This was a very anticipated book for me. I was a little disillusioned by some faerie based books I'd read before.

The world Ashley Shuttleworth has created is very immersive. My interpretation of the text is that the Mortal and Fae and Faerie worlds are all on the same plane of existence existing next to and overlapping each other. The descriptions of the living quarters of the fae and faeries are so decadent: palaces of gold with indoor waterfalls and a forest for a celing, bedrooms with black marbles and a view of a forest at twilight.

Arlo, Nausicaä, Vehan, and Aurelian are all such distinctive characters. Arlo is questioning (later confirmed to be pansexual), Nausicaä is lesbian, Vehan is gay, Aurelian is gay, and Luck is genderfluid. I am not a part of the LGBT+ community, so I recommend you read other reviews.

Overall, there are areas in which Ashley Shuttleworth could improve upon. I would, once again, recommend reading reviews not by me in order to formulate your own opinion.

I received an advanced copy of A Dark and Hollow Star through NetGalley so I could share my review with you!

A faerie prince, a brooding royal retainer, an outcast fury, and an ironborn half-fae without much magic to speak of are the only people who can defend the human and magical kingdoms from a serial killer who’s been picking off humans and ironborn alike. These four each have their own reasons for investigating the killings that have been occurring but find their paths inextricably intertwined when their search for truth begins. As they delve deeper into the dark secrets of the fae world, the quartet of heroes will have to grapple with fate, luck, and scores of other challenges. The fae in power all seem indifferent to these murders, leaving only four teens to find the killer and stop them before they can take even more lives.

You can get your copy of A Dark and Hollow Star today from Margaret K. McElderry Books!

Reading A Dark and Hollow Star felt like living through a one-person Dungeon & Dragons campaign in the best way possible! Each of the leads was incredibly compelling, making this one of the best multi-perspective fantasy novels I’ve ever read. Normally while reading a book with several narrators, I find myself favoring certain character’s perspectives and skimming through others, but that was not the case for A Dark and Hollow Star! I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite character from this fantastic cast. Though this book is over five hundred pages long, I still found myself wishing that there was more to read after the epilogue concluded! I don’t know how I will wait for the sequel to come out in 2022!

My Recommendation-
If you love high-stakes stories told from multiple perspectives, you absolutely need to check out A Dark and Hollow Star! This book would be a great read for people who enjoy stories chock full of fae magic and witty dialogue! I would especially recommend A Dark and Hollow star to fans of Gideon the Ninth and Six of Crows!

This story follows three fae teens (and one prickly immortal) as they band together to solve the mystery of who’s responsible for the serial murders of half-human, half-fae children. Along the way, there’s friendship, romance, and plenty of fantasy geekery!

I wasn’t expecting so much worldbuilding from an urban fantasy, but the lush world of the fae courts totally drew me in and made me want to visit! It was really interesting to learn how these magical locations fit in with the city of Toronto, where most of the novel is set.

The cast of characters were all super loveable, but by far my favorite was Nausicaä, the stabby lesbian ex-Fury who always has the perfect comeback. I was SCREAMING at some of her lines of dialogue! Plus she said “holy forking shirt” at one point, which made me instantly decide this was gonna be a five star read (seriously there are pop culture references aplenty in this book that will appease any geek!)

Overall, this was a bit of a chonky boi, but it’s worth every page! There’s humor, grit, and a healthy dose of fandom influence to please any YA fantasy fan. Now if a Titan can come and bestow the sequel upon me right now, that would be great :P

I really wanted to like this one. The cover is visually stunning. The premise is interesting. I found the characters, while interesting, to be not that diverse. There are too many different point-of-views. I found myself having trouble distinguishing each character from one another. The world and magic system were pretty confusing. The writing style made it frustrating to read. Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for providing me with an eARC of “A Dark and Hollow Star” by Ashley Shuttleworth through Netgalley for an honest review!!

a dark and hollow star was absolutely amazing. I loved the different character points of views, the queer rep!!!!!! And the fast-paced speed at which this book went. Sadly I had a bit of trouble getting through the netgalley edition because the formatting kept messing up.

