DNF - as a marine biologist who considered going into starfish research, I was immediately captivated by the premise. However, I had a tough time getting through it and ultimately lost interest. There was little discussion on the beloved sea stars.

I struggled to get into this one. By the description, I expected more about her research on sea stars, and was looking forward to reading about that aspect. Not a major focus, just mentioned a few times. The story seemed a bit disjointed for my taste, but most likely because I was expecting a different story. Not a bad story, and had its moments, but I kept expecting something that wasn't there. Wish the publishers would rewrite the abstract description, as it was a little misleading. There are a lot of directions this book goes into, and although interesting, was also hard to follow.

I saw a request made by Destiny Brown for reviewers of Asteroidea by Stephanie A. Smith on Goodreads. The description interested me. So I then downloaded a copy from Net Galley and recently finished reading it.




I got the impression from the description of Asteroidea that scientific research on sea stars would be a prominent element in the book. I'd say that protagonist Claire Holt's work with sea stars was mentioned a few times, but it wasn't really described. The main focus was on Claire's personal life and relationships. So I felt somewhat misled by that summary.

That being said, there was some interesting interaction that dealt with the racial identity of various characters. It drew my attention to individuals who were born into the African American community, but could "pass" for White. As a result, they were able to choose their racial identity. These decisions impacted relationships.

I was delighted by Claire's first meeting with a character named Dan Starbuck. He said that his surname had no relationship to the coffee shops or to the character in Moby Dick. Claire's reaction led me to suspect that she had never read this classic novel. This means that I have something in common with Claire. I also haven't read Moby Dick. I find this Herman Melville book's focus on an obsession with hunting and killing a whale very repellent. I wanted to high five Claire for choosing to skip that particular piece of the literary canon.

Asteroidea wasn't what I expected, but it did enlighten me at a number of points, and there were moments when I was entertained by these characters. I can't say that Asteroidea was one of my top reads of 2020, but I did think it was worthwhile.