The Girl and the Stars
Mark Lawrence
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In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.
On Abeth the vastness of the ice holds no room for individuals. Survival together is barely possible. No one survives alone.
To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.
Yaz is torn from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.
Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she learns to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.
Only when it’s darkest you can see the stars.
I picked up this book because I’ve enjoyed Mark Lawrence‘s previous series and I was pleasantly surprised that there’s familiar elements of Albeth in this book. Whilst The Girl and The Stars is set in the same world as Red Sister, this is a completely separate story. This is new and you don’t need knowledge from previous books to enjoy it.
We follow one POV in this book and Yaz is a wonderful main character. In this world, as you ascend into adulthood you are judged by the Regulaotor as to whether you’re fit to live on the ice – if you’re not, you’re thrown into The Pit of the Missing. . At the start of the book she believes she’s broken and she’ll be thrown into the pit because she doesn’t feel that she’s as strong as the rest of her clan. She can touch “The River” which helps build her strength and stamina every few days (this is The Path in Red Sister!), but she believes this is what makes her broken.
However, when Yaz’s brother, Zeen, is thrown into the pit Yaz jumps in after him voluntarily. She joins a group called The Broken who are all people who’ve been thrown in – and tries to adjust to life underground. The book then follows her as she tries to find out how to find and save her brother from The Tainted. These are humans who have been possessed by demons.
Throughout all of this, we see Yaz really grow into her own and mature as a person. At the start she rushes head first into danger, however we see her develop her decision making and this allows her to grow into a leader. I also enjoyed how The River which she didn’t like about herself is something she starts to use more and more, which makes her stronger overall. Her overcoming that mindset allows her to be more free, and ultimately helps her through the book.
The Broken are an interesting underground clan and they clearly have some secrets too. Kao, Maya and Quina were all dropped at the same time as Yaz and I loved the dynamic of them all learning at the same time. Their relationships formed very quickly, and it was very much found family. Maya actually called Yaz her sister at one point which just made me so happy.
The Broken also has one member who was born and has always lived there, Thurin. Thurin also can see The River and I enjoyed his display of magic. Both Yaz and Thurin have learn by feel which is very different to the schooling we saw in Red Sister. I actually liked this difference as it showed a different side to the magic system, whilst still being understandable for new readers.
Also underground there is a mysterious ruined city which houses metal that the clans need. It also houses large beings which attack on sight (or sound). Within this city, Yaz meets Erris, who is a lost soul who’s been trapped within the heart of the City. There’s some pretty cool things that Erris does which helps push Yaz and the storyline forward, but I don’t want to spoil anything for you. There’s some great elements which help build up the backstory of the world too.
With all these different characters, you assume there would be some pairing up. However, I like that this books shows that romance isn’t the priority at all as they’re all trying to stay alive. Plus early on you kind of thing there will be a love triangle, but Yaz literally comments on the two boys butting heads that she is losing respect for them. You love to see it.
This book has multiple conflicts going on at once, but the main two antagonists are Theus, a demon and Kazik, the Regulator who started the story off by throwing Yaz into the Pit. We learn a lot more about Theus than Kazik in this book, and I liked the story arc he had… but I’m unsure if we’ll see him again or not. Kazik has defintely been set up as a larger series antagonist, and after the ending of this book I have a need for the next book.
Underneath all our main story, there’s an underlying war between cities. Our ruined City is called Vesta and the city is alive and sentient. The walls are magic, it’s how we meet Erris, and Yaz learns more and more about this being as the book goes on. There’s also a dark god Seus, who is the mind of a distant city and his hunting something. There’s not a huge amount of info about this, but I’m hoping it becomes a bigger plotline in the series as a whole.
Being underground often felt claustrophic, but at the same time there’s a lot of room for all these people in caverns. The book throws you into a smaller world than Abeth in the caverns, but the world building was still extrodinary. There’s history and backstory to the world itself, the city and it’s people. I adored that we saw glimpses of the past. But there’s also expansion of the magic and the possibility of technology.
The magic in some areas almsot feels like technology. There’s a void star, where stars are a key part of the magic in this book, but this star can store your data similar to a computer. There’s also talk of copper cables within the city, so there’s an assumption that there’s a history of technology on this world.
The story pacing shifted back and forth a lot. There’s a lot of action packed scenes, but just as much is about learning new things. Overall I think it was a good mix and I didn’t want to put this book down. Lawrence has a way with his writing where he leads you to assume one thing and then completely flips your expectations for the twist. Plus, no one ever feels safe in his books.
Overall, I adored this book and will be eagerly awaiting the sequel!
Positives of The Girl and The Stars
- Character development
- World building
- More depth of a world from a previous series
Negatives of The Girl and The Stars
- I have to wait for the next book…
I received The Girl and The Stars by Mark Lawrence from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review