But overall I loved this book. And shockingly the modern setting didn’t ruin it for me.

A huge thank you to Simon and Schuster, Ashley Shuttleworth, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I've seen so many glowing reviews for this book, and I wasn't disappointed. This book had me hooked right away, wanting to learn more, get to know all the characters and get more information ASAP. The fantasy elements are so well done, it was a pleasure to read.

The pacing was great and I absolutely loved the characters, our little band of misfits.

I definitely enjoyed this book and absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy so that I can read this all over again.

I enjoyed reading this book. It’s about four teenager who live in a world where the fae folks and humans are separated but one day a series of murders start to appear which is forcing the Faes to expose themselves. Now Arlo, Nos, Vehan and Aurelian must work together to track down who is killing the humans so a war doesn’t start.

I enjoyed reading this book. I loved all the different identities defined in this book like Arlo is pansexual, Nos is a lesbian, Vehan is bisexual, etc. I haven’t read a book where most of LGBTQ+ reps are involved in one book. Not only that but I enjoyed the author’s writing with the world building and story structure. The adventures and action in this book were so fun to follow and very enjoyable. Another amazing thing was that this book was written in multiple povs which made the story so much better! A problem I did have with this book was with the pacing. I felt that towards the middle it had gotten a little slow but towards the end it went a little fast.

I enjoyed most of the characters in this book. My favorite was Nos because I loved her snarky character and the bad a** vibes she gives off. I didn’t enjoy much of Arlo because sometimes she would be a little annoying and act like a little kid or either turn into the grown up. That’s the only problem I really had with the characters. Other then that , the main characters were well written and they all developed throughout the story strong. There were also some amazing side characters that I enjoyed reading about and the antagonist was well written in this book.

With the ending, I felt it was a little fast but it was still a great ending. I enjoyed reading this book and could see why a certain book box is curating this book. It was such a fun read and there is a book 2 coming which I’m excited for. There were some minor problems with the book but overall I recommend this book to fans of The Cruel Prince, Crescent City and The Moral Instruments.

It has been a long time since I’ve read a book that I loved every single thing about! Ashley Shuttleworth created a world and characters that I could not step away from!

What I loved;
- the characters! So many of my friends have read this and agree 100% that the characters are one of the best things in this book.
- the LGBTQ representation! FINALLY we have a fantasy book that is not only amazing because of the world and story, but also the representation in the characters! Each of the MC’s falls in the LGBTQ community
- this title features 4 POVS! I don’t know about you, but I personally prefer at least two POV’s in a book, but really I love all of them!
- it’s urban fantasy! I always love this genre and find that I don’t read it often. I love when fantasy books are set in our world and feel the author did an amazing job with blending in their own twist on fae lore with our modern world!

Overall I only have amazing things to say about this!

"Nothing is more dangerous than a faerie tale.†

Urban fantasy at its finest. Ashley Shuttleworth is YA’s answer to UF giants such as Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, etc.

Shuttleworth did not slack off with A Dark and Hollow Star AT ALL. They created a fascinating sprawling fantasy setting in the heart of Toronto, seamlessly pulling from existing mythology as well as creating their own. The world-building was really quite extraordinary. I was spellbound by the magic of it all, even down to the stunning small details in their settings and character descriptions.

The writing style was nice and concise, a well balanced mixture of straight-forward and flowery prose. The dialogue was excellently sarcastic and full of cultural relevancies. I normally don’t like when books do this, because it makes them borderline illegible to future readers but it really worked here. I will say, I usually love large casts of POV characters, because at least I can enter with a certain confidence that I will at least love one. I loved all of the protagonists. This never happens for me, but these characters were all unique and fantastic, despite their faults and past mistakes. I cannot wait to see where they all go as they grow as individuals and as a group. When’s book two?!!

