What do you think?
Rate this book
Sombres Etoiles
Nous sommes au xxiie siècle. Dans l'espace, les guerres de clans font rage, et le danger est partout. Pourtant, même perdue dans les étoiles, l'étincelle de l'amour peut naître...
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 21, 2016
67 people are currently reading
2415 people want to read
About the author
Malorie Blackman
156 books4,514 followersAn award-winning children's author, Malorie Blackman was honoured with an OBE in 2008. Her work has been adapted for TV and stage.
More information available at:
Myspace
British Council: Contemporary Authors
British Council: Encompass Culture
Channel 4 Learning: Book Box
More information available at:
Myspace
British Council: Contemporary Authors
British Council: Encompass Culture
Channel 4 Learning: Book Box
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 327 reviews
March 1, 2017
This was the local YA Book Club pick of the month for February! I was given a copy through the library in exchange for an honest review.
I have read one of Malorie's books before (Noughts and Crosses) when I was 11 and at the time found it a tricky book to read. I was nervous to try reading another one of her books but seeing this was a Shakespeare reimagined version of Othello set in space, I was intrigued. If there's one thing I love about books, its when they are set in space. Also, having not read the original play before reading Chasing the Stars, I was going into this completely blind and that is why when reading this, I struggled to pick up the Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, the world building and adventure actually set in space was right on the money. But what let me down a little was how long the book was in places, it dragged. I liked Olivia's character, there were moments where I felt really connected particularly during her struggles with Nathan since I've been there before.
Another thing I was a little confused about was that the characters Olivia and her twin brother Aiden were eighteen. Since this was a YA book, I thought the age kind of threw me off a little.
Overall: A good read.
I have read one of Malorie's books before (Noughts and Crosses) when I was 11 and at the time found it a tricky book to read. I was nervous to try reading another one of her books but seeing this was a Shakespeare reimagined version of Othello set in space, I was intrigued. If there's one thing I love about books, its when they are set in space. Also, having not read the original play before reading Chasing the Stars, I was going into this completely blind and that is why when reading this, I struggled to pick up the Shakespeare. Don't get me wrong, the world building and adventure actually set in space was right on the money. But what let me down a little was how long the book was in places, it dragged. I liked Olivia's character, there were moments where I felt really connected particularly during her struggles with Nathan since I've been there before.
Another thing I was a little confused about was that the characters Olivia and her twin brother Aiden were eighteen. Since this was a YA book, I thought the age kind of threw me off a little.
Overall: A good read.
May 27, 2016
Unfortunately, this book had way too much insta-love, and I felt like I'd read the whole murder mystery in space thing in Across The Universe, so, it's a no from me.
April 5, 2016
I wanted to love this but I'm so disappointed. The instalove in this is just too fucking much for me. Plus it was a little too predictable. And it had a completely unsatisfying end too. Full review to come.
February 9, 2017
1.5 stars.
It's never nice to give a book such a low rating, especially not when it's a book that you were really looking forward to. However, I can't lie and say that I enjoyed this. I really didn't. Sadly, this book didn't work for me at all and that's a shame because I was so certain that I was going to love it.
This book is marketed as a YA gender-swapped retelling of Othello which takes place in outer space. Although I'm not a sci-fi fan, I was fascinated by the premise because Othello is my favourite Shakespeare play and I was interested to see how it was adapted in a futuristic setting. The swapping of genders, the obvious diversity of anything based on Othello and a long-term desire to read something by Malorie Blackman on my part only convinced me further that I would love this book. Yet, unfortunately, this book was not what I wanted to be at all.
Chasing the Stars only vaguely resembles Othello. Only the jealousy plot driven by suspicions of infidelity really remains. Now, I can live with that. Authors of retellings shouldn't be expected to stick exactly to their source material so I was prepared to forgive the lack of Othello-esque drama so long as Blackman could provide me with a good story. The trouble was that she didn't. This is an overdramatic teenage love story dressed up as an exciting space adventure. For such a long book, very little happens and the world-building is poor. I think Blackman tried to deliberately leave her setting ambiguous because of some twists later in the story, but I don't think that worked out. You need at least some world-building at the beginning of a novel. Then the twists were far-fetched in my opinion, and they were shoved to the side in favour of the love story so much that by the time they kicked in I didn't really care anymore. The love story is overemphasised and everything else seems peripheral and that is the great problem with this book in my opinion. If you're looking for an exciting sci-fi novel then this isn't it. This is a romance which just so happens to take place in space.
The romance itself didn't work for me at all. I have so many problems with it and, as this book is founded on romance, if you don't like the love story then you're probably not going to like the book. What's so bad about the romance? What's so bad is that this is the worst case of instalove that I have ever read. Vee and Nathan fall in love as soon as they lay eyes on each other, then get together in a number of days and almost immediately convince themselves that they have met the love of their life. The pace that this romance moves at is quite frankly ridiculous and I think that that spoils the story. All of the drama that comes later in the story could have been easily avoided if only these characters had employed a bit of common sense and had actually decided to think before jumping into a relationship. Then the way the romance is portrayed... yuck. I'm not an anti-romantic person by any means; I love a bit of fluffy romance every now and again. This one crosses the line though. It isn't cute or fluffy, it's melodramatic and soppy. There were times when the sickly sweetness of the romance got on my nerves so much that I wanted to put the book down. I honestly did not like anything about the love story in this book. I tried, but there were so many things (I haven't even mentioned all of them) that annoyed me that I just couldn't and, as there isn't much else in this book other than romance, that prevented me from liking the entire book.
That being said, I disliked more than just the romance. The character of Nathan on his own annoyed me too. I found him annoying and, at times, his behaviour was very problematic indeed. His behaviour verged on rapey at times, in my opinion, and that was understandably very off-putting. All of the characters in this novel aside from Vee and Nathan are very underdeveloped, which is a shame because it means that all the side-plots lack excitement and once again get washed away by the romance. It soon got to the point when I was forgetting who characters were because they played such a small roles. At points this book was predictable, at other times it seemed very far-fetched and was throwing out some crazy plot twists. The use of alternating perspectives, which has never been my favourite form of narration anyway, was very poorly used. There was one particular scene in which the viewpoint alternated at least four times when the whole thing really could have been told in one perspective and crammed into one chapter. Overall, I thought that this book was a mix of weak elements. There are no truly redeeming features because everything is underdeveloped, inconsistent or over-done.
The only thing that I can truly say that I liked about this book was the character of Vee. She was a strong, confident, calm and badass leader and I truly admired her for that. She had her annoying moments, mostly related to the Othello-esque jealousy plot, but for the most part I really liked her. If this book has a redeeming feature, it is Vee. Unfortunately, the strength of the main character isn't enough to save the rest of the plot.
Overall, this was very, very disappointing. I honestly thought that I was going to love this book so it's such a shame that I didn't. I think its ultimate downfall is the focus on romance instead of developing the sci-fi elements and side-characters, so maybe if you're more into romance than I am this will work better for you than it did for me. Unfortunately, Chasing the Stars just wasn't my kind of thing at all. I wish I could have loved it even half as much as I thought I would, but sadly that wasn't to be.
It's never nice to give a book such a low rating, especially not when it's a book that you were really looking forward to. However, I can't lie and say that I enjoyed this. I really didn't. Sadly, this book didn't work for me at all and that's a shame because I was so certain that I was going to love it.
This book is marketed as a YA gender-swapped retelling of Othello which takes place in outer space. Although I'm not a sci-fi fan, I was fascinated by the premise because Othello is my favourite Shakespeare play and I was interested to see how it was adapted in a futuristic setting. The swapping of genders, the obvious diversity of anything based on Othello and a long-term desire to read something by Malorie Blackman on my part only convinced me further that I would love this book. Yet, unfortunately, this book was not what I wanted to be at all.
Chasing the Stars only vaguely resembles Othello. Only the jealousy plot driven by suspicions of infidelity really remains. Now, I can live with that. Authors of retellings shouldn't be expected to stick exactly to their source material so I was prepared to forgive the lack of Othello-esque drama so long as Blackman could provide me with a good story. The trouble was that she didn't. This is an overdramatic teenage love story dressed up as an exciting space adventure. For such a long book, very little happens and the world-building is poor. I think Blackman tried to deliberately leave her setting ambiguous because of some twists later in the story, but I don't think that worked out. You need at least some world-building at the beginning of a novel. Then the twists were far-fetched in my opinion, and they were shoved to the side in favour of the love story so much that by the time they kicked in I didn't really care anymore. The love story is overemphasised and everything else seems peripheral and that is the great problem with this book in my opinion. If you're looking for an exciting sci-fi novel then this isn't it. This is a romance which just so happens to take place in space.
The romance itself didn't work for me at all. I have so many problems with it and, as this book is founded on romance, if you don't like the love story then you're probably not going to like the book. What's so bad about the romance? What's so bad is that this is the worst case of instalove that I have ever read. Vee and Nathan fall in love as soon as they lay eyes on each other, then get together in a number of days and almost immediately convince themselves that they have met the love of their life. The pace that this romance moves at is quite frankly ridiculous and I think that that spoils the story. All of the drama that comes later in the story could have been easily avoided if only these characters had employed a bit of common sense and had actually decided to think before jumping into a relationship. Then the way the romance is portrayed... yuck. I'm not an anti-romantic person by any means; I love a bit of fluffy romance every now and again. This one crosses the line though. It isn't cute or fluffy, it's melodramatic and soppy. There were times when the sickly sweetness of the romance got on my nerves so much that I wanted to put the book down. I honestly did not like anything about the love story in this book. I tried, but there were so many things (I haven't even mentioned all of them) that annoyed me that I just couldn't and, as there isn't much else in this book other than romance, that prevented me from liking the entire book.
