#BLOGTOUR: The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence #5StarRead #CoverLove #TheGirlAndTheStars #RandomThingsTours @annecater @fictionpubteam @HarperVoyagerUK

Welcome to my stop on the #blogtour for one of the most amazing books I have read this year – The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence.

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to pick up a book by Mark Lawrence! I’ve been way behind on my fantasy/sci-fi reading and I have missed out. Missed out.

Right from page 1, I knew I was going to like this book and love Yaz! Actually never mind right from page 1, right from the moment I saw the gorgeous cover and read the blurb I knew it was going to be a book for me.

#CoverLove

Book Blurb:

Only when it’s darkest can you see the stars.

East of the Black Rock, out on the ice, lies a hole down which broken children are thrown

On the vastness of the ice there is no room for individuals. 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 different.

Torn from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her life with, Yaz has to carve a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of danger.

Beneath the ice, Yaz will learn that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. 
She will learn that her weaknesses are another kind of strength. And she will learn to challenge the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people.

Only when it’s darkest can you see the stars.

Great synopsis, right?!?!

The writing was good, the characters were all well developed and interesting and the pacing suited the story. But it was the world-building that had me in awe. Complete awe. Mark Lawrence knows how to create a memorable setting and he has melded fantasy together with just enough sci-fi to make me SO curious about the world and the city that came before Yaz’s time that I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough.

Yaz made for a great female lead, but there was a whole ragtag bunch of supporting characters that elevated the whole story. I loved Thurin who had been demon tainted and I grew to appreciate Maya with her shadow weaving abilities as well as hoping the best would work out for Zeen. The book had a lot going on within its pages. A lot of different magic powers, Gods, tribes and history – Never a dull moment.

The Girl and the Stars was a hefty read that was filled to the brim with details.

The ice was described, the settlements and routines of the Broken were all described in-depth and the cruel world under and above the ice was all fleshed out and I LOVED it. I love details in my fiction and The Girl and the stars delivered.

That ENDING!

The last quarter of the book was a bit of a nonstop roller-coaster of a read. And the only downside to reading The Girl and the Stars is I now have to wait for the next book! And it is going to feel like a long wait. But I am very glad that Mark Lawrence has many other books to keep me occupied until then.

For me, The Girl and the Stars ticked ALL the boxes and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Also on the blog tour today is the lovely Roxanne over at An Average Life – you can check out her review HERE. We have a slightly different take on the book but we both enjoyed it.

I received a copy of the The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence from the publisher for review, which was all arranged by the fantastic blog tour organiser – Anne. Thank you!

About the author:

Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but moved to the UK at the age of one. He went back to the US after taking a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College to work on a variety of research projects including the ‘Star Wars’ missile defence programme. Returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a ground-breaking work of fantasy, and both The Liar’s Key and The Wheel of Osheim have won the Gemmell Legend award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.