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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood ARC Review


Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood 
Paperback ARC, 301 pages
Published by Running Press Teens,
an imprint of Running Press Books Publishers
Publication Date: December 8th, 2015
Pre-Order It: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository |
Three royal houses ruling three interplanetary systems are on the brink of collapse, and they must either ally together or tear each other apart in order for their people to survive.

Asa is the youngest daughter of the house of Fane, which has been fighting a devastating food and energy crisis for far too long. She thinks she can save her family’s livelihood by posing as her oldest sister in an arranged marriage with Eagle, the heir to the throne of the house of Westlet. The appearance of her mother, a traitor who defected to the house of Galton, adds fuel to the fire, while Asa also tries to save her sister Wren's life . . . possibly from the hands of their own father.

But as Asa and Eagle forge a genuine bond, will secrets from the past and the urgent needs of their people in the present keep them divided?


Inherit the Stars was a great book that I don't regret reading, but I definitely had some major issues with it. First of all, I loved the family aspects of the book. Asa—the protagonist—put family above everything else in her life, and she really struck me as a person with a lot of resolve. She always tried her hardest to do what was best for her family.

The dreaded insta-love trope (that is so common in YA books and so annoying) was avoided, and truly I loved how Asa and Eagle started off as reluctant partners and gradually became closer. Speaking of Eagle, he was a great and complex character with well-developed and realistic flaws. While he began as distant and moody, by the end of the book, he had undergone a tremendous amount of character growth, and it was just wonderfully executed.


Unfortunately, I had several problems that kept me from completely loving the book. One of the biggest was how little world-building there was! Coming from a person who's always had a deep interest in astronomy, there is so much room (and need!) for details and explanations in a sci-fi fantasy story involving outer space travel and multiple solar systems. Instead, I can't even name one thing about appearances, landscapes, or general features of the planets. Not only this, but I am missing an explanation as to how the characters travelled through space within a matter of days. Despite these very odd scientific mishaps that perhaps I'm nitpicking over, it was the ending that disappointed me the most. Basically, two pages from the end of the book, just when I felt like it would take another book to resolve everythingevery single issue was fixed instantly and in the most lucky, convenient way possible. It was a pretty big let-down. I would have preferred a cliffhanger and an entire sequel for a better and more reasonable conclusion.



Overall, I would recommend Inherit the Stars, though I did have some annoyances that kept me from falling in-love. It places a huge value on family, and while the weird science and the ending were lacking, the characters themselves and the writing really made up for it!



1) The book placed a great emphasis on the importance of family, and Asa puts her sisters who she is very close toWren and Emmalinebefore everything else in her life, and it was touching to read.

2) No insta-love! The romance truly took a long time to develop, and the characters got to know each other instead gradually. It was a slow burn, and it felt natural.

3) Eagle was a great, realistic character. He had his flaws, because he was distant and reluctant at first, but he really developed throughout the story.


1) There was basically no world-building in this book—although different planets and solar systems give so much room for it! It is frustrating that not even one feature of the planets travelled between throughout the book was mentioned, which took away from the story.

2) How did they to travel between solar systems in a day? I need to know!!

3) The ending was SO rushed. A conflict that should have taken a separate book to resolve was quickly cleared up on the last page—it felt completely forced. I expected more and I expected better.


The brown of his eyes echoes in his lips. Warmth and wonder like life is this shiny, beautiful thing.

No wonder he smiles so rarely. Everyone would forget how to breathe.

“Yes. You survived! You get to eat breakfast with your family ever day and dinner with them every night. When people look at you, they should see courage—literally—in your skin, and face the idea that you didn’t give up when they probably would have. You’re awake and standing and if they don’t realize how amazing that is, then you can just blame me.”



11 comments:

  1. Now that you mention it I do see the lack of world-building. I think the author focused heavily on the political aspects of the worlds. Asa frustrated me some times but I loved Eagle! Great review :D

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    1. I did notice how developed the politics of the world were, but I would have preferred some world-building too. Thanks, and I thought Eagle was such an interesting character!

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  2. The weird science stuff also bothered me as an astronomy buff, but I loved the pacing of the romance. You nailed this review!

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    1. I'm also really interested in astronomy, which is probably why I noticed all of the odd science behind this book.

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  3. I remember being so excited for this book back when I first heard of it!! But it's one of those books I requested and just lost interest. It's not helping that I'm not such a fan of the cover.

    And I don't like rushed endings. That always kills the rating. That's what happened to me with Sword And Verse. The ending put me off so I changed my rating from 4 to 3 stars :| Amazing review, Brittany!! Love the usage of gifs :D

    ~Karina @ A Reader Under The Sea

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    1. Hey Karina, this is actually not my review =)

      I really wanted to read this book but after Nikki's review I'm not so sure. I actually rated Sword and Verse 3.5 stars, I thought the pacing in the book in general was strange.

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    2. Oops I meant to say Nikki. Sorry about that!

      And that's good to hear that I'm not the only one that gave Sword and Verse 3-3.5 stars :|

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  4. Thanks! I'm also not a huge fan of the cover, and that's one of the first things that gets me interested in books. The ending was a major problem that I had with the book, and it affected my rating. It's important for a book to finish well and wrap things up.

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  5. I couldn't finish this book. I just couldn't get past how there was so little of everything. I felt like I didn't know the world or the characters.

    I might have to go back and read the rest though. I'm curious to see how everything just fixes itself. (I hate that, but curiosity always gets the better of me.)

    Erin @ The Hardcover Lover

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    1. Yeah, specifically the world felt underdeveloped for me, and I couldn't picture it at all. I have a hard time not finishing books, because I always need to know how they end.

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  6. Thanks for the review--I haven't heard about this book before today. I appreciate the detailed likes and dislikes you have here--I will skip reading this one as I need good world-building and really dislike convenient endings.

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