That being said, I disliked more than just the romance. The character of Nathan on his own annoyed me too. I found him annoying and, at times, his behaviour was very problematic indeed. His behaviour verged on rapey at times, in my opinion, and that was understandably very off-putting. All of the characters in this novel aside from Vee and Nathan are very underdeveloped, which is a shame because it means that all the side-plots lack excitement and once again get washed away by the romance. It soon got to the point when I was forgetting who characters were because they played such a small roles. At points this book was predictable, at other times it seemed very far-fetched and was throwing out some crazy plot twists. The use of alternating perspectives, which has never been my favourite form of narration anyway, was very poorly used. There was one particular scene in which the viewpoint alternated at least four times when the whole thing really could have been told in one perspective and crammed into one chapter. Overall, I thought that this book was a mix of weak elements. There are no truly redeeming features because everything is underdeveloped, inconsistent or over-done.
The only thing that I can truly say that I liked about this book was the character of Vee. She was a strong, confident, calm and badass leader and I truly admired her for that. She had her annoying moments, mostly related to the Othello-esque jealousy plot, but for the most part I really liked her. If this book has a redeeming feature, it is Vee. Unfortunately, the strength of the main character isn't enough to save the rest of the plot.
Overall, this was very, very disappointing. I honestly thought that I was going to love this book so it's such a shame that I didn't. I think its ultimate downfall is the focus on romance instead of developing the sci-fi elements and side-characters, so maybe if you're more into romance than I am this will work better for you than it did for me. Unfortunately, Chasing the Stars just wasn't my kind of thing at all. I wish I could have loved it even half as much as I thought I would, but sadly that wasn't to be.
April 9, 2017
Screw you, Blackman, for lulling me into a false sense of security, making me believe I was reading something light and fluffy, before ripping my heart out and tearing it to pieces!
But then again, what kind of an idiot would believe that a Shakespeare tragedy retold by Malorie Blackman would be "light and fluffy"? I brought this onto myself.
But then again, what kind of an idiot would believe that a Shakespeare tragedy retold by Malorie Blackman would be "light and fluffy"? I brought this onto myself.
August 23, 2016
It physically pains me that this book is written by the author of Noughts and Crosses. I'd like to think it doesn't exist and that I never read it. Because believe me when I say that Chasing the Stars was laughably dreadful. Just utterly, laughably dreadful.
Olivia and her twin brother, Aidan, have been travelling alone in space for three years and are headed towards Earth after their entire family and crew were wiped out by a virus leaving just the two of them to survive. But when they receive an emergency signal from a planet that shouldn't be inhabited, they find themselves on a rescue mission to save a colony that are intending to travel towards a planet in the opposite direction to Earth. Despite their best efforts, most of the community is killed and only a few survive to come on board Olivia and Aidan's ship. Nathan is one of them. Tensions are tight on the ship and as Olivia battles her instincts to save a group of strangers, all of them are wrought with worry, suspicion and fear as mysterious murders start to stack up amongst them. No one should trust anyone, but Olivia and Nathan are falling head over heels in a world where love isn't enough to survive and where their union could cause more damage than not, and where a happily-ever-after may not be written in the stars...
I'm just going to put this out there - this review is spoiler-heavy because I can't talk about it without addressing the pure ridiculousness that this book is steeped in. And I wouldn't recommend you to pick up this book in a million years so a) you've been warned and b) despite my recommendation, the review may be worth it for the laughs.
I'm not a sci-fi fan and a love story in space is so far out of my appeal that I had no intention of reading this book until my cousin lent me her copy and I felt bad saying no or giving it back without having read it. So with my apprehensions and low expectations, I went into it a little hesitantly. And when I did, I read a love story worse than Twilight. If you don't believe me, this is how it goes...
What. The. Actual. Eff.
I'm sorry, I just can't. I can't put into words how mind-blowingly stupid the whole thing was. . Also, the guy is an A-class asshole. Even if I had bought into their stupid, far-fetched romance (and let's face it, no reader in their right mind could), I couldn't have sympathised with the ending because by the time I got to the end of the book, I was hoping he'd have been killed off. He's possessive, has anger-management issues way off the scale, and must be bipolar
The insta-love man. Unreal. There's writing about how loneliness and isolation can lead you to feel something that may or may not be love for another human because you've been starved of human contact and feeling for so long - and then there's this. At least sparkly vampires and hormonal wolf-humans were mildly tolerable. AT LEAST THE VAMPIRE-HUMAN MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSUMMATION TOOK FOUR BOOKS TO TAKE PLACE.
God, man. It was so laughably awful that I can't even laugh about it because how does this exist in literature. No world-building, no character development, no plot direction...how can somebody who wrote Callum and Sephy's epic love story, write this. I'm done. I'm just...speechless and so done man.
Olivia and her twin brother, Aidan, have been travelling alone in space for three years and are headed towards Earth after their entire family and crew were wiped out by a virus leaving just the two of them to survive. But when they receive an emergency signal from a planet that shouldn't be inhabited, they find themselves on a rescue mission to save a colony that are intending to travel towards a planet in the opposite direction to Earth. Despite their best efforts, most of the community is killed and only a few survive to come on board Olivia and Aidan's ship. Nathan is one of them. Tensions are tight on the ship and as Olivia battles her instincts to save a group of strangers, all of them are wrought with worry, suspicion and fear as mysterious murders start to stack up amongst them. No one should trust anyone, but Olivia and Nathan are falling head over heels in a world where love isn't enough to survive and where their union could cause more damage than not, and where a happily-ever-after may not be written in the stars...
I'm just going to put this out there - this review is spoiler-heavy because I can't talk about it without addressing the pure ridiculousness that this book is steeped in. And I wouldn't recommend you to pick up this book in a million years so a) you've been warned and b) despite my recommendation, the review may be worth it for the laughs.
I'm not a sci-fi fan and a love story in space is so far out of my appeal that I had no intention of reading this book until my cousin lent me her copy and I felt bad saying no or giving it back without having read it. So with my apprehensions and low expectations, I went into it a little hesitantly. And when I did, I read a love story worse than Twilight. If you don't believe me, this is how it goes...
What. The. Actual. Eff.
I'm sorry, I just can't. I can't put into words how mind-blowingly stupid the whole thing was. . Also, the guy is an A-class asshole. Even if I had bought into their stupid, far-fetched romance (and let's face it, no reader in their right mind could), I couldn't have sympathised with the ending because by the time I got to the end of the book, I was hoping he'd have been killed off. He's possessive, has anger-management issues way off the scale, and must be bipolar
The insta-love man. Unreal. There's writing about how loneliness and isolation can lead you to feel something that may or may not be love for another human because you've been starved of human contact and feeling for so long - and then there's this. At least sparkly vampires and hormonal wolf-humans were mildly tolerable. AT LEAST THE VAMPIRE-HUMAN MARRIAGE AND ITS CONSUMMATION TOOK FOUR BOOKS TO TAKE PLACE.
God, man. It was so laughably awful that I can't even laugh about it because how does this exist in literature. No world-building, no character development, no plot direction...how can somebody who wrote Callum and Sephy's epic love story, write this. I'm done. I'm just...speechless and so done man.
May 1, 2019
While Chasing the Stars has some interesting plot twists, at its core it is highly problematic and shows a very abusive relationship without ever recognising how toxic it is. This book doesn't condemn rape but rather shows it as a part of a relationship. NOT COOL
Olivia and her brother Aidan end up rescuing a bunch of stranded people from a supposedly abandoned planet that is in a hostile territory. One of these rescued people is Nathan who is our supposed love-interest but who I think is an absolute dickhead. He is manipulative, abusive, toxic, disgusting, annoying and The Absolute Worst™️
If allllll of the above is not enough (and it is), then let's recognise some problems with the plot:
- Chasing the Stars had problems with motivations - why in earth did the hostile spaceship even start pursuing the rescued people? Why in earth would they care??
- Chasing the Stars had a problem with logic -
- Chasing the Stars has other problematic aspects than the main relationship -
A good twist doesn't save a book that is already full of 💩
Olivia and her brother Aidan end up rescuing a bunch of stranded people from a supposedly abandoned planet that is in a hostile territory. One of these rescued people is Nathan who is our supposed love-interest but who I think is an absolute dickhead. He is manipulative, abusive, toxic, disgusting, annoying and The Absolute Worst™️
If allllll of the above is not enough (and it is), then let's recognise some problems with the plot:
- Chasing the Stars had problems with motivations - why in earth did the hostile spaceship even start pursuing the rescued people? Why in earth would they care??
- Chasing the Stars had a problem with logic -
- Chasing the Stars has other problematic aspects than the main relationship -
A good twist doesn't save a book that is already full of 💩
January 1, 2018
This book is probably the worst book I've ever read, i feel like it is way to young for the age group it is aimed at but contains graphic sex scenes which make it too old for an age group that may actually enjoy it. I also had a HUGE problem with Nathan, he was rude and a poorly developed character.
