Starborn

The Worldmaker Trilogy #1

by Lucy Hounsom

Death and destruction will bar her way...

Kyndra's fate holds betrayal and salvation, but the journey starts in her small village. On the day she comes of age, she accidentally disrupts an ancient ceremony, ending centuries of tradition. So when an unnatural storm targets her superstitious community, Kyndra is blamed. She fears for her life until two strangers save her, by wielding powers not seen for an age - powers fuelled by the sun and the moon.

Together, they flee to the hidden citadel of Naris. And here, Kyndra experiences disturbing visions of the past, showing war and one man's terrifying response. She'll learn more in the city's subterranean chambers, amongst fanatics and rebels. But first Kyndra will be brutally tested in a bid to unlock her own magic.

If she survives the ordeal, she'll discover a force greater than she could ever have imagined. But could it create as well as destroy? And can she control it, to right an ancient wrong?

Book One of the Worldmaker Trilogy

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy

495 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2015

About the author

Lucy is the author of the Worldmaker Trilogy, beginning with STARBORN. Her fourth book, SISTERSONG, is published in 2021.

She has worked for Waterstones Booksellers for over 10 years and has a BA in English & Creative Writing from the University of London. She went on to complete the MA in Creative Writing in 2010.

She co-hosts the intersectional feminist podcast, Breaking the Glass Slipper, which won Best Audio in the British Fantasy Awards 2019.

Lucy lives by the sea in Devon (UK) with two cats and a bedroom full of stories. She loves gaming, anime and playing the piano. Her sister is the author, Laura Madeleine.

Reviews

[Ash · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book on the expectation of an honest review. Unfortunately sometimes an honest review is not a good review, and I can in all honesty say that I could not recommend this book to anyone.

The main reasons for my poor review are as follows: I found Starborn to be badly written, badly plotted, badly characterised, ineffectual and poorly imagined as a novel, and I was extremely angry about the way the book handled 1. the threat of sexual violence against female characters, 2. the only canon queer character and 3. the only canon disabled character. As a whole, the novel is hugely sketchy on consent in any situation, and falls into many terrible fantasy tropes I haven't seen widespread use of since the 1990's.

I'm extremely disappointed that Tor not only published this but is promoting it as one of their big debuts of this year.

The rest of this review will explain certain points of the plot (such as it is) and although I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow of everything that happens, as such the entire thing is going under a spoiler tag.

Let's start with the bad writing.

The prose is clumsy to poor but I would have accepted it as a first novel effort if what was being described was in any way engaging. The only time the writing elicited any kind of emotional reaction - other than frustration - from me was at two brief moment when the action spiralled suddenly into Unbelievably Creepy. More on that later.

The world building is not wholly un-salvageable, just thinner than I like and inconsistent in it's delivery. Using what is essentially a history essay full of made-up words and convoluted sentence structures as your prologue is a bold move that straight-up did not work for me in any way, shape or form. I also wasn't able to suss out any kind of pattern or cultural identity in any of the made-up words, so I never transitioned into believing these were actually the names of places or people. Some of the decisions made spoke either of a massive lack of research (the horses ride all night and then all the next day with only a short break, and the main character notes that they don't seem particularly tired, and then a little later on the characters can only ride very slowly towards their destination because the horses will get tired - or rather because they needed to move slower so a plot point could catch up with them) or... I honestly don't know? Winner of the most bizarrely incoherent piece of world building is a toss-up between the airships (of course airships) that can only travel along set routes because they're chained to rails between the different landing stages, for... reasons? (This one probably doesn't win because I can almost see how that would be a cool idea if more had been done with it, although absolutely no mention was made of how come this aggressively medieval-low-fantasy world has airships) or the fact that the main character doesn't know what bacon is. Yes, we get a whole scene - in a book which largely doesn't mention the actual day-to-day business of life - where the main character watches someone magically cooking bacon, and then they eat the bacon, all the while aggressively not using the word bacon.

Because airships are fine but what is this mysterious thinly sliced pork. I was completely mystified by the fact that this character, who had grown up in a rural tavern, apparently did not know what bacon was to the point that I didn't pay any attention to the magic. Which was probably just as well given how it wasn't time for the plot to talk about the magic yet.

Which brings me on to the plot. Largely, the plot lacked focus and drive. It wasn't a bad plot - certainly by two thirds of the way through, at the point at which I genuinely hated myself for continuing to read this book, the plot started to do some things I could recognise as somewhat interesting and unexpected (I think I was supposed to realise they had been foreshadowed, but they really hadn't. This book can't pull off foreshadowing) but it just - happened. Mechanically. Things happened because the plot outline said 'now this thing happens', not because it felt like a natural progression of the story. In all honesty, this should have meant that the book had decent enough pacing and hit the major plot beats - if the plot had been formulaic, I could have dealt with it. But it was badly paced and meandering to the point of aimless. This is how come we have two mysterious characters turning up, speaking cryptically to the main character, and then leaving abruptly in immediate succession - and I do mean immediate succession, there's only a few pages and absolutely no plot movement between the conversation with Kait in the tavern and the conversation with Medavle (how on earth are you supposed to pronounce that anyhow) outside, and then they both disappear entirely for a third of the book before reappearing on the other side of the world. A side-effect of this mechanically driven plot is that characters appear in certain places because they need to deliver a particular piece of information to the reader, not because it makes any sense for them to be there - the biggest example of this is how Jhren (yeah, not sure how to pronounce that one either), the main character's childhood best friend (we know this because she told us so, repeatedly) turns up in the nearest town just as she decides to run away, expressly it seems for the purpose of telling her that he's marrying someone else and there's nothing left for her. That was the most obvious of the clumsy deus-ex-machina devices in this book, but it certainly wasn't the only one.

In case this wasn't already clear, the weakest part of Starborn - which is not a strong book - was the characters. None of them seemed to have any kind of distinguishing voice - I could not tell their dialogue apart. They didn't appear to have any motivations or drive. They were marionettes, being shoved around to make the plot happen according to the outline on paper. I found I cared just enough about Bregenne to hate the way she was treated by the plot (more on that later) but that was about it. I would have disliked the main character, Kyndra, if I'd actually been able to think about her as a person rather than a writing mechanism - all this plot has to happen to someone! - because the decisions she made were entirely nonsensical. Not asking questions until three chapters after something happens because that piece of information can't be revealed just yet. Not realising plot points that were entirely obvious until it was time for her to act on that information. Telling her entire life story and trusting implicitly someone who just assaulted her! (More on THAT later too)

So, that is why Starborn is bad. Now, this is why it's awful and made me furious, which - fair warning - does not involve actual rape but is going to get pretty goddamn squicky:

Firstly, let's talk about what happens to Kyndra. She's been brought to the super-secret invisible magic mountain and is awaiting a test to see whether or not she's got magical powers (I'm being slightly flippant - slightly). Kyndra is studying in the library when three students enter - one is the young girl she met a chapter or so ago who she 'just instinctively knew she could trust' (that's not a direct quote but it might as well be) and her two male friends.

Both young men proceed to mock and belittle Kyndra (who is clearly upset and angry, one of the few times Kyndra actually displays a genuine emotion) and then one of them forcefully immobilises and silences her through magic, climbs on top of her and kisses her on the mouth.

Remember how I mentioned that the writing in this book becomes alarmingly competent at only the creepiest moments? This is one of them. It's deeply, viscerally upsetting. Kyndra is entirely powerless and the man's intentions are very clearly to humiliate and hurt her.

That's not what made me angry. What made me angry was that the very next time they meet, Kyndra tells the two men her entire life story. And becomes their friend. And nobody suffers any repercussions for this at all.

It's entirely like the book is saying "Yes you basically sexually assaulted this girl but we know you're essentially a good person so that's fine". And it's not. It's really not.

The other moment of 'unsettlingly creepy and upsetting and also when did the writing become competent in this novel' involves the only canon queer character, Janus. Get it? Janus, the two faced god?

Janus is a minor villain. He's pretty, he's not very competent and mostly ineffectual, he's sneaky and slippery and a liar, his entire job in the plot is to pretend to be the main character's friend and then betray her, and he's madly in lust with an older more powerful man who's using his attraction to manipulate Janus into doing whatever he wants. Their conversation is the aforementioned creepy creepy but semi-competently written scene, in which for three pages the novel becomes insanely queasy simpering sexual tension.

