I was immediately intrigued when I heard of Ashley Shuttleworth’s (they/them) debut YA novel, A Dark and Hollow Star. Not only is it set in Canada—which is rare enough on its own in YA—it’s compared to The Cruel Prince; when I hear a queer title comp’d to The Cruel Prince, I’m in. Overall, although there were places I felt could have used a little more polish or a little less infodumping, this was a solidly entertaining read with lovable characters and promise for a dark and dramatic sequel to come.

Although the novel opens with Alecto the Fury’s exile to the mortal realm for eternity, the majority of the story focuses on Arlo Jarsdel, a mortal girl of combined fae and human heritage known as an ironborn. Though she’s related to the royal family of one of the fae Courts, she lacks the magical ability and power that would grant her elite status in the fae realm. Witnessing a violent, traumatic event sets her on a path to find answers—both about the worlds which she has straddled her entire life and about herself. The novel has four rotating POVs: Arlo, Nausicaä (formerly Alecto), Vehan, and Aurelian. Nausicaä stole the show for me in every scene she was in, but I loved all four of the main cast and never felt as though I wanted to speed through their POV chapters to get to someone else’s.

This novel scratched my itch for the abundance of Fae Stuff (TM) that pervades YA, except make it very, very queer. Once of the reasons I was interested in this was for the trope of younger mortal meets enigmatic and slightly problematic immortal… but sapphic, y’all. The fae themselves were the perfect combination of Preternaturally Attractive but Scary and there were lots of different types seen aside from the population of the Fae Courts (i.e. changelings, goblins, etc). I have a soft spot for urban fantasy, so the combination of the fantastical elements mixed with Toronto scenery really worked for me. Often in YA I ask myself, “Where are the adults around here?!” when it comes to the adventure and drama that 17/18 year olds are asked to handle on their own, but this novel actually acknowledges the absence of adult figures which I appreciated.

And you know what? Literally every main character is queer, and that’s beautiful to me. Arlo is questioning (but will be confirmed pansexual later according to the author), Nausicaä is lesbian, Vehan is bisexual, and Aurelian is gay; the latter three labels are used on page in this first novel. Sexuality and identity isn’t a source of strife or made into a Huge Deal—it’s just queer fae teens doing the sorts of things one would expect in a darker toned YA fantasy novel, and I love that for all of us. Plus, it’s shaping up for some WLW/MLM solidarity, which brings joy to my pansexual heart.

There were a few things I feel could have been executed a little more smoothly. Some of the worldbuilding was shoehorned in to the detriment of the story pacing. The plot was fairly predictable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I would have liked a little more mystery given that a murder mystery drives the bulk of the action. The dialogue felt too juvenile in places, even accounting for the fact the cast is all teenagers (or teenage adjacent). Finally, while I thought the pop culture references were cute given the fact it’s an urban fantasy novel, I could have done without the multiple Harry Potter references at various points in the novel.

A Dark and Hollow Star delivers an intriguing, action packed story with the additional bonus of all protagonists being queer and a Canadian backdrop. If you want a fae-infused YA urban fantasy with lovable characters and dark overtones, I can solidly recommend picking this one up. I’ll be on the lookout for book two as soon as its available because I definitely want to see more of this world and these characters.

I really loved the idea of this story, I loved the characters (Arlo was my favourite), I love the mystery of the iron born murders, the modern day set up with technology but also an underground fae world.

However, I think the author tried to do too much. This is a detailed world, with fae history and structure the audience needs to know, to try to do that and also tell the story through 4 different POV's, 3 of whom have not met previously, makes for a very, very, long introduction. I found myself 30% through the book and the gang hadn't all met each other and each had only just started to be concerned with the murders. Without the group coming together I found I was very interested in certain characters story lines but not at all others.

This story would have probably been a 5 star for me if it was told from 1 characters POV.

A really fun murder-mystery following a possible serial killer amongst the faerie folk. A group of “young” fae get together to find the source of these terrible events. While at first, I struggled a little with the protagonists, I slowly started understanding them, their experiences and emotions, personality and beliefs, which made it even more interesting when they would cross paths! My favorite character would have to be Nausicaä, the chaotic neutral Fury, who is just trying to entertain herself to fight the boredom of being immortal.

I really enjoyed reading the chapters in Point-Of-View style from various characters. It’s always fun to follow a handful of different stories that eventually merge into one single plot.

As always when diving into a new fantasy universe, it’s a whole new world to learn about. Once the framework has been set, you can finally delve into the plot. Unfortunately, it felt like the adventure started about half way through the book in this case.

I would have loved to have character summaries, at the start of the book, or perhaps even small “family” trees at the end, to present the various factions, royalties, deities, and so on.

I look forward to the next book in the Dark And Hollow Star series, when I’ll be able to focus more on the story and characters after having been introduced to most of the lore and world-building in this first tome.

