I am reposting this review in a shameless attempt to win Josephine Angelini's Dreamless ARC contest. Starcrossed is one of my favorites of 2011, so I am desperate to read Dreamless! :-)****1/2
Book description from HarperCollins Publishers:
How do you defy destiny?
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.
As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.
Starcrossed introduces an entirely new spin on the Greek Gods, mythology and demigods. There is a lot of information and action in this book. Not only does the book set up a new mythology, it also introduces you to Helen and the rather large Delos family. Eventually, Helen comes to be close with the family, as they teach her about demigods and controlling and using her gifts. Obviously, I enjoyed Helen's relationship with Lucas; however, I hope that Dreamless (Book 2 releasing May 2012) focuses more on Helen's relationship with the rest fo the Delos family. I especially enjoyed Helen's friendship with Hector, which provided comic relief during Helen's combat training. Josephine Angelini did a fabulous job of relaying this new mythology and weaving the story.
This book could have easily felt as if you were getting a mythology lecture, but Ms. Angelini artfully sidestepped that pitfall. I was oblivious to the world while reading this book and did not want it to end. So much so that I could not really focus on reading anything else until I read Starcrossed a second time.
All in all, I definitely recommend Starcrossed and give it 4.5 stars (I still cannot stop thinking about it)!
~Shel
I loved the semi-love triangle going on with Helen and Orion and Lucas. I'm not a big love triangle person, but forbidden love usually bores me after a while and Orion added other options that kept me very entertained.
ReplyDeleteAlso - I was complaining on Twitter a few weeks ago about how people keep doing the same boring mythology retelling over and over again, and then I picked up Dreamless and I was SO EXCITED to read something refreshing and unique. I loved that Josephine Angelini was able to get me excited about Greek mythology again.