If you're thinking that Janus sounds sort of familiar, then congratulations! You also read all the awful fantasy novels of the 1990's that I did growing up. For literally a decade (and it was a pretty formative decade) this was the only queer representation I saw in fantasy - the soft and effeminate gay male villain - and that is not a place I ever want to go back to. It's not a place we have to go back to! We're better than this! Who read this and thought 'yes okay it's 2015 and this is a reasonable representation of queer people'

Anyhow, this moves me on to Bregenne, who as I mentioned previously was my favourite character (to a vastly reduced quantity of 'favourite'. Least indifferent, perhaps). Bregenne should have been great - she's an older woman, a powerful mentor figure (who quite frankly should not be casually disrespected throughout the entire novel by her peers in the way that she is, but that kind of background radiation pales in comparison to what I'm about to talk about) and she's disabled for most of the novel. She's completely blind, but has adapted her magic powers to allow her to sense her surrounding in some situations. It has limitations, but generally speaking she's a really good representation of a disabled person who is powerful and has adventures. I am 100% here for a book about disabled women being powerful and having adventures.

When Bregenne, Kyndra and Bregenne's younger male work partner (who is of course madly in love with her, a relationship I was dissatisfied with the execution of but pretty much happy with it's general trajectory right up until the final chapter when everything went horribly horribly wrong) return to the super-secret magic mountain where the magic people live, one of the first things that happens is that we establish one of the minor male characters is creepily obsessed with Bregenne.

He corners Bregenne in her bedroom, while she's in her nightdress, and proceeds to embrace and fondle her while saying generally creepy and unpleasant things like "You want this really". Because Bregenne is a semi-competently written awesome character, Bregenne blasts him in the face with magic and orders him out of her bedroom. Because Bregenne also suffers from being in a horrible narrative, Bregenne then spends the next few paragraphs fretting about how she shouldn't have worn such revealing clothes. Needless to say, the man in question never gets punished.

While unpleasant, that scene is nowhere near as upsetting as the one with Kyndra, and although I was overall unhappy with how it was handled, it pales in comparison to what happens to her at the end of the book. In the final chapter, Bregenne's younger, male work partner, who is supposed to be madly in love with her, forcibly heals her eyes without her permission, while she screams for him to stop, and this is portrayed as a loving act.

Let me repeat that; the only disabled character in the narrative gets 'fixed' by a younger man, without her consent, because he loves her. Because clearly, he knows better than Bregenne what is the right thing to do with her body. Because clearly, a disabled woman can't be trusted to make her own decisions about her disability, of course she wants to be 'fixed', this can't possibly need negotiating. I cannot convey how unbelievably furious this casual ableism made me. Like it wasn't bad enough that the only character that was in some way compelling was grossly mistreated by the plot at every opportunity, but had to be denied agency of her own body specifically because she was disabled.

In case you didn't have enough of a bad taste in your mouth, in the final chapter it's also revealed that - brace yourself - Kyndra was conceived because Medavle, a character she also seems to trust for some reason despite the fact that he categorically does terrible things rather than just being quite annoying and a bit of an asshole like every other male authority figure in this book, manipulated the mind of a character who is tactfully described by the book as a madman. When this character appears in the book, his mind is so badly damaged that he's unable to speak, is sometimes violent, and is kept - emphasis on the word 'kept' - in a room with no sharp edges. In case this wasn't weirdly sketchy and upsetting enough, Medavle uses his influence - it's a plot point that would take too long to explain - to convince this character that what he REALLY wants to do is escape from his confines and go have sex with a woman, with the intention of impregnating her.

Because that all sounds completely fine and consensually for everyone involved (Don't worry! Medavle was keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't hurt anyone! I genuinely don't know if that statement - practically a quote - makes it better or worse!)

I feel like most of these points would have been fine if they'd been properly handled - if there had been some satisfying resolution against Bregenne's attacker, if Kyndra had not decided to become besties with the man who assaulted her, if Janus had been a half decent villain instead of a horrible vintage stereotype or you know, not the only queer character, if Kyndra had responded with the kind of revulsion I felt to the news about her parentage instead of going off into the sunset with the man who orchestrated it while the book plays out a 'romantic' postscript between her parents - but even with a proper, consensually discussion I would still have been moderately unhappy about Bregenne's eyes being healed.

As it stands, I think everyone involved in the production and publication of this novel owes me an explanation as to why they think this kind of misogyny, ableism and homophobia warrants publication.

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/02/24/b...

Starborn is the wonderful debut of author Lucy Hounsom, kicking off The Worldmaker Trilogy in style. I found it elegantly written and imaginative, and there’s also a familiar yet down-to-earth vibe that will make it accessible to a wide audience whether you’re an avid reader of fantasy or new to the genre, and whether you’re a teenager or adult.

In Kyndra Vale’s village of Brenwyn, there is an ancient rite of passage. When a young person comes of age, he or she would partake in a meeting with a relic-keeper to find out their true name and the path they are destined for. However, on the day of Kyndra’s ceremony, she receives a strange vision. And when it is her turn to view the relic, it suddenly breaks, putting an end to a centuries-old tradition. Worse, immediately following the incident, Brenwyn is set upon by a Breaking, an unnatural storm that destroys the village.

Frightened and superstitious, the community is quick to blame Kyndra, but before they can act upon their anger, she is whisked away by two mysterious strangers who had come into town the day before. They are Nediah and Brégenne, a pair of bonded Wielders who can harness the power of the sun and moon to do amazing things, and for reasons unknown to Kyndra, they seem to have their eye on her. But while agreeing to be taken to the Wielder’s faraway citadel of Naris may have saved her life, Kyndra also becomes their prisoner. As her visions become worse, the Wielders suspect Kyndra may have some magic of her own, and she is kept from leaving until she can pass a brutal trial to determine the nature of her abilities.

It was easy to become drawn into this world Hounsom has created. As Kyndra travels to Naris with Nediah and Brégenne, snippets of history and magical lore can be gleaned through their conversations. Learning about the Wielders’ powers was fascinating, and the magic was perhaps my favorite part of the book. Based around the energies of the sun and moon, those who can use the former are known as Solars, while those that harness the latter are called Lunars. Often they travel in pairs while working in the field, so that they can watch each other’s backs. For example, Nediah is a Solar who can protect Brégenne, a Lunar, during the day while her powers are latent, while at night she can do the same for him. This way, a Wielder team is never left helpless.

Hounsom also doesn’t resort to overwhelming the reader with a flood of information. I felt that a lot of the world’s background had to be deduced, which might be a stumbling block for some, especially in the last quarter of the book where most of the big reveals and connections are made in a very short period of time. The pacing is a bit uneven for this reason, with the plot being slower to build in the beginning, but coming in fast and hard towards the end. There’s a lot going on, with multiple characters being driven by different motivations, and it can get confusing if you let your guard down. Still, the many plot threads kept me guessing, especially when it came to the question of whom Kyndra could trust.

In the end, the pleasure and satisfaction are in the details. Past some of the more common tropes in the story, there are a good number of innovative twists on familiar themes, such as the world-building and mechanics behind the magic system. Characters are likeable, even the supporting ones like Nediah and Brégenne (and speaking of the two of them, can I say what a breath of fresh air it was to see a romance sub-plot that actually did not involve the main protagonist?!) There’s a good amount of crossover appeal here that will make this a potentially attractive book to both Young Adult and Adult readers, and despite some minor issues with the flow, this book was intense enough to be very satisfying.

I can definitely see fantasy fans enjoying this novel, especially if the description of the magic appeals you. At the same time, I also would not hesitate to recommend it as a light introduction to the genre. All told, Starborn is an entertaining read and perfect for when the mood for a lighter kind of fantasy strikes you.

[Chelsies Reading Escape · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didnt realise this was an adult fantasy when I requested it. I dont read much of that genre because I find the pace to be too slow for me. However, the pace in Starborn wasnt too bad. My main issue was not having much motivation to pick it up, which affected my reading pace. Some parts were vague. Important questions werent asked and important elements were ignored. This books strongest asset was the world and the magic system. The addition of the steampunk elements was also a nice surprise.

