The Girl and the Stars

The Book of the Ice, Book 1

By: Mark Lawrence

Narrated by: Helen Duff

Length: 18 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

A stunning new epic fantasy series following a young outcast who must fight with everything she has to survive, set in the same world as Red Sister.

In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown. Yaz's people call it the Pit of the Missing, and now it is drawing her in as she has always known it would.

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's difference tears her 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 that the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people can be challenged.

©2020 Mark Lawrence (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Couldn't Do it, Gave it my ALL

For days and days I slogged through this audiobook. Perhaps my expectations were too high, because I absolutely LOVED Lawrence's Nevernight Chronicles. But in the end I just couldn't do it anymore...which tells you something considering I only had 4+ hours to go left in an 18+ hour audiobook. The characters were neither interesting nor fully developed. The story would get fast-paced for a short while, only to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n to a snails pace with a bunch of poetic lore that dragged on too long. The narrator's voice was this low monotone that was trying too hard to be dulcet and absolutely never achieving it. I'm just so disappointed this book was so boring. Especially given how much in need of an escape I need during these times.

Boring

This book is boring, so boring. The story meanders, so does the heroine, and absolutely nothing happens. The narrator has a nice voice but it made me want to pay attention to anything else but the story but that could be due to the content she was narrating. I was so surprised at this because I LOVE the series with Nona.

Mind drifted through 3 chapters..

Much love to Mark Lawerence. Trilogy of "Book of the Ancestor" was excellent. However, Im not here to review those books. I have nothing really to break down other than it is extremely boring. I honestly can't stand the main character. I went for a long walk and my mind drifted through 3 chapters before I realized "shit, what just happened?" Yet, I had no desire to go back and re-listen to those chapters. The narrator has a gorgeous voice, but not for this book. She displays no emotion, she's breathy and monotone with every character.

Big Disappointment

I was so impressed with Mark Lawrence’s Book of the Ancestor Trilogy (Red Sister / Grey Sister / Holy Sister) that I jumped at the chance to listen to the Girl and the Stars. I couldn’t believe it was the same author. I was so bored at first that I couldn’t keep track of the story. I kept pushing on thinking it would get better. It marginally improved but still didn’t really hold my interest. I sped up the narration just to see if the plot became more engaging but it didn’t. I skipped whole chapters and felt like I hadn’t missed much and didn’t care. I finally skipped to the end and couldn’t even pay attention because I never felt anything very strongly about any of the characters. I’m returning this one. I’m glad I listened to the Ancestor Trilogy before this book because if I had listened to this one first then I would never have picked up another book by this author. The Ancestor Trilogy is outstanding- this one is a complete dud.

Interesting world!

I found the the story interesting! I suppose it's just a case of not all stories being for all people, but I finished it over a single weekend. I thought there was plenty of excitement to be seen. The narrator has an absolutely amazing voice, but she did seem to have a hard time giving each character a unique voice. She's perhaps better suited to a smaller cast, but now that she's Yaz's voice, I really wouldn't want anyone else for the next book.

Started out great...

but after 8 hours I can't force myself to listen anymore. It turned out way to YA for. Characters were thin and there was to much telling and not enough showing. The narrator was amazing, she just needs to be reading better books. I will be returning this book.

Amazing Narrator

This book was awesome and the narrator did a great job with all the voices. I hope she does the next book.

Weird Narration

I’m a huge fan of the Red Sister series, so I came into this book with enthusiasm. I tried so hard to enjoy it, but the narration is wildly out of touch with the content, and it’s a story that needs a little extra help from the performer to make it exciting. Helen’s voice is pretty, but it literally never changes to adapt to the intensity of the scene. Even if the text explicitly says the character screamed a sentence, she speaks it in a dulcet tone. It ripped me out of the book time and time again, and I never really bought in to the story. It’s a shame, the narrator for the red sister series is excellent, and would have been more appropriate.

Coming of age in the Ice

The Girl and the Stars is set in the same world in which the Book of the Ancestor Series is set. In this new series, Mark Lawrence introduces a tale set deep in the ice. The story centers around Yaz, a sixteen-year-old member of the Ithca ice tribe. When her brother is put in danger, Yaz pursues him into the depths of the ice, only to discover a whole new world.

The author has not yet revealed (and maybe will never do so) whether this story is occurring before, at the same time, or after Nona enters the Convent of Sweet Mercy in the Ancestor Series. What is revealed is that that some of the world-building that Lawrence developed in the Ancestor series is leveraged deep in the ice. We know the star around which Abeth revolves is dying and with it, much of the world is locked in struggle of life and death against the cold. The ancestors of those who traveled to this world can demonstrate talents from their forefathers who traveled the stars.

Mark Lawrence’s writing is excellent. Like in the Ancestor Series, Abeth remains a harsh world and the book contains loss and tragedy. In the 1st Book of the Ice, Lawrence has written a coming of age book where our young heroine faces many evils and challenges and must make hard choices. Yaz and her friends battle malicious and vindictive forces and Lawrence hints that there are bigger plots below the surface.

While not a light read, I found this book hard to put down. I listened to the Audible version and Helen Duff did a great job narrating. So far, I do not think I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the Ancestor Series, but it was a great read and I am looking forward to the release of The Girl and the Mountain.

Repetition of the same story over and over

poorly written book the story was lacking any depth the characters were poorly conceived and the ending was just horribly written.