I will say that The Cruel Prince and City of Bones comparisons don’t make sense to me. Yes there are fae, and yes it takes place in a city but… that’s more or less where the similarities end. This reminded me more of Emily A. Duncan's work, with its RPG/DND-campaign vibes.

†must be checked against final text


This review is live on goodreads and will be posted upon publication to the following: amazon, ibooks, kobo, bookbub, and barnes & noble.

Content Warning: A Dark and Hallow Star and this review deal with mental health themes like depression and suicide

A Dark and Hollow Star is written by Ashley Shuttleworth and published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A Dark and Hollow Star is a young adult fantasy novel and the first in a series of the same name.

A Dark and Hollow Star follows four main characters. Nausicaä Kraken, a former Fury exiled from her position for seeking revenge. Arlo Jarsdel, an ironborn (half-fae/half-human) struggling to find her place when she feels torn between two worlds. Aurelian Bessel, a lesidhe fae precariously balancing his duties as the retainer of Prince Vehan Lysterne and his feelings for Vehan. And finally, there’s Vehan Lysterne, the Crown Prince of the Seelie Court of Summer who’s battling depression and his duties as the Crown Prince.

There’s someone, or something, killing Ironborn children, and the High King of the Fae blames Nausicaä, the Dark Star. Nausicaä knows she’s many things, but not a child murderer. And as she fights to prove her innocence, she crosses paths with Arlo, Aurelian, and Vehan, who all have their own reasons for wanting to solve the murders.

A Dark and Hollow Star has an intriguing premise; murder mystery and urban fantasy, murder mystery, political intrigue, and court politics. And on top of all of that, representation in the form of queer characters. Unfortunately, Shuttleworth struggles with balancing all of the characters and worldbuilding with the actual plot.

Many times within A Dark and Hollow Star, Shuttleworth takes the reader out of the story by over-describing every detail. Often times, the reader is told about things rather than shown. A character would walk into a room, and immediately start listing off everything another character was wearing, or what the room looked like. And every time it feels clunky and unnatural. Providing enough detail for the reader to imagine the scene and the characters without bogging down the story is a balancing act. And sadly, Shuttleworth fails this balance.

Much like the descriptions, the lore in A Dark and Hollow Star is overwhelming. Shuttleworth clearly has an entire elaborate world created. And that’s impressive. But Shuttleworth doesn’t let the world build naturally. A lot of the lore feels crammed in. It’s not that all of this information is irrelevant, some of it isn’t but much of it is. It’s that Shuttleworth just drops the information and moves on. Characters would just go on paragraphs long tangents about some part of Fae history or religion. Or even worse, they would start lecturing other characters. Shuttleworth’s worldbuilding needs work.

The pacing of A Dark and Hollow Star is a mess. Shuttleworth has a lot of good ideas but drags the plot out with all of the info-dumping about characters and lore. Better descriptions or tightening up the writing would’ve vastly improved the pacing. As it is, the first 75% of the book drags along painfully slowly. And even when the conflict comes to a head, there are multiple places where it feels natural for the book to end, only for there to be multiple chapters left.

Another issue in A Dark and Hollow Star is Shuttleworth’s characters. Outside of the four main protagonists, Shuttleworth struggles to utilize characters to their full potential. These side characters have a handful of exaggerated characteristics making them feel like caricatures. For example, there’s Arlo’s cousin, Prince Celadon Viridian. A flirt that doesn’t take most things seriously, he’s one of the only Fae that doesn’t treat Arlo like dirt. His friendship with Arlo gives him the potential to be so much more as a character but unfortunately, Shuttleworth doesn’t build upon that.

Even with the main protagonists, Shuttleworth doesn’t distinguish their unique voices for a good portion of the book. As each chapter is from the point of view of a different character, this is very obvious. Nausicaä and Arlo’s voices are different; Nausicaä is a snarky, confident badass, and Arlo is timid, nervous, and stressed out. But the same can’t be said for Vehan and Aurelian. Despite their very different personalities and stations in life, the first few chapters from Vehan and Aurelian’s POVs feel almost the same. By the end of A Dark and Hollow Star Shuttleworth begins to distinguish their voices more, and while it’s better late than never, the story does suffer because of it.