Special thanks go to the netgalley team and the publishers for providing me with an ARC. I appreciate the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thoughts by page 118: As I am reading this I am overcome with the soul-filling sensation that I am discovering a new favourite. There is nothing quite like the buoyant see sensation of discovering a new world for the the first time that feels this well rounded. This real. I want to dive in, I want to visit. I want it curl up in a cozy chair in Celadon's room, and play a video game with Arlo and sweet little Elyas.

As with my eventual favourites, as I read it I am dying to know what happens next - so I can't put it down. But, I also know I'll always long for how it felt to submerse myself in these characters for the very first time, so part of me wants to make it last.

To be clear, this is a rare feeling for me. One I really only got with my major favourites that I reread frequently - Throne of Glass, The Infernal Devices, Shades of Magic, Nevernight, DOSAB, Six Of Crows, to name a few.

Even as I flip a page, I already miss what I just read.

This book is told from multiple perspectives. Each narrator is different enough to be distinct right away, which helps keep them straight even if you're not great with POV jumps. They all start in different locations, which I find beneficial.

I like that world background is given out in snippets, instead of a large overwhelming info dump at the beginning like some books do.

It allows the world to build in my mind slowly, while I become more and more invested in the characters. Info is mostly given in relation to the characters and how it effects them, not just tossed out for the sake of existing, which makes it easier to remember.

Thoughts by the end: This book has great LGBTQ+ representation as well! Which I super appreciate as a Bi woman. Non-binary deities, gender fluid characters, bisexual men, lesbians, gay men, yayyy. Jack pot.

I enjoy that the romances didn't feel forced or "insta lovey". The storyline building with Vehan and Aurelian is very intriguing to me! Oh the longing, ohhhhh the secret yearning! Fill my cupppppppp!

And ooooo that epilogue!!

(I reviewed on Goodreads but the link wouldn't load up on here)

This has to be one of the best books I’ve read so far this year!! This novel was on my TBR list and I am so fortunate enough to receive an arc! Let me just say OMG! You will be in love with the world that Ashley created! I would also like to say there are trigger warnings at the beginning of the book which I appreciate as well! Some authors leave them out so I’m very great full that she included it! This is easily a 5 star book!!! I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy and write a proper review using quotes :)

Unfortunately i DNF this book pretty early on. I gave it 3 stars so it doesn't effect the rating too much since there's only 3 other reviews at the time of posting this.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of A Dark and Hollow Star in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, this book is probably the most 'pandered to me' book I have ever read so when I tell you it goes too far with said pandering, I really mean it. Queer toronto fantasy? My literal dream come true. But a lot of the marketing features (especially Toronto) very quickly begin to feel really forced which was extra strange considering from what I understand, the author is an Ontarian. For starters, about a third of the book is set in Nevada (we'll get to that shortly) which doesn't mean this can't be marketed as a Toronto story, but it does highlight how much this book wants you to know we're in Toronto. We get a few necessary references to Nevada in those scenes, but whenever we're in Toronto its awkwardly name dropped constantly. Keep in mind I read an ARC so this might change before publication, but you can only read phrases like "Toronto's CN tower" so many times before the attempts to pander ruin immersion.

I'm torn on the plot here because was it full of holes? Yes. Kind of. They were more character development things than plot things though. Did those character inconsistencies mostly concern my favourite character so I was way too willing to ignore them? Also yes. Honestly, I think the plot would have just been way better if we focused on Arlo. I'm not saying it has to only have 1 perspective, but we're given so many that all the mystery driving the plot forward is effectively removed and it also makes it really hard to connect to her storyline. At over 500 pages, this book probably can't get much longer, but I think cutting a few of the peripheral perspectives (i.e. Nevada scenes) or even just spending less time with those could have given room to develop Arlo, her family, friends, and love interest.

A lot of Arlo's life felt half developed (we open on her talking about her human-school life then basically never go back to it, then move onto her interacting with her Dad who's MIA for most of the book, and her also-mostly MIA Mum pops in at the very end for a scene that doesn't really work since she wasn't built up). Cutting peripheral scenes doesn't only fix the "accidentally-giving-away-the-whole-plot" issue, but could have given Shuttleworth space to really develop Arlo into a distinct character readers could have gotten more invested in.

I'm being really negative, but it's not because this is bad, it's because it was so close to being great that I'm really frustrated. I'm still glad I read this, if for nothing beyond the fact that I finally got to experience the sapphic equivalent of "hot, broody 100 year old being who looks like a teen so its okay for you to have a crush on them" trope. I formally apologize for bullying the straights for falling for those characters because I definitely did here.

This YA fantasy thriller steeped in royal politics immediately pulled me immediately. I had so much fun with this story and loved the characters and the many relationships. At times I found some of the characters hard to keep track of, which meant that some of the plot points didn't land for me. I was confused about the rules of the magic system (maybe they were kept vague to match Arlo's lack of knowledge of the whole situation? maybe they'll be expanded on in the next books?) and found some of the events too convenient to be conceivable. However, I was deeply invested in the characters and loved Arlo and Nos and cannot wait to read the next book! 3.5 stars