Sadly, I wasnt completely invested in the characters. So many of the characters and scenes made me angry. Not all of them bad. Some parts were suppose to make me angry, but it did make it harder for me to enjoy the story and like the characters. I didnt agree with a lot of their decisions. For example, going into a room for no reason after she was told not to was pretty stupid. The main character seemed clueless and her denial got frustrating. I like my protagonists to be a bit more resourceful and cunning. I liked the main characters friendship with Iri and how the other friendships developped, but I would have liked to see them explored more.

I probably should have read the dreams more carefully, but I started skimming them because they just confused me. At times the plot felt aimless without a clear direction, but there was some entertaining and intense moments. I thought about giving more examples for the issues I had but I wanted to keep this review spoiler free since the title itself is kind of spoilery. I liked the ending and I do want to know what happens next, but I doubt Ill read the sequel. The characters just werent for me, but Im sure other readers will connect with them more than I did.

*received in exchange for an honest review*

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 54%

The best way to describe this book is that it is a hot mess. It goes from a possible dystopian fantasy, to a possible quest based fantasy, to (what it actually is) epic fantasy.

Now maybe you're thinking, ohhh that sounds elaborate and I love elaborate. So do I. Except that when you build a new elaborate world you absolutely MUST build characters alongside it that your readers are dying to read about. At no time did I ever feel like I was drawn into this world or was excited about reading more of it. In fact it was the opposite, I dreaded picking it up.

There are three major mistakes made in Starborn:
1) Very poor characterizations. I did not hate our lead girl but I certainly didn't like her. The two travelling companions that she goes with could have been super mysterious and interesting, but instead they had stilted dialogue and just no chemistry with each other or our lead gal.

2) Plot. You must make me want to keep reading. This (generally) requires plot. There needs to be something drawing us into the story that is moving it forwards. Instead in Starborn things happen that are random, make no sense and seem to happen because it's convenient. A huge pet peeve of mine is when there is no flow to the story and things seem to happen because the author needed them to happen instead of them fitting into the story and plot.

3) Writing. While the last couple chapters I read actually had some good writing and dialogue going on; during the first 45% of Starborn it feels like Lucy Hounsom is finding her writing style and therefore it's all over the place (a hot mess). I'm shocked that TOR didn't work on this more and allowed it to be published as is.

Now I know what you're thinking, but Mel if you stopped reading just as the writing was improving how do you the rest of the book isn't great?

The thing is I just don't care. Our lead gal is inconsistent and does things not because they fit her as a character but because they need to happen. Random people show up with no real purpose or semblance of reason. The world building is just strange (ancient superstition, magic, tribal living, then airships, large cities, etc); it's like Hounson couldn't decide what kind of world she was building so she threw everything into it.
I could go on but let's face it I'm just repeating myself.
Maybe if this book had started at the 40% with a short prologue or flashbacks to tell the first 40% of the story in a quick fashion I would have felt differently. But I just wasn't willing to force myself to pick this book up and pretend to care any longer than the 54% I read.

To read this and more of my reviews visit my blog at Epic Reading

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Tina ♥ Bookaholic · Rating 1 out of 5]

https://martinabookaholic.wordpress.c...

Meine Gedanken zum Buch:
Wo soll ich nur anfangen bei diesem Buch, auf das ich mich eigentlich gefreut habe, da mich in den letzten Monaten doch für High Fantasybücher begeistern konnte, mit denen ich lange auf dem Kriegsfuß gestanden bin … und jetzt weiß ich auch wieder warum. Weil ich zu Beginn genau solche high Fantasybücher wie dieses hier gelesen habe und das hier ist wieder genauso ein Buch, dass mir High Fantasy vermiest und madig macht. :/

Vor allem liegt es daran, dass sehr wenig passiert ist und die Handlung einfach nur sterbenslangweilig war. Außerdem konnte ich mich mit der Hauptfigur Kyndra, aus deren Sicht die meiste Zeit erzählt wird, überhaupt nicht identifizieren. Sie war mir nicht direkt ständig unsympathisch, aber leider doch die meiste Zeit, da sie manchmal sehr egoistische Gedanken hatte, die für mich einfach nicht passten. (Die zwei Zitate am Ende verdeutlichen das)

Hinzu kommt, dass mir der Schreibstil auch nicht gefallen hat, was das Lesen zusätzlich erschwert hat und ich muss gestehen, ab der Hälfte habe ich vieles noch nur überflogen und schnell weitergeblättert, weil sowieso NICHTS passiert ist… zumindest nichts halbwegs Interessantes. Es gab nicht mal eine richtige Liebesgeschichte, was sowieso ein no go bei mir ist… und da diese ganzen Sachen alle auf einmal zusammen gekommen sind, kann ich dem Buch nicht mehr als 1-Stern geben… das ich, ehrlich gesagt, sogar abgebrochen hätte, wenn es kein Rezensionsexemplar gewesen wäre. Manche Bücher und Leser passen wohl nicht zusammen, und so ging es mir hier mit diesem Buch. Sehr schade, da ein Funken der Grundidee Potential gehabt hätte, aber für mich nicht ausgeschöpft wurde. Dieses Mal von mir leider keine Empfehlung.. nicht einmal für High Fantasy Fans, da es definitiv bessere Bücher in dem Genre gibt.

Das Ende war dann wieder etwas besser, aber generell noch immer nicht meins und auch zu offen. Bzw. wirkte das alles auf mich wie ein langer Vorband für den nächsten Teil und genauso endet es auch… unabgeschlossen und unbefriedigend in jeglicher Hinsicht. :(

(Mehr dazu auf meinem Blog)

[Kayleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 32%

I'll be honest. I think I knew from the start that I was going to be DNFing this, but I stuck with it for as long as possible until I got to the point where I was saying to myself: "Kayleigh, you're not enjoying this. You're struggling to read this. There is nothing about this story that you like. You shouldn't have to force yourself to read a book. Give up the ghost."

The writing is generally of a decent quality, but the pacing was awful - it was all over the place. You would go for a few pages of decently paced, decently written prose and then all of a sudden you were flying through important scenes which seemed to have half the information you need missing and you'd come out the other side more confused than you went in - and not in the way that makes you want to read more to find out what is going on but in the way that makes you wonder why you're still reading.

But then the things that are supposed to be mysterious and keep you guessing - for example: Kyndra's special snowflakeness - are so blindingly obvious that it makes you feel genuinely embarrassed for Hounsom

The plot is something I've seen a hundred times before: ordinary village girl turns out not to be so ordinary after all. I can enjoy these books if they are well written or if the author has done something new and exciting with the story. Hounsom does nothing new or exciting and it is not well written.

The world building was ... lacking. I'm trying to be nice. Again there's nothing new here but she does try to shake things up (air ships?!?!) and gets it horribly, horribly wrong. The characters were awful. Completely 1-dimensional and unrelatable. I hated most of them. Passionately. In fact the only character that I remotely liked was Nediah and even he was on the flat side.

It's like Hounsom has taken aspects from books written by Trudi Canavan and Brandon Sanderson and tried to make a story out of it. Just minus the writing talent and creative genius.

Sorry, but no.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Emma Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut epic fantasy caught my attention because of the premise. There are a few familiar tropes, like a protagonist with a "different" magical gift and visions, but the approach to magic is unique and interesting.

The opening coming-of-age ceremony in which the members of the community are assigned their future positions for life is a little overly-reminiscent of YA dystopian novels, but the story swiftly moves on as Kyndra, having accidentally broken the sacred Relic (an object used to divine the future), is outcast by her fellow townspeople when a storm hits her town. She's rescued by two strangers who might be able to give her answers about the odd visions that have plagued her since the ceremony.

The story is plot-driven at first and the pace initially moves slowly, so it took me a little longer to get into Kyndra's story because her motivations are largely based on where the plot happens to be moving and she doesn't ask some obvious questions. The plot itself lacks focus sometimes and there are quite a few side characters whose motives come across as muddled. It seems strange that Kyndra's visions are ignored for a large part of the book, while certain events seemed odd and inconsistent. I think if the characterisation had been stronger, I'd have felt more invested in her quest.

