Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with a digital copy for review.

The Stars Undying was a gorgeous, beautifully written book that, unfortunately wasn’t for me. I tried so hard to love it, and I wanted to, as it sounded like everything I usually love. But while the prose was gorgeous, the story itself left a lot to be desired. The characters, with the exception of a few, just felt a little bland. It was hard to care for them. The reader is also just dumped right into the middle of the action, and while that usually works for me, this story was on so grand a scale that I just felt like I was missing something the whole time. Maybe it was because I’m not familiar with the story of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, which is what this book is based on, that I felt lost for a majority of the time. Ultimately, I think fans of that story will love this, it just wasn’t for me.

First, thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC!

This is pitched as a space opera inspired by ancient Rome and Egypt, including Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, which is pretty accurate, despite my minimal knowledge of Cleopatra and Caesar. The concept is unique and sounded like a fun spin on your typical space opera.

Unfortunately, this book was incredibly tough to get into for me. I felt lost a lot of times, as though I was missing some key information along the way even though I wasn’t. And while I am content to be confused about “what is going to happen next,” I am not so keen on being lost on the world building. You can tell this world and conflict was well thought out by the author, but it spilled onto the page messily. The world building was spotty, but I could feel that it was all there, behind the words. I am not sure what happened from brain to page but I think something got lost. That is the best way for me to explain it.

The characters were not pulling me in either. No one really jumped off the page for me, except Anita, who felt more lively than everyone else. Everyone went along their predetermined role in history and it gave me nothing to invest in these characters.

And lastly, the plot…I love political books. But I don’t think a book being so very focused on political with nothing else to offer (characters, world building, magic system, action) can do it for me. Each chapter felt like a drawn out meeting with some strangely placed flashbacks that went on for a long time in the middle of each chapter. And the constant POV swaps didn’t help this because each POV character is doing similar things to the other, there was no variety.

I think this was a very ambitious debut that will appeal to very specific people, those that enjoy heavily political sci-fi books and those that very much love the ancient history that this book pulls from. I think it just missed the mark for me, I am not the reader for this book, sadly.

Emery Robin's debut novel <i>The Stars Undying</i> is a sci-fi retelling of the story of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Anthony, and the political power struggles they were involved in. I typically stay away from retellings, as I don't like to know where the story goes, which is impossible to achieve within this genre - unless you're unfamiliar with the story being reimagined. It was not the case here, I am decently well versed in the historical facts, and, honestly, not a big fan of the era, yet I decided to reach for this novel as it was compared to one of my favorites, <i>A Memory Called Empire</i>.

In the end, I find this a difficult read to rate. The book is well-crafted, and the prose is - truly - fantastic (a feat for a debut author). The writing gripped me from the first page, the narrative voice of Gracia (Cleopatra) especially strong.

Where it started falling apart was the world building. This universe is vast. Its history - as you can imagine - intricate and complicated. The introduction to it is so dense, containing so much information (delievered with very little detail), that I was immediatelly lost. And, despite the length of the novel, I was never really able to become properly established in the story - the context was never made clear, only skipped through. Those readers who are intimately familiar with the historical fact might have been able to follow on the proper context, on the twist, turns, decisions and machinations. I was not one of those readers. As a result, I constantly felt as if I was missing something - despite being a very attentive reader. I just couldn't get a firm grip on the political realities and alliances of the central conflict and that took away from my investment (and enjoyment).

Ceirran (Julius Ceasar) disappoints. He is just not compelling. Gracia (Cleopatra) is a much stronger character, if morally ambigious (which makes it harder to root for her). The one truly outstanding character is Anita (Mark Anthony), but the amount of her presence in the novel is not enough to compensate. The motivations of these characters are so veiled in innuendo that I felt like I needed to take notes throughout to be able to follow.

