From Secrets to Stardust: Among Veiled Stars Review
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In Among Veiled Stars, debut author Shelby Brookes delivers a captivating fantasy filled with rebellion, magic, and a heroine bound by destiny. Eefah, the last heir to the ancient pixie throne, faces a dying world and must embark on a perilous quest to save her people. Raised by humans and haunted by her mysterious past, she sets out to break the cycle of death trapping the Kingdom of Aevover, accompanied by a fiercely loyal and frustratingly handsome guardian. With shifting alliances and forbidden magic, this spellbinding story of fate and identity will pull readers into a world where every thread of destiny counts. If you’re a fan of Kerri Maniscalco or Jennifer L. Armentrout, this book is bound to become your next obsession.
Title: Among Veiled Stars (Bound to Aevover, 1)
Author: Shelby Brookes
Publisher: Shelby Brookes Publishing
Genre: Fantasy, Fae
Release Date: June 25, 2024
Pages: 443
Star Rating: 3 stars (rounded up)
Spice Rating: 1 chili pepper
The Lost Heir Bound to Aevover
When I first picked up Among Veiled Stars a month prior, I got midway into Chapter Two and put it down. It wasn’t the right time to read it. Not capturing my attention the way I needed it to at that moment. I realize now that putting it down then and picking it up later was one of the best things I could have done.
Among Veiled Stars has all the makings of a great fantasy story. A long-lost heir to the pixie kingdom finds her way through unforeseen circumstances. What adds to the charm of this story is that it isn’t often that we get a pixie story with general fae saturating the market. (Pixies are of course a type of fae and tend to be what we imagine but fae/fairies has been an overused term to encompass all entities.) Sadly I think that it missed the mark.
Living in the land of Aevover (a-voh-ver) Eefah (ee-fah) is a pixie. Small and wide with golden tan skin the color of warmed honey. Her hair is wild and curly, tousled into some semblance of order. Adopted by a human family where her mother has been abusing her since her father died. She has the wasting disease an infliction that haunts most pixies. Wingless pixies typically never experience it, but most winged ones fall ill as younglings, dying only a few months later. Eefah was one of the few to live past adolescence, as was her maid and friend Saffi (sav-ee).
“The Faieries are dead. Every Single One.”
But soon, her luck will run out because once the moon completes its twenty-one-year cycle, marking the start of a new rotation around the world, anyone with the wasting disease dies overnight.
Eefah is incredibly naive, a little insufferable, and all one note. As a character, she has no depth beyond the fact that she is a princess. She makes it her whole identity as if that is all she is good for. It feels like we are force-fed the fact that she is a princess and her betrothed is a prince (repeatedly). Along with the fact that there are rules to familiarity and the way one should act in front of royalty. Pixies that have been by her side she treats like dirt writing it off as if they are below her station when really she’s just a bitch. And a bitter bitch at that!
It is beyond frustrating that every five minutes Eefah has to harp on these facts, creating a deep-seated frustration for her character as the FMC. After the halfway mark of this book and she is still going on and on about their familiarity you yell at the book we do not care anymore. Get over it! We get it! By the 75% mark, I loathed her. Time could have been spent somewhere else.
“You Will be my queen, Eefah, and I’ve never been so willingly led.”
Like explaining the essence (magic) that she has! It is never fully explained. While part of me understands this point because Eefah doesn’t know what it is, it could have been used as a foreshadowing moment. Creating depth in the story that it desperately needs. I’m not saying that all stories need multiple layers, what I am saying is that it helps the story when it does. Adding nuance to the story adds intrigue. It makes the things for the reader interesting. With Among Veiled Stars, it felt like it was missing something, and it did not create the points within the story to keep readers wanting to read it.
Many things could have been taken out making the pace quicken. While it could be considered overwritten, I don’t think that is the case. When it comes to Among Veiled Stars the point holds that it is an editing issue. There are entire scenes that could have been removed, leaving space for more important things like world-building. As that is a point of contention for this tale. Finding yourself struggling to keep hold of the images playing in your mind. Understanding what’s happening as you read through the book. You feel as if you are missing key information. Some points don’t connect or make sense, falling by the wayside as if Brookes didn’t mean to include them within the pages.
“Little Queen.”
The fantasy elements of Among Veiled Stars are not good enough to stand on their own. And although you think it is a fantasy romance, there isn’t much romance. Details are too sparse to support the plot. You can’t particularly say that it is lacking in execution because the story does bring forth emotion (although those primary emotions are annoyance and frustration). The story itself spends too much time on elements that don’t hold any weight to the story. For instance, a good bit of the book is about Liam and his relationship with Eefah, for it to not have ever really mattered beyond the 15% mark. For Liam to not have mattered beyond that point!
Throughout the whole thing, thoughts of DNF’ing rose and crashed like the surf against the rock. So why didn’t I? Because eventually, things smooth out. The plot grows on you, giving you what you need to keep you entertained. What cinched this is the last part of the book (section V). It was the best part of the entire story. Not because it was ending and I could put it away, but because that is where the writing was the strongest. I wish that the entire book had the cadence and the power put forth, as the last six chapters.
“I’ve crossed endless planes of existence to find you, my love.”
So will I continue? Should you add it to your TBR? Yes, I think I will continue. With the reveal at the end of the book, I would like to know how it continues. In addition, I would like to give the author a second chance to see if Brookes’s writing improves since this is a debut novel. As far as whether or not you should read it? I can’t give an honest answer to that. There aren’t many pluses in the pros column for the tale BUT it has potential and could be enjoyable for some. So with that alone, you should read it and find out where it falls for you! You never know it may become one of your favorite books!
Thank you to The NerdFam for a copy to review. Grab a copy of Among Veiled Stars now!
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