With that being said, the worldbuilding is the strongest aspect of the story, with plenty of unique touches to build a vivid picture of the world and its history. Some readers might find the level of detail slows down the pace, but the narrative kept me engaged and entertained, and the complex and detailed fantasy world provides a strong foundation for the rest of the series.

[J.A. Ironside · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an enjoyable fantasy, somewhere between a pure adventure and an epic. The world building was well done and evocative - managing to conjure images of something like middle earth mixed with medieval England with a few almost steam punk elements and an interesting magic system. It does travel the well worn treads of a young person of ordinary descent suddenly finding out that they have a birthright which shapes their world view anew, however it tackles this in a fresh engaging way, not merely resorting to tired tropes. The plot may contain few surprises for dedicated fantasy fans but it is nevertheless an entertaining journey.

I found the characterization a bit spotty - none of them really stood out for me although I liked a few of them well enough. A few characters might have benefited from greater exposition, whilst others could have done with less as they didn't really add anything. Kyndra was a puzzle in this regard; one moment she has agency and the next she doesn't and things just happen to her while she passively thinks about them. I did like her but I can't say I really connected with her. There was no great strength or great flaw, nothing to really get a grip on.

The pace could have done with variation. It wasn't too slow or too fast but it was pretty much the same throughout. Which is fine if you want to follow an epic adventure slightly removed from the action, but I like to be a bit closer to the characters I'm reading. I was pulled back to read the book not out of a need to know what happened next, but out of a desire to visit that world again. If you can have 'ideas fantasy' then this is probably a good example - at one stage almost all the supporting characters, and consequently the choices they represent, are uniformly horrible. However this does call into question the responsibilities of power, the habit of clinging to outmoded beliefs and systems, and the effects of segregation - even the psychology behind the latter.

It may not have had me on the edge of my seat but I would definitely look out for book two. Quiet, slower fantasy is good if it is done well and this is.

[Aoife · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kyndra finds herself running away from home with two strangers on the day of her Initiation Ceremony -a day when she was suppose to find out what was in store for the rest of her life. Kyndra's new friends are beings of power -Solar and Lunar and they think she has power too. But Kyndra's experiencing weird visions that may be a sign of something even more dangerous and ancient.

This was a real let down for me and I'm so sad I had to give it two stars. I was expecting a really exciting fantasy journey which saw a young girl come into herself and tap into a power she never knew existed. Instead I got 400+ pages of a lot of boring, confusing nonsense and a rush at the end where everything ended up being explained in a rush. I just felt like there was very little character development, most of the character's seemed disjointed and all over the place (Bregenne and Nediah - I just couldn't figure them out and the romance was played up too much between them considering hey weren't main character) and the story just didn't come together for me like I expected it too. Also Reena and Kierik, where did that happen? How did they meet? Did Reena go to Naris? Did Medavle somehow sneak Kierik out to the Vales? That was so confusing

I kept waiting for that moment where everything clicked and it just didn't. I'm not sure if I'll continue on with the next book, though I do have hopes it will be a bit more exciting and action-packed than this one. This ultimately left me really bored and unsatisfied.

[THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read, being a debut novel. It is a traditional epic fantasy with a YA tone to it. I enjoyed reading it. The pacing was good, and the narrative easy to follow. There is awesome magic, action, and well-rounded characters written with depth and nuance. There is a coming-of-age feel to the story, as it follows the journey of a young lady from her idyllic life to a life of adventure, power, and the attempts of saving the world from destruction.

The worldbuilding was pretty solid. I liked the concept of 'breaking' in which natural(?) disasters strike the world without any premonition and leave havoc in its wake. The most interesting thing of the book is the magic system, which is ingenuous and fantastic in a sort of far-fetched manner. The people who wield powers are called wielders, and they derive their power from the sun, the moon, and the stars. I'm intrigued by the way in which Hounsom has created the concept of 'Starborn'. And, if one carefully analyses, one will notice that the names and powers of stars are developed after the Norse concept of Runes. There is a lot unsaid left in the lore, with regards to the Rairam and the Acre, which is addressed in the second novel, and a lot is revealed about the conflict between the Sartyan empire and Solaris.

Hounsom in regards to the setting follows the familiar trope of a secret magical academy where children with potential power are tested and schooled in the arts of wielding the power they possess. Our protagonist Kyndra is a reluctant student, and she rather wants to go home. She doesn't believe she has power, and yet there is something mysterious going with her. She fails in the tests and survives. She makes some friends and rivals as well. Her legacy was revealed at the last, which was honestly a twist I didn't see coming. It was nicely timed keeping in sync with the events and circumstances. There is no antagonist here in my opinion, and honestly as a reader I felt the character to be complex and grey. I hope that Hounsom writes a full-length novel around him.

The other two characters which I enjoyed reading about was Bregenne and Nediah. Their relationship was complicated, filled with emotional turmoil which I could relate to. The ending was brilliant. It ended with amazing magic, and a brutal confrontation. Kyndra tries to take responsibility, but also at the same time refuses to surrender to power and lose her humanity. I can't wait to see where her journey takes her. I have already started the second book Heartland which is even better.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book by chance – gatecrashing the launch party while I was at another across the road – I was lured in by that gorgeous cover, so I purchased a copy, met the author, got it signed and could not resist reading it almost straight away.

So glad I did. Starborn is a beautifully imagined fantasy tale with some really engaging characters and a rich and deep mythology running through it that is very compelling and utterly addictive.

The world building is fantastic, done intelligently and with a touch of class, as Kyndra sets off on a journey of discovery you are right there alongside her observing and learning about the expansive places and people beyond her small village as she does. Legend and superstition abound, the story unfolds in glorious vivid ways, the characters are immensely intriguing – Kyndra herself is a perfect anchor for the reader to follow along with and this is a story you can sink right into and leave the real world behind for a while.

This is old school fantasy in a lot of ways but brought into the modern era with a delicate touch, really well written, taking some classic genre staples and giving them a new edgy and gripping focus – a real page turner. Plenty of heart stopping action, some purely emotional moments and a cast of eclectic and alluring characters to give it all focus and life.

Overall then really terrific. The ending was such that I am REALLY looking forward to whatever comes next. This comes highly recommended from me for fans of Fantasy – taking it back to its roots and making me remember why I loved the genre in the first place.

[Julia Sarene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

This one is a bit hard for me to rate..
I did like the story and fond it interesting. I liked the main characters (though some of the "twists" were a bit predicatable and some of the secondary characters stayed a bit blank), but overall the book just never fully grabbed me. I was interested enough to keep reading, but there were no emotional heights or lows. I was in a "neutral" state emotionwise most of the time. It is a bit weird to explain, as the pacing felt quite fine to me, the plot was a bit underwhelming, but the mystery surrounding the different powers was enough to keep me interested in the story. But when characters where in dangerous situations I mostly didn't hold my breath or feared for them, so while I enjoyed the story overall, I end up at 3,5 stars, as the book was good enough but just did flow by me in a way...

[Tash · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars because of the ending

[T.L. Searle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a firstreads giveaway*



The second half of this book pushed it from a 3 to a 4 star review.

Kyndra's seventeen and so, as per the tradition of her small farming town, she has to look into an old bowl to learn her true name and calling.



Though, as the book's title suggests (major spoiler by the way) Kyndra's life isn't going to be that easy and *SURPRISE* the world as she knows it breaks right along with that old clay bowl.



Ooops.

Enter some extraordinary strangers, a devastating storm and a trek across country to a mountain fortress no-one else can see...where everyone seems to have their own secrets and own agenda.



Mostly this was an enthralling read with great world building, but...

I hated the way Kyndra kept disregarding everything people told her:

"Stay away from (insert nefarious character here)" - ignored
"Don't trust (insert a different nefarious character)" - yea, ignored that one too.
"You are a potential wielder" - No I'm not, and I will continue to deny it all the way to the end. (Technically she was right because remember the title but still).



Still, now she's a kickass heroin with awesome star powers the next book should see her develop and mature.

