I took me awhile to get into this and I never really found my footing with it. I'm seeing others pushed through and enjoyed it but I did not get to that point. It's complicated and slow going and I was not patient enough for this. DNF at 30%

Very complex to start off with, but I like a book with a lot of political intrigue. I found this more character driven than plot driven, despite the fact that quite a bit was going on in the background of the main characters lives. There was romance, but I would NOT say this is a genre romance or romantasy or anything like that. I think my favorite part is that the main characters felt messy and and unreliable in an interesting and real way. It's definitely slower, if that's not your style.

I very much enjoyed the prose and will be picking up the next book.

DNFed at 36%. This book is so fricking long and it's so much politics, I just couldn't get into it. I found myself not caring about the characters and their interactions are fairly boring. Even though Gracia and Ceirran are involved and seem pretty into each other, there is very little romantic interaction between them and it seems to mostly happen off page.

This took me a little bit to get into, but you have to push through. Once you do you’ll find gold. The characters are strong, the pacing is excellent, and there were multiple parts of the book that had me gasping out loud literally. Excellent space opera.

This was a good book, but I found one pov character’s chapters a lot more interesting and compelling than the other, so there were times when this book was hard to get through and other times when I could hardly put it down.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was a beautifully written SciFi book. The political scheming and intrigue, the powerful characters, the war strategy was all incredibly well done and made this book impossible to put down.

I love retellings in general, but I do feel like I would have been better at understanding a lot of things in this book if I did in fact have a better grip on Caesar Antony, Cleopatra, etc. I was lost for a lot of it but really enjoyed the overall themes of the books and holy moly the plot twists in this book! They absolutely floored me over and over again.

The writing is beautiful - Emery Robin is a master at crafting such incredible and enchanting descriptions of this entire world, and of each individual character. The conversations were incredible and I loved how so many echo issues in our current world. The romance and the conflict all at once was a beautiful push and pull of emotions and oh all of the double meaning & heartbreak truly were incredibly well done.

I am so beyond grateful to Orbit and to NetGalley for this e-arc and was so grateful to be able to start on book 2 right away!

Some books were written just for me. This was one of them (Emery Robin, did you just peer into my brain and pick my interests?). It's a retelling of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar with a sweeping space opera setting. Political powers at odds with one another, a complicated romance, bisexual characters, and religious themes war with one another against the backdrop of galactic conquest.

This is romantic, with a touch of malice, but it doesn't have a romance HEA. (Please refer to historical accounts of Cleopatra and Caesar...) but if you love character driven stories, this is for you. It's very accessible SF, and I think people who love character driven fantasy with light worldbuilding will enjoy this.

The worldbuilding components are interesting, because while there are clearly complex galactic politics and a wide world in play, they almost don't matter: the story is driven entirely by the Gracia and Ceirran's relationship and their relationships to power.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book post-release in anticipation of the release of The Sea Eternal! I'm so excited for this beautiful space-opera to continue on!

I didn't realize I never submitted a review for this book!

I read this in 2023 and LOVED it. While I don't remember it well enough to give a review now, I do actually plan on rereading this this year and continuing on in the series.

The Stars Undying by Emery Robin brilliantly reimagined the Roman Empire under Caesar in a richly imagined, if slowly paced, space opera. I lacked the background to recognize Ceirran as Caesar or Ana as Antony, but the vivid characters and intense power struggles were still captivating. For better educated history buffs, I'm sure Robin’s nuanced retelling added depth, and even without the historical context, it revealed the humanity beneath legendary figures.

For me, Ana was the unforgettable standout—a flamboyant, flawed, and deeply loyal reimagining of Antony, defined by her aching desire to be known. At its heart, the story explored the fraught, compelling dynamic between Gracia and Ceirran, whose clashing brilliance reshaped empires. Through sci-fi, Robin brought timeless tales to vibrant, personal life in a story I am still stunned was their debut.

If you like dense political SFF stories, unreliable badass MCs, religious discussions, and were obsessed with either the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, or Shakespeare at any point in your life, I'd HIGHLY recommend The Stars Undying.

I really do not know how I feel about this book, so forgive me if this review is rambling. Billed as a political space opera inspired by the lives of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, The Stars Undying has a lot going for it but ultimately fell apart for me in its execution.

I think where I struggled the most is in the choice to have each of the perspectives in the first person. There was a lot of "I did x,y,z" and none of the voices felt distinct enough for me to remember whose perspective I was actually in. It was slow to start and unfortunately never fully hooked me into the plot, which made it feel even slower and more meandering. I do love the inspiration and found myself researching some of the historical events this book takes inspiration from. Thematically, I think this is doing some interesting things with AI and the concept of immortality. Maybe if I had known more about the real life counterparts to these characters I would have been more invested.