Lastly, the sci-fi aspect of the novel falls short of the mark. It was a huge factor in my decision to read the book, yet it seemed like the author just needed that setting as a backdrop, and was wholly uninterested in it. The characters talk about space battles that already took place, or watch them as flickering lights in the sky, but they are not part of the story. The AI (Alekso/Alexader the Great) is so ruefully underused, it's almost criminal. It's advertised as a space opera, but I honestly did not think it deserved the title.

This book did not fulfil my expectations. I would absolutely recommend this to those who are huge fans of the historical characters and events used as inspiration - their knowledge of the details will surely flesh the story out in ways that were not possible for me. The ending is what it is, if you know your Roman history, you have some idea - I can, at best, describe it as anticlimactic.

<i>Thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review</i>

This was a very well-crafted book that unfortunately was not for me.

Let's start with what I did like: the writing was fantastic. This book had none of the writing issues I've come to associate with debuts. The prose, while dense, was immersive and beautiful without being overly flowery. The pacing was good and I just generally thought the book was constructed really well. Even though this particular book didn't work for me, I will absolutely check out what Robin writes in the future based on the skill evident in this book.

I also really liked the character of Gracia, our Cleopatra of the book. She was exactly what I wanted from a Cleopatra character - ambitious, morally grey, but still sympathetic. I don't have a deep knowledge of the history here, but Gracia matched my image of Cleopatra while also managing to add a lot of depth to her character and surprising me at times with the decisions she made.

Where this book started to fall short for me was with the character of Ceirran, our Julius Cesar. Honestly, I just found his POVs boring. They were extremely political, and while we were often told that Ceirran was a charismatic leader, I don't think it came through in the text. The book is told in alternating POVs between Gracia and Ceirran, so every other chapter became a bit of a drag to get through. Because I didn't love Ceirran, I also found it hard to buy the romance between him and Gracia. While their political scheming was interesting to read, the romantic elements didn't really captivate me. I was far, far more interested in the relationship between Gracia and Anita and wish that had got more page time instead.

The sci-fi elements in this book are really just a backdrop for the very political plot. This book could have been set anywhere else with very little changes. There were references to space battles and advanced technology, but very little of that ever made its way into the real story. Even the AI in this book didn't really feel like an AI. It could have easily been magical instead of technology based. All of this is fine, and very much an intentional decision by the author. However, for my personal taste, I would have liked the book to lean harder into the sci-fi elements. I picked up this book because it was Julius Cesar in space, but the space part was really just set dressing.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the history being retold here, or who likes very political plots where the motivations of every character can be analyzed and picked apart. There's tons of skill on display here, and I imagine this could be a favorite for a lot of people.

DNF @ 50%

I really wanted to like this book, and I really tried to.

I don't know if space opera just isn't for me, but I couldn't get into this book. Partly as well was the writing style, which again, I couldn't get into. I don't care for the main characters, and everything happens too quickly.

This could be a great book for someone, but sadly, I am not that someone.

The author has a brilliant mind for creating intricate multifaceted story worlds with dramatic plots. The sheer scope of this story is impressive and I wanted so badly to be immersed in it. I can see all of this objectively, but I’m afraid the story just wasn’t for me.

The beginning is really dense, with a lot of information thrown at readers without proper context - names, places, world, factions, legends, etc. It’s all just too much to comprehend all at once and completely. This is my biggest concern, that many readers will not push through.

Although it truly does build into an adventure of epic proportions, I struggled to connect with the characters and the plot because of the first section. On the one hand, the setting is otherworldly and the lore is immersive, and I really wanted to be transported into the scenes. But the sheer amount of information that I was trying to absorb just left me slightly overwhelmed instead.

I think with some reworking to the first third of this book, it could have made for a much better start for the reader experience. I believe the author has intriguing concepts for creating a unique, spacey world, but the execution of it left much to be desired.

