This was a book I had to sit back and digest once finished...the pace was non-stop and Yaz our protagonist is faced with challenge after challenge until the climactic finish.
Yaz is part of the Ictha tribe, one of four who live on the Ice of the dying world of Abeth. On the Ice you can't be too fast, too big, too weak or just different. Every four years children are taken to Black Rock and there they are judged by the regulator Kazik and if deemed Broken and pushed into the Pit. Yaz at 16 is on her second judgment and she is different - she fears her fate.
It is her brother Zeen who is pushed and on impulse Yaz follows him with an unwavering desire to save him. Beneath the Ice Yaz is taken in by the Broken and finds a world which turns the view she believed to be true on the Ice on its head. Here Yaz discovers she is a Quantal, gifted to work greater magics and walk the path. Wherever she goes the star stones glow brighter and over the days spent underground Yazs power grows.
Yaz discovers Zeen has been taken by the Tainted, containing shadows of the Missing who are their ancestors. To save him she must venture into the City guarded by mechanical hunters to find a star stone of sufficient size to drive out the shadows.
In the city Yaz meets Erris,who shows her a different world than the ice and who continues her awakening to a different way of being.
This is set in the same world as the Book of the Ancestors series. All views are my own and thanks to #NetGalley for providing the arc.

The Girl and the Stars is one of those books that just takes your breath away with it’s outstanding world building and deeply thought out characters. Yaz is such a brilliant character, selfless and determined, I was instantly drawn to her drive and hope. She doesn’t give up nor does she accept her fate. She is her own creation, a change maker and is a spark in a room full of tinder.

Children in this world are thrown into a pit if the regulator sees something within them that means they are different or would not survive on the ice. It is seen as a kindness by the tribes on the ice as the world is so bitter and cold that its preferable to dropped into the hole than have the wind take you. No ones knows what happens to the children that are thrown in, the assumption is that they die after they are thrown, but do they?

Yaz, knowing something is wrong with her, feels like her end is coming, that she won’t pass the test and will be thrown in, separated forever from her tribe and the boy who so desperately wants to be with her. She passed her first test and the second will mark her as an adult within the eyes of her tribe, only if she passes. Despite this, her hopes aren’t too high.

What follows the events at Black Rock brings about a change in this harsh world. The missing are more than they seem, tales are told and powers discovered. What has long been believed turns into lies, new relationships are formed, discoveries made and betrayals aplenty.

This world is as beautiful as it is harsh. I love Lawrence’s characterisation, especially with Maya and Erris, I also can’t help but to have a big love for Thurin too! There’s just something about him.

The ending took my breath away and many pages were flipped hoping that wasn’t the end.

A beautiful story and I cannot wait to find out the conclusion. Simply amazing! Easily a five-star read.

The Girl and the Stars carried every inch of intense fantastical world-building and flawed yet utterly human characters in the same way Red Sister did, and I applaud Mark Lawrence for it.
I have yet to find another author who can take me somewhere so vividly different and yet keep close hold of my heart the entire way. And though I did not love Yaz, quite as much as I did Nona (which I believe is rooted more in the growing with Nona we got in the Book of the Ancestor series) I am certain I will be just as obsessive about the rest of the books in her story.

But lets get to the actual review of this book.
As the Book of the Ice is taking place in the world of his former series, there are certain aspects of the world that are already familiar to former readers. However, these are gently introduced again, and somehow I wish that I had gotten to read this story before the one of Nona Grey. But it is still a very deep diving Fantasy with hints of Sci-Fi and dystopia.

Yaz is a beautifully intricate character who is both flawed and strong. And the themes Lawrence explore in the Girl and the Stars are one of great importance - Mainly it seems to be a commentary on how we treat those different to ourselves.

The plot is fast-paced, and well written, and the motly crew which become family though the chapters (even when they are disliked) tells me I am sure to become far too attached to these characters.

However, the book does have a tendency to go off on tangents of morality, about feelings, and choice, which can feel a little bit jarring when you are preparing for a battle to begin on the page before you.
Yaz is introspective and hesitant at times, where I would want her to charge ahead, she doubts her choices and her heart and as a reader you just want her to believe like you do.

