Book Review: The Fallen Stars (The Star Child trilogy #2) by Stephanie Keyes

What it’s about:

Kellen St. James was just your average seventeen-year-old prodigy, until he eighty-sixed the Lord of Faerie and proposed to the Celtic Goddess, Calienta. But then everything in Kellen’s life gets turned upside-down when he and Cali end up on the run from a seriously irritated group of faeries. The worst part? They have zero idea why they’re being hunted.

Suddenly, Kellen is stuck in the middle of another prophecy that foresees him turning away from Calienta and embracing the dark. He’ll be forced to take sides in a struggle to claim his birth right, while discovering secrets about his father’s past. Meanwhile, his passion for Cali grows stronger, even as the prophecy threatens to tear them apart.

In the end, will Kellen and Cali survive the fates? When the ultimate power is within reach, which side will he choose?

Review:

This is the second book in The Star Child trilogy (you can see my review of The Star Child here) and it was sent to me to review by Loveahappyending magazine. When I started reading this book, I was worried I wasn’t going to remember the idea of the story as it has been a long time since I read the first one and it was an extremely in-depth storyline however after the first chapter I was relieved that the story of Kellen and Calienta just came swimming back to me like no time had passed at all. The Fallen Stars follows on nicely from The Star Child, Kellen St. James and Calentia, our two main characters and soon to be newly weds still aren’t safe from the Children Of Danu just yet. Cana, a C.O.D is out for revenge and Kellen and Cali have been forced to go on the run and into hiding. The worst part is that they have no idea why. With the help of Kellen’s best friend Gabe, Cali’s uncle, Dillion and other unexpected sources, they manage to overcome the obstacles the Children of Danu are throwing at them but Kellen gets stuck in the middle of yet another prophecy, threatening that he will turn evil and move over to the dark side. At the end of this jaw-dropping, tear-jerking and nail-biting story – which side will Kellen chose?

I found myself so completely drawn into this world it was like the pages were possessing me – I literally couldn’t stop reading! This book is written in 2 first person points of view – Kellen and Cali’s and it really worked. I particularly liked some of Cali’s chapters after she becomes mortal because it was really interesting and amusing to see how she reacted to everyday things like sandwiches and door handles that she had no previous knowledge of. I also liked that Kellen’s best friend Gabe plays a bigger part in this book. He was in The Star Child but only briefly and as Kellen’s story hasn’t been easy so far and is only getting worse it was nice that he had his best friend around and Gabe’s character definitely makes a dire situation more light-hearted. Despite the serious plotline however, Stephanie manages to easily introduce some humour into a scene without it feeling out of place and the line that particularly tickled me was, ” I often referred to him as The Turd. The presence of the word the in front of the word turd implied that roger had reached a certain status as a Turd – the highest level possible.”

The character development in these books is exceptional. As well as introducing new characters and referring back to old ones from the previous book, we’re still learning more and more about the current characters and to me, it feels like book #1 The Star Child literally only scratched the surface of what these characters are about. They’re constantly changing, all the time and I think that’s one of the main things that keeps you on the edge of your seat when reading these books – anything could happen! The Fallen Stars was extremely well-paced, nothing was rushed yet nothing was unnecessarily dragged out and despite the length of the book being 500 pages, the story doesn’t divert off on any irrelevant sub-plots. Every aspect has its rightful place in the story and it all ties together nicely (and unexpectedly). I can’t fault Stephanie’s passion, ambition and consistency in these books. I have absolutely no idea how she has managed to come up with such an elaborate storyline but it is a truly special and unique idea and because of that she is becoming a prominent figure in Young Adult literature. The Fallen Stars was just as good if not better than The Star Child and I can’t wait to read the third instalment of this trilogy especially considering The Fallen Stars was left on such a cliff-hanger!

5 well-deserved cupcakes:

About Stephanie Keyes

Stephanie Keyes has worked for the past twelve years as a corporate educator and curriculum designer in the Telecommunications industry. She holds a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Instructional Technology from Duquesne University and an Undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems from Robert Morris University. She is a classically trained clarinettist, but also plays the saxophone and sings. When she’s not writing, she is a wife to a wonderfully supportive husband and mother to three: two little boys and one cock-a-poo princess. The Star Child is Mrs Keyes’ first novel.

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