For readers who do manage to stick it out and grasp the story, I think that science-fiction lovers will enjoy it. It is accurately referred to as a space opera, and that’s the exact feel that I had while reading it. Even though my own experience with it wasn’t exactly raving, I still think it is a commendable debut and I’d be interested to see what this author has in store for us all next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I so very desperately wanted to like The Stars Undying. When I got an advance copy I practically screamed with excitement. I mean “Cleopatra and Mark Antony in space for fans of Memory Called Empire”? You couldn’t be more in my wheelhouse if you pitched a book as “for Miranda, specifically.” Unfortunately there were too many things that didn’t work for me about this for me to really get on board.

It ended up being a very frustrating reading experience because I wanted to like this book and there was a lot to like. In fact this book was very close to being truly great. The settings are immaculately drawn, from the Atlantis inspired planet that stands in for Egypt awash in sun and luxury to the cold streets of an alternate Rome full of monuments and ruins, these settings are fully lived in. The character of Cleopatra has all the charisma you’d want and a interesting character arc. The idea of the computational pearls and Cleopatra wandering around with the ghost of a past conquerer in her head is a great note. In short this novel had a lot of good ingredients and unfortunately squandered them. Because somehow (and I’m still trying to work out how the author managed it) Julius Ceasar is boring. And you’re in his head for half the book. Every time I turned the page and saw his name as a POV I would groan inside. Especially against how invested and interested I was in the Cleopatra character—it really impacted my enjoyment. The other complaint I have is similar to the complaint I have about The Declaration of the Rights of Magicians which is that it for all the “set in space” it hews too closely to the known history at the price of surprise and the unexpected.

Perhaps I am too hard on this book, and perhaps the marketers did it a disservice by comparing it to Memory—which is one of the best books of the decade—thereby setting my expectations too high. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask this book to grapple a little more deeply with the sources of power and the consequences thereof, and to give Julius Ceasar the larger than life personality he deserves. #bookstagram #bookreview #thestarsundying #spaceopera

A very solid space opera, one that I enjoyed wholeheartedly. The author's attention to detail is impressive, even if I had not originally known the original stories of Cleopatra and Julius Ceasar. You can tell when an author enjoys (and knows!) what they are writing.

The first-person POV took a while to get used to, but by the end, it flowed beautifully. I also especially enjoyed the world; the world-building was phenomenal.

All around a fantastic book. I enjoyed the characters, their relationships/dynamics with each other, and the actual retelling itself.

This book was one of the most unique retellings I have ever read. I truly enjoyed the author's attention to detail not only to the world but to the original Caesar, Antony, and Cleopatra story. I have never read a space opera before so this admittedly took me a long time to get through. I would not count that against the book because shortcomings may have been a result of my own unfamiliarity.

The author has an amazingly fluid writing style that kept the story engaging. I look forward to reading more from this author and more from the adult science fiction genre!

Rating: 4/5 stars

I think this one is a "it's not you, it's me" book. I was so excited for this one - Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in an epic queer space opera retelling? It sounded incredible! And, honestly, I think this one is going to do very well when it releases to the public.

I'm not sure what didn't click with me - the writing was well done (though a bit confusing in the beginning for me), the characters interesting, the world-building was good... and yet I struggled with this book. I don't know if I just wasn't in the right mood for it or what. The eagerness I felt starting it faded until I just did not want to pick this one up. Still, I highly recommend other readers give it a chance for themselves. I truly believe this was a 'me' issue. I just couldn't connect and I do think I will go back when I have more free time for a re-read to see if maybe things finally 'click' with me now that I understand fully what was happening.

If you’ve been following me at all this year, you probably know that I’ve had little patience for long books lately. And yet, once I heard the summary for this book, I immediately downloaded it. I didn’t regret that decision at all! Exquisitely written, The Stars Undying reimagines the lives of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar amidst a sprawling galactic empire.

The book opens with Altagracia fleeing her home planet of Szayet after her sister stole her birthright and throne and the ensuing civil war. At the same time, Matheus Ceirran, currently the most powerful man in the galaxy, and his lieutenant Anita arrive at Szayet. Seeing her opportunity to take back her throne, Gracia strikes an understanding with Ceirran, which offsets a series of events that might break both of their nations.