The icing on the disgusting cake was definitely how Nathan ordered V to perform a sexual act in order for him to forgive her and get back together with her. This is abuse and even know V said no that does not make it even the slightest but ok. This is abuse and if this were to happen in real life life this would be a crime. It is so horrible. I hate this book and I am uncertain if I want to support this author anymore.
The icing on the disgusting cake was definitely how Nathan ordered V to perform a sexual act in order for him to forgive her and get back together with her. This is abuse and even know V said no that does not make it even the slightest but ok. This is abuse and if this were to happen in real life life this would be a crime. It is so horrible. I hate this book and I am uncertain if I want to support this author anymore.
May 13, 2016
So this book as some defaut. The book cheesy in so many way but I love what malorie did and the risk she has taken. I closed my book and I just laught which does not happen thaht often.
I know this book doesn't work for a lot but I really like it.
And maybe we could have a sequel, because there is a lot of stuff to work on.
I know this book doesn't work for a lot but I really like it.
And maybe we could have a sequel, because there is a lot of stuff to work on.
April 14, 2018
Where to begin with what is honestly one of the worst books I have ever read. Let's start with the review on the back of the book telling me that it is a 'combination of Star Trek, Ten Things I Hate About You and a murder mystery'. Whichever moron from Guardian wrote that clearly has zero comprehension of what any of these are actually about.
Both Vee and Nathan are bloody annoying to say the least, with nonexistent personalities (think bella from twilight x2). Their romance, which legit begins a week after they have met is subsequently awful and makes no sense. Vee, after first telling Nathan that she wants to take things slow then immediately (not even exaggerating) has sex with and marries him. They have currently known each other for maximum two weeks (I honestly felt like Elsa from Frozen when this happened- 'you can't marry a man you just met').
The language didn't help this train wreck of a novel, with 'dahell' and 'dafuq' being used with irritating frequency. Also-- using exclamation marks DO NOT make something funny. There are like 4 per page in an attempt to make the boring conversations between characters slightly more interesting. Here are some choice lines from the text to convey just how horrific this language is:
'Meh. Prove it'-- spoken by an adult character
'There's nothing between me and anjuli except recycled air'
'I fell for her the first time I saw her, and luckily for me she felt the same' (IT'S BEEN A WEEK DUDE)
'He smelled of fresh perspiration and newly turned soil, a lovely earthy smell. Outdoorsy' (plz stop)
I honestly only finished this book in order to be able to fully express just how infuriating it is.
There are so many more things I would love to rant about but if you do plan on reading this- you can enjoy for yourself the one-dimensional characters, stilted dialogue and moronic actions of literally EVERY character.
Both Vee and Nathan are bloody annoying to say the least, with nonexistent personalities (think bella from twilight x2). Their romance, which legit begins a week after they have met is subsequently awful and makes no sense. Vee, after first telling Nathan that she wants to take things slow then immediately (not even exaggerating) has sex with and marries him. They have currently known each other for maximum two weeks (I honestly felt like Elsa from Frozen when this happened- 'you can't marry a man you just met').
The language didn't help this train wreck of a novel, with 'dahell' and 'dafuq' being used with irritating frequency. Also-- using exclamation marks DO NOT make something funny. There are like 4 per page in an attempt to make the boring conversations between characters slightly more interesting. Here are some choice lines from the text to convey just how horrific this language is:
'Meh. Prove it'-- spoken by an adult character
'There's nothing between me and anjuli except recycled air'
'I fell for her the first time I saw her, and luckily for me she felt the same' (IT'S BEEN A WEEK DUDE)
'He smelled of fresh perspiration and newly turned soil, a lovely earthy smell. Outdoorsy' (plz stop)
I honestly only finished this book in order to be able to fully express just how infuriating it is.
There are so many more things I would love to rant about but if you do plan on reading this- you can enjoy for yourself the one-dimensional characters, stilted dialogue and moronic actions of literally EVERY character.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 23, 2019
Trigger warnings: death of a parent (in the past), death of a friend, genocide, war, violence, medical crisis resulting in amputation.
I had high hopes for this because the concept sounded cool, the cover is stunning, and I've enjoyed Malorie Blackman's writing in the past.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuunfortunately, this was kind of a mess. There's a massive case of insta-love that meant I wasn't on board with Vee and Nathan's relationship at any point in the story. Add in the crew-wiped-out-by-virus and the unexpected deaths and the we're-being-chased-through-space-by-bad-guys things and a character named Aidan and it just felt SLIGHTLY too reminiscent of Illuminae for my liking. Except that I didn't like any of the characters.
I'll give it this, it was fast paced and there was plenty of diversity. But other than that, this was kind of a mess.
I had high hopes for this because the concept sounded cool, the cover is stunning, and I've enjoyed Malorie Blackman's writing in the past.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuunfortunately, this was kind of a mess. There's a massive case of insta-love that meant I wasn't on board with Vee and Nathan's relationship at any point in the story. Add in the crew-wiped-out-by-virus and the unexpected deaths and the we're-being-chased-through-space-by-bad-guys things and a character named Aidan and it just felt SLIGHTLY too reminiscent of Illuminae for my liking. Except that I didn't like any of the characters.
I'll give it this, it was fast paced and there was plenty of diversity. But other than that, this was kind of a mess.
April 4, 2021
Je suis très mitigée. L'intrigue est très intéressante, et même si il y a beaucoup de facilités, je ne me doutais pas entièrement de la réalité. J'ai cependant découvert le coupable très tôt, je trouve la fin peu adaptée et la romance m'a tapé sur les nerfs tant elle était naïve.
EDIT : avec le recul et les années, y'avait vraiment pas grand chose à sauver quand même...
2/5
EDIT : avec le recul et les années, y'avait vraiment pas grand chose à sauver quand même...
2/5
April 20, 2016
I am a HUGE Malorie Blackman fan, and not just because she sent all of us booksellers Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes that one year! I remember reading Noughts and Crosses back when I was at school, and it's one of my favourite books, and I remember waiting for each new book to come out with baited breath! It was a given that I was going to read her latest book, but I mean....Shakespeare in space!? Blackman's book is begging to be read for that alone! I will admit, I've been in a near book slump so I actually picked this up the other week and kind of went to read it but wasn't really in the mood! I've spent the last week reading graphic novels and manga, this is actually the first book I've picked up since then!
Once I started reading Chasing The Stars, I got more and more hooked until I couldn't put it down. Knowing Shakespeare and Othello and how it ends, I was waiting for all the bad things to happen, but the book actually surprised me with it's ending, it wasn't what I was expecting, I was expecting a lot more death! The ending is also my one thing with this book but more on that later!
The story is told from two points of view, Vee and Nathan. In the beginning, Nathan's is the more action filled POV, it's the one that drew me in and there's hints of the "Authority" and the negative connotations of it, and the tensions with the Mazon. Vee's point of view gives a different opinion on the Authority so it was interesting to see the differing thoughts they had on certain things. Especially when it's revealed what Nathan is and how Vee reacts to it, realising everything she's been taught is wrong. Anyway, both POV's are different, they have a different way of talking or thinking and you can tell who it is who's narrating, but there's two different fonts as well which was a nice touch I thought, as it showed they where different!
Chasing the Stars is snappy and fast paced and the plot pulls you in more and more. You have the action filled beginning with the escape from the Mazon, then you have the murders on board which adds a nice mystery element to it, along with the romance and the drama from that. There really is never a dull moment in this book and I'm glad I read it in one go because I'd struggle to find a place to put it down! The pacing is literally perfect and it ramps up as we near the climax of the book! The combination of sci-fi elements, action, romance and fight scenes is brilliant! I'm not usually one for sci-fi but I can't imagine this book working any other way. The whole murder mystery element works so well because of how claustrophobic the spaceship is!
Character-wise I loved Vee, and I really felt for her. She's been through so much, and you can't really blame her for thinking the worst at some points, and reacting how she does. Especially when it's her brother telling her things. I thought she was courageous, brave and determined to help the others even though for the majority of the time, hardly any of them appreciated it. I loved Vee and Aidan's banter and relationship, but as the book went on Aidan took a sinister turn. Something weird was definitely going on with him and he became very manipulative and unpleasant, but at the end of it all, I felt for him too and there as a completely heartbreaking scene or two involving the two of them!
I really liked Nathan as well, he made me laugh as did his banter with Vee! They really where hilarious together. Nathan was funny, he was trying to be the peacemaker between everyone at a few points, I would say he's intelligent but his behaviour towards the end negates that in my opinion! Nathan takes a rather bad turn when he becomes the world's biggest prat. The thing is...I understand where he is coming from just as much as I understand where Vee is coming from, the thing is...Nathan doesn't understand where Vee is coming from at all. He refuses to see her side of things, even when his mum has a word with him! Vee's brother was all she had for so long so of course she's going to trust him and things did look pretty bad and Nathan wasn't helping much with his behaviour but he refuses to acknowledge all of that! Much as I loved his character, he annoyed me so much at the end! DAMN YOU NATHAN.