A Dark and Hollow Star was a letdown. There are enjoyable elements such as Nausicaä’s personality and banter with other characters. And the romance set up between her and Arlo. But that couldn’t save the book. While they gave the story so much potential, the issues with information overload and superfluous detail outweighed these enjoyable elements.

Overall A Dark and Hollow Star was a chore to get through. Eventually, I sat down and powered through the last 50% because I just wanted it to be over. But I’m not ready to entirely write this series off just yet. Shuttleworth’s writing has potential. And I have hope that future books in the series will be better. I hope that Shuttleworth will find a better balance between worldbuilding and letting the story progress naturally. All of the pieces are there, they just need better execution.

A Dark and Hollow Star will be available February 23rd, 2021 wherever books are sold.

A Dark and Hollow Star is the fantasy book we’ve been needing for a long time. Full of diversity, modern technology, and magic systems built into our current political climate, Shuttleworth does a beautiful job creating a new classic.

Although personally, I believe switching perspectives can be quite confusing and hard to do, Shuttleworth expertly weaves the stories of many different characters together. There are moments of confusion, but overall the perspective change helped the novel, especially in telling an ensemble-based story.

A Dark and Hollow Star is a debut novel, which makes this book even more impressive. There are its problems, in particular surrounding confusing plot points that felt like they were there just to expand the universe instead of the current characters in front of us, but it is really a beautiful book that will be perceived well. Shuttleworth is great at representing modern queer characters, using they/them and xe/xis pronouns in a way that felt manageable. Shuttleworth also including how one of the main characters feels caught between being a human and fae is symbolic of being mixed race. Brilliant.

The opening chapter is a great hook. I cannot think of a better opening chapter I have read in quite a while. Similarly, the dialogue and writing throughout the novel are haunting powerful. The language, along with the characters and plotlines, will keep you hooked throughout the whole novel.

Overall, A Dark and Hollow Star, far from perfection, is a beautiful book. Fantasy novels struggle sometimes to create a story that is new, a magic system that is unlike all the other billions of magic systems that have been created. Shuttleworth touches upon the other systems, using the Furies, Fae, Reapers, and other creatures, but making it their own. This will be a book you cannot miss.

This story follows four teens, Arlo, Nausicaӓ, Vehan, and Aurelian, all from different origins as they each set out to investigate the mysterious dead bodies that keep turning up when no one listens to them.

“There was nothing she could do, and she would lose her nerve if she didn't keep moving. Head down. . . Don't attract too much attention.”

An interesting string of events causes the four teens to cross paths and team up with each other to discover the unknown culprit that is somehow related to all their investigations. Will they be able to find the answer before it's too late?

“The sight reminded Vehan of some cosmic, ethereal garden the way hyacinth blue and verbena purple swept through endless orchid black, those stars like glittering dew on their petals.”

Star Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5) ♡

Taking place between Canada and the fae world, I enjoyed reading about the magical setting that was carefully crafted and well thought out by the author.

One small take that I do have is the ending. I understand that there is another book coming but I wanted to have an ending with one last chapter on Vehan and Aurelian to wrap things up. Other than that, everything else was awesome.

I was super excited for this book and so lucky to have received an early copy thanks to the publisher. A Dark and Hollow Star is a fantasy book that truly stands out from others. I haven’t read The City of Bones or The Cruel Prince (they’re both only TBR) but I can tell you that this book is equal to all the good things I hear about them. It's a must-read of 2021!

Review will be posted soon!

This books has so many elements that I love. It is urban fantasy, has fae, and queer. I am here for it, and I cannot wait to read more from this author. The first half was full of world building, which I love to see in fantasy books. The second half was full of action and fast paced. This book really had it all! The pop culture references were just an extra cherry on top. I definitely recommend for a fun and inclusive fantasy world!