I adored the writing. Like I mentioned before, I just lack the attention span for long books, especially ones that really require you to pay attention to every conversation. (I messaged this to a friend after reading: “I haven’t been able to get through a think-y book in forever. As evidenced by my use of ‘think-y.'”) But I fell into this book so easily; the writing was just so compelling, I couldn’t put it down. Every conversation had so many layers, and despite the fact that I could see all of the twists coming—you’re meant to, everything is subtly hinted at throughout the narrative—I still finished the book discovering new dimensions to it.

The Stars Undying is comprised of of dual points-of-view, with both Gracia and Ceirran narrating in first-person. However, it was easy to differentiate their chapters, in a subtle way that I can’t even explain. They just narrate in different ways, which added to their characterizations. I also enjoyed the complexity of Ana’s character and hope to get a point-of-view from her in the sequel.

The worldbuilding was also so detailed. This book was based on historical events (you can read the character descriptions here) but set in a space opera. It’s a bit dense at first, but you quickly pick up the intricacies of the world. Gracia is a descendant of Caviro, Alekso’s beloved and chosen follower. Alekso was an infamous ruler, who uploaded his soul to a computer they call the Pearl; since his death, he has become deified, with each new Caviro ruler inheriting the Pearl and becoming his Prophet. Ceirran is commander of the Ceian Empire, which does not believe in gods and has been slowly but surely conquering neighboring worlds.

I’m honestly at a loss for words to describe how much I enjoyed this book, partially because it’s so complex and partially because I don’t want to spoil anything. I would recommend reading other reviews that are much better at effusing praise if my own review hasn’t convinced you.

The Stars Undying was a bold debut with complex characters and intricate worldbuilding. It says something that as someone who lacks the attention span to get through long books, I couldn’t put this book down. I definitely recommend The Stars Undying, especially if you’re intrigued by the Roman Empire set in space!

As someone who reads history books about ancient Rome and Egypt, I'm often drawn to historical fiction if I need something lighter to read. This book was a historical fantasy, a sub-genre that I've rarely read, and yet I feel like what made this book work so well is the fact that it can be read by people without any historical knowledge. You can read this as a fantasy book with complex world-building and politics, or a fantasy interpretation of a period in Roman history filled with back stabbing and intrigue. The author deserves praise for accomplishing such a feat and I would rate this 4.5/5. I hope the author continues writing books like this, as I will certainly keep reading them.

I love Cleopatra, but until now, I had never read an imagining of her story. The Stars Undying is an intricately plotted sci-fi novel: you can tell that Robin spent a lot of time developing this world and connecting it to Cleopatra's history while still allowing it to stand on its own. It's easy to see who the characters are based on: Altagracia is Cleopatra, Ceirran is Caesar, and Anita is Antony. But these characters took on a life of their own. I recently read Margaret George's "The Memoirs of Cleopatra," so the events leading up to the assassination of Caesar were fairly fresh in my mind, and I was able to connect what was happening in the book to what happened in real life. But I don't think you need to be familiar with Cleopatra, Caesar, and Antony at all to enjoy this book. Gracia in particular was such a great character, and her unreliability only made it more exciting trying to figure out what was happening. 4/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for allowing me to read this gem a bit early.

Robin allows us a glimpse into a beautifully designed world with politics and intrigue to keep us company and a cast of richly developed characters that are just fun to read about. I do have to admit that I know little about Roman/Egyptian history and that might have compromised my review. I loved the theme of religion and how it was explored. I also loved the relationships between the characters and how they were designed. The relationships between Gracia and Ceirran, the relationships between her and her twin. It all seemed to fit into a richly built universe that I loved learning more and more about.

I also appreciated the queer representation in the book. It's not often that bisexual characters are portrayed rightly and this book certainly did so.

