Title: The Chaos of Stars
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: 10th September 2013
Source: Bought
Rating: 3 out of 5
Description: Isadora’s
family is seriously screwed up. Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian
gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents
who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to
remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a
mere mortal. Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a
passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her
brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life
comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing
as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past
behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her
entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora
has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.
With an emphasis on Egyptian mythology,
The Chaos of Stars is a light agreeable read. The mythology aspect is what drew my attention to this book,
and Kiersten White delivers an enjoyable story that focuses on the daughter of
Egyptian gods. Where there are
ancient gods there is sure to be drama. The Chaos of Stars takes the protagonist
Isadora on a journey of self-discovery as she grows up and learns to love. Isadora
learns a lot about family, love and friendship. Despite being a good read,
there were a few aspects of the book that were a little disappointing such as
the characters and the ending.
Isadora is the daughter of the
Egyptian goddess Isis. Her family has a very complicated history that includes
adultery, murder and drama, making her upbringing very unique. However,
compared to the rest of her family she is mortal. When an unforseen evil seeks to threaten her, Isis offers
her the opportunity to move to San Francisco. Isadora leaps at the chance to be away from her family only
to discover that there is no way to escape family. The strongest part of The Chaos of Stars is the mythology and
the myths about the gods. I haven’t encountered Egyptian gods as much in my
reading so I enjoyed getting to know the tales of Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Set and
more. The myths about the gods at
the start of each chapter gave us an insight into Isadora’s family history and
shed perspective on where Isadora was coming from. Egyptian mythology is vast
and rich and I for one would love to read more books about these gods and
goddesses. As much as I enjoyed
the mythology and Isadora’s journey, the plot left a little something to be
desired. The majority of the revelations and excitement happen at the very end
of the book. I would have liked to have seen more action throughout the book.
When we first meet Isadora she
hates her family and all that they stand for. She believes that love brings
nothing but pain. Right from the beginning she embarks on a wonderful character
arc where she changes from a bitter girl who scorns love and family to one that
is able to accept her family for who they are. Although I liked the character
development, I wasn’t particularly fond of Isadora herself. There were some
aspects of her personality that got on my nerves. She was mean, abrasive,
dismissive and entitled at times. I
understand that she was angry at the start of the book but despite her
self-discovery she still treated people the same as before. I enjoyed reading
about her interior design plans and how she envisioned the changes that she
would make to rooms. Her inside commentary about her family added humour to the
story.
In San Francisco she meets Tyler,
Scott and Ry. Her new friends have an impact on her and bring her out of her
shell at little. Ry started off as
an interesting character. He challenged Isadora and her beliefs. Their relationship was complicated. Unfortunately
by the end of the book my opinion of Ry changed. His revelation came out the
blue towards the very end and was not really explained properly. I could have
handled the twist if it were explored more in detail, rather than just stated and
rushed over. The ending of the book also felt rushed as most of the action
happened right at the end and left me with quite a few questions about what was
next for the characters. It would have also been nice to see more of the gods.
The Chaos of Stars is a good
mythology based book. If you are looking for an easy book to read that is light
and breezy than this might be for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment