Jen's Review
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by Josephini Angelini
May 31, 2011
HarperTeen
488 pages, Paperback
This
book was a MONSTER! A monster as in, a long book… Sadly, not as in "it was
absolutely amazing". Because unfortunately, Starcrossed fell a
little flat for me. It wasn't terrible in any way--I quite enjoyed it,
actually--it just kind of let me down. I was expecting this totally epic love
story with TONS of awesome Greek mythology. While there definitely was a
beautiful love story and many elements of Greek mythology that I loved, there
were some things here and there in the story that I just didn't like.
For
example, probably the major letdown of the novel for me was the amount of
characters in the novel. You've got Helen, her family, the ENTIRE Delos family
(which was like 10+ people, I swear), and the bad guys, and the Gods. I totally
lost track of a lot of the characters, and I thought some of them really didn't
even need to be part of the story. It all just confused me and made me
frustrated.
The
other thing that bothered me terribly was Lucas and Helen's relationship in the
beginning. I was fine with their romantic relationship after they fell in love, but in the
beginning, their romance just didn't make any sense and it could have been done
better. When Helen and Lucas first meet, Helen tackles (yes, the girl attacks the guy) and they have an
instant hatred for each other. WHAT? That makes no sense. WHY? Why the hate,
people? The reader goes on wondering this for a good chunk of the book. That's
way too long, and I still had a problem with when they DID fall in love. Their
sudden transition from hate to love was spontaneous and didn't make much sense
at all.
Aside
from the negative, everything else was pretty nice and solid. The Greek
Mythology was really fantastic and interesting, probably the best part of the
book! I always love reading about different authors' views on mythology, and I
couldn't have loved Miss Angelini's mythology more. It was great! The plot was
very fabulous as well. I wasn't expecting mystery and thrill. Alas, Josephine
Angelini adds it in there and it's done very well! Her crafting of plot line
was exciting with tons of plot twists and shocking scenes.
Starcrossed
is overall a solid Greek mythology novel--while the romance and characters were
certainly baffling, Starcrossed proved to be a great story with exciting scenes
and entertaining Greek mythology elements thrown in. Definitely recommended for
readers who want to try out a good mythology if they won't mind the romance.
Audiobook Review: The audio was.. Alright. Could have been better, but
I'm not complaining. It's long though, so I think it's probably faster and it's
easier to understand if the reader physically reads it.
3.5 Teacups for Starcrossed!
Posts
Jen, this review is so spot on! Halfway through the book, I felt like I needed a freaking character list or something to keep up with all the characters. There. Were. So. Many. And the romance was befuddling as well. I saw what the author was trying to do, but I just seriously disliked the way it was executed. But the mythology was neat, and I enjoyed the twist on it. And this book definitely have a ton of great twists and shockers!
ReplyDeleteLovely review, Jen, as always. <3
Fab review, Jen! I have been meaning to read this book for a while, I keep seeing it everywhere but have been hesitant to buy it. One of my pet peeves in books is when there are so many pointless characters so I can understand why this would annoy you. I'm glad you liked it overall though :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'll pick this up, simply because I've read so many mythology infused novels before and am a little tired of them by now, but this does still sound interesting. If it's so big, though, I doubt I'll get myself to read it. I'm still having a staring match with Game of Thrones because it's so huge! ;) I really enjoyed this review, though, Jen! Wonderful!(:
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of mythology stories and this one never really did appeal to me. I met the author at a signing and she was very sweet but the way she described this turned me off the story. Especially when she said she was more into the world building than the characters. I'm a character driven reader and the world building always takes 2nd place to me so I was not interested after that. Plus, this is a LONG book. I'd have to be fully invested to spend so much time on it. Great review Jen, as always. :)
ReplyDeleteI probably wouldn't enjoy this now (comparing it to everything else in the genre I've read since, I can see that it might not do it for me a second time around), but I liked it at the time. Although you had some issues with it - and you make a very valid point about the hate! - I'm glad you liked it well enough to give it 3.5 stars. Lovely review as always! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you ended up enjoying this book. It was definitely one of my favourite books coming from 2011. A real solid greek mythology book - finally! Lovely review!
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoyed this book and found it so easy to read. However I preferred the second with the introduction of the amazing Orion who blows Lucas out of the water, let's just say.
ReplyDeleteI've been curious about this book, and like you I thought it was some kind of epic love story with awesome Greek mythology added into the mix. I think I'll still pick it up, but with lower expectations. Thanks for the honest review. :)
ReplyDeleteThese covers have always come across as pretty to me but I have to admit I was never very interested in reading them. I'm not sure they are my thing, I have been having bad luck with Greek mythology books lately which is sad, because the ones I read closer to starting my blog I loved. The tackling sounds a little odd. I am glad that you enjoyed it overall though!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you enjoyed this marginally more than I did. It was a decent read, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me as well. I loved the Greek mythology aspect, but I couldn't connect with all of the characters. I think Hector was probably one of my favourite. At some point I will get around to reading the sequel, though. Lovely review, Jen. :)
ReplyDeleteMan, I would have no idea what to make of that romance either! That's just odd. What a shame that this one didn't quite live up to its awesome potential because it seems like it really could've been epic. That said, despite the flaws it does seem like people generally enjoy themselves with this one so that's good at least. I would say I would give it a try if it weren't so dang long that I don't think I would have time for it. I really enjoyed this review though!!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I can see how so many characers thrown in the first installment might be too much and not work at all. I'd probably get confused too. I like relationships that start as antagonistic, but there needs to be some reason behind it, not first hate, then love, when neither makes much sense.
ReplyDeleteI never even considered reading this one, to be honest, but now I know it's not for me.
Great review!