[Brina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich muss gestehen, das ich nicht der allergrößte Fan von High Fantasy Geschichten bin und nur selten ein solches Buch in die Hand nehme. "Die Legenden von Mond und Sonne: Naris" klang im ersten Moment jedoch so interessant, dass ich dem Buch eine Chance geben wollte. Letztendlich muss ich aber sagen, dass ich am Ende doch ein wenig enttäuscht bin.

Ich habe mir hier eine spannende Geschichte, die ich jedoch nur zum Teil bekommen habe. Die Autorin verknüpft hier sehr viele Ideen auf einmal, was einerseits zwar nett ist, die Geschichte dadurch aber deutlich überladen wirkt. Es kommt also vor, dass auf einigen Seiten fast schon zu viel geschieht, während in anderen Teilen der Geschichte rein gar nichts passiert ist, sodass in dieser Geschichte ein deutliches Ungleichgewicht herrscht.

Dies hätte man besser regeln können, indem man die Geschichte entweder um mindestens fünfundsiebzig bis hundert Seiten gekürzt oder den Spannungsbogen anders gelegt hätte, sodass die Geschichte durchgehend spannend gewesen wäre. Dennoch ist hier sehr viel Potential zu erkennen, außerdem ist die Geschichte bei Weitem nicht so schlecht, wie es vielleicht klingen mag. Die Dialoge sind der Zeit angepasst, die Figuren ausführlich beschrieben und auch sonst mag hier vieles zusammenpassen.

Die Charaktere sind gut ausgearbeitet und für mich ein Pluspunkt. Kyndra, die in der Geschichte deutlich im Vordergrund steht, hat mir hierbei mit ihrem Mut, ihrer Entschlossenheit und ihrem Wesen wirklich gut gefallen. Auch die anderen Figuren, wie z.B. Bregenne und Nediah fand ich interessant, allerdings deutlich blasser als Kyndra, was ich jedoch nicht allzu schlimm fand.

Die Geschichte selbst hat wie gesagt sehr viele interessante Ansätze. Kyndra, die lange Zeit nicht wusste, was ihre tatsächliche Bestimmung ist, muss sich auf eine lange Reise nach Naris begeben, in der einiges passiert. Die Landschaften werden dabei besonders schön beschrieben, sodass ich mir vieles bildlich vorstellen konnte.

Das Cover ist dagegen wunderschön, bei dem die Landschaft schon perfekt dargestellt wird. Die Kurzbeschreibung ist ebenfalls sehr ansprechend, sodass ich dem Buch eine Chance geben wollte.

Lucy Hounsom hat mit dem Auftakt der "The Worldmaker"-Trilogie sicherlich vieles richtig gemacht, allerdings hatte die Geschichte auch ihre Längen, was ich sehr schade finde, denn ich habe mich manchmal dabei ertappt, wie ich mich stellenweise schon fast gelangweilt habe. Dennoch ist die Geschichte an sich gut und bietet viel Potential, sodass Fans von High Fantasy diesem Buch eine Chance geben sollte.

[Aneta Bak · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40%

I tried my hardest, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. Starborn was not what I imagined it to be at all. The book was very bland and vague, and contained horrible characters, I just couldn’t stand it any longer.

I knew I wouldn’t like Kyndra right from the start. I hoped that she would go through some character development, or start to learn and become a better person, but I was completely wrong. Kyndra is a very ditsy and annoying main character. I don’t want to call her stupid, but she is definitely not smart. There are multiple times in this book, where something should be common sense to Kyndra, but its like she doesn’t have any and just does the opposite of what she’s actually supposed to do. She is like the little kid that touches something after you deliberate told them not to touch it. The relationships that Kyndra makes in this story, make absolutely no sense to me. There are times where she trusts someone because she just has a good feeling, and there are other times when she befriends people she really shouldn’t have.

The pacing of this book was very bad as well. Not only was it very boring throughout 99% of what I read, but it also felt vey choppy. I found myself skipping parts to try to get to something more exciting, but there wasn’t anything more exciting.

The world-building was okay, but not the best. It was really vague and while we got a sense of the world that Kyndra was in, there werent any descriptions that made me completely visualize the scene. There are some books where it plays in your head just like a movie, and this one was not it.

Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you like idiotic main characters and boring plot. This is one book I would definitely stay away from.

[Anna Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really solid debut, full of engaging characters and a very unique magic system, the likes of which I haven't come across before.
Main character Kyndra is likeable, if a little slow on the uptake in some scenes where I felt she could have grasped the situation a little better. Other characters of particular note were Bregenne and Nediah, who each wield one face of the magic system - Bregenne the lunar power, and Nedial the solar power.
This was a very different take on the "young person finds they have magic and goes to magic school" trope - Kyndra doesn't believe she has magic, despite what Bregenne and Nediah tell her; she doesn't want to go to magic school; and when she finally gets there, things go about as badly wrong as it's possible for her.
This inversion of the expected trope gave Starborn a fresh and zesty style that I very much enjoyed. I will be picking up the sequels at some point in the future.

[T.O. Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

On reflection, nothing is as it seems.

Making comparisons between books can be invidious. The process risks being like those Orange adverts they used to have in the cinemas, where a board of film executives dismiss a new film pitch by reducing it to a two line pastiche of existing films. However, there is a benefit in some reference points from which to triangulate a book and place it somewhere in the multi-dimensional spectrum that is modern fantasy.


For me Starborn had echoes of "The Magician's Guild" and on turning at the end to the back cover I discovered that John Gwynne had also found similar resonances with Trudi Canavan's work. There is Kyndra, a heroine on the brink of adulthood experiencing a moment of crisis in her life. There are people seeking to protect and nurture her while others wish to use her. There is suspicion, dislocation and loss, and there is conspiracy and imperfection in the supposedly ivory towers.


At the same time, Starborn is a very different work and story to the Magician's Guild. The action sprawls across a continent, not merely a city. The wielder's power is not like the orthodox concept of wizardly magic, but is drawn from the Sun or the Moon depending on each wielder's affinity and leaving each wielder greatly diminished in the hours when the source of their power lies hidden.


There are some echoes of a Harry Potter style education in that there are novices and classes and tutors. There is a library that harbours secrets to be probed, but at greater risk perhaps even than wondering the stacks of the Unseen University while trying to avoid the grasp of an orang-u-tan librarian, or lurking in the dusty shelves of Kvothe's alma mater in fear of the ire of Master Lorren.


But again, Starborn is different. These are not long drawn out hours of study, this is sudden cramming for a test Kyndra neither wanted not expected, yet one she dare not fail. A test that puts the trauma of my 3rd year French exam (28% in case you were asking) quite in the shade.


And that is where my experience of Starborn began to push beyond the relative familiarity of coming of age and reluctant initiation, into something far darker and at times uncomfortable to read. Which is not a bad thing. There are times when a book should make a reader sit up abruptly and re-read paragraphs and pages while musing "wtf."


The other reference point that struck me as relevant was not a book at all but a TV series, one of my favourites in fact. Dr Who. The citadel of Naris, for all those small glimpses of an educational environment, reminded me less of Magical Universities and their academics and more of the enigmatic world of Gallifrey and its austere Timelord masters.


Thinking of references in both the old and the new series of Dr Who, I found resonances between Naris and the strict hierarchical world and birthplace of my favourite time warrior. From early glimpses of information in Starborn, I found myself making the same assumptions of homogenous virtue and worthiness in those bearers of great power as I had in Dr Who. Yet as we draw close we find even the powerful and the blessed can be sundered by faction and weaknesses of a very human kind. There are some for whom power is not enough and others for whom every piece is a pawn to be sacrificed. Having once fixed that reference in my mind, I found other parallels tumbled out as the plot progressed - but this is a spoiler free review so read the book and message me if the same thoughts occurred to you.


I cadged a copy of Starborn from the author herself at the Grim Gathering II in Bristol. There authors talked about their writing style from the extreme plot-sters such as Peter V Brett, to the "going where the characters lead" style of Mark Lawrence. Lucy Hounsom, I suspect, is at the plot-ster end of the spectrum. This is a carefully constructed story with clues planted for the alert reader, though whether you find yourself saying, "Yeah, I saw that coming" or "Doh, I should have seen that coming," it does not spoil the enjoyment of the story.


