Review brought to you by guest reviewer Jennifer Jensen
However,I knew I was in trouble when I failed to be enchanted within the first few chapters. Helen Hamilton is our heroine, and she is rather prickly. She is beautiful, but for whatever reason she is unable to recognize the effect she has on the opposite sex (slightly reminiscent of Bella). She feels different from her peers, as if she has never really belonged even though she has lived on the island of Nantucket for her entire existence. She has one close friend, but her relationship with Claire is rather toxic, in my opinion. They fight over the stupidest things, and the less page time their ramblings took up, the happier I was.
When the Delos family moves to Nantucket, Helen takes an immediate disliking to Lucas–in fact, she wants to kill him on sight. Additionally, when she is around Lucas, she sees three old hags that cry for blood. Her nightmares extend into her real life, and she knows that something bigger is happening, but what is it, exactly?
Helen learns that she is a Scion, a descendant of the gods in Greek mythology. And so is Lucas. They are from rival houses, and at all costs cannot consummate their love for one another. If they do, war will break out. Throughout all of history, this story has played out time and time again.
At least, this is what I understand of the plot. Truthfully, I found this nearly 500 page book very difficult to follow. I got swept away in the names that Angelini chose; I’m still not quite sure if Ajax is the Ajax of The Iliad; if Cassandra is the Cassandra, daughter of King Priam; and if Helen is really Helen of Troy.
As if my complete inability to comprehend this novel weren’t enough, I also didn’t care for Angelini’s writing style. Grammatically, her writing is appropriate, but she is too repetitive. The characters reveal something through their dialogue, and then Angelini repeats it in the narrative voice.
Regretfully, I have no desire to continue reading this series and cannot think of one person I would recommend Starcrossed to. If this novel appeals to you, I encourage you not to take my word for it, but to try a few sample pages for yourself and decide on your own. So many people have already loved this book, and I seem to be in the minority with my dislike. I have enjoyed Harper Teen books in the past, but I will honestly say that I am going to be skeptical in the future of any publications they heavily market.
I read the book within 3 days. It started off a bit slow and the teenager lingo was getting to me, but I kept at it.
Overall, I didn’t think it was a bad book although I acknowledge it had some problems.
Helen could be pretty mean, but I still liked her as a character. I found myself liking Lucas as well.
On the other side of the coin, the physical beauty thing got annoying. If Helen was just pretty, I can buy that she didn’t realize it. She is one of the most beautiful women EVER; I don’t buy that she had no idea. And it got old.
The incest thing was ick. But at least the author didn’t leave us hanging like in the Mortal Instruments series. (That one grossed me out so badly, I couldn’t read the rest of the book for 6 months.)
I would have liked a dictionary. I had a difficult time keeping up with all the characters, who they looked like (from the past) and their powers. Because of that, I didn’t feel attached to them.
I loved how Claire knew Helen was different from childhood experiences. It was refreshing that Helen didn’t have to leave her “normal” friends behind.
The book was somewhat repetitive, but I needed the repetition to understand it. It’s a long book for the first in a series. Starcrossed reminded me of Percy Jackson, Mortal Instruments and Twilight all rolled into one.
I liked it, but I’m not sure I can express why. So, I’ll just say I liked it and I’ll give the next one a try.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Here’s my review for this amazing book:
Josephine
Angelini is a fabulous writer as ‘STARCROSSED’ is one of those books that
people just HAVE to read. Forget brooding vampires – they’re just so last year!
Bring on the Demigods! They’ve got “strength, speed, agility, acute hearing and
eyesight, beauty, rapid healing and intelligence” and on top of that, some of
them even have rare special powers like flying! I don’t think anyone can top
that!
Lucas Delos
and Helen Hamilton fell in love when they were practically destined to loathe
one another and this unique love somehow binds them together because every
minute they are apart, it’s like torture. Josephine Angelini really makes the
reader feel what the characters are feeling which I think is a unique ability
few writers possess. By the end of the book, you will no doubt crave for the next
book – just like did and still do!