"Nathan, my hand is itching to give you an attitude adjustment slap"
Same Catherine, same! Speaking of Catherine, she's Nathan's mum and I'm not going to lie to you all, I thought she was a bit of a cow in the beginning. What she tried to do to Vee and everything after and the atmosphere of the book kept me a little bit distrustful of her to be honest. There was one point when I was like...oh wow what if her being nice was all just an act!? But I actually ended up quite liking Catherine, she started to trust Vee, she gave Vee a pep talk when she needed it and reminded her that she could do this and all of that, and I liked those moments between them when she refused to let Vee give up. I was wary of her for a while but I still liked her and then as we got near the end you really got a feel for what her character is normally like without all the stuff going on that she has to deal with. Almost like a surrogate mum to Vee towards the end!
There are plenty of other brilliant characters in the book that you both love and hate. I wasn't too sure of Erica because I wasn't sure what she was up to, I loved Mike and Anjuli even if I then was wary of Anjuli at one point! Her and Mike where funny and such great characters and so willing from the beginning to get to know Vee and become her friends. Darren I hated, he was a complete a-hole. Like in the beginning I got what his problem was and why he was upset but then he still continued to blame Vee even though it wasn't her fault and he continued to be a really horrible character right up until the end. He consistently tries to undermine Vee at every turn, blames her for everything and keeps calling her a child and saying she doesn't know what she's doing. I really wanted to smack him one and I did cheer a little bit when he got his comeuppance!
I've mentioned the atmosphere of the book a lot because it's something really palpable as you're reading. You're with the characters on this spaceship, which I'm imaging to be really claustrophobic once you've been on there for a while! Once these murders start to happen the distrust gets more and more palpable, you start to become suspicious of all the characters and unsure of their motives and you lose all trust right along with Vee and Nathan. It certainly makes reading the book an experience as you try to work out who to trust! You can feel the conflict brewing as you read, especially with characters like Darren stirring things up. It's a very negative environment as the book goes on! I mean, I just loved how Vee saved everyone and then they're all trying to take over the ship and take it from her! That's the other thing, the book makes you feel as you imagine the characters to feel, angry at the way they're being treated, and at other's behaviour, sad at other points and so on.
The romance I need to talk about because we all know I don't like the whole insta-love thing, and there's the whole love at first sight thing in this book. Now I think it would have bothered me a lot more than it did if Vee wasn't questioning it and her feelings at points, not being sure if the feelings where real or just proximity or whatever the line was! Her doing that made me feel like the romance wasn't as ridiculous and unbelievable as most insta-love situations in books! That and the book is based on Othello a Shakespeare play and he does love a bit of insta-love! SO I rolled with it in other words, and ended up liking the romance a lot more than I would have under normal circumstances! That and the fact that once the romance really gets going it's not all sunshine and rainbows and happy ever afters, there's obstacles to overcome, there's drama and angst and it made the romance a lot more believable than it would normally be! I mean, as much as the ending bothers me, it fits with what you imagine the reality would be of a love at first sight situation and the situation the characters are in!
I'm sure you all know that Chasing The Stars is based on Othello, and I'm sure some of you are wondering just how similar it is so I'm going to try to help you out briefly! First off, my knowledge of Othello is very vague, we never studied it at school we did Romeo and Juliet instead! I have read Othello on my own, but it's been a while shall we say! I need to re-read! From what I'm aware of, Blackman has twisted some of the things from the play as only she can! I feel like Aidan is Iago to an extent, there's a scene where Aidan refuses to answer after everything goes down and I'm 99% sure that's Iago in one scene in the play! Nathan and Vee are obviously Othello and Desdemona, there's changes to what happens though! They're switched around he's accused of the thing instead of her like in the play, and there's a lot less death than in the play, I mean knowing how it ends I was expecting death at the end of the book which is why I was so surprised with the ending! It's not a happy ever after ending, but it wasn't as death and despair as I was expecting.
Chasing the Stars has plenty of emotion to hit you with, it has it's funny scenes, tense scenes, and heart breaking scenes. I mean...I choked up once or twice reading this and couldn't believe my eyes at other points, there where plenty of plot twists! It got closer and closer to the end and I really didn't want it to end, and I was surprised right up until the end!
The ending we need to talk about because I mentioned it was one of the things I wasn't happy with. The thing is....I'm in two minds about it! I mean on the one hand it's kind of perfect, with Vee flying off in to the sunset and the surprise crew that joins her, I mean that scene gave me the warm and fuzzies! But at the same time I was left a little unsatisfied on the romance front, there was no solid ending there. I'm a bit fickle with open endings, sometimes I love them and sometimes I don't, it depends on the book, and in this case I really wasn't down for the open ending! I NEED to know what happens to Vee and Nathan next, it's driving me up the wall! Nathan was the worlds biggest prat and like Vee I had hope right up until it became obvious he wasn't coming. I mean he sent the thing but still.
So yeah, I'm so torn about the ending it's not even funny! The book is completely brilliant but that ending is just driving me mad! I'm also not entirely sure if there is going to be a sequel, and if there is going to be a sequel...is it going to be a continuation of Vee and Nathan's story or will it be other characters that aren't anything to do with them!? Will we get to see what happens with the two of them if there's another book that's set in the universe but not with them!? These are the questions I need answered! I'm really hoping for a second book with Vee and Nathan, not just for the romance issues to be resolved, but because of what Vee's going to be getting up to! I got such Han Solo vibes off her at the end! I actually daydream a lot about Vee's new life and her goals, not going to lie, because I'm thinking she's going to be doing some awesome things!
Once I started reading Chasing The Stars, I got more and more hooked until I couldn't put it down. Knowing Shakespeare and Othello and how it ends, I was waiting for all the bad things to happen, but the book actually surprised me with it's ending, it wasn't what I was expecting, I was expecting a lot more death! The ending is also my one thing with this book but more on that later!
The story is told from two points of view, Vee and Nathan. In the beginning, Nathan's is the more action filled POV, it's the one that drew me in and there's hints of the "Authority" and the negative connotations of it, and the tensions with the Mazon. Vee's point of view gives a different opinion on the Authority so it was interesting to see the differing thoughts they had on certain things. Especially when it's revealed what Nathan is and how Vee reacts to it, realising everything she's been taught is wrong. Anyway, both POV's are different, they have a different way of talking or thinking and you can tell who it is who's narrating, but there's two different fonts as well which was a nice touch I thought, as it showed they where different!
Chasing the Stars is snappy and fast paced and the plot pulls you in more and more. You have the action filled beginning with the escape from the Mazon, then you have the murders on board which adds a nice mystery element to it, along with the romance and the drama from that. There really is never a dull moment in this book and I'm glad I read it in one go because I'd struggle to find a place to put it down! The pacing is literally perfect and it ramps up as we near the climax of the book! The combination of sci-fi elements, action, romance and fight scenes is brilliant! I'm not usually one for sci-fi but I can't imagine this book working any other way. The whole murder mystery element works so well because of how claustrophobic the spaceship is!
Character-wise I loved Vee, and I really felt for her. She's been through so much, and you can't really blame her for thinking the worst at some points, and reacting how she does. Especially when it's her brother telling her things. I thought she was courageous, brave and determined to help the others even though for the majority of the time, hardly any of them appreciated it. I loved Vee and Aidan's banter and relationship, but as the book went on Aidan took a sinister turn. Something weird was definitely going on with him and he became very manipulative and unpleasant, but at the end of it all, I felt for him too and there as a completely heartbreaking scene or two involving the two of them!
I really liked Nathan as well, he made me laugh as did his banter with Vee! They really where hilarious together. Nathan was funny, he was trying to be the peacemaker between everyone at a few points, I would say he's intelligent but his behaviour towards the end negates that in my opinion! Nathan takes a rather bad turn when he becomes the world's biggest prat. The thing is...I understand where he is coming from just as much as I understand where Vee is coming from, the thing is...Nathan doesn't understand where Vee is coming from at all. He refuses to see her side of things, even when his mum has a word with him! Vee's brother was all she had for so long so of course she's going to trust him and things did look pretty bad and Nathan wasn't helping much with his behaviour but he refuses to acknowledge all of that! Much as I loved his character, he annoyed me so much at the end! DAMN YOU NATHAN.
"Nathan, my hand is itching to give you an attitude adjustment slap"
Same Catherine, same! Speaking of Catherine, she's Nathan's mum and I'm not going to lie to you all, I thought she was a bit of a cow in the beginning. What she tried to do to Vee and everything after and the atmosphere of the book kept me a little bit distrustful of her to be honest. There was one point when I was like...oh wow what if her being nice was all just an act!? But I actually ended up quite liking Catherine, she started to trust Vee, she gave Vee a pep talk when she needed it and reminded her that she could do this and all of that, and I liked those moments between them when she refused to let Vee give up. I was wary of her for a while but I still liked her and then as we got near the end you really got a feel for what her character is normally like without all the stuff going on that she has to deal with. Almost like a surrogate mum to Vee towards the end!
There are plenty of other brilliant characters in the book that you both love and hate. I wasn't too sure of Erica because I wasn't sure what she was up to, I loved Mike and Anjuli even if I then was wary of Anjuli at one point! Her and Mike where funny and such great characters and so willing from the beginning to get to know Vee and become her friends. Darren I hated, he was a complete a-hole. Like in the beginning I got what his problem was and why he was upset but then he still continued to blame Vee even though it wasn't her fault and he continued to be a really horrible character right up until the end. He consistently tries to undermine Vee at every turn, blames her for everything and keeps calling her a child and saying she doesn't know what she's doing. I really wanted to smack him one and I did cheer a little bit when he got his comeuppance!
