Astania Reviews

Kae | Stars Never Lie

TITLE: Stars Never Lie

AUTHOR: 

GENRE: Fantasy

CHAPTERS I'VE READ: 45 (including the epilogue)

Note:

As I have read a significant number of chapters for you, I am changing the requirements of your payment to better reflect what I think would be fair to ask in return. Therefore, payment for you is as follows:

• Follow me (if you so desire, not required).

• Tell me what you think in the comments.

• Choose any story of mine, read five chapters, and leave comments.

If you have any questions about this change, let me know (:

This review details my opinion. At the end of the day, this is your story, and you know it better than anyone. My opinion is merely that, and it is subjective. I perceived it a certain way and you do not have to agree, since it mostly comes down to my preferences.

Spoilers ahead!

I have tried my best to discuss the entire story without divulging the major plot twists. If the summary of the story interests you, I would suggest checking it out.

Plot

The plot kicks off with Pierce and the story's antagonists. I think this opening wants to establish that robots and droids exist, detail the evil of the Great Republic, and introduce us to a character who becomes relevant later. However, I do think it is, perhaps, a bit too much information in chapter one. A lot of terms are being used during it, and it makes it hard to follow. Though not unusual for sci-fi, which I assume is one of this story's sub genres, I had a much easier time understanding the second chapter and connecting to Citlali. Her introduction in the story comes through with a clear motivation to become a pilot, escape her planet, and find a better life for herself. This is good stuff. There's a nice balance between learning about Citlali as a character, learning what she wants, and connecting that to what she doesn't have: love. When her path crosses with the droid, wanted by the Republic, Citlali gets pulled in and whisked along on this journey. It's very clear and engaging. At the midpoint of this plot is where I think the trajectory gets kind of complicated. Citlali meets Avery and somehow escapes the Great Republic, the specifics of which aren't really clear. After that, I feel like the plot ramps up a lot, introducing a lot of ideas at once: Citlali's visions, the saber, Rhys' identity and the Renegades. The story doesn't mention the droid or what it contains for a good while, and while that's fine since Citlali's job is mainly just to keep it safe, I feel like the story has decided to choose a harder path for itself with all of these elements at once.

What I mean by this is that the balance before was that Citlali had one goal—to become a pilot—and the wrench thrown in that plan was that now she has to worry about the droid and what that means. At the midpoint of the story, there's the threat of the Great Republic, the Renegades, June and Aislynn, and Citlali's bonding with Avery. Once Citlali joins the Renegades, her piloting all but ceases, and I think the story should have shown her ceremony when she joins the Renegades, which would slow down the pace of her time with the rebels. She spends the majority of her time with these characters, and yet I'm not sure what she's doing there, other than growing closer to Avery. Does she get to pilot with them still? What kind of work are the Renegades really doing? I wasn't sure. The plot does eventually find its feet again, though I think that because it's trying to juggle so much at once, the main concepts of the droid and Citlali being a pilot aren't mentioned as much as they should have been. I'm not sure why she doesn't find out earlier what the message the droid is carrying says, since that could be something for her to think about for a long time—it is another character that opens the droid for her, and what its message says doesn't come up afterward, in her thoughts or otherwise. The mystery of finding out doesn't have a true payoff where the reader thinks "oh!", since the contents of its message are shown to us, and then in a later scene the reader finds out that the work to decode and complete the message is done. In essence, she could be ruminating on this message for this part of the story, which would not only give the narrative more ways to tie into the visions and show her intellect, and it would also help with the midpoint of the story where she has less to actively accomplish.