Does the book have weaknesses? Well it is a debut novel and every writer grows through the experience of writing. There were a few wrinkles in the story for me. Some characters put in appearances which on reflection were a little convenient and defied my understanding of how the timeline had been progressing. There was the odd villain who was forgiven and their crimes forgotten a little more rapidly than I would have expected. While the plot was intricately woven in a way which bore up well to retrospective scrutiny (the "oh - so that's why that happened then" moment) such scrutiny did still raise my eyebrow as to how one particular event had been managed.


It was, for me a least, a plot driven book, and it is in its plot that the book pushes at the boundaries of the fantasy reading experience, and it is in the nature of a spoiler free review that I cannot share those innovations here. Nonetheless this was a great read which I heartily recommend, do find out about Kyndra Vale for yourself.

[Solara300 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kurzbeschreibung
Die Welt von Kyndra Vale ist dem Untergang geweiht. Jeder Jugendliche muss um in die Gesellschafft der Erwachsenen anzugehören eine heilige Zeremonie durchlaufen, um seinen Platz in der Gesellschafft zu finden.
Doch als Kyndra das heilige und magische Artefakt in ihren Händen hält geschieht das entsetzliche….

Das Artefakt zerbricht. Als sich kurz darauf ein schreckliches Unwetter über dem Dorf entlädt und es völlig zu zerstören droht, machen die Bewohner Kyndra dafür verantwortlich. Die Situation droht sehr schnell zu eskalieren, da wird Kyndra überraschend von zwei Fremden mit ungewöhnlichen Kräften gerettet.
Kyndra ist gezwungen mit den Fremden zu fliehen und die beiden nehmen Kyndra mit in die geheime Festung Naris, wo sie sich Intrigen, Fanatikern und Rebellen stellen muss. Sie muss Verrat und Wahnsinn bekämpfen, doch findet sie dort auch ihre wahre Berufung und stellt sich ihrem Schicksal.



Cover
Das Cover ist ein absoluter Eyecatcher, es zieht einen magisch an. Auf den ersten Blick wirkt es bedrohlich und düster, denn der schwarze Himmel scheint die Landschaft fast zu erdrücken und ragt drohend über der jungen Frau auf im Vordergrund. Der große rote Schriftzug des Titels verstärkt diesen Eindruck noch. Doch in der Ferne bricht Licht durch die dunklen Wolken, ein Zeichen der Hoffnung auf bessere Zeiten. Es ist absolut passend zur Geschichte, spiegelt es doch den Inhalt wieder.



Charaktere
Kyndra ist ein eigenwilliger Charakter, es ist viel passiert, doch sie weiß sich zu helfen und kann sich auch durchsetzen. Sie ist mutig, manchmal unvernünftig, wütend und auch Trotzig, aber vor allem entschlossen und kämpferisch, sie lässt sich nicht unterkriegen.



Schreibstil
Die Autorin Lucy Hounsom hat einen fantastischen Schreibstil. Sie versteht es alles so wunderbar und spannend, mit viel Liebe zum Detail zu beschreiben und wieder zu geben, das man ihre Welt die sie erschaffen hat, wie in einem Film vor Augen hat und so völlig eintauchen kann. Man macht sich mit Kyndra und ihren Begleitern mit auf Reisen und erlebt alles mit als wenn man wirklich dabei ist.
Alle Charaktere sind liebevoll gezeichnet, mit vielen Facetten, Ecken und Kanten, das gibt ihnen Tiefe und macht sie authentisch. Sie haben auch ihre dunklen Seiten und sind sehr schwer zu durchschauen.



Meinung
Wenn das Schicksal eine andere Bestimmung für dich vorgesehen hat!

Seit Jahren schon freut sich Kyndra auf den Tag ihrer Zeremonie an dem sie in die Welt der Erwachsenen aufgenommen wird und an dem sie erfahren soll was ihre Bestimmung ist.
Doch als es soweit ist, ist sie nervös und unruhig. Seit Tagen wird sie von seltsamen Träumen und düsteren Vorahnungen geplagt. Auch das Wetter spielt verrückt, seit mehreren Tagen regnet es und ihr Dorf versinkt im Schlamm. Als es dann endlich soweit ist und sie an der Reihe ist geschieht das unvorstellbare und das heilige magische Artefakt zerbricht in ihren Händen. Kyndra ist entsetzt, genau wie alle anderen im Dorf.

Als kurz darauf ein schlimmes Unwetter ausbricht und Menschen verletzt werden machen die Leute im Dorf, auch Freunde, sehr schnell Kyndra dafür verantwortlich und wenden sich gegen sie. Als die Situation zu eskalieren droht kommen ihr zwei Fremde, ein Mann der sich Nediah nennt und eine Frau namens Bregenne, mit ungewöhnlichen Kräften zu Hilfe.
Sie ist gezwungen ihr Dorf zu verlassen und mit ihnen zu fliehen. Sie machen sich auf den Weg nach Naris, um das sich Legenden ranken, doch dazu müssen sie den halben Kontinent durchqueren.

Kyndra lernt eine fantastische magische Welt kennen, schöner und größer als sie es sich je erträumt hätte. Auf dieser Reise offenbart sich ihr, auch die Wahrheit über ihre Vergangenheit und ihr wahres Schicksal, dem sie sich stellen muss und das die ganze Welt verändern oder zerstören kann….
Ziemlich schnell war ich in Naris eingetaucht. Es war sehr interessant und spannend Kyndra auf ihrem Weg zu begleiten und mit ihr die Welt außerhalb ihres Heimatdorfes, die ihr genauso fremd war wie mir, zu entdecken. Es gab immer wieder überraschende Wendungen die, die an sich schon spannende Handlung noch erhöhten. Nur sehr langsam offenbart sich was in der Festung Naris wirklich vor sich geht und welches Geheimnis Kyndra in sich trägt.
Die Autorin hat eine lebendige und interessante Welt geschaffen, die sie sehr phantasievoll und ideenreich gestaltet hat, auch mit Charakteren die sehr viele Facetten haben und der Handlung zusätzlich Spannung verleihen.



Fazit
Ein sehr gelungener Auftakt!!
Eine großartige Idee mit einer starken Protagonistin die mich überzeugt hat.
Mit Spannung erwarte ich den zweiten Band, denn ich will unbedingt wissen wie es weitergeht.


5 von 5 Sternen

[Book Gannet · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. There are things about this book that are good. I found it an easy, compelling read that I never struggled to get through. The plot is perhaps a little predictable in places, but it moves at a good pace and does have a few surprises to unfold. The world-building is neatly done with a well-developed history/mythology that weaves in and out of the story and the magic is interesting (although the cut and dried sun=day, moon=night must rely on a perfect moon cycle so that it doesn’t also come out during the day, like our moon). I also really liked that star magic is so much more powerful because of the number of distant suns the magic user can call on.

However, I didn’t enjoy everything anywhere near as much as I’d hoped. The characters are weak and not particularly interesting in their own right. Kyndra is little more than a puppet wandering around ignoring the obvious and making inconsistent decisions based solely on what the plot needs next. While I could understand why she didn’t trust Brégenne and Nediah, her escape attempt was both pathetic and really too late in her journey. However, considering what that pair had done for her along the way, it makes her instant willingness to trust others for no reason seem incredibly stupid.

Janus is the prime example of Kyndra’s inconsistency. First she’s wary of him, no matter how pretty he is. The next time she sees him she trusts him completely and thinks he’s sooooo handsome. As for the situation between her and the three students – that was appalling. Gareth’s behaviour was essentially assault via magic, showing a nasty piece of prejudice that is never referenced again, but Kyndra forgives him without him ever issuing an apology. Not only that, they become best mates. Awful. As for the scene with Jhren near the end… well, not only was that super convenient timing all ’round, but it served so little purpose. Kind of like those airships, using an advanced level of technology seen nowhere else in the book. Don’t get me wrong, I love an airship, but in this world, really?