Overall, I found the book to be a bit dense but so rich in worldbuilding and creativity. It made me wish for a sequel and I can't wait for the audio version to come out so I can listen to it and reread it. Excellent debut!

Thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Stars Undying is a sci-fi retelling of Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Antony, and also Alexander the Great put his soul into a computer and became a god (this, to me, was fascinating and I loved it). This is a beautiful and delicately crafted novel, and genuinely one of the best debut novels I’ve read this year. Though I think it stands wonderfully on its own, finding the historical parallels to Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Antony is such a delight.

This is heavier on political intrigue than space battles, but I think that it really works here. I also thought that Emery’s choice to have a dual POV in the first person worked really well; I’m usually very picky about first person but seeing why this choice was made me gasp. This book is very much concerned with the things you’d expect from a space opera, like empire and colonialism, and it is also deeply concerned with interpersonal relationships, and I did find that to be quite compelling—sometimes I could not tell if these people loved or hated or were in love with or simply wanted to fuck each other, which was delicious. The first thirty percent of this novel is an absolutely wild ride, and then it understandably slows down until about the eighty percent mark, where I could not stop turning the pages.

Anyway. Like other reviewers have said, that last line, holy shit. This was so good and I am still reeling with how much I loved it, and also, Ana Decretan, I am free on Thursday night and would like to hang out.

It's start really strong and waver a bit in the middle. Reading this as someone not really familiar with the tales of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, I was expecting something more. But if it was read by someone more familiar with their history, I am sure you can find tiny bits of easter eggs here and there.

Though as a space opera, it less focus on the space on more on the opera aspect. It's a bit slow paced too and focused more on internal conflicts of the characters. Though sometimes the plot slogs, it still a savory read by how appealing the narratives are. In the end, it's a queer normative scifi with the grandeur of Roman empire.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this arc in exchange of honest review.

I gave this book my best shot. I tried to get past the horribly confusing beginning. Names were thrown all over the place with no explanation (and all the names either start with C or A), and the timeline jumped around so much without warning. It was very hard to follow. But I trudged through until I got to the exchange sex and cheating scene. Unfortunately, that made me hate both the main characters, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Hard DNF.

A sensuously written political tour de force -- I was blown away by the sophistication of the prose, as well as the keenly thought out interpersonal relationships.

I throughly enjoyed the blending of space opera and the history of Julius Ceasar, Cleopatra, & Marc Antony. Like Red Rising the Roman societal structure overlayed on a galactic empire makes for a great read. My only complaint is I wish the Cleopatra/Ceasar section was shorter to make way for Cleopatra & Antony's relationship and later war against Rome.

***I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review. ***

I’m not a natural hand at ancient history. To me—as fictional retellings, and this book, perhaps agree—such personages found in ancient history function primarily in the niche of myth. I was not familiar with the story of Cleopatra going in, and as a result the book didn’t strictly click for me until I caught up on the historical background partway through, which I recommend to readers also unfamiliar with her story. But once I did, I found this book was achieving an astonishing feat of narration that changed how I think about both space operas and retellings.

This book is at once literary theatre and oral history. As is common to space operas, there are wars and planets, colonies and commanders, queens and histories; but Ceirran (Caesar) and Gracia (Cleopatra) tell the audience about their experiences with each other through the lens of war, rather than the lens of war through their experiences with each other. They do this, effectively, through twin entwining histories/monologues. We follow the characters as we would if they were on a stage in front of us, giving their histories as monologues. In the author’s note, Robin makes an allusion to directing the characters, but the impression is given without reading the note.