This is very queer and adventurous and badass and a million other adjectives. Impressive for a debut!

*3.75

Note: Thank you to Simon Pulse and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A Dark and Hollow Star takes place in the city of Toronto, where the Eight Courts of Law have lived and sworn to do no harm against humans. That is, until a series of murders rocks the city and threatens to expose faeries to the world, while a war is brewing between the Mortal and Immortal realms. The story follows four teens that each know truths about the murder and must work together to find the murderer.

This was overall a really fun YA fantasy read! I’ve been anticipating this book for a few months now and it definitely met my expectations. Between the characters, urban setting, and the mystery behind the murders, it’s so easy to get lost in this book.

The blurb of A Dark and Hollow Star describes it as a cross of City and Bones and The Cruel Prince. I haven’t read The Cruel Prince, and while I didn’t personally enjoy City of Bones, it definitely fits the urban fantasy setting and the concept of supernatural entities secretly existing in a human world. (In fact, I liked the execution in this book so much that I’m wondering if I need to continue The Mortal Instruments!)

Book comparisons aside, I really liked what information we were given about the fae world so far. We’re learning about it through the main character, Arlo, who isn’t as informed about the fae world as the other characters, so it adds to the mystery behind the world and what’s yet to be explored as we get there through Arlo’s discoveries.

Speaking of characters, I also liked the main characters we were introduced to in A Dark and Hollow Star. There are definitely some elements of the different characters that do feel a bit trope-y, but at the same time, there were other aspects of the characters that I found to be unique. In particular, I liked Arlo’s character and how difficult it was for her to adapt to elements of the fae world (especially in dangerous situations). I feel like, in a lot of YA novels, the main character automatically knows what to do and is a natural fighter, which I never personally liked because I felt it wasn’t as realistic if they haven’t tapped into their powers before. So I ended up really liking Arlo’s clumsiness and the time it’s been taking her to adapt.

But at the same time, there were a couple of elements that I felt like was a bit of a cheap shot in the second half of the book. It seems like it won’t be used as much later on, but for these scenes, it was a tad too convenient.

Regardless, I had a ton of fun reading A Dark and Hollow Star – so much so that I’m revisiting some YA fantasy again! This will be a great fit for readers that enjoy YA fantasy and are looking to explore a new world and a cast of characters to love.

This is urban fantasy at it’s most exciting level. Fae, faeries, courts, titans, immortals…and plenty of queer characters! Arlo is trying to find her place in a fae world that doesn’t quite feel like home and the human world that doesn’t quite feel like home. This book ends up pretty fast-paced although the beginning was a touch slow. I was a bit confused for the first 40% of the book because the world-building was a bit confusing and the points of view and timelines were a bit jarring. That being said, “the dark star” character is HILARIOUSLY sarcastic. I laughed so many times. All of the main characters are loveable in their own way to be honest but she’s amazing. Shuttleworth infuses SO many nerdy pop culture references that I was just beside myself with joy wondering which of my favorite movies, books, or video games would get referenced next. There were some predictable elements but after I got past the initial confusing bits and all of the characters were together, it was a joy to read.

This book is absolutely amazing!! And without including spoilers, one of my favorite reads of 2021. It is so relatable and such an enjoyable read. I loved the connection I was able to feel with the characters and I can’t wait to own this beautiful book!

See this review and more at my blog, The Scribe Owl!

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a buddy read with the ultimate buddy reading partners, Katie @ Whispering Pages and (kind of) Lia @ Chain of Novels!

4.5/5 stars!

This was amazing. I mean, I expected it to be good but wow. I've read glowing reviews by some of my friends, and let me tell you--it's all true! Honestly, the only reason I didn't rate this book five stars is that I just about never rate the first book in a series five stars. It's just not enough time for me to really fall in love with the characters and world as much as I could have!

