When I first read this summary, I knew I wanted to read this book ASAP! I love a good space adventure, and I love how some robot and AI elements were included in this. I was also getting some major Cinder vibes and I was totally down for that.

The characters in this book are super lovable, and I grew to love them all throughout the book. There was also a strong plot and great-world building, which are essentials for any good sci-fi. However, there was only one problem that I had with this book. I feel like this story would have done much better as two or three books instead of one. The story and characters were too complex to be fully developed in only 316 pages, and the ending felt super rushed. Which was super disappointing, because the beginning was so good!

Overall, I wish that the authors would have given this story justice and developed it more, but in the end I enjoyed reading it, and it was a fun read.

Yes, this is another space book! I'm kinda really just crazy for space books right now. (Haha) This crazy space story is a page-turner. I always wanted to know what would happen next. The world building is my favorite part of this book, the writing just paints this world with starts and action scenes.

Leo is my favorite characters. I enjoyed the story more whenever he was in the scenes. I don't know why he just lightings the story.

This story is great. I enjoyed the 'space life'. I do wish there was a little more about the technology used in this world. There is a little bit of love that never overpowered the story.

The push and pull between humans and mocks is what makes this book. The line between humans and mocks. And how the roles switch throughout the story makes it an interesting read. The main message I get from this read is that friendship and love will and can happen wherever, that it doesn't matter your skin or race.

If Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza and Amid Stars and Darkness by Chani Lynn Feener had a baby it would be something like Our Dark Stars.

I hope there is going to be a book two!

This was a fun Sleeping Beauty in space story. It's a fairly quick read. There was plenty of information to make a good guess as to a few big reveals in the story. The romance is nicely done and develops a bit, so no insta-love.

I really liked that the story was told from the two points of views of the main characters, which allowed me to understand more about what was going on in the character's thoughts than they knew about each other. I also liked how Talia and Will's stories mirrored each other in some ways. Everything that they did made sense based on their experiences and personalities.

I thought there were a few really nice touches, such as having Talia's junior companion's name be the reverse of Talia's. A few things threw me off. The mocks sometimes seemed expressionless and at other times they seemed as though they couldn't control their reactions. Also, this is probably just me, but every time I read the word "mock" it threw me out of the story a little bit, especially when talking about things like a crowd that "had formed an impenetrable mock barrier." I almost wish there had been another word to describe the mechanical people.

The world-building was good. There were a few places where I would have liked some more detail (for example, do mock children jump from body to body every few years, or do they have to stay children for a long time?), but the settings were easy to visualize. Also, I was a little foggy on how sentience spread through the mocks. Were they always that way and simply hiding it, or was there a transformation somewhere along the line? I didn't need that information, but it would have rounded out the story a bit more for me.

It looks as though this was written as a stand alone story. It has a good feeling of closure to it. At the same time, I could see where the story could be expanded if the authors chose to do so.

If you liked Invictus or Cinder, then this book is definitely for you!

A rag tag crew aboard a spaceship finds a strange item floating in space that could be captain Will Perrault's ticket back into the queens good graces.

There is action immediately and it never really lets up, which I truly enjoyed. Additionally the dual perspective of Talia and Will transitioned smoothly and I was never confused about who's perspective I was reading from.

I truly hope that there is a second book that will be released, because this world is definitely one worth diving more into and seeing how things play out for the characters.

Talia is a Starchaser. Eldest sibling in an ailing dynasty her 18th birthday should be a time to celebrate, however, it marks her shift in adulthood and sovereign in waiting. Her first task? She must accept a betrothal to the cruel Cassius, a lesser match but from a planet rich with Ore. Up until this time Talia has had a steadfast companion to share her dream, not a human but a "mock." a humanoid droid named Ailat. When Cassius forces her to chose between saving her family and saving her best friend, Talia makes the only choice she believes she can. Her choice is far reaching and through a series of events Talia finds herself in an escape pod, floating into space.