I've mentioned the atmosphere of the book a lot because it's something really palpable as you're reading. You're with the characters on this spaceship, which I'm imaging to be really claustrophobic once you've been on there for a while! Once these murders start to happen the distrust gets more and more palpable, you start to become suspicious of all the characters and unsure of their motives and you lose all trust right along with Vee and Nathan. It certainly makes reading the book an experience as you try to work out who to trust! You can feel the conflict brewing as you read, especially with characters like Darren stirring things up. It's a very negative environment as the book goes on! I mean, I just loved how Vee saved everyone and then they're all trying to take over the ship and take it from her! That's the other thing, the book makes you feel as you imagine the characters to feel, angry at the way they're being treated, and at other's behaviour, sad at other points and so on.
The romance I need to talk about because we all know I don't like the whole insta-love thing, and there's the whole love at first sight thing in this book. Now I think it would have bothered me a lot more than it did if Vee wasn't questioning it and her feelings at points, not being sure if the feelings where real or just proximity or whatever the line was! Her doing that made me feel like the romance wasn't as ridiculous and unbelievable as most insta-love situations in books! That and the book is based on Othello a Shakespeare play and he does love a bit of insta-love! SO I rolled with it in other words, and ended up liking the romance a lot more than I would have under normal circumstances! That and the fact that once the romance really gets going it's not all sunshine and rainbows and happy ever afters, there's obstacles to overcome, there's drama and angst and it made the romance a lot more believable than it would normally be! I mean, as much as the ending bothers me, it fits with what you imagine the reality would be of a love at first sight situation and the situation the characters are in!
I'm sure you all know that Chasing The Stars is based on Othello, and I'm sure some of you are wondering just how similar it is so I'm going to try to help you out briefly! First off, my knowledge of Othello is very vague, we never studied it at school we did Romeo and Juliet instead! I have read Othello on my own, but it's been a while shall we say! I need to re-read! From what I'm aware of, Blackman has twisted some of the things from the play as only she can! I feel like Aidan is Iago to an extent, there's a scene where Aidan refuses to answer after everything goes down and I'm 99% sure that's Iago in one scene in the play! Nathan and Vee are obviously Othello and Desdemona, there's changes to what happens though! They're switched around he's accused of the thing instead of her like in the play, and there's a lot less death than in the play, I mean knowing how it ends I was expecting death at the end of the book which is why I was so surprised with the ending! It's not a happy ever after ending, but it wasn't as death and despair as I was expecting.
Chasing the Stars has plenty of emotion to hit you with, it has it's funny scenes, tense scenes, and heart breaking scenes. I mean...I choked up once or twice reading this and couldn't believe my eyes at other points, there where plenty of plot twists! It got closer and closer to the end and I really didn't want it to end, and I was surprised right up until the end!
The ending we need to talk about because I mentioned it was one of the things I wasn't happy with. The thing is....I'm in two minds about it! I mean on the one hand it's kind of perfect, with Vee flying off in to the sunset and the surprise crew that joins her, I mean that scene gave me the warm and fuzzies! But at the same time I was left a little unsatisfied on the romance front, there was no solid ending there. I'm a bit fickle with open endings, sometimes I love them and sometimes I don't, it depends on the book, and in this case I really wasn't down for the open ending! I NEED to know what happens to Vee and Nathan next, it's driving me up the wall! Nathan was the worlds biggest prat and like Vee I had hope right up until it became obvious he wasn't coming. I mean he sent the thing but still.
So yeah, I'm so torn about the ending it's not even funny! The book is completely brilliant but that ending is just driving me mad! I'm also not entirely sure if there is going to be a sequel, and if there is going to be a sequel...is it going to be a continuation of Vee and Nathan's story or will it be other characters that aren't anything to do with them!? Will we get to see what happens with the two of them if there's another book that's set in the universe but not with them!? These are the questions I need answered! I'm really hoping for a second book with Vee and Nathan, not just for the romance issues to be resolved, but because of what Vee's going to be getting up to! I got such Han Solo vibes off her at the end! I actually daydream a lot about Vee's new life and her goals, not going to lie, because I'm thinking she's going to be doing some awesome things!
May 10, 2017
Originally reviewed at http://mythoughtsaboutbooks.blogspot....
Oh dear. I full blown love you, Malorie Blackman, but this was not good. I had heard the premise of this book at YALC last year- a super modern, feisty femaled, gender swapped Othello in space. Sounds good, right? Then it made it to the YA Book Prize shortlist and I was all WOOO! Sci-Fi on prize lists! Shut the air lock door! But then I read it and was so disappointed.
So Vee and Aidan are the sole crew of the Earth ship Aidan. Their parents and the rest of the crew were killed by a sudden, mysterious virus and the twins are on their Earthbound journey when Vee recklessly launches a rescue mission to a previously uninhabited planet that is currently under attack from Mazons, a bitter xenophobic alien race. After a daring, risky rescue, 22 survivors are snatched aboard. Tensions are high as Vee and Aidan realise they have just filled their ship with strangers capable of who knows what, and they have to adapt to being around people again after 3 years of solitude. Vee gets to know some of the refugees, sparking a connection with broody hunk Nathan quite early on. All goes well for a time, but the new crew members, just as they are adjusting to the prospect of freedom and sanctuary, begin to be picked off in a series of very puzzling 'accidents'.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Vee and Nathan. Sometimes this really, really works (see: Trouble, by Non Pratt; We Come Apart, by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan) but in this instance I struggled very hard to distinguish the voices. Despite the separate fonts, I still had to constantly check who was speaking because the voices were not particularly strong. Sometimes I had the wrong character entirely and then got thrown some anomalous context that made me realise I'd gone wrong...it didn't make for a very fluid reading experience. I found both characters to be incredibly annoying, self absorbed, untrustworthy and untrusting to the point of mania and just so consistently clueless. They would always say one thing, then do another. "Let's keep our relationship secret" then they flirt outrageously and drop saucy comments and double entendres in front of the other crew, confident they are above notice. Vee constantly tells herself that she trusts Nate, then acts like he's the shiftiest guy ever. Or she's the most suspicious person ever. There's occasional hiding things from each other with good intentions, misinterpretation and then overblown falling out about it. The guessing. The second guessing. Nathan seemed emotionally manipulative, flip-flopping between simpering suck up and bitter, petulant child. He might also be a sex addict. Vee completely let him steal her agency and independence, which it is possible to retain, no matter how head over heels in love one claims to be.
I really liked the plot's parallels to the Underground Railroad and the introduction of info about the work of the Resistance towards the end. Early on, the book reveals a very divided society, made up of 'Elites' and 'drones'. The latter are an abused, subjugated underclass, consigned to backbreaking labour in jobs too deadly and places too remote to send regular people. The slavery parallels are obvious, but it's also a comment on penal systems, crime and punishment and the oppression of one group by a more powerful, more autonomous one. I liked this aspect of the novel a lot, and would like to have found out more about the Resistance, which emerges properly within the final pages. It is hinted at earlier, but only ever mused upon in one character's thoughts.
I'd worked out part of the "Twist" quite early- I'm not sure if it's because I watched Red Dwarf as a kid or because it's a bit obvious that something isn't right- even if my guess was *slightly* off...I won't say. As for the murder mystery element- it felt a bit Sunshine but with a less crazy motive. I couldn't help but feel that the identification and capture of the murderer took a back seat to Vee and Nathan's steamy action and all their juvenile squabbling and dramatic trust issues. In between the two of them taking turns to blow hot and cold on each other, I kept forgetting there was a rampant murderer on board because it's the least tense thing ever. It's a bit predictable, in that it's the least likely character, but is one of the few that has been adequately fleshed out.
The book features one of the most fatal cases of insta-love I've ever read. Yes- I get that sometimes people feel strong emotional connections very quickly after meeting a person. I guess it's rare, but it's not impossible. But this is two infatuated teenagers, who seem to think that going overboard on the insta-love is OK, as long as you constantly comment about how ridiculous and dangerous and out of character is is, how you never thought it would happen, how silly you feel to be a slave to your own urges in this way. It's a bit embarrassing. The kissing scenes go over very, very well trodden ground, all 'darting tongue', 'wandering hands' and earlobe nibbling...the sex scenes are a bit too explicit for younger readers, but too clichéd for older ones- so I'm not sure who this is really aimed at. At least in Othello, the secret marriage takes place before the play begins so we're spared the Love is An Open Door part of the relationship.
Whilst I definitely don't think this book is for me, and I don't think it was crafted particularly well, it's hard to say if the most frustrating elements (the constant trust issues, the blowing hot and cold, the willful ignorance, the misguided self-sacrifice, the 'let's just look longingly at each other and not say our actual feelings' are the author's fault. Possibly it's Shakespeare's fault. I do think this falls well below Malorie's usual standards. I think it had a lot of potential in the setting and the concept, but the whole thing was lacking the polish and the emotional impact of Malorie's other works. Which is such a shame, because she is an enormous, glorious talent and inspiration and arguably one of the founding mothers of the UKYA landscape. Chasing the Stars was frustrating for all the wrong reasons. Rather than being enraged by injustice and prejudice, I found that I was mostly frustrated at the boring space-talk, the well-trodden romantic trails, the uninspiring murder mystery and the irritating characters.
