Review: Stardust In Their Veins ~ Laura Sebstian

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Format I Used: E-book
Running Time: 16h:20m
My Rating: 4 stars
Publication Date: February 7, 2023

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

Mostly because I've decided to be more specific so I can read my own recap of a book instead of always having to re-read a book series or hunt around the interwebs for other spoilery recaps.

Read on with caution

Now Entering The Spoiler Zone

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I'M STILL UPSET THAT THEY KILLED OFF SOPHIIIIEEEEEEEE

Ugh, ANYWAYS.

I started reading this book in early December, and just BARELY finished it. Why? I was a little nervous about how it was going to end. I did manage to read big chunks of it during two different snomageddon's, which seemed apropos, considering last year when I listened to the first one, I did it while I spent a l o o o o o o n g time shoveling my driveway from a 30 thousand (not really, but close) snow fall.

This book was full of twists and political intrigue, and just when I (and our wonderful characters) thought they were going to outsmart Mommy Dearest, it turns out that N O P E, she's still 10 steps ahead and around the corner.

So let us go about the rest of this review in a similar fashion to the one I did for the first book. 

Daphne

I'm still not Daphne's biggest fan, but I dislike her less than I did in the first book. She was a complex character, and while I wish she would have pulled her head out of her butt and believed her sisters about their mother sooner, but she wasn't ENTIRELY to blame. Her mother was IS such a toxic person and spent so many years trying to twist her daughters to fit her plans, so of course it's going to take a while for them to untangle themselves from what they've always known and been told. She spends a lot of time putting all her doubts into a box and shoving them in the way back corner of a closet, so that she can do whatever she can to please her mother. She craves her mother's approval, so the fact that she was able to pull herself out of it was impressive.

Bairre

We learn so much more about him, but at the same time, it still doesn't feel like enough. He is such a strong and sturdy character. He and Daphne spent a lot of time being suspicious of each other, which doesn't really surprise me because of who his mother is and who her mother is. I'm trying to figure out just exactly how their whirlwind marriage at the end of the book is actually going to turn out, and whether everything will be okay for them. I did appreciate the fact that Bairre didn't blow up at Daphne when she finally sat down and told him everything that had been going on with her and why she was even there in the first place. I'm very interested to see how their relationship progresses.

Beatriz

The little revelation about Beatriz and how she's some kind of special Empyrea was something that I didn't see coming. It's kind of interesting that she can wish on a star and "kill" it only to have it come back. This is slowly killing her, and she still won't stop using it. She's going to turn the stars dark or something similarly sinister sounding as foretold by some prophecy, and as such Nigellus tried to kill her. Buttttttttt that backfired and she ended up killing him instead because she has unfinished business to attend to. I'm wondering if it's possible for her to bring Sophie back, or if it would be another life for a life kind of thing (Equivalent Exchange and all that) Oh. And she wished on a star to heal Violie's mother, and by doing so gained the backing of The Crimson Petal.

Pasquale

Is still one of my favorite characters. He deserves all the happiness in the whole wide world, and I hope he's able to get his happy ending. He's such a good supporter of Beatriz and is always going to be down to help her do what's right. I still absolutely adore their friendship and if something bad happens to him I WILL RAGE AND THROW THE BOOK AGAINST THE WALL.

Violie

I guess I'll insert her here since she'd the new Sophie. L I T E R A L L Y. She gets herself caught up in some trouble (trying to kill... Leopold's mother, because she's just as whack as Marguex is (they're like, in cahoots too), and was A BIG REASON WHY SOPHIE GOT KILLED AND LEO ALMOST GOT KILLED, AND THEN THE WHOLE THING WITH LEO'S LITTLE BROTHERS!... I can't actually if that was her fault or the rebels... ehhhh.. It's really interesting to me to see her character development and how much loyalty she still feels towards Sophie. I thought it was genius to use Violie and Sophie's similar looks to their advantage to ger her out of being killed for an attempted assassination. I'm wondering how that whole plot twist will play in the next book. I'm thinking that there will be a Violie/Leopold romance unless something dramatic happens, and I honestly don't know if I like that or not.

Leopold

Was the character in the last book who had the most character development, in my opinion. And he still is continuing to grow. He spent so long living with a blindfold on so to speak, and he's relearning a lot of things.

Nico

Does not actually get a lot of page time in this book, and I'm wondering how things are going to play out with him in the next book. I still don't have a real solid opinion of him to be honest, so we'll see. *shrugs*

Margaraux

Still a crazy beech, and I don't really know what her next move is going to be. When someone told her that "Sophie" is still alive, she "threw her head back and laughed" so I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing? Did she see this coming and that's why she chose Violie to do her bidding in the first place? She's using that similarity to her advantage somehow?

Overall, I enjoyed this book, even though it is a very slow paced read. I didn't enjoy it QUITE as much as book one, but that happens sometimes. So many twists and turns that I didn't quite see coming (not that I was trying to predict anything.) And I can't wait to see what happens in the next book which is forever away I'm sure.

Did It Make Me Cry? No.

*I read an early copy of this book via Netgalley*