Starborn (Worldmaker, #1) By Lucy Hounsom

Lucy Hounsom Ç 8 Read

Death and destruction will bar her way. . .

Kyndra's fate holds betrayal and salvation, but the journey starts in her small village. On the day she comes of age, she accidentally disrupts an ancient ceremony, ending centuries of tradition. So when an unnatural storm targets her superstitious community, Kyndra is blamed. She fears for her life until two strangers save her, by wielding powers not seen for an age - powers fuelled by the sun and the moon.

Together, they flee to the hidden citadel of Naris. And here, Kyndra experiences disturbing visions of the past, showing war and one man's terrifying response. She'll learn more in the city's subterranean chambers, amongst fanatics and rebels. But first Kyndra will be brutally tested in a bid to unlock her own magic.

If she survives the ordeal, she'll discover a force greater than she could ever have imagined. But could it create as well as destroy? And can she control it, to right an ancient wrong? Starborn (Worldmaker, #1)

DNF @ 54%

The best way to describe this book is that it is a hot mess. It goes from a possible dystopian fantasy, to a possible quest based fantasy, to (what it actually is) epic fantasy.

Now maybe you're thinking, ohhh that sounds elaborate and I love elaborate. So do I. Except that when you build a new elaborate world you absolutely MUST build characters alongside it that your readers are dying to read about. At no time did I ever feel like I was drawn into this world or was excited about reading more of it. In fact it was the opposite, I dreaded picking it up.

There are three major mistakes made in Starborn:
1) Very poor characterizations. I did not hate our lead girl but I certainly didn't like her. The two travelling companions that she goes with could have been super mysterious and interesting, but instead they had stilted dialogue and just no chemistry with each other or our lead gal.

2) Plot. You must make me want to keep reading. This (generally) requires plot. There needs to be something drawing us into the story that is moving it forwards. Instead