And that’s another big problem I had with this book. Not just the sudden appearance of things for the plot (Kait does this a lot, but Medavle comes a close second) but the lack of curiosity and intelligence shown by almost everyone. Aren’t these people supposed to be smart? If so, why does no one make the obvious connection with the Madness sooner? Why does no one bother to explore Kyndra’s visions? Why doesn’t anyone realise what Kyndra is? Why is that scary faction allowed to live in the secret mountain’s basement? They’re all such obvious things, but no one notices until the precise moment in the plot when it will create the most drama. ARGH!

Don’t even get me started on Brégenne and the way she’s treated throughout this book. She has the potential to be the best character – powerful older woman who has earned her place in this world through her own merit, and also happens to be blind. Yet despite the readers being told repeatedly that she’s so well respected there is absolutely no sign of it. She’s belittled, disregarded, teased, stolen from, ignored, near-assaulted and generally treated like dirt. Even worse, the romance subplot she’s involved in makes her seem like she doesn’t know her own mind. As for the end… yeah. Not happy about that “fix”.

There is potential in this book – there must be, because I read it right through and didn’t actually throw my Kindle away at any point, though Kyndra occasionally verged on too-stupid-to-live territory – but there are problems too (which seem to multiply the more I think back on it). If you like character-driven stories, don’t bother. The plot drives everything here, even when it goes against a character’s previous behaviour and personality traits. Also, few of the characters are particularly likable. Not that they’re not nice, they’re just… lacking.

Which is my general feeling about this book. It’s okay, it has potential, but right now it’s just lacking that certain something to make it as great as it could be. There is still hope for the series, but if it continues on like this not even a Starborn could coax more stars from me.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

[Alasdair Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fastest way to deal with the uncertainties of adulthood is to remove them. That’s what Kyndra’s village have done. Every year, the teenagers who come of age step into a room with the village relic. It shows them their new name and their future and they leave as adults with a certain future and no fear of any surprises.
Until Kyndra.
The daughter of a local tavern owner, Kyndra’s coming of age ceremony ends with the relic destroyed and the village in chaos. Even worse, an impossibly powerful storm almost tears the village apart and she’s only saved by Bregenne and Nediah, two travellers who know far more about her than they’re letting on. Unable to return home, she journeys with them to Naris, the home of their order, to find out the truth about herself, the world and her future. A future that is far more uncertain, and powerful, than she could imagine.
Lucy Hounsom’s debut is no less powerful than her lead character’s but infinitely more controlled and confident. This is epic scale fantasy that never loses sight of the people at its core, their reactions to events larger than they are and the consequences and complexities that go hand in hand with those reactions. Kyndra in particular is an eminently likable, fundamentally sensible lead who has none of the ‘invincible snowflake’ problems that sometimes afflict characters in books like this. She’s tested in ways you will not expect here, several of them genuinely horrifying and Lucy does an incredible job not only of showing the consequences of that but the calcified cultures of both Kyndra’s home and Naris. The first is content to know the future at every turn. The second is desperate to know its future is secure and will risk the lives of countless innocent young people to ensure it does. That cultural clash, and the hints of other places we see between the two, are amongst the most interesting and nuanced worldbuilding I’ve ever come across in a fantasy novel.
It’s also refreshingly morally complex. There are villains here, but none of them are single-note. Instead, everyone’s agenda is understandable if far from sympathetic. Even better, the moment where Lucy pulls the curtain back to show just how those agenda interact is just amazing. Again, some fantasy novels can fall apart in the third act. This one accelerates, raising the stakes and pace to a level no one, you or the characters, will see coming.
What’s even more impressive is how each of those characters has a rich internal emotional landscape to match the complex ethical one they navigate. Kyndra’s just the centre of a group of characters who arrive fully formed and demand your attention. Kyndra’s classmates are especially good fun but its Bregenne and Nediah who will stay with you. The Wielders, this universes’ magic users, are a complex and refreshingly fractious group whose strengths and weaknesses are embodied in the two. Bregenne’s powers are linked to the Moon, Nediah’s to the Sun and they’ve been linked to ensure they can always protect each other. Whether their inevitable intimacy is as a result of that or of genuine attraction is the other dramatic engine of the book and it’s a V8. The pair’s scenes crackle with tension, sometimes romantic, sometimes not and always there. They embody the best and worst of the Wielders, often at the same time and their journey is as complex and emotional as Kyndra’s.
Starborn is an extraordinarily ambitious, immensely successful fantasy novel that works on every level. Lucy has created a world that’s complex at every level and explores each one of those levels as the story expands. It’s immensely ambitious, deeply personal and absorbing. Kyndra’s future may not be certain, or bright, but based on this first volume it’s certainly going to be eventful.

[David Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy Hounsom brings us epic fantasy in Starborn her first book in the The Worldmaker Trilogy. She has created a world of myths, mystery and awesome magic that you don’t want to leave. A book to escape to and a hugely likeable though reluctant protagonist who’s uncertain destiny is tied to events of the past.

Kyndra, our seventeen year old heroine leaves her home when the ‘Breaking’ destroys her village. She is ‘persuaded’ away by two magical ‘Wielders’ named Bregenne and Nediah. She doesn’t know where she is being taken or if she can trust her two companions. And so begins Kyndra’s journey where she learns more about the Wielders, visits strange places and encounters fascinating new characters. She discovers more of the myths, stories and truths of her world and the powers and secret magics that are hidden from most of the inhabitants. It’s a challenge for both Kyndra and the reader to know who can and can’t be trusted and what motives drive the characters she meets.

Kyndra proves to be a strong, attractive and an extremely engaging character. Bregenne senses Kyndra has magical abilities and is determined to prove that she is right. Kyndra believes none of this and that she is just an ordinary girl with a wish to return home to her family and old friends. The only clue Kyndra has that something strange is occurring are the visions she receives of a time past and a great war.

I became totally lost for hours at a time in this place of myths and magic. Absolutely adored this debut novel and can’t wait to get my hands on the second book in the series. If you have the time and inclination to visit strange new worlds then Starborn can accommodate you and I found it a thoroughly antertaining read.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has garnered good reviews from other bloggers I usually agree with, so I was excited to dig in. It’s certainly a quick read, with some interesting aspects — I like the paired Lunar/Solar magic, for example, and the fact that airships were stirred into the usual fantasy mix instead of it just being your usual race across the land with horses. But I found the characters and world rather thin, really, and the events seemed to lurch from one thing to the other without really making sense. It’s obvious from the beginning that Kyndra is going to turn out to be different and special, but then the book makes such a secret of it — it takes 150 pages for that to be even partially confirmed, despite it being obvious.

I’m not a great fan of the writing, either. It’s not laboured or overly ornate, thankfully, but to me there was something thin about it. ‘Kyndra did this, and then this, and felt like this about it.’ I was more intriged by Nediah and Brégenne from the beginning, although their story reminded me of something else I’ve read. (Kyndra’s did as well, but since it’s fairly typical ‘stable boy becomes the king’ type narrative where an ordinary person turns out to be extraordinary, that’s no surprise.)

Also, sexual assault. Also, a disabled character gets magically healed — and not even through their own choice, but just because someone thinks it’s for the best. Also… yeah. Problematic stuff is not addressed.

In the end, I just didn’t get into it. It’s easy enough to read, but I could take it or leave it, and I feel like I know where things are going. Given that and the neverending backlog, I think I’ll pass on continuing this series.

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

[Michelle Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is always going to be a difficult review to write, because Fantasy is not something I read regularly, so I therefore find it hard to make comparisons with other authors, books etc. I’m not really sure what regular fantasy readers feel makes a good fantasy book, so I may be way off. All I can say is that personally, I thought it was excellent, and I loved it. :)

As I said, fantasy is not something I read regularly, but after chatting to the author about another book we both loved, I decided to take the publisher up on their kind offer of a review copy. I enjoyed the writing style from the beginning, and I knew I was hooked once Bregenne and Nediah turned up, and especially once I started to learn more about their powers – what can be better than a power fuelled by the sun or the moon?!

I really enjoyed the world building from Lucy – I only get to read my books in short bursts, so it doesn’t take much for me to get confused, but not once did I feel lost in this world. From the powers I’ve already spoken about, to airships, to a hidden city, I was able to lose myself in it every time I picked it up.