I am without question deeply in awe at this masterpiece, and though it did not quite get five stars from me, I can barely contain myself till I hold the next piece of this series in my hands. (which will not come soon enough)

The first book in a new series by the author of Book of the Ancestor series had me hooked from the start. The world-building is incredible; I swear I could see my breath turn to mist as I read about the icy tundra and frozen caves. The descriptions of the landscape and lifestyle are closely entwined with the story so that I never felt overwhelmed with pages and pages of information.
The story focuses on Yaz and how her understanding of the world is challenged following the annual sacrifice, where the weak are cast out and only the strong survive. Whilst she is not (yet at least) the complex character that Nona (introduced in 'The Red Sister') is, I hope that her character grows and develops as the series progresses. She is an interesting and brave heroine and the shock she experiences at the close of this first book had me gasping along with her. Roll on book 2.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the copy in return for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the eArc.

Unfortunately, this book just didn't click with me. I've been wanting to read Mark Lawrence for years now and Harper Voyager has monopolized my shelves, so this should have been a jackpot.

Sadly something just put me off. Perhaps it was the flowery prose and the endless descriptions, or the odd pacing. I neither cared about nor was able to remember who the characters were.

It had very typical YA tropes, the "not like other girls" girl rising and leading despite others being better suited. The 3 people in love with her after knowing her for 5 minutes. The Lord of the Flies plot sort of recycled (Maze Runner under the ice).

The worldbuilding was gorgeous executed, very vivid and atmospheric, and the traditions and physiology of the people were creative and interesting, but the magic system was very confusing and just dropped in the story.

Perhaps this should be read only after reading The Book of the Ancestors trilogy (which I still plan on doing), however it's unlikely for me to try again since I was not gripped, on the contrary, quite bored and starting to skim read it.

DNF at 25%

Overall
Loved it! My favourite part was how the world unfolded around the story. Yes, the characters were good too, but there were too many people interested in Yaz as if she was the only girl there. Also, I didn't feel like I got to know the characters. I thought I did when I read the book, but then I sat don't to write the review and I don't know them. I have very little to say about them. I know stuff they do but I can't describe their personality. I'm not sure why.

I love the story and the road it took. I was constantly reminded after she jumped, that this world is so much bigger and the scheme is so much grander than this first book/story. I could visualise there being a whole series from this world and I loved that. Several points in the story came unexpected and I didn't understand Yaz decisions but quickly after her decision comes clear. It left me on my toes.

Worldbuilding
The world-building in this book is special to me. It's amazing how the author has described a world which doesn't contain much but as the story unfolds so does the world. There are layers to this world I didn't even know I missed. I thought we were in a certain type of universe but turns out we were a lot closer to home (*dramatic music; da-da-DAAAA!*)

The Magic
The magic in here is bedded on elemental magic but at the same time very original. It's divided into groups but the groups themselves and their powers are fairly original. There are 4/5 different kinds. Some people can bend elements to their will. Some can bend shadows around themselves. or like Yaz see the road in the world which connects everything which also means she can control the start used as light below the ice. Something no one else can.

Summary
Definitely reading more by Mark Lawrence! and continuing with this series. This book ends on a small cliff hanger and I want to know what happens after. I want to know if Yaz goes to find this other essence. And I loved Erris!

Mark Lawrence is one of those fantasy authors for whom I have heard and read magnificent things, so as soon as I heard he had a brand new series coming out I thought it was my time to jump into the bandwagon.

The Girl and the Stars is the first in the Book of the Ice series, which is set in the same world as the Book of the Ancestor series. Not having read the latter, I probably missed out on some of the references, but The Girl and the Stars can be perfectly read without any prior knowledge of Lawrence's universe.

I really liked the general premise of the story and many of the ideas presented and explored in the novel. A fantasy world set on ice (and the ruthless world beneath it), with a female character who wants to escape the set path that has been prepared for her and find her own calling, while going against the corrupt dominant hierarchy sounds nothing but compelling. I enjoyed Lawrence's writing style and the book was for the most part filled with action scenes and a very intriguing world.