100 years later, Will Perrault and his rag tag crew of misfits are on the hunt for salvage and after discovering Talia's pod they suddenly discover that they are targets with some very high profile hunters on their tail. A lot has changed since that fateful night for Talia and the tables have turned completely as mock became master and human became slave. As Talia awakes she cannot even begin to comprehend what has happened. As the truth of both the length of time Talia has been in stasis and the uprising of the mocks unfolds before her, Talia must fight to put right the wrongs of that terrible night.

Our Dark Stars is a gorgeous read, from the beautiful cover design to the words themselves. Talia is a wonderful character, full of both strength and vulnerability, she is able to hold her own and put aside her fears and grief to put right her wrongs. The chapters covering the fateful night 100 years prior are full of real heart pounding and also heartbreaking moments as Talia must choose between loyalty to her family and loyalty to her friend. Will's crew are a great bunch of characters, if you were a fan of the show Firefly you will find a lot to love with them as they bring humour to the darker sides of this story

Whilst I saw the reveal coming a mile off, it didn't spoil the enjoyment of the moment, which was terrifying in the face of how Talia came to be in that position. Our Dark Stars has some truly epic moments from space battles to strip clubs, but it is also a story about friendship, betrayal and redemption and how hope can be found in the most unlikely of places.

I really loved this book, I read it in 2 sittings and struggled to put it down. It's such an easy read, page after page just flow together - i'm glad the story was rounded off well but i'm also intrigued that there could be more of these characters story to come.

This book was intriguing right from the start. The chapters alternate between the two main characters, Will and Talia. I really enjoyed the first 10 chapters that went back and forth from Talia's past to the future with Will. It gave you the back story in a very interesting way. I liked both characters quite a bit right away. Will is a quick thinking thrill seeking half-mock. He often takes risks and his human side makes him emotional for a mock. He often has a difficult time fitting in because he is constantly denying one side of who he is. Talia went from someone you felt empathy for, to acting like an entitled princess, to someone you rooted for. I really enjoyed all of the changes she went through throughout the book. She really grew a lot as a character. The rest of characters was fantastic as well. The villain of this story is pretty predictable, but you can really understand how it happened. That was one of the things I really loved about this book, you could understand and sympathize with each of the characters. This is a wonderful read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys Sci-Fi!
I received an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review from Blaze Publishing via NetGalley.

4.5 stars

I hardly ever read Sci-Fi and I think I can count all my Sci-Fi reads on the fingers of one hand, which is why I didn’t really have high expectations when going into this book. But man, was I pleasantly surprised! Reading this story was so much fun!

In this dual perspective novel, we follow Talia, a human princess, and Will, a half human/half mock starship captain, who forge an unlikely alliance after Talia is awoken from her cyosleep a hundred years after humankind’s dominion over mocks was destroyed. Granted, the premise of the story doesn’t sound very new or original but I had such a good time reading this.
I really liked the way the authors introduced all the characters, the pace of the story, and the conclusion. Yes, the book does have some weaknesses. I had some issues with certain plot elements that seemed just way too convenient and the side characters were a little flat. I really would have liked to see more of this world and our crew, to have them fleshed out more but at the same time, it felt SO good for this to be such a short and quick read. Other authors could (annoyingly) have drawn this out into a trilogy but here we have this standalone (with potential to be continued) that manages to cover the whole story and be wholly entertaining in just over 300 pages.

I thought the writing style was smooth, funny, and fast paced without seeming rushed. And I very much appreciated the fact that our heroes don’t fall into each other’s arms three pages after they meet. Talia is a tough heroine that doesn’t whine, complain, or fawn over boys all the time but not unrealistically so. She is strong but not completely unreasonably badass. Will is sassy but not annoyingly so, and his inner conflict that makes him even more likable. They do have a quite immediate attraction but none of that nausea causing complete insta-love, where they cannot stop admiring each other’s muscles and curves every 1.5 pages. So, definitely well done!

Summing up, I had a great time reading this story, my only critique being that it could have been a little longer to give it more depth. If you like Sci-Fi and are looking for a quick, entertaining YA read, definitely check this out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest opinion!

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
This story is a SciFi retelling of Beauty and The Beast with tons of unique twists and turns.
This was my first book by this author,  It was alit different then I expected, However  I enjoyed it, It was fast paced for the most part but at times it felt slow and just alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a 3.5 star rating!