed and I was quickly invested in their plots. Scail was probably my favourite character, but I also found myself really connecting with Aria and was rooting for her throughout the story.

I would recommend Starfall to fantasy fans, especially those who enjoy stories with strong world-building or an Oxford setting. I've just pre-ordered a printed version of the book and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

What a master piece of writing set in my favourite era this book book is so good the mix of the historical side and fantasy side is so well written I am so glad I got to read this thank you

This was phenomenal!
The world building was definitely my favourite part, it is such a cool and "believable" blend of history, fantasy and politic!
I also liked the characters, including the too head-strong protagonist, Aria. It is a character archetype that sometimes I found frustrating but I didn't mind her and it worked within the context of the story.
The overall plot is intriguing and kept me guessing.
Also, it is so refreshing to finally see a dark academia book where it is not just an aesthetic but there is really a realistic academy setting and people that actually study in it.
Overall it is a very strong debut novel and I am excited about what comes next.

I am very grateful to Netgalley, Hodder escape and the author Jamie Cass for providing me with an earc and the opportunity to read this in advance!

Absolutely brilliant and original urban fantasy set in an alternate Oxford. Before you think it, it is nothing like Lyra's Oxford but a much darker, more violent and frightening place where the beauty and richness of the colleges lives side by side with the slums. Aria Shaw has to manage threats from both those worlds as well as her own difficult past and deal with her emerging magic and investigate the murders of fae taking place across the city. Oh yes and there is a stolen fallen star to find. I really really hope there is another book in this series!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!!

4.5/5☆ rounded up!!

it's astounding that jamie cass is a debut author. his writing is lyrical and you can feel the passion put into it. rarely am i taken in by historical settings but this gaslamp fantasy captured my attention from the beginning and didn't let go. i loved how immersive this is, especially the setting of oxford (which i hope to visit someday!!) as well as that of the fantasy world mixed with real life historical events. personally i don't know the details of ww1 or the london fire but adding magick to it? i am intrigued!!!

the story follows our fmc aria as she arrives at oxford to study magick under professor ashcroft, following a tragic incident that unlocked her powers and chased her from home. i liked seeing how determined she is and actually seeing her learn magick from zero was entertaining and i couldn't help rooting for her. from her first unwilling kill to helping ashcroft hold back a raging fire and everything her journey is a satisfying one and promises much more.

the plot starting with her making a deal with lesser faerie scail to find her bags leading her to have to chase a murderer might not be the most original idea for a fantasy but i really enjoyed the execution of it. her working with professor ashcroft who is trying to teach her to control her magick, i really liked their working relationship. you can see they care for each other (and thank god it's not a romantic thing here) even amidst suspicion and betrayal of each other. their mentor/mentee relationship is straight out of the y2k dystopian era peak in the best way and i'm crossing all my fingers that both of them survive this series.

also, i gotta say, thank you jamie cass for not turning henry/aria/rian into a love triangle. i would have rioted. i liked aria, rian and livia's dyanmic as a friend group, rian being the carefree guy who's all smiles and livia as her academic rival who also enjoys her company. i'd hoped we got to see more of them because once the plot picked up, they barely hung out together (which is understandable).

i think henry dawson might have broke my heart. genuinely he was such a sweetheart in the beginning, asking aria out but so careful not to overstep with being too forward. it's a very tentative courting between them and i liked seeing the slowburn romance slowly unfold. i liked that it's not the clothes ripping fire we always see in fantasy nowadays, but a slow simmer that never really got the chance to boil over after the first time they kissed. (yes all they did was go to a winter festival, stduy together, hold hands and kiss once) my favourite part was when he got her a locket with a painting of her hometown inside for christmas.

spoilers here!!! i might have suspected henry was involved with the whole leshy murder and gathering of ingredients thing from around halfway through the book. for someone so shy and constantly being stepped over by others, he sure is vocal about his radical thoughts re the government/department/war when he speaks to aria. honestly his hate being what easily turned him to the children of london and their blood magick was devastating, especially when he's possessed??? please they gotta save him TT

"i think he was pointed at us like a rifle and fired." the chils i got.

starfall is book 1 in this series and i genuinely cannot wait for the future installments!!

Absolutely loved this book. The main character Aria is fantastically stubborn and headstrong, and the world she finds herself thrown into is deliciously dark and dangerous. The fae were awesome, and I really appreciated the moodiness and level of detail the author had gone to in creating an alternative version of British history. Oh and Scail...Scail is just incredible. Give me more 'evil tooth fairy' fae from now on.