However, I found myself feeling bored several times while reading this novel. Some of the passages seemed way too descriptive than they should be and some descriptions just went on for ever. Yaz, the main female lead, although initially presented as a strong and quick-witted character, very quickly turned into a character whose actions were compulsive and dangerous to everyone, and without any hint of thought process behind them. I also disliked how three of the male characters seem to be attracted to her, two of them after only knowing her for a few hours - it just didn't seem natural at all.

Even though it wasn't the mind-blowing read I expected, I overall enjoyed reading The Girl and the Stars, despite its shortcomings. I will probably read the second book as well when it comes out, since this one ended on a cliffhanger and I would like to see how the story and the characters progress.

It can’t be a surprise this review is coming given that Mark Lawrence’s previous three fantasy trilogies all make it into my favourites all the time. Something between a squeal and a yelp escaped when I saw The Girl and the Stars available on Netgalley and I was ready for another adventure in the icy world of Abeth.

I love the uniqueness of the world that’s created. While we get to know it a little in the Holy Ancestor trilogy, this time we’re venturing out into the ice: the unknown, the deadly cold and the place where survival depends on whether you’re strong enough to brave the cold – and pass the regulator’s test. It’s a brutal type of existence, but it is all Yaz has known and thinks she wants until her life is turned upside down – quite literally.

I loved returning to the magic of this world, with different characteristics lending characters abilities: speed, size or magic of a deeper sort. Our main character is a quantal: she can handle magic in not so much a physical way, but a more magical way, manipulating the mysterious “stars”, a source of light and warmth but with a deadly power of being able to crack even the toughest of minds.

Numerous secondary characters display the other abilities though, giving the reader a good understanding of what everyone can do even if they hadn’t been introduced to the concepts in Holy Ancestor.

What’s always made these books for me is the characterisations. Yaz is powerful; she’s also vulnerable. She’s thrust into a world she doesn’t understand (more than once) and is terrified for her life and the lives of her friends. She never stops fighting, though, never stops trying to find a way to save as many as possible. She’s never too powerful; never too weak; never relying too much on others; but never trying to do everything herself. You relate to the characters and, to be honest, you hope to heck you’d react in a similar situation.

The other characters are also intriguing and they all bring out the best and worst in Yaz, pushing her to be the best she can be, even if it is just to prove it to herself that she can handle this.

As with other books by this author, there’s never just one bad guy. We’ve got a demon infecting innocent people to try and find the missing part of himself. We’ve got an ambitious leader trying to take over a group of people. A more conventional bad guy on the surface pulling more strings than he has a right to hold. Oh, and there may be some kind of monster destroying a city that is sentient. Every chapter throws the suspense and the impossible at both the characters and the readers.

A breath-taking read that I couldn’t get through quickly enough. I had my hand over my mouth for the final chapter, and finished the book swearing out loud. Best reaction in my books!

Yaz is different in a community which abhors dissimilarities. She has resigned herself to the life of an outcast that will be cut short as she is sacrificed to the Pit of the Missing. But this is not what happens. Instead it is her solid and dependable brother who finds himself thrown over the pit's edge and Yaz, in a tumult of emotions, races along after him and journeys in the dark unknown world that is waiting for them both there.

This is set in the world of Lawrence's Book of the Ancestor series, which I concluded reading last month and absolutely adored. I could not imagine giving this anything but the same stellar ratings, but, despite the many similarities, this felt like a very different style of book.

Many of the world politics and fantastical systems, which were very prominent towards the end of the Book of the Ancestor series, were further explored here. I found them fascinating and greatly admired the complexity of their creation. It did, however, make this largely feel like a slower-paced and theoretically-focused read. Action does pick up and begin to dominate again, towards the dramatic ending, but the majority did feel far more focused on the workings of this world, rather than an exploration of it.

This in-depth focus was not a negative point for me. Lawrence's creation of world and character were so sublime as to make me adore his writing, regardless of the where the focus lay. Yaz, like his previous Nona, was also a brilliant badass of a perspective, through which we view the world, and I'm anticipating many deadly adventures in her future.

Mark Lawrence proved that the strongest heroines are not selfish, but full of heart. He created a terrifying world with fantastic and diverse characters that kept me tense from the beginning until the end.