Kyndra is a great main character, who goes through a lot during the book, but my favourites were Bregenne and Nediah, who are excellent characters both on their own, and also as a pair. They are coupled by their opposing powers, but there’s also their own personal relationship to explore.

I don’t want to go into any more details, but anyone who follows me on twitter will know how much I’ve enjoyed this one. There’s a wrapped up story within this book, but it’s nicely all set up for the next book, which I can’t wait to get my hands on!

[Nicola · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw this book on the shelf and was instantly drawn to it. The description, the intriguing first chapter, I bought it on the spot. I hurried home itching to delve into this beautiful sounding world.

OH, HOW I REGRET IT.

Starborn was, sadly, one of the most disappointing books I have ever read. I am bitterly regretting not looking at reviews before making my purchase. I barely got to page 100 before deciding that this book was going onto the DNF pile.

The world-building was beyond lax, the characters so flat I could iron my clothes on them and the storyline... there was so much wrong with it. So much wrong with the characters too. Kynder was easily one of the most dull heroines I have ever read about. There was so much that didn't make sense that in the end, I basically just gave up. I am saddened that TOR would publish this and actually promote the book as one of the most anticipated books of the year! Very saddened.

I feel like a total b*tch with this review, but I honestly cannot find anything to like about it except the cover. (I'm sorry!)

[Avery Delany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a free copy of Starborn by Lucy Hounsom in my goody bag from Nine Worlds 2017 and was pleasantly surprised by this book. Usually, I'm not a huge fan of fantasy novels as I tend to find them too Tolkienesque for my liking with writing that can be overly complicated, dry and long-winded. But Starborn is not like this at all. Lucy Hounsom manages to write in such a way which is wholly immersive without being alienating for the reader, and I found myself completely engaged from the very first chapter.

Following the main character, Kyndra who comes from the small village of Brenwym, provides a great easing into the mystical world of Mariar as we follow Kyndra as she leaves her village for the first time. Sometimes fantasy novels can throw you in at the deep end with lots of complicated descriptions, characters, and laws but the author manages to avoid this altogether through the clever use of Kyndra as our guide. We discover as Kyndra discovers, we grow as Kyndra grows. We get to meet some characters that I absolutely loved, particularly Wielders Bregenne and Nediah, outcast Kait, and novice Irilin.

There's a really good balance of combat with descriptions, lore, and history which I found enjoyable. In fantasy settings, too much combat bores me to tears but so does too much of the latter! Yet once again, Hounsom strikes a controlled balance between these. We also get a lovely map at the beginning which I always love as I get to follow the characters moving throughout the world, whilst using my imagination to ponder about all the places we don't get to see in Mariar. And there's a lot of places to enjoy from the cozy tavern run by her mother, airships travel along the 'Great Chain', and the secret world of Naris which is hidden to all other than those who hold power fueled by the sun and the moon.

Whilst I did massively enjoy Starborn, like all good books there are always one or two things you find which you didn't like so much. At 500 pages, Starborn can get a little bit lengthy towards the end. I didn't feel this at all until the final, final battle right at the end of the book but found myself getting a little bit irritated with some of the conversations between the main parties. There are also a few bizarre character developments that seem quite out of character, but I can overlook those as it happens sometimes.

Like others have mentioned, however, there were also a few additional things relating to representation that disappointed me particularly those concerning threats of sexual violence against female characters, queer coded villains, and disabled characters.

In the first instance, there are two occasions concerning two different female characters who are subjected to uncomfortable male advances. I felt it was handled much better when it happens to Bregenne, who blasts the harasser with magic and there are scenes where it is discussed with Nediah than it was with Kyndra, who is sexually threatened by a male novice but later becomes friends with said novice and it is never raised again. I felt quite surprised at the time when Kyndra becomes friends with this guy later on, more so when it is never openly discussed by the friends.

In the second instance, the main villain is quite substantially queer coded and is not a nice person AT ALL. The only other queer coded character is another man, initially, a novice is toyed with by the former villain and becomes his puppet through the use of sexual advancements. Whilst there isn't anything innately wrong with queer coded villains, it becomes a bit of a problem when the only queer characters in the novel are villains and it would have been great to have a queer protagonist to counter-balance this.

Lastly, I feel quite torn in regards to the disability representation as I feel there are both some good and bad aspects to disabled characters in the book. As a result of an accident, one character becomes disabled in a way where he can no longer look after himself and is only ever later described as screaming. I won't go into it here as I'm not sure how I feel about that particular character, but want to briefly touch on the character of Bregenne who is predominantly blind, except for at night when she can use her Lunar powers to see. I really loved having a blind character in this series and enjoyed seeing someone with a disability in a fantasy setting, especially in a way which interacted with their disability rather than erased it. However, the author makes a decision right at the end of the book about Bregenne's blindness which actually quite upset me in which Nediah *heals* Bregenne's sight without her consent and in a way which is clearly distressing to Bregenne. Nediah then leaves to go on a journey with Kyndra, leaving Bregenne alone and without support to deal with this traumatic event.  I really feel as though this shouldn't have been done. It was a monumental, out of character, decision which was not given adequate focus and rushed. It would have made a big difference if this had been a running theme throughout the book and handled more sensitively, but I was really shocked at how brief this event was (2 pages at the end of the book) and felt quite troubled reading it.

All in all, despite some of these problems I did really enjoy the book and rated it 4 stars. I liked the world, the characters, the plot and the writing, and am super excited to read the sequel. Starborn ends on an intriguing note that leaves the world open for even more exploration, interesting character development and a whole bunch of other plot twists that I cannot even fathom.

[Rob Boffard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a big epic fantasy guy. Really. I enjoyed Game of Thrones, but that's about it. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about Starborn. This just really wasn't my thing.

But the writing is crystal-clear. The characters are extremely cool. The story, and the world, feel fresh and exciting. It's a genuinely great book, and the final reveal feels appropriately epic. If you dig epic fantasy, this is going to blow your damn mind. If you don't, you'll still love it.

[Biluma · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 Sterne

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this spectacular debut novel, Lucy Hounsom deftly weaves epic fantasy with a touch of originality that is truly brilliant. I was taken on a whirlwind of an adventure into the unknown, that was seeped in detailed history and other exquisite details that took my breath away. The main protagonist, Kyndra, is spunky and likeable and I really warmed to her and loved following her adventure into the unknown. Of new worlds, ancient battles, magic, ritual and covens this novel is packed with so many epic fantasy details that cleverly weaves myth and magic in a triumphant outcome. Lucy Hounsom is certainly an author to look out for, as this stunning debut novel is a great achievement and something that she should be very proud of. The other characters, including bregenne and Nediah are really likable and I enjoyed following their story and how it interweaved with Kyndra’s. The stars in the sky have never shone so brightly, and if this novel teaches you anything it is about finding hope, when all hope seems to have gone.

A four, almost five star read that I would highly recommend to fans of epic fantasy and Trudi canavan and Tolkien.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free book received in the Nineworlds goodybag.

There were some parts that I enjoyed very much and other parts that I didn't like.

I enjoyed immersing myself into a new fantasy world. The story is quite plot driven and I really wanted to know what would happen next, so I found it hard to put the book down. I liked the way in which most characters are not definitively 'good' or 'evil', but instead we are shown their choices and motivations.

Things that didn't sit well with me were really well summarized in the review by Ash which mentions issues of consent, queer representation and disability. Some parts made me feel very uncomfortable and weren't handled well.

Some discussion of these issues below that contain spoilers

1. The part where the guy forces himself on Kyndra and then about three minutes later she decides she's going to be friends with him because being bullied and having no friends is such a great incentive to let sexual assault be a complete non-issue. (That was sarcasm...)
2. The queer guy is a vapid self-absorbed douche. I don't specifically mind when characters are vapid self-absorbed douches if it works for the story, but it kind of felt like his queerness was represented in a sexually depraved way and intertwined with his lack of a moral compass. It's just unnecessary.
3. The writing is mostly very competent, but in the more intimate scenes it reads like a romance novel. All of a sudden strong female characters disintegrate under a man's touch.
4. Brégenne having her sight restored without her permission (indeed, DESPITE PROTESTING SEVERAL TIMES) is a complete violation of her mind and body. Very very icky.