I'm sorry. I will still read all of your future books and still love all of your other books.
Oh dear. I full blown love you, Malorie Blackman, but this was not good. I had heard the premise of this book at YALC last year- a super modern, feisty femaled, gender swapped Othello in space. Sounds good, right? Then it made it to the YA Book Prize shortlist and I was all WOOO! Sci-Fi on prize lists! Shut the air lock door! But then I read it and was so disappointed.
So Vee and Aidan are the sole crew of the Earth ship Aidan. Their parents and the rest of the crew were killed by a sudden, mysterious virus and the twins are on their Earthbound journey when Vee recklessly launches a rescue mission to a previously uninhabited planet that is currently under attack from Mazons, a bitter xenophobic alien race. After a daring, risky rescue, 22 survivors are snatched aboard. Tensions are high as Vee and Aidan realise they have just filled their ship with strangers capable of who knows what, and they have to adapt to being around people again after 3 years of solitude. Vee gets to know some of the refugees, sparking a connection with broody hunk Nathan quite early on. All goes well for a time, but the new crew members, just as they are adjusting to the prospect of freedom and sanctuary, begin to be picked off in a series of very puzzling 'accidents'.
The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Vee and Nathan. Sometimes this really, really works (see: Trouble, by Non Pratt; We Come Apart, by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan) but in this instance I struggled very hard to distinguish the voices. Despite the separate fonts, I still had to constantly check who was speaking because the voices were not particularly strong. Sometimes I had the wrong character entirely and then got thrown some anomalous context that made me realise I'd gone wrong...it didn't make for a very fluid reading experience. I found both characters to be incredibly annoying, self absorbed, untrustworthy and untrusting to the point of mania and just so consistently clueless. They would always say one thing, then do another. "Let's keep our relationship secret" then they flirt outrageously and drop saucy comments and double entendres in front of the other crew, confident they are above notice. Vee constantly tells herself that she trusts Nate, then acts like he's the shiftiest guy ever. Or she's the most suspicious person ever. There's occasional hiding things from each other with good intentions, misinterpretation and then overblown falling out about it. The guessing. The second guessing. Nathan seemed emotionally manipulative, flip-flopping between simpering suck up and bitter, petulant child. He might also be a sex addict. Vee completely let him steal her agency and independence, which it is possible to retain, no matter how head over heels in love one claims to be.
I really liked the plot's parallels to the Underground Railroad and the introduction of info about the work of the Resistance towards the end. Early on, the book reveals a very divided society, made up of 'Elites' and 'drones'. The latter are an abused, subjugated underclass, consigned to backbreaking labour in jobs too deadly and places too remote to send regular people. The slavery parallels are obvious, but it's also a comment on penal systems, crime and punishment and the oppression of one group by a more powerful, more autonomous one. I liked this aspect of the novel a lot, and would like to have found out more about the Resistance, which emerges properly within the final pages. It is hinted at earlier, but only ever mused upon in one character's thoughts.
I'd worked out part of the "Twist" quite early- I'm not sure if it's because I watched Red Dwarf as a kid or because it's a bit obvious that something isn't right- even if my guess was *slightly* off...I won't say. As for the murder mystery element- it felt a bit Sunshine but with a less crazy motive. I couldn't help but feel that the identification and capture of the murderer took a back seat to Vee and Nathan's steamy action and all their juvenile squabbling and dramatic trust issues. In between the two of them taking turns to blow hot and cold on each other, I kept forgetting there was a rampant murderer on board because it's the least tense thing ever. It's a bit predictable, in that it's the least likely character, but is one of the few that has been adequately fleshed out.
The book features one of the most fatal cases of insta-love I've ever read. Yes- I get that sometimes people feel strong emotional connections very quickly after meeting a person. I guess it's rare, but it's not impossible. But this is two infatuated teenagers, who seem to think that going overboard on the insta-love is OK, as long as you constantly comment about how ridiculous and dangerous and out of character is is, how you never thought it would happen, how silly you feel to be a slave to your own urges in this way. It's a bit embarrassing. The kissing scenes go over very, very well trodden ground, all 'darting tongue', 'wandering hands' and earlobe nibbling...the sex scenes are a bit too explicit for younger readers, but too clichéd for older ones- so I'm not sure who this is really aimed at. At least in Othello, the secret marriage takes place before the play begins so we're spared the Love is An Open Door part of the relationship.
Whilst I definitely don't think this book is for me, and I don't think it was crafted particularly well, it's hard to say if the most frustrating elements (the constant trust issues, the blowing hot and cold, the willful ignorance, the misguided self-sacrifice, the 'let's just look longingly at each other and not say our actual feelings' are the author's fault. Possibly it's Shakespeare's fault. I do think this falls well below Malorie's usual standards. I think it had a lot of potential in the setting and the concept, but the whole thing was lacking the polish and the emotional impact of Malorie's other works. Which is such a shame, because she is an enormous, glorious talent and inspiration and arguably one of the founding mothers of the UKYA landscape. Chasing the Stars was frustrating for all the wrong reasons. Rather than being enraged by injustice and prejudice, I found that I was mostly frustrated at the boring space-talk, the well-trodden romantic trails, the uninspiring murder mystery and the irritating characters.
I'm sorry. I will still read all of your future books and still love all of your other books.
February 18, 2019
Malorie Blackman is incredibly popular, and as I’ve only read one of her books I decided it was time to read more. When I went to the library to see what they had on offer, Chasing the Stars appealed to me the most. I love a good science fiction read, and when you add in the mysterious deaths I was doubly hooked.
Unfortunately, whilst there was a lot of potential with this one, I found myself mostly indifferent to things. I never came to connect to the characters, the story, or the romance, meaning I felt very little throughout the entire story. I kept waiting for something more, for any of the things, and never really received the more I was looking for. Sure, there were a couple of nice elements thrown into the story, but it was mostly too little too late.
In many ways, Chasing the Stars was the tip of the iceberg for something more. I feel as though this one introduced us to a universe, to characters, without taking us all the way. There could easily be a sequel, or an entire series, but what I was introduced to in this one was not enough to leave me wanting more if such a thing happens.
Overall, Chasing the Stars wasn’t quite what I had expected it to be.
Unfortunately, whilst there was a lot of potential with this one, I found myself mostly indifferent to things. I never came to connect to the characters, the story, or the romance, meaning I felt very little throughout the entire story. I kept waiting for something more, for any of the things, and never really received the more I was looking for. Sure, there were a couple of nice elements thrown into the story, but it was mostly too little too late.
In many ways, Chasing the Stars was the tip of the iceberg for something more. I feel as though this one introduced us to a universe, to characters, without taking us all the way. There could easily be a sequel, or an entire series, but what I was introduced to in this one was not enough to leave me wanting more if such a thing happens.
Overall, Chasing the Stars wasn’t quite what I had expected it to be.
April 17, 2020
Read for: OWLs 2020 - Divination
4.5 stars.
Malorie Blackman is one of my favourite authors, so it is no surprise that I loved this book. This isn't one of my favourites of hers, but it was still very good. It was an easy book to read in one sitting - it was fast-paced and there were plot twists that I didn't see coming. The ending was also brilliant.
4.5 stars.
Malorie Blackman is one of my favourite authors, so it is no surprise that I loved this book. This isn't one of my favourites of hers, but it was still very good. It was an easy book to read in one sitting - it was fast-paced and there were plot twists that I didn't see coming. The ending was also brilliant.
January 6, 2017
(No spoiler review)
I loved, loved the beginning and the ending!!! So one star for each!!!
The beginning was so hooking and instantly gripped my attention. I was so excited about reading it. I think because it started off so basic it made me what to know more and more about the story and the characters.
However when it reached the middle with Nathan I didn't like it at all!!! I felt as though it dragged and dragged. But not only this the story just got incredibly cheesy and annoying. I felt as though little bits of information were being said like 200 pages before the answer was revealed, this just made it irritating in places. It is filled with many unanswered questions. So throughout the middle with all the cheesy scenes you just wanted to know where the story was gonna go next. But the problem was it just dragged and not many questions were answered.
My opinion suddenly changes due to the ending however. It is breathtaking. The ending is so beautiful. I loved the way it captivated me. Aidan and Vee made me cry so, so, so, so, so, so, so much!!! Their brother and sister relationship despite the plot twist was so sweet!!! I feel as though I enjoyed their relationship more than her and Nathan's!!!! I was moved so much and this was one of the first novels I've genuinely bawled my eyes out. I feel as though this just gets better even on the last page because things don't end up like you think. So overall the ending was unpredictable, depressing but also incredibly moving.
Unfortunately due to the middle bit I feel as though I can only give this 2 stars out of 5. But if the middle section was slightly shorter and more captivating this would have probably got a 4.
My favourite character was Aidan because he was quite an unpredictable character that was also very deep. Throughout I wanted to know more and more about him. And towards the end my wishes were granted. He seemed so kind and so hurt in many different ways. He was my favourite.
Olivia was okay. I found her character sweet and positive most of the time. However I found she was predictable, and occasionally irritating, but I preferred her to her love interest Nathan. I think that if she was a person I'd gladly be friends with her. I found her a very forgiving person and I really admired her for what she did and her strength throughout. So I did look up to her in a certain sense.