Full review is available at:
https://somanybooksnighty.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/review-the-girl-and-the-stars-by-mark-lawrence/

I try not to go into books with high expectations, but it's pretty difficult to do that with an author like Mark Lawrence; it seems as though everyone and their goldfish loves him. I really wanted to swim along with everyone and their goldfish in this bowl of joy, but I felt absolutely nothing aside from embarrassed that I'm clearly not part of the cool club!

The answer to why is really obvious to me and is completely specific to what type of reader you are, I think. I rely upon fantastic character development and endearing friendships and growth between characters to form any connection to a story. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate great world building, I absolutely do, and this novel has it in spades. But it does mean that even the most fantastic world won't stick with me after I finish reading if the characters don't dance around in my mind or feel tangible to me.

Unfortunately, in the gloriously barren and terrifyingly bleak land east of the Black Rock where broken children are thrown through a hole in the ice to fend for themselves or die, none of the characters resonated with me at all.

I think the concept is fascinating and is super thought provoking without being suffocating and deliberate. The world composed of ice feels enormous, treacherous and genuinely quite scary and proves that survival isn't always about being the fittest. In fact, survival in this world requires resilience, bravery and a small amount of bull-headed stupidity. Basically, you need to be a Gryffindor to make it!

I really liked the subtle questions, the bleak world and the genuine fear I felt towards the monsters Mark Lawrence created. But the story centres around Yaz, a girl who willingly follows her brother through the hole for broken children, to then spend a large amount of time looking for him. She meets outcasts, a variety of people of almost mythical proportion, and learns what it really means to be resilient. Which is cool, but I didn't care for her. There was no hope for the secondary characters either, because she was the most well imagined of the bunch!

I think something was just missing for me, more so than just a host of characters I grew to love. I went into this book with high expectations, presuming this to be quite a dense adult fantasy of epic proportions. But I didn't feel like it was those things and instead it just left me feeling a bit flat.

ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am a massive fan of Mark Lawrence’s previous series which is set in the exact same world as this one and I was so excited to read more about this intriguing world.

What I love most about this book (and the other series) is that it borders on sci-fi, fantasy and a dystopian (due to spoilery theories that I won’t mention here).

This was a fantastic book, which I must recommend to any one who’s a fan of fantasy, excellently crafted world building, and fantastic characters.

I can’t wait for the sequel!

The Girl and the Stars is full of amazing worldbuilding. There’s little fat to the writing as it drops us straight into a frozen landscape and the harsh conditions faced by its protagonist. It’s a dark world, where little is fair and choices are even harder for Yaz, a young girl of the Ictha tribe. When she decides to save her brother from the Pit, she discovers worlds hidden beneath the ice along with terrible secrets and frightening truths.

Yaz is of the Ictha tribe, a tribe that endures. But she knows that next time they go to the gathering her fate will be to be cast down into the Pit of the Missing, for her difference. Because when she can't endure, Yaz has a secret that helps her to carry on, one that sets her apart and makes her different. But being different is dangerous when you live on the ice, so Yaz knows that she must go.
Down in the pit, Yaz learns a lot about her culture and also about what is wrong with it. She learns of her own abilities that set her apart from her tribe and yet give her the strength to bring change.
Others are in the pit, some to be feared, some to protect, some to fight for freedoms sake.
Yaz has to struggle for every bit of information that she gleans and is presented with difficult choices throughout her time in the pit.
I liked Yaz's independence and analytical approach to changing her circumstances. The story is well written.
This story would suit those who like futuristic or Dystopian style books.

Yaz is a girl of the ice and cold. Her people live in an eternal winter, where plants are virtually unknown and savage weather is the norm. It is all she has ever known. It is all she expects to know until the day she dies.

Once every four years her people gather with other tribes to meet at a sacred place. There, children are evaluated. Those deemed unfit to live on the ice are pushed down a hole, never to be seen again. That is simply the way of things. Yaz has already survived this once. She does not expect to survive again.

Somehow, though, she does survive. She is set aside to stand apart from the rest, not returned to her family or tribe and not cast into the pit. Right behind her in line is her younger brother. Zeen stands before the man for a moment. Then, with a sudden movement, Zeen is pushed into the pit.