The “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family.
A tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm and bent on revenge.
A dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne.
The prince’s brooding guardian, burdened with a terrible secret.

For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. This arrangement has long kept peace in the Courts—until a series of gruesome and ritualistic murders rocks the city of Toronto and threatens to expose faeries to the human world.

Four queer teens, each who hold a key piece of the truth behind these murders, must form a tenuous alliance in their effort to track down the mysterious killer behind these crimes. If they fail, they risk the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. If that’s not bad enough, there’s a war brewing between the Mortal and Immortal Realms, and one of these teens is destined to tip the scales. The only question is: which way?

When I first read the blurb for this book I was taken aback. Comparing it to City of Bones AND The Cruel Prince? But let me tell you--it's right. It is definitely like those two books! We have a fantastic cast in an urban fantasy setting (City of Bones) and a detailed system of faeries and magic that are hidden from the human world (The Cruel Prince)! Just a side note, but this is probably one of the first times a book has actually been anything like the popular books that it's compared to.

If you've read any reviews about this book, the main thing that people are stealing about are the characters. AS THEY SHOULD. The characters in this book were AMAZING! Like I said earlier, this book was likened to City of Bones for its large cast (and urban fantasy.) This story is told by four POVs. Sounds exhausting. But somehow it isn't! All the characters have very distinctive voices and it's easy to tell them apart.

Our main cast mostly breaks off into two distinct groups: Nausicaä and Arlo are the first and Aurelian and Vehan are the second. Nausicaä took a while to grow on me, but I loved Arlo right away. Out of all the characters I'm probably the most like Arlo, so that was fun to see! Nausicaä is not my kind of character at all. Maybe it's just that I'm too much of a Hufflepuff to appreciate her Slytherin-ness. But she grew on me over the course of the book and now I like her! She's not my favorite of the four, but I definitely like and appreciate her.

Aurelian and Vehan are more of a secondary pairing, as Arlo is the main main character. BUT THEY'RE MY FAVORITE. Aurelian is so sweet and I love seeing what's going on in his head! But Vehan. Vehan is just the best. I don't know why, seeing as he probably got the least amount of page time, but VEHAN IS MY BABY CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE.

Quick shoutout to Celadon for being everything! He's main character material. Please please please more Celadon next book. 🥺

I enjoyed this book so much! You bet I'll be trolling NetGalley for book two when it's the time! I hope you give this a read because it was AMAZING.

Review from my 12-year-old daughter:
I think I've only ever abandoned around three or four books in my life, and sadly, this was one of them. I am so disappointed that I didn't love this. Fantasy isn't my favorite genre, but this one sounded interesting and it had gotten some great reviews. Unfortunately, this story just wasn't for me, but I can totally see other people reading and absolutely loving this book. The reason I rated it 2 stars instead of 1 was because, although I was bored the entire time I was reading it and didn't care about any of the characters, there wasn't anything that was glaringly wrong with it. Part of the reason why it wasn't personally for me was because it was more plot driven than character driven. You could give me the worst plot with the best characters, and I might still like the book. But if you give me a book with an amazing world and plot, but don't spend enough time with the characters and making them unique, I just won't care, which was the case with this book.

This book takes place in a world where the fae live along side the humans, but there have been a series of recent murders of beings who are half fae, half human. Even though the High King seems to be ignoring them, four teens come together to try and solve them, unsure if they can trust one another. There's Arlo, the half fae, half human girl who doesn't feel like she fits into either world. There's Nausicaa, an ex-Fury who is intent on causing chaos for the fae world. There's Vehan, a prince who doesn't actually seem to care about fixing his issues with his friend and is also one of the the most boring characters I've read about. And there's Aurelian, the best friend and servant of Vehan, who never wanted that position in the first place. These four each have a clue that will lead towards solving these murders, but that's if the killer doesn't find them first.