Nathan was my least favourite character. He was over the top. He was an idiot. He was selfish. He wasn't very kind to Olivia and he used her a lot. Something's he said to her really irritated me and I wanted her to slap him so bad. When you first meet him you view him as charming and intereging but when you get to know him you've had enough. He isn't even that interesting. How Vee found his life interesting I don't know??? Nathan wasn't very considerate towards others Vee, Aidan and his own mother!!!
But the minor characters were okay but weren't very developed much. So I couldn't really click with them like with Vee and Aidan. I wished I got to know more of them throughout the middle, however this unfortunately didn't happen and I'm quite disappointed that it didn't...
However I did enjoy the book and will only recommend it for it's beginning and ending.
I loved, loved the beginning and the ending!!! So one star for each!!!
The beginning was so hooking and instantly gripped my attention. I was so excited about reading it. I think because it started off so basic it made me what to know more and more about the story and the characters.
However when it reached the middle with Nathan I didn't like it at all!!! I felt as though it dragged and dragged. But not only this the story just got incredibly cheesy and annoying. I felt as though little bits of information were being said like 200 pages before the answer was revealed, this just made it irritating in places. It is filled with many unanswered questions. So throughout the middle with all the cheesy scenes you just wanted to know where the story was gonna go next. But the problem was it just dragged and not many questions were answered.
My opinion suddenly changes due to the ending however. It is breathtaking. The ending is so beautiful. I loved the way it captivated me. Aidan and Vee made me cry so, so, so, so, so, so, so much!!! Their brother and sister relationship despite the plot twist was so sweet!!! I feel as though I enjoyed their relationship more than her and Nathan's!!!! I was moved so much and this was one of the first novels I've genuinely bawled my eyes out. I feel as though this just gets better even on the last page because things don't end up like you think. So overall the ending was unpredictable, depressing but also incredibly moving.
Unfortunately due to the middle bit I feel as though I can only give this 2 stars out of 5. But if the middle section was slightly shorter and more captivating this would have probably got a 4.
My favourite character was Aidan because he was quite an unpredictable character that was also very deep. Throughout I wanted to know more and more about him. And towards the end my wishes were granted. He seemed so kind and so hurt in many different ways. He was my favourite.
Olivia was okay. I found her character sweet and positive most of the time. However I found she was predictable, and occasionally irritating, but I preferred her to her love interest Nathan. I think that if she was a person I'd gladly be friends with her. I found her a very forgiving person and I really admired her for what she did and her strength throughout. So I did look up to her in a certain sense.
Nathan was my least favourite character. He was over the top. He was an idiot. He was selfish. He wasn't very kind to Olivia and he used her a lot. Something's he said to her really irritated me and I wanted her to slap him so bad. When you first meet him you view him as charming and intereging but when you get to know him you've had enough. He isn't even that interesting. How Vee found his life interesting I don't know??? Nathan wasn't very considerate towards others Vee, Aidan and his own mother!!!
But the minor characters were okay but weren't very developed much. So I couldn't really click with them like with Vee and Aidan. I wished I got to know more of them throughout the middle, however this unfortunately didn't happen and I'm quite disappointed that it didn't...
However I did enjoy the book and will only recommend it for it's beginning and ending.
January 31, 2024
3,5⭐️
As a piece of literature, it’s not much. It’s got a very insta-love romantic relationship between Vee and Nathan. I usually say I don’t like slow burn and prefer faster falling in love, but this was too much. Nathan falling in love within a week of knowing Vee made it soo unbelievable and annoying. Like wdym you want to spend the rest of your life with her after 7 days??!!
The concept and plot were interesting. There was a sense of secrecy and mystery I was eager to solve. I hate not knowing what’s gonna happen, so it was pretty much the only thing keeping me from dnf. The characters were ok, not too much depth and we didn’t get to know the others really, only the main characters. Nathan was really bothering me, he didn’t act like a normal human, but maybe that was the point who knows. And Aidan, I had no memory of him being a robot. I sense something was off about him, but I didn’t know what. This book showcases how AI has the possibility to be human-like and be either of help of cause trouble.
The ending. 4 years ago when I read this the first time, I ugly cried like 10 minutes after reading this. Now I cried again. Something about the main couple not ending up together in the end really cuts my soul. As set in space, understanding that the only way they’ll meet again is in the next life, breaks my heart. Even though I wasn’t completely head over heels with Vee and Nathan, with time they could have grown on me, but they won’t have the chance. “Goodbye Nathan, see you next lifetime.” is an utterly cruel way to end a book😭😭💔💔 I’ll bawl my eyes out again, great
As a piece of literature, it’s not much. It’s got a very insta-love romantic relationship between Vee and Nathan. I usually say I don’t like slow burn and prefer faster falling in love, but this was too much. Nathan falling in love within a week of knowing Vee made it soo unbelievable and annoying. Like wdym you want to spend the rest of your life with her after 7 days??!!
The concept and plot were interesting. There was a sense of secrecy and mystery I was eager to solve. I hate not knowing what’s gonna happen, so it was pretty much the only thing keeping me from dnf. The characters were ok, not too much depth and we didn’t get to know the others really, only the main characters. Nathan was really bothering me, he didn’t act like a normal human, but maybe that was the point who knows. And Aidan, I had no memory of him being a robot. I sense something was off about him, but I didn’t know what. This book showcases how AI has the possibility to be human-like and be either of help of cause trouble.
The ending. 4 years ago when I read this the first time, I ugly cried like 10 minutes after reading this. Now I cried again. Something about the main couple not ending up together in the end really cuts my soul. As set in space, understanding that the only way they’ll meet again is in the next life, breaks my heart. Even though I wasn’t completely head over heels with Vee and Nathan, with time they could have grown on me, but they won’t have the chance. “Goodbye Nathan, see you next lifetime.” is an utterly cruel way to end a book😭😭💔💔 I’ll bawl my eyes out again, great
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 27, 2020
Si d'aventures vous êtes tenté par ce titre, pensez bien que vous allez lire une romance, ni plus, ni moins. Sa particularité c'est qu'elle a lieu dans l'espace, dans un vaisseau spatial, seul décor qui accompagne le lecteur tout au long de sa lecture. Certes l'intrigue dévoile d'autres éléments, mais Sombres étoiles est principalement une romance, le reste étant anecdotique. Autant ce n'est pas le fait d'avoir entre les mains une romance qui m'a dérangé, non le souci est ailleurs.
Mon avis complet : https://bloggalleane.blogspot.com/202...
Mon avis complet : https://bloggalleane.blogspot.com/202...
October 24, 2022
My school librarian recommended this to me. I was 11.
September 5, 2020
Ah I was very disappointed by this book given I really love Malorie's other work. It was a bit of a mess with characters I couldn't bring myself to like and a romance that was insta-love and toxic from the outset. The ending was interesting but it made me hate some of the characters even more. The whole plot was based on one stupid thing a stupid person did and it was definitely enough to make me furious.
The book is told in short chapters from two perspectives - Vee, a girl who has spent the last 3 years alone on a ship with her brother after everyone else was wiped out my a virus, and Nathan, a boy in a group of refugees who are rescued by Vee. Aboard the ship, they have an instant romantic connection. In my opinion, their relationship is super toxic - Nathan is controlling and manipulative and Vee, having not had human contact for so long, would literally do anything for him.
It's also really predictable - I solved the murder mystery and worked out some other stuff early on. But mostly, it was the annoying characters that did it for me. It's a shame as this book is diverse and has a gorgeous cover - and the premise is interesting but I wasn't a fan of the execution. I'll definitely keep reading Malorie's books though.
The book is told in short chapters from two perspectives - Vee, a girl who has spent the last 3 years alone on a ship with her brother after everyone else was wiped out my a virus, and Nathan, a boy in a group of refugees who are rescued by Vee. Aboard the ship, they have an instant romantic connection. In my opinion, their relationship is super toxic - Nathan is controlling and manipulative and Vee, having not had human contact for so long, would literally do anything for him.
It's also really predictable - I solved the murder mystery and worked out some other stuff early on. But mostly, it was the annoying characters that did it for me. It's a shame as this book is diverse and has a gorgeous cover - and the premise is interesting but I wasn't a fan of the execution. I'll definitely keep reading Malorie's books though.
December 2, 2019
I so love books set among space. This one was no exception, although I would have liked some more suspense, and maybe a bit less insta-love. And then I was a bit bummed that Vee and Nathan didn't end up together, after all they went through (sorry for the spoiler).
But it did show, once again, what happens when there is no clear communication in a relationship. Assumptions are made, egos get in the way, people are being cruel just to be right, and each party is left hurt because they cannot get past it.
"For the life of me, I still didn't understand quite what had happened. How could what was supposed to be love turn into something so rancid and deadly that quickly?
Maybe because it hadn't been love in the first place."
Unfortunately, I find myself in the same situation. I never understood how you can be cruel to the person you supposedly love. We all say things in the heat of the moment, just because we are mad or hurt. But if you go days without talking... something is not right.
And that's not real love.
"I took one last look at him to create a memory for myself, a memory to last me a lifetime.
Maybe one day he'd be able to think of me without loathing."
"Goodbye, Nathan. See you next lifetime."
Some loves are meant to last, some loves are just temporary to teach us a lesson :(
But it did show, once again, what happens when there is no clear communication in a relationship. Assumptions are made, egos get in the way, people are being cruel just to be right, and each party is left hurt because they cannot get past it.
