I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs Series: The Kindom Trilogy #1
Published by Orbit on October 17 2023
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 448
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: An impressive, well-rounded debut, These Burning Stars is a must read for fans of intricately plotted and character driven stories.
It was touch and go at first, but These Burning Stars ended up being a huge success for me. This is science fiction, but the story almost reads like epic fantasy. Think Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga but with spaceships and futuristic tech, and you’ll have an idea of the flavor of the story. I’m absolutely blown away by the fact that this is a debut, so if you’re looking for a complex, character/relationship driven story with thrilling action scenes and lots of emotional moments, you’ll want to add this to your TBR.
The plot is rather complex so I’m just giving you a brief outline. The story revolves around several main characters and alternates between the past and present. Esek Nightfoot is a cleric, a holy woman of the Kindom who wields quite a bit of power. Fifteen years prior, she met a young child called Six with the potential to become one of her special novitiates, trained assassins who work for the Kindom. But when she hears that Six has escaped the Kinschool and literally disappeared, Esek makes it her life goal to track down Six and make them pay for being related to the infamous Lucos Alanye, a man responsible for mass genocide.
Chono is a cleric who studied under Esek years ago, and now the two are tasked with intercepting the illegal sale of a memory coin, suspected to contain information that could hurt the Nightfoots. Jun is a caster who has arranged to purchase the memory coin from a pirate named Foxer for her own purposes. The convergence of all these characters sets off a dangerous game of cat and mouse, as Jun and her companion Masar try to stay one step ahead of Esek and Chono.
There is a lot more going on behind the scenes—political descent over a natural stone that is used to fuel the jump gates between planets, for example—and readers might be overwhelmed in the beginning (I took a half star off my rating because of the slow start). The time jumps were confusing at first, but they are critical to understanding the motivations of the characters, not to mention their relationships. The epic scope of this world is slowly revealed, not by info dumps, but instead the author allows the reader to learn organically. Once the various pieces of the puzzle started to make sense, I was in awe of the writing skills needed to pull this story off.
Despite the intricate political maneuverings and the more somber parts of the story, this is actually a thrilling, action-packed tale of revenge. There are several exciting scenes that had me flying through the pages, and Jacobs’ fight scenes are really well done, with a cinematic quality that screams “movie.” If you love chase scenes, near escapes, and fights to the death, you will love this book!
As much as I loved the action and plot, though, it’s the characters who steal the show. I both loved and feared Esek, a truly brutal, vile woman who doesn’t think twice about killing someone to get what she wants. My favorite character was Jun, who is full of secrets and surprises, which of course I won’t reveal here:-) And then there is the enigmatic Six, who is a mystery from the very beginning. More than one character is concealing their real identity, and I challenge you to figure out which ones. There’s also a killer twist near the end that I didn’t see coming at all. Before I read These Burning Stars, I would have given my “best story twist award” to Daisy Darker, but wow, this one was epic and shocking!
And I absolutely loved the relationships between the characters, which are intricate and complex. Jun and her lover Liis are devoted to each other, although Liis isn’t happy when Jun puts herself in danger (which she does frequently). The emotions between the two were palpable and so well written. As you can imagine, anyone in Esek’s orbit is in danger—she really is one of the most lethal characters I’ve ever run across—and so her relationships are dangerous too. I especially loved her scenes with Chono, who used to be her novitiate but now holds a position equal to Esek. Chono is a devout, controlled woman, the exact opposite of Esek, and in this story they are being pitted against each other, which makes for a very volatile relationship.
The ending was fantastic. Jacobs resolves many of the conflicts, but sets things up nicely for the sequel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many good examples of “the long game” played out in a book, but there are several here that were brilliantly conceived. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor of what promises to be an epic SF series, don’t miss it!
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Thank you for this detailed – and very convincing! – review: I was on the fence about this book and did not request it fearing that it might not be the right “flavor” for me, but now I understand that it will require some initial patience from me, which will be rewarded by what promises to be a complex and intriguing story.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…SCIFI MONTH 2023 IS HERE! #SciFiMonth
It definitely requires some patience, but once everything starts coming together, it’s worth it.
A twist to rival that of Daisy Darker?! I am intrigued 😀
Right? And DD really is the best twist ever:-)
Looks like another scifi book for on my TBR! I don’t know why but I love my science fiction books to be action-packed so looks like this book would be a good one for that. Also am curious about that killer twist, of course!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Nonfiction November 2023: My Year in Nonfiction
The twist was really good:-)
The narrative structure, chapter structure, everything about this book was difficult but I absolutely love it. It took me a week to read and I did something I rarely do, I summarized each chapter for notes. Even now I’m attempting to write a review, and find myself heading into the trees with so much information to assimilate. Anyway, the sequel should be awesome. This book is a must read. Thank you for an awesome review.
I took notes too, I’m not sure how you can write a review without them, lol. Thanks Nicci, I’d love to read your review once you post it:-)
Oh this sounds phenomenal. Thanks for the review! *added to my TBR*
I hope you enjoy it!
I think this is one I should try to read as it has the elements I enjoy. Great review!
Thanks Anne!
Another book you’ve put on my radar – this sounds interesting!
It was such an awesome debut:-)
Oh yay I am glad you loved it! I think you even liked it a bit more than me- I confess, I think the overwhelmingness/slow start may have tainted my thoughts a bit more than it did yours. I agree though, the twist was really great, and I am definitely interested in seeing where the story goes from here. Wonderful review!
It was challenging to get into for sure. I was determined to finish it though, lol. Glad I did, thanks Shannon!
I’m hoping to read this for sci-fi month, the high rating is very encouraging!
I was pleasantly surprised, I didn’t think I was going to like it at first.
I’m planning to stack up on sci-fi recs this month, so adding this to my tbr. Love a character-focused story, although revenge stories often don’t work for me.
I hope you get to read it!
I had a sneaky feeling this one was going to be good – and it sounds even better than I expected.
great review
Lynn 😀
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I hope you get to read it too:-)
This sounds especially good considering it’s a debut. And I love when a book that’s very strong in areas like action, mystery, plot ends up even stronger with character, as I do love great characters. Very glad you enjoyed this one.
The characters are amazing, I’m really looking forward to the next book:-)
Well I don’t read a lot of scifi but I really want to read that one!
This has a fantasy feel to it, you might love it!
I absolutely adored this book and I’m so happy to see it getting more hype! 🙂
Oh cool, I’m glad you loved it too:-)
This one might be too deep of sci-fi for my usual reading tastes. But I’m glad you enjoyed it! Great review!
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