Title: There Once Were Stars Edited by: Melanie McFarlane Rating: 3/5 Stars Genre: YA Dystopian Publisher: Random House Publication Date: April 26 2016 How Did I Get This Book: ARC for Review Format: Paperback Why Did I Read This Book: The tag line "Love, Peace, Order, Dome" really struck me. It reminded me of "Under the Dome" by Stephen King which I enjoyed so I was excited for a dystopian YA version! Review Written By: Elizabeth |
Review
Nat, for me, is an extremely irritating character. Two love interests enter her life and the entire novel she is going back and forth between the two, she can never make up her mind! She is probably the most wishy washy character I have ever seen. . . and that says a lot. . . I read YA lol. One of the love interests was pretty much insta-love and that was insanely annoying! Her actions seriously confused me one minute she would be upset or shocked at an event and the next she would go along as if nothing happened I was pretty much like WTF the whole time when it came to Nat.
The two love interests. . . ugh!! One was Nat's lifelong childhood friend but his obsession with her was truly disturbing he was completely brainwashed by the Axis (the government that rules the dome) and I hate how he made Nat feel so guilty that she didn't reciprocate his feelings. The other one wasn't so bad, just the insta love annoyed the hell out of me. . . like you have known her for a week and spend maybe a couple hours with her in total and you are so in love. . . ??? Also he keeps secrets from her that are completely unnecessary and then all at once will tell her all of his secrets. . . I just didn't get it!
Obviously the characters were worse than poor in my opinion and do not even get me started on the character development to say the least there was none. BUT, I really did like the world that McFarlane created. Other than Under the Dome by Stephen King I have never seen a dystopian like this, and if you have read Under the Dome you can tell pretty early on in this novel the only thing these two book have in common is a dome, but the government and the inner-workings of this society were really interesting. The way that everyone had a specific task and specific way they contributed to society reminded me a lot of The Giver. I am a sucker for a well rounded dystopian world and this book had all the aspects I look for in such book, intrigue, rebellion, and dedication of the citizens to make their lives better. There were twists and turns that had me on the edge of my seat and a few of the plot points had me genuinely surprised! The ending was exactly what I needed out of this book, it would be nice to have a novella to see where the characters ended up but to me this was a great ending for a stand a lone dystopian!