All in all, loved my early ARC, thank you to Hodderscape for it, and I absolutely will be reading book 2. Historical Dark Academia at its finest.

This was a very enjoyable read, in the genre of alternative, magical histories. Aria is a young woman who has to leave Skye after her magic awakes, and ends up being sent to Oxford to study. There are certainly shades of YA style "learning to use magic at a magical university" book but I really liked the Oxford setting and the Conan Doyle-esque mystery that Aria and her professor set out to solve. This was well written and I enjoyed the references to UK folklore and the fae. The magic system was well worked out and the action scenes were gripping. I will be reading the next in the series.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to get early access!

I really enjoyed this debut novel from Jamie Cass, a fantastically well researched historical fantasy novel based in Oxford during Napoleonic times - an area of history I’ll be honest I don’t know much about so was keen to delve into. Really loved how immersive the world was. Cass clearly knows his history but never lets it take over the narrative. Having never been to Oxford before I felt fully onboard with the alternative city. I especially love the cover which really hits those dark academia vibes that I love to have on my shelves.

Great to see the author go beyond the typical ‘coming of age magic student’ narrative with deeper real mythic folklore (shoutout to Mother Shipton!) and real threats. Again a clear sign of the author clearly doing their research. The magic system was unique and fully fleshed out and I cant wait to see the big bad in the next instalment.

❧ Thank you, Netgalley & Hodderscape, for the eARC!
∟Releases: January 7th 2027
════════════════════════

Now this... THIS is what I mean when I say I want atmosphere! "Starfall" is a debut unlike any other, one that truly understands the words 'dark academia' and takes the reader for a proper walk through the sub-genre. Detailed and without a wasted word, I am wonderstruck by how "Starfall" managed to give me something I didn't realize I was in desperate need of.

★ ★ ★

"Starfall" begins with a very slow paced narrative, and largely serves as setup for what will eventually become the conflict in the future. And yet, despite this, the book was so beautifully written that even as things take their time to brew, I truly loved just being able to sit with the words. The author has such a way of painting a clear picture in the mind of the reader, of really settling us in the scene and letting us walk with the our heroine, Ariaas she navigates this strange and weird version of Oxford. I could practically hear the sounds and ambience in my mind, it was all so deftly written - not a breath wasted nor overwritten to the point of needlessness. Every line felt intentional and with reverence to the setting, even when Aria is simply attending her classes or conversing with her fellow students.

Our main character, Aria, is headstrong and practical, yet curious and filled with heart. She's naive in some ways, if just because of the nature of her upbringing and origins, but she doesn't let other people look down on her as she amends her own ignorance with the pursuit of knowledge. She has moments of brashness, and is prone to letting her emotions get the best of her, but all of these aspects just make her more human in my eyes, and adore her all the more.

Professor Ashcroft, on the other hand, is an enigma I am in desperate need of figuring out. A war veteran, a brilliant practitioner, and also terrifying at times, Ashcroft feels like an ever evolving character. The moment you think you understand him, he shows another side of himself you never realized could exist. And even still, it feels like there's so much more we have yet to see of him. Nevertheless, I am personally heartened by how much tenderness he is capable of showing Aria, even as he can be a rather demanding teacher. I get the sense that even as Aria was desperate for his tutelage to escape her home, Ashcroft needs her just the same. I see a lot of similarities between the two, and maybe Ashcroft sees a little bit of himself in Aria too - from the days of his youth. Perhaps this headstrong, stubborn budding practitioner apprentice is just what this wizened grump needs.

As for the villain reveal at the end, I can't say I was entirely surprised by it - perhaps I have my own hypervigilance to blame for that one - but the rest of it got me excited for what's to come. What was possessing [SPOILER]? And is it too late for them? A part of me hopes not, considering their own motivations beyond the entity felt understandable, if not at least the half bit justified. I'll admit, I found them suspicious all along, but at the end, they really seemed cornered. Like they felt they'd gone too far to turn back. I feel bad for [SPOILER] but more than them, I feel bad for Aria. She seemed to really like them, and felt bonded to them, in a way, as two outcasts away from home.

★ ★ ★

"Starfall" feels so special. It's so easy for slow-paced academic stories to lose readers but here, the line writing is so gorgeous that it wraps itself around you and pulls you in. I was in an entirely different stratosphere for the duration of this book. And when the plot really starts to amp up towards the end, I was completely taken in. What an incredible debut. The next one can't come fast enough.