"For the life of me, I still didn't understand quite what had happened. How could what was supposed to be love turn into something so rancid and deadly that quickly?
Maybe because it hadn't been love in the first place."
Unfortunately, I find myself in the same situation. I never understood how you can be cruel to the person you supposedly love. We all say things in the heat of the moment, just because we are mad or hurt. But if you go days without talking... something is not right.
And that's not real love.
"I took one last look at him to create a memory for myself, a memory to last me a lifetime.
Maybe one day he'd be able to think of me without loathing."
"Goodbye, Nathan. See you next lifetime."
Some loves are meant to last, some loves are just temporary to teach us a lesson :(
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2024
Urinetown The Musical but it is set on a spaceship in the middle of space.
February 16, 2021
"And if for some reason we don't work out?"
"Then I'll see you next lifetime."
Malorie Blackman's 'Chasing the Stars' was a heartbreakingly beautiful read that had me guessing till the end.
A story filled with intense love, secrets and intergalactic conflict.
Whilst I might have liked a little more from Nathan, the character development in this book is beyond brilliant!
With an incredibly strong female protagonist and a murder mystery along the way, I don't think I could ask for much more.
This is the first Malorie Blackman book I have read and whilst it obliterated my soul, I well and truly adored it!
Five out of five stars!
Highly Recommended!
Now a best book for me!
"Then I'll see you next lifetime."
Malorie Blackman's 'Chasing the Stars' was a heartbreakingly beautiful read that had me guessing till the end.
A story filled with intense love, secrets and intergalactic conflict.
Whilst I might have liked a little more from Nathan, the character development in this book is beyond brilliant!
With an incredibly strong female protagonist and a murder mystery along the way, I don't think I could ask for much more.
This is the first Malorie Blackman book I have read and whilst it obliterated my soul, I well and truly adored it!
Five out of five stars!
Highly Recommended!
Now a best book for me!
May 23, 2016
(Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House International for a free digital copy of this book.)
Olivia and her twin brother are the only survivors of an epidemic on board of their space-ship, they rescue Nathan and a bunch of other slaves and suddenly have to add about 30 people to their ship, some things get easier, but not everybody is pleased to be commanded by a teenage girl-captain.
Olivia and Nathan fall head over heels for each other, but as things get more complicated aboard, their love is challenged as well. All losely based on Shakepeare's Othello.
I loved this book for about the first quarter, the setup and idea were so amazing. I loved the idea of siblings alone on a spaceship and suddenly having to interact with a bunch of crewmembers. The love story started out nicely too, quite insta-love-ish, but I can deal with that.
Then came a boring phase in which pretty much all twists and turns were really obvious and predictable. It held a few surprises though towards the ending.
Throughout the love story I really disliked Nathan more and more and the way both handled certain bits just ground on my nerves, it felt like the author wanted to teach the reader how NOT to act.
Overall I was really disappointed, I was looking forward to this book and after starting I was sure this would be just my thing. Space setting, a young tough female captain and some (extra) sci-fi tossed in. But it turned into a tale of a relationship going from bad to worse with an unlikeable hero and incredibly flat and underdeveloped side characters.
Olivia and her twin brother are the only survivors of an epidemic on board of their space-ship, they rescue Nathan and a bunch of other slaves and suddenly have to add about 30 people to their ship, some things get easier, but not everybody is pleased to be commanded by a teenage girl-captain.
Olivia and Nathan fall head over heels for each other, but as things get more complicated aboard, their love is challenged as well. All losely based on Shakepeare's Othello.
I loved this book for about the first quarter, the setup and idea were so amazing. I loved the idea of siblings alone on a spaceship and suddenly having to interact with a bunch of crewmembers. The love story started out nicely too, quite insta-love-ish, but I can deal with that.
Then came a boring phase in which pretty much all twists and turns were really obvious and predictable. It held a few surprises though towards the ending.
Throughout the love story I really disliked Nathan more and more and the way both handled certain bits just ground on my nerves, it felt like the author wanted to teach the reader how NOT to act.
Overall I was really disappointed, I was looking forward to this book and after starting I was sure this would be just my thing. Space setting, a young tough female captain and some (extra) sci-fi tossed in. But it turned into a tale of a relationship going from bad to worse with an unlikeable hero and incredibly flat and underdeveloped side characters.
October 7, 2016
I always have a highly emotional reaction to books, and in this case I have to say that I feel betrayed.
I feel betrayed because I nearly DNF'd it and now I wish I had. There are so many problems here.
The plot here was good but the execution was just ridiculous. Instalove? This was instantaneous love. The characters were so confusing. Maybe it's a British/American cultural difference but I found almost all the characters' actions unbelievable. For all their heartfelt emotions, they were cool, distant, prideful and unforgiving. The sci-fi element was good and the plot twist was good. But the personal relationship element was awful. There is such a build up between the two main characters only to end on a sad note. This book has neither a satisfying or happy ending.
The audio book also left a lot to be desired. At times I felt as if I were listening to newscasters on the BBC. There was no distinction of voices one character to the next. There were long pauses between statements in the dialogue that made it feel forced. They used slang expressions that were meant to be somewhat funny as references to the 21st century (which no one got). But other current expressions snuck in, so it didn't make sense.
I cannot recommend this book. I thought it would be a good romance in space with an interesting plot. Instead it was like a high school in space, with immature characters behaving badly.
I feel betrayed because I nearly DNF'd it and now I wish I had. There are so many problems here.
The plot here was good but the execution was just ridiculous. Instalove? This was instantaneous love. The characters were so confusing. Maybe it's a British/American cultural difference but I found almost all the characters' actions unbelievable. For all their heartfelt emotions, they were cool, distant, prideful and unforgiving. The sci-fi element was good and the plot twist was good. But the personal relationship element was awful. There is such a build up between the two main characters only to end on a sad note. This book has neither a satisfying or happy ending.
The audio book also left a lot to be desired. At times I felt as if I were listening to newscasters on the BBC. There was no distinction of voices one character to the next. There were long pauses between statements in the dialogue that made it feel forced. They used slang expressions that were meant to be somewhat funny as references to the 21st century (which no one got). But other current expressions snuck in, so it didn't make sense.
I cannot recommend this book. I thought it would be a good romance in space with an interesting plot. Instead it was like a high school in space, with immature characters behaving badly.
May 13, 2016
I wanted to like this book. I thought that I would like it. It sounded right up my alley with a plot which is based on Shakespeare's Othello but set in space. How awesome does that sound?! I usually love books that are a spin on a Shakespeare play but this one didn't do it for me at all. There was too much sci-fi, I thought that the dialogue was quite wooden and clunky and I didn't find the relationships between the characters very believable, especially the insta-love between Vee and Nathan.
The story seemed to take an age to really get going and as this is quite a big book, I toyed with the idea of giving up on it and moving onto something else. However, I'm always hopeful that things will pick up and improve and I like to give every book a fair chance, so I carried on until the end. But I just didn't enjoy it at all. I do have a rocky relationship with Malorie Blackman's writing. Some of her books I've thoroughly enjoyed and others have been more of a struggle to finish. Sadly, 'Chasing the Stars' just wasn't for me, although I will still be looking out for other Shakespeare spin-offs in the future.
The story seemed to take an age to really get going and as this is quite a big book, I toyed with the idea of giving up on it and moving onto something else. However, I'm always hopeful that things will pick up and improve and I like to give every book a fair chance, so I carried on until the end. But I just didn't enjoy it at all. I do have a rocky relationship with Malorie Blackman's writing. Some of her books I've thoroughly enjoyed and others have been more of a struggle to finish. Sadly, 'Chasing the Stars' just wasn't for me, although I will still be looking out for other Shakespeare spin-offs in the future.
May 28, 2016
Colour me disappointed! I loved the Noughts & Crosses series, but none of Blackman's other YA novels I have read could live up to my expectations. As for this one, I'm not even sure who the intended audience is. Some sex scenes are a little too explicit for middle schoolers, but teenagers and young adults will be bored by run-of-the-mill phrases, the instalove, cheesy vows of eternal love and the lack of a gripping plot. Plus, the characters' behaviour was too annoying to give the book three stars, which I really wanted, just because it's Malorie. But I can't bring myself to rate it any higher than 2.5 max. Oh and this book needs better editing - the number of typos is embarrassing. It's a shame, she is such a brilliant writer, but unfortunately she couldn't prove it with Chasing the Stars.
July 11, 2016
oh i am confused if i liked this book or not. I can say that I got disapointed as hell, cause of the insta love and their personality.
I mean how fucking dumb can you be?? i got annoyed at both main characters, they have seriosly trust issues. they either think the worst of each other or of themselfs...
the only thing that I actually liked was how close Vee or Olivia and aidan where as siblings. they where so sweet and you could se how much they loved each other.
this book is supposed to be an re telling of othello by Shakespeare, its a bad re telling tho, but its ok.
well so overall i didn't like Chasing the stars.
I mean how fucking dumb can you be?? i got annoyed at both main characters, they have seriosly trust issues. they either think the worst of each other or of themselfs...
the only thing that I actually liked was how close Vee or Olivia and aidan where as siblings. they where so sweet and you could se how much they loved each other.
this book is supposed to be an re telling of othello by Shakespeare, its a bad re telling tho, but its ok.
well so overall i didn't like Chasing the stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 327 reviews