The Chaos of Stars

I saw a quote from this book somewhere and it was so beautiful I decided I had to read the book! I am so glad I did! The first few chapters were a little bit slow, but they are important to understand the historical and mythological background of the text. After getting through those first chapters (directly after Isadora moved to San Diego) the book picked up and I couldn\’t stop reading. The beautiful irony of Ry\’s full name was so beautiful that I got chills just thinking about it. His character was so well developed and a large part of how I fell in love with the book. Most romance novels like this are very predictable, and I was confident I had predicted all the events correctly, but was pleasantly surprised by the plot twists in the end! A great read, I would definitely recommend it, and I cant wait to read the rest of her books!!!

I wanted to like this book. I\’d been seeing a few quotes from it for some time – quotes I thought were really beautiful. Aside from those few beautiful phrases, the rest of it was just annoying and it actually took me months to get past the first chapter because I was so unimpressed. Was it a bad read? I wouldn\’t say bad but it wasn\’t great. It\’s definetly Young Adult in my opinion and likely would appeal more towards teens rather than adults. It passed the time for me while I was having a slow night at work. That\’s about the best thing I can say. I\’m considering checking out the author\’s other books though and I\’m hoping maybe they\’ll be better but this was such a let down for me. I\’ll give it two stars and that\’s being generous.

Kiersten White blends ancient mythology and the life of a modern day teen in a way I’ve never seen before. I’ve read modern day retellings of myths and continuations but never anything quite like this. I simply could not get enough! Isadora is the mortal daughter of Egyptian gods. However, she didn’t always know she was mortal. Talk about a rude awakening! I was so fascinated by her life and how her heritage affected her. Seeing her family and their actions through her eyes was a treat. I have to admit, I’m not nearly as “up” on the Egyptian pantheon of gods as the Greek or Roman. The made the excerpts at the beginning of the chapters really helpful. Also, Isadora “tells” them and, as White bestowed her signature humor and wit upon Isadora, each one had me laughing. The story itself kept me engaged and trying to figure out some of the more mysterious aspects of the plot. Having some familiarity with mythology helped me pick up on a couple things but others took me by surprise. Part of it was I just kept getting so distracted by the endearing characters that I forgot I was trying to piece something together! This is certainly not a complaint. I loved the characters and their idiosyncrasies. I was also impressed with how easily I was able to relate to a character who was raised by deities. The overarching theme of family (and trying to find ones place in their own) is something readers can connect with. In the case of The Chaos of Stars, the pleasure you get from the gorgeous cover only hints at the enjoyment to be found in the story it contains. A fun and delightful book. I can’t wait to get the library copy in to share with my students!

I\’ve read another series of White\’s (her Paranormalcy series) and loved it so I wasn\’t surprised by how much I enjoyed this one too! A lot of reviewers mentioned how they hated the main character, but I think their problem is with the fact that she\’s written in an honest way. Isadora is flawed, she doesn\’t know every thing, she has issues. She\’s human! So many authors write a character that\’s either perfect or fits the standard mold that most people rave over. Yes, those characters can be enjoyable, but they aren\’t honest. Human have flaws and issues, and to get along with other humans, we have to accept that. I accepted that about Isadora and loved who she was. She seemed very real to me. I also loved the story. It kept me craving more and more, even when there wasn\’t much happening. I wanted to read a book that made me excited to read again, because it\’s been so long since I felt the passion to just read and read and read. This book did exactly that and it was so wonderful! The story was entertaining, and it was different from anything I\’ve read. Instead of the protagonist that discovers they have powers they never knew of, this story is about coping with the fact you don\’t have powers when everyone else in your family does. The mythology was so fun to read, and it was written in Isadora\’s very entertaining voice which is attitude and humor. By no means was this book boring. It was refreshingly different and incredibly fun to read.

It was a good read and put me in a very good mood. Thank you!

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