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A review by dbguide2
All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was really hoping to absolutely love this one as it seemed to have cool things – pirates, tons of magic, immense world-building. And a mermaid to boot! Unfortunately I soon realised it wasn’t going that way, but also that I still liked it enough to carry on. 3 stars for both books, which is totally fine!
I think it was a mixture of Grace wanting to do absolutely everything plus it’s her debut novel. To me it just didn’t just work out although I will commend her for trying to do a lot. In my opinion debut authors do tend to cram so many things in their debuts – either because they aren’t sure if they’ll get another one or they want to prove themselves. Grace is a good author, yes, but I think she just tried too much here (I hope it’s not a recurring theme as I have another of her books to read).
I’d say it was also a combination of the characters, the plot, and world-building – all too much and not well-managed. Maybe others felt differently (as is their right). There are seven versions of magic, and all very complicated (to understand). Maybe if there were only 3 or 5 (ways of magic) or still seven just not so big. The world-building goes along with the magic system – in that it’s confusing (but also they are tied together). I didn’t understand much of it and that confusion carried on into the second book. Plus because it’s so linked to Amora, whom I started to like less, I sort of didn’t want to pay a lot of attention (whoops).
Most of the characters were okay but I didn’t really feel connected to them. I didn’t like Ferrick at the start but I realised that was mainly the narrator’s voice for him – it made him so whiny and annoying. Ferrick’s personality and voice (both written and verbal) definitely improved for the second book. I liked Bastien and Amora but as the books went on I liked them less (no real reasons). Vataea, the mermaid, was probably my most-liked alongside Ferrick. I did get the feeling she was mostly there to play against Amora but I like that they became friends. They could’ve easily made them jealous of each other. Plus she did have a full personality other than just “pretty and magic”.
I think it was a mixture of Grace wanting to do absolutely everything plus it’s her debut novel. To me it just didn’t just work out although I will commend her for trying to do a lot. In my opinion debut authors do tend to cram so many things in their debuts – either because they aren’t sure if they’ll get another one or they want to prove themselves. Grace is a good author, yes, but I think she just tried too much here (I hope it’s not a recurring theme as I have another of her books to read).
I’d say it was also a combination of the characters, the plot, and world-building – all too much and not well-managed. Maybe others felt differently (as is their right). There are seven versions of magic, and all very complicated (to understand). Maybe if there were only 3 or 5 (ways of magic) or still seven just not so big. The world-building goes along with the magic system – in that it’s confusing (but also they are tied together). I didn’t understand much of it and that confusion carried on into the second book. Plus because it’s so linked to Amora, whom I started to like less, I sort of didn’t want to pay a lot of attention (whoops).
Most of the characters were okay but I didn’t really feel connected to them. I didn’t like Ferrick at the start but I realised that was mainly the narrator’s voice for him – it made him so whiny and annoying. Ferrick’s personality and voice (both written and verbal) definitely improved for the second book. I liked Bastien and Amora but as the books went on I liked them less (no real reasons). Vataea, the mermaid, was probably my most-liked alongside Ferrick. I did get the feeling she was mostly there to play against Amora but I like that they became friends. They could’ve easily made them jealous of each other. Plus she did have a full personality other than just “pretty and magic”.