There was one thing that I liked about this book, so here it is: Each of the main characters had really individual personalities. Arlo was an introverted yet determined, and would do anything for the people she cares about. Out of all of the characters, she was probably one of my favorites, as I found her situation and her thoughts surrounding that to be interesting. I also liked how she didn't want anything to do with the murders, but was willing to put herself in danger to save others. Plus, her interactions with her cousin, Celadon, were fun to read. Nausicaa was, in my opinion, the most interesting character. She basically had no one in her life who she cared about, as she was always jumping around from place to place, trying to cause chaos. She had alliances, but that was it. I found it interesting to see how she dealt with being alone all the time when she secretly wanted people around, especially after she lost her sister and then her family and friends banished her. Aurelian was a character who acts angry and removed all the time, but only to protect Vehan, the prince he works for who he deeply cares about. I thought was a good set up for character development that never came. And lastly, there was Vehan who was a terribly boring character that didn't actually care about anyone but himself and treated Aurelian horribly, yet never even once thought about asking why he was acting so differently. My point that I'm trying to make here is that I like that all of the characters had different personalities, not that I liked all of the characters.

Sadly, that was the only part of this story that I actually found just a tiny bit intriguing. One of my biggest problems was with Aurelian and Vehan. We don't see enough of them to actually care. By 60% (which is where I stopped reading), I think we'd gotten two chapters about Aurelian and three chapters about Vehan, but it mainly focused on Arlo and Nausicaa. I feel like the story would have been a lot more compelling if we'd gotten to know all the characters equally, instead of just focusing on two of them, leaving it to us to question the weak motivations of the other two. And while I liked Arlo and Nausicaa, and Aurelian was bearable enough to read, I absolutely hated Vehan. He acted like he had no one and was in such a terrible situation, when in reality he was a prince who not only lived in riches, but also had MULTIPLE friends. He complains so much about not having anyone there for him, yet he had an entire lunch table full of friends, a servant who cares so, so much for him, and it even mentioned other friends in the palace. Yet he continues to think that he has a terrible life where no one cares about him. And I suppose I can sort of see where he's coming from on ONE (and only one) part of it, where he thinks Aurelian doesn't care about him. He thinks that because his mother forced Aurelian to work for him, meaning that Aurelian couldn't get the education that he wanted, Aurelian now hates him, when in reality Aurelian is just trying to protect Vehan by keeping himself distant so that he couldn't be used against Vehan. But instead of acting like a normal person and actually trying to ask him about all this, or even convince his mother to find him a new servant, Vehan just goes on monologues in his head about how sorry he feels for Aurelian and how sad he is that his mother made it so they couldn't be friends. He was terrible at communicating and at using his power as a prince to help himself, both with Aurelian and with the murders. And even though I did find Nausicaa and Arlo a tiny bit interesting, my overall thoughts on the characters is that if they all suddenly died, I wouldn't be mad.

Another huge problem I had was with the way this book was written. There was SO much explaining, but I was still confused. No matter how much the characters explained, there was always a loose thread that they didn't touch on that would make the whole world unravel if it was pondered upon for any longer. And it also seemed like the author was adding stuff just to add stuff, even though it didn't need to be added. I feel like the author made the world too complex for it to be written well, because you would be reading and getting into the flow of the story, when it would suddenly cut away from the actual plot and go into a two to three page explanation over one word. This kept happening over and over, so you could never really get into the rhythm of the story. And the writing style itself was just excessive. I honestly don't need to be told the same unimportant facts over and over again. For one character, it kept mentioning her teeth, and for another character, it kept talking about how his tattoos made him so different from everyone else. The writing style combined with how intricate the world was made this book WAY too long. I feel like 70% of this book was explaining, and if you cut all of the unneeded explanation and made the world slightly less complicated, this book would be closer to 300 pages than 500. I've read books this length in two days before, but this took me five days to even get 60% of the way through. Also, the characters took forever to even meet, and I honestly think the story would have been way more interesting if they'd all met sooner, for that would have caused the plot to move quicker.