As a result of this constraint or innovation, much information about world history and character history is delivered in telling; indeed, the act of telling is very much the point. This book is, in no small part, a love letter to Shakespearean theatre in specific, with overt if abbreviated allusions to his plays (most identifiably to me <em>Julius Caesar</em>, for obvious reasons) peppered through the text. Gracia herself delivers a riff on Shakespearean poetry halfway through the book. As a result of this theatrical flair, the book is conversation- and character-heavy not only for the reader with the book in their hands, but because Gracia and Ceirran are focused on the personages around them to a remarkable degree. There is a narrative reason for this focus, but it is also for the sake of balance: at the beginning of the text, Gracia is leaving (rising) Szeyet as Ceirran is arriving (falling). This predicts their narrative arcs. It is natural the book begins here, and that they should follow each other throughout; Gracia tells the story of her rise using Ceirran as catalyst, and Ceirran tells the story of his fall using Gracia as catalyst in kind. This is not only because their stories are contemporaneous, but because they are thematically entwined.

This book demands a close read, and the smoothness of the storytelling may depend on the reader’s ability to closely follow details. Throughlines are provided sometimes a bit obliquely, trusting the reader to make the requisite connections. I myself did not make all of them. At times I wondered what motivated character decisions, particularly when it came to the events that led to the climax of the book, though this may all be explained by the narrative frame—particularly Gracia’s insistence that she is a liar and Ceirran’s repeatedly demonstrated arrogance. The romance wasn’t strictly a slow burn, but the true nature of the affair between Ceirran and Gracia was. All of this promises to reward a reread. What Ceirran and Gracia really want with the other—as themes of empire, land, and wealth form the rich context to the book, though neither narrator is particularly inclined to comment on these topics directly—remains in my mind an open question, and makes me excited to return to this world.

If approached a bit sideways by the character-focused nature of the narration, empire is a significant and foundational focus of the book. Questions of law and migration, of war and imprisonment, of resources and territory, of religion and “civilization” are all raised, particularly as Ceirran’s political drama begins to ramp up on Ceian. These topics are—thanks to close first POV from two characters who aspire to imperial power—discussed by the characters with notable neutrality, almost indifference. The facts of empire are indeed treated as facts; and why shouldn’t they be? They were; they are. Yet the book is intensely interested in the <em>spectacle</em> of empire, a focus that makes their narrative bias plain.

The book is intensely interested in governance in general: democracy, law, mandated secularization and divine rule. One reason Gracia and Ceirran are so preoccupied by each other is because they are reflections of each other’s relationship to power and empire. Ceirran’s (at this point) ease with power and liberality with resources is not something Gracia (at this point) experiences, though it is something she envies, admires, and sometimes rues. Gracia, meanwhile, is both ruthless and effortless in her own right, and her ambition and spiritual power Ceirran admires in kind. Ceirran’s aspiration to Gracia’s form of power is novel to him and therefore exciting; this aspiration is integral to his downfall. In contrast, Ceirran’s power is comparatively simple, realized from consensus and material assets that Gracia is capable of coveting if she plays the right cards, and does collect throughout.

The throughline in each of their ambitions is that of spectacle, which is featured prominently each time the story endeavors to look at empire head-on. Each strives for spectacle, because without the social and political affirmation created by spectacle, their imperial (territorial, political, economic, military) power is diminished, unjustified, perhaps unstable. Ceirran is shown, in every conceivable way, to care so much about appearance, spectacle, pomp and circumstance that it makes others—including Gracia—nervous. The feeling of scope and scale is occasionally elided at the beginning of the book by Gracia and Ceirran’s preoccupations with each other; but as the story proceeds, those details are filled in gradually through the characters' ambitions. The world broadens as the characters' focus and ambitions do, and almost without realizing, the reader finds themselves in a dynamic, complex world rendered by events of imperial spectacle within, of, and aside those ambitions.

This book changed what I understood retellings were capable of. Like any book demanding of a reader’s attention, it delivers a great deal to anyone willing to lend it their ears (god, sorry): a unique narrative frame, a compelling approach to a space opera, and… Anita. God; Anita. Am I a Mark Anthony stan now? Is that something it’s possible to be? Do I devote time to thinking about this? Only Book 2 can address these questions.