I think A Memory Called Empire is a good comp title to this, though as that is one of my favorite books I'd personally rather reread that. I've seen so many people rave about this though so maybe if I'll come back to it before the sequel is released with more tempered expectations.

Blog post goes live March 1s
Imgur link goes to graphic scheduled for Feb 15th
Amazon review pending system approval
To be discussed in February Reads pt 1 on Youtube

TL;DR: I feel so bland on this. Meandering, with what should have been stellar themes and ideas. But little to no connection for the reader.

The Stars Undying is meant to be a Cleopatra and Caesar inspired space opera. One would think that the word “opera” might involve a lot of emotional drama and intensity. One would be… wrong.

I genuinely don’t know that I have a ton to say about this. I was so disconnected from the story as a whole that I found mind wandering and I went to sleep several times while reading. The idea of the story, a planet caught in a civil war between sisters when one of which uses the visiting empire’s golden boy to win it. From there the story attempts to look at themes of personhood and AI, themes I adore.

I think the killer on this one was the story telling style which was a retrospective story, Gracia is telling us her story from the future but she meanders, dumping information in the process. We also have chapters from Ceirran (our Caesar) which are full of complicated politics that we don’t get a chance to care about.

Overall just… fine. Not offensive, not upsetting, just okay. I think if you want something real dense, with just the politics? This could work. It starts strong but quickly dissolves out into meandering. Many people have adored it, so I can’t say it won’t work. Simply that it didn’t connect for me.

2.5 stars out of 5

Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed both the crown of their planet, Szayet, and the Pearl of its prophecy: a computer that contains the immortal soul of Szayet’s god.

So when the interstellar Empire of Ceiao turns its conquering eye toward Szayet, Gracia sees an opportunity. To regain her planet, Gracia places herself in the hands of the empire and its dangerous commander, Matheus Ceirran.

But winning over Matheus, to say nothing of his mercurial and compelling captain Anita, is no easy feat. And in trying to secure her planet’s sovereignty and future, Gracia will find herself torn between Matheus’s ambitions, Anita’s unpredictable desires, and the demands of the Pearl that whispers in her ear.

For Szayet’s sake and her own, she will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before.

Rate : 4 out of 5
Thoughts : I WAS HOOKED! CAN'T STOP! LOVE THIS SCIFI + CLEOPATRA TROPE!
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy!

The Stars Undying is a political sci-fi at its heart. There's lots of war strategy and political scheming. The writing style wasn't personally for me. It is told as if it happened in the past and in a long, very detailed way. It can go on and on about things. With this style, I think a tighter plot and more interesting characters would've helped. I recommend it if you're a fan of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

It’s Cleopatra, Caesar, and Marc Antony but in space.

The thing that I thought would make me love this book instead made it difficult to get through. I took seven years of Latin during school. I’ve read Caesar (unfortunately, he’s so full of himself!) and had to study the events that inspired this book. I had trouble getting through this book because the way information is delivered, knowledge of Ptolemaic Egypt is super helpful to wade through the deluge of information, but I was unable to then switch off the part of my brain constantly making those connections. It was taking me a while and I decided to DNF when I realized I’d rather be reading either a different SF novel or a non-fiction history of the events which inspired it.

Some (most?) of this is on me, but I do think better information sharing early in the story and a deeper emphasis on the ways this story deviates from its inspiration would be helpful. The more unique elements- eg the soul of Alexander the Great being in a tiny super computer pearl- don’t interact with the narrative in interesting ways in the early story.

I don’t strongly dislike this book, I just wasn’t enjoying it and life’s too short to never DNF. Ending here to avoid starting a reading slump.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Stars Undying was a fantastic sci-fi novel inspired by the lives of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony. Emery Robin does a great job balancing intense, political intrigue and romance against planetary settings that feel incredibly well realized. I loved every moment of this book!

If you are looking for a new scifi to dive into then look no farther, this is a queer, space opera debut inspired by the rise and fall of ancient Rome and Egypt—and reinvents the lives of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. You know how sometimes you read the synopsis for a book and immediately want to read it, that’s what this book did to me. I love Egyptian based stories, assassins creed origins is in my top 3 assassins creed games for that reason. The author intertwines that history we all know a little about and just throws it into a space setting. I just didn't know what to expect and was so surprised!

I was undying to keep reading this book! Delightful tale, full of promise and hope, with action and adventure for the whole family.

The Stars Undying by Emery Robin is a debut sci-fi novel that re-imagines the story of Cleopatra, Caesar, and Antony, except make everybody queer and set it in space. Fans of Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire will find a lot to love in this book; the richly layered politics and worldbuilding unfold in incredibly satisfying ways. Regardless of if you know the historical events this novel draws from, there are surprises and delights to be found and the narrative stands well on its own. For me, the character work often got lost in favour of the Big, Fascinating conceptual ideas explored within the text. This was a perfect book club read because there was so much to discuss, and I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

Thank you to Orbit for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.