So overall, this was a great story idea, but an overly complex world, annoying characters, and excessive writing caused it to be poorly executed.

Thank you, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and NetGallery for sending me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Dark and Hollow Star: 4/5

There was a reason this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. I was NOT disappointed.

A Dark and Hollow Star is a multi-perspective urban fantasy set in Toronto Candada. It follows four main perspectives: Arlo, Aurelian, Nausicaä, and Vehan, all from very diverse pasts and perspectives. These four are drawn together to investigate a series of murders.

This book really shines with its character development. Nausicaä is an incredibly sassy and sarcastic Fury. Her humor and growth throughout A Dark and Hollow Star is so encapsulating and honestly.. kind of beautiful. She has the most amazing character arc without ever losing her wittiness which I adore.

Arlo is a half-human 'ironborn' fae, who is part of the royal family, though through a few degrees of separation. She struggles with finding her own place in the world whether that's in the fae realm or human. She seems to be right in the middle and is not "enough" of one side to be accepted fully.

Vehan is a High Prince from the seelie summer court who is overall just a wonderful and sweet character, and his companion or "retainer" is named Aurelian. Little do they know they both definitely have the hots for each other but neither of them is willing to admit it/is completely oblivious to the other's hints.

These characters are all extremely diverse from one other, along with some incredible side characters that add to the great representation. Most of the story is told through Nos and Arlo's perspectives, and while I was nervous about not forming a connection with Vehan and Aurelian, I instantly grew attached to them.

One beauty of this book is that all four main perspectives start this journey of solving these murders by themselves and slowly get drawn together through many different jobs and circumstances. I really enjoyed watching the characters grow on their own and slowly find each other throughout this book rather than them being thrown together. It adds a really nice complexity and depth to the characters, so when you're reading their perspective the reader gets a bit more insight into their decisions while the other main characters stay in the dark. This was super unique to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The plot of this book also is a complete knockout. Ashley Shuttleworth is not afraid to keep things from the reader, only to reveal them later in the book. As the reader gets more answers, more questions are introduced which keeps the reader (quite literally in my case) on the edge of their seat. The author also beautifully set up a sequel with a HUGE reveal at the end. IM SHOOK. Pls drop book two ASAP.

Now, I want to mention why this is four instead of five stars. That's the world-building for me. The characters live with the fae in modern-day Toronto, but along with fae and humans, there are other creatures such as trolls, reapers, and more. It is never really explained how this all came to be and how this is all concealed from the mortal realm besides the overarching explanation of "glamours". Furthermore, I think the concepts of this world are really cool and unique but how it all works seems like an afterthought with half thought-out explanations as to how buildings/entities are concealed. This yields to the world feeling highly unbelievable.

To go off of this, the plot is great but it seems like the ideas come first, and then they are fit into the world by any means necessary after that topic is introduced. This seems sloppy, where a huge plot point will be introduced pretty late into the book, the reader will be confused, and then a random explanation is given a few paragraphs later that doesn't quite make sense in the context of this world.

For example, a whole godly system was introduced 4/5ths of the way into the book without any inkling to the reader this existed prior. It's almost as if the author had the idea halfway into the book and hastily added it with a sporadic info dump one page later to quickly make it make sense. This happens throughout the entire book all the way until the end. Most of these new topics would have been nice to introduce at the beginning of the book rather than at random points when that plot point is about to be talked about one page later.

Also, the last "battle" unsure if you can call it that, was kind of a mess. It seemed high stakes at some points but the characters still had time for lengthy monologues between one another. At one point it really felt more like a pokemon battle rather than a final boss fight. This was frustrating for me because I was so engrossed in the book only to be incredibly confused and let down over the final climax of the novel.

Overall, if you have the ability to suspend disbelief and push through, I think you would really like this book. I personally enjoyed most of it because of these wonderful characters and page-turning plot. Although the world-building was a bit messy, I think it "got the job done" and we're now set up for a potentially great sequel.