And Yaz jumps in after him.

What follows is a thrilling fantasy adventure. Yaz faces cannibals, monsters beyond imagination, humans tainted by demons beyond recognition, and her own fears and weaknesses. She finds friends in unlikely places, gets help from surprising sources, and discovers powers within her she never imagined were possible. Throughout, her guiding star is rescuing Zeen. That goal shapes every decision and often leads her to try things that take her and her friends into harm’s way.

Lawrence does a great job balancing between white-knuckled adventure and beautiful scene-setting and informational sections. Rather than interrupt the flow of the action, I found that it served to heighten the anticipation. Yaz is a young woman coming of age through this novel. Like any teenager, sometimes her decisions are wise beyond her years and sometimes they are infuriatingly silly. As she matures, though, those impulsive and childish decisions become replaced by someone who embraces her role as a woman of power, a leader of others, a force to be feared and respected.

The Girl and the Stars is the first in a new fantasy series. Author Lawrence has laid an amazing foundation in this novel. There are plenty of threads to be woven into the future installments, but this novel ends on a cliffhanger that is both satisfying and frustrating. Satisfying, because the turn at the end tied up the action neatly in this book. Frustrating, because it’s a cliffhanger! I want to know what happens next! I suspect this book will find its way to the YA shelves, but this middle-aged reviewer is waiting impatiently as well.

Like everyone, I will have to wait for his next book to come out. I am very eager to find out what happens to Yaz and her friends.

DNF at 50%.

I've been looking to try a Mark Lawrence book for a while, having heard he does a nice line in gritty fantasy. So, when I had the chance to check out an ARC of his latest I jumped at it.

Unfortunately, the book just didn't click for me and I've decided to slop slogging through and put it aside.

Sometimes the connection between a particular author and reader just isn't there and that's the case this time. There were points the book almost grabbed me, but I never felt excited about picking the book up again.

I know this book is tangentially related to some other Mark Lawrence works, so I'm not sure if that was a factor in me finding it a slog. Certainly there were sections I found quite confusing.

Probably my main issue was that the book felt a little too pacy. There was very little breathing space, so our hero falls down a hole into a strange new world, then 5 minutes later falls into another strange place, etc, etc. It felt like plot developments were crashing down one on top of another without giving the reader time to absorb and reflect.

The world building was interesting and I'm sure the book will have lots of fans - happy reading to you but this one wasn't for me.

The Girl and the Stars is set in the same world as The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, but you do not have to read the previous series to fully appreciate this but you may love it just a bit more .

As this was the case for me, this story follows the story of Yaz who lives in a frozen land with the tribe of Ictha.

Before she’s allowed to reach adulthood she must be tested and if she fails she’ll be thrown into the Blackhole in the ground.

This book was magnificent and just kept getting better and better as it went on, it was a fantastic discovery of self strength and self-discovery, with the most beautiful worldbuilding and the story was amazing.

I honestly can’t wait to get started on the book of the ancestors series ,if its anything like this book i know ill be blown away by it .

Like the previous trilogy set in the same world the story opens with a shock that reorders the world around the heroine. From there the story is a little more picaresque than our previous visit to Abeth and though much of the world is familiar this tale is more of a journey of discovery compared to the violent Mallory Towers of the xSisters books. What is very much the same is the quality of both the story and the writing that delivers it. Lawrence has come a long way since his gut churning debut and is now easily in the top handful of fantastic fiction writers working today. Unmissable.

2 1/2 stars. The Girl and the Stars is a kind of spin-off series of The Book of the Ancestor trilogy, set in the same universe but years later and with a new cast of characters. You do not necessarily have to have read Red Sister to enjoy it, but it would make some parts of this world and story easier to understand.

I thought the world-building in this book was incredible. The fierce, icy landscape, the history and culture of the ice tribes, the tainted, and the world beneath the ice... I was very into this. I also liked how the book dived into the action and plot right away, unveiling background info alongside the fast-paced bloodshed and fight for survival. No lengthy infodumps to bore us right away.

Yaz interested me in the beginning, too. The book opens with the characters travelling to a ceremony where they will be viewed by a priest who will choose certain members of their tribe (the Ictha) who are deemed unworthy to push down an icy drop. Never to be seen again. Yaz is certain she will be picked, but when the time comes, it is her younger brother Zeen who is shoved into the 'Pit of the Missing'. In a moment of panic, she throws herself after him.

There is something very YA-like about this book, which I wasn't expecting. The young characters, the action-based plot, the motivations, moralizing, and "tone" of the novel, all feel like a book for teens. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I did feel like I was always wanting something deeper; more character-driven. The characters felt a little stock and underdeveloped. Yaz seemed to fit too neatly into a badass YA heroine mold. And no other character was developed or interesting.

For this reason - my lack of connection to the characters - the second half became a bit of a slog for me. The action and world-building kept me turning pages in the first 50% or so, but when I made it halfway without really becoming invested in Yaz's story (and getting a bit annoyed with her, to be honest), no amount of action or fast-pacing could pull me back in.

I did make it to the end, though, and there is a cliffhanger for those who care about that. Maybe if I had adjusted my expectations some I might have enjoyed this more. I had settled in for some detailed, possibly dense, adult fantasy, and got an action-and-thrills YA instead. But I still think I would have needed better characters to fully love it.

The Girl and the Stars is the first book in Mark Lawrence's new epic fantasy series, Book of the Ice. As with his Book of the Ancestor trilogy, it's set in Abeth but (in this novel, at least) there is no crossover between characters and so it's not necessary to have read the previous series. However, I do feel that having read Red Sister helped anchor me into this world perhaps a little more quickly, particularly with regards to the various abilities and magics possessed by some of the characters.
The main character here is Yaz, a young woman on the brink of adulthood who is part of the Ictha tribe who live in the far North. This harshest of frozen landscapes means the tribe value strength and endurance, not individuality but even amongst the tribes who live on the slightly warmer parts of the ice, there is no room for weakness. Yaz should be looking forward to the future but she knows she is different and as the tribes head for the Pit of the Missing, she has accepted her fate as one of the broken children who will be thrown into a hole, sacrificed for the survival of their people.
The opening brilliantly sets the scene for what follows as Yaz and her younger brother Zeen are introduced alongside a riveting description of their surroundings and history. It means that by the time Yaz is facing her judgement, the tension is already high but what happens at the Pit proves to be shocking for everybody present and it's at this point that Yaz becomes not so much a character I pitied as somebody who I immediately became invested in. She is the sole focus of the story and in a book which features a significant amount of world-building, is absolutely engaging throughout - and crucially, somebody who I want to follow as the series progresses.
Most of the action takes place below the ice and the world Mark Lawrence has created here is breathtaking in terms of scope and imagination. Yaz soon joins forces with the Broken, first out of necessity but later as she discovers so much of what she thought was immutable may not be so, she forms important bonds with a small group of them. There are a number of characters introduced and while none are as well-formed as Yaz herself, there are a few who make an impression - most notably the troubled Thurin whose dark experiences are one of the most frightening aspects of the story, and the mysterious Erris whose presence brings an intriguing science-fiction element to this fantasy world. Much of the story revolves around Yaz having to search for someone or something and the nightmarish. labyrinthine city means parts of the novel could perhaps be considered a little repetitive - although I think it's fair to say that this is part of the scene setting which so vividly encapsulates the claustrophobic, terrifying darkness,
The Girl and the Stars is a book of layers and those layers are continually being stripped back to reveal more dark secrets, more astounding revelations and more painful dilemmas. From the elaborate descriptions of this fascinating, dangerous world, to Yaz's gradual discovery of her abilities which means she is almost recreated as a completely different person to the one she starts as, to the nuanced horrors behind the existence of the Broken; this is a fantastic opening to the Book of the Ice series. The combination of the immersive world-building and an engaging, empathetic protagonist in Yaz (whose motivations are refreshingly altruistic rather than in the pursuit of personal gain) ensured I was gripped throughout and am excited to read what comes next. Diverse, complex and provocative - this is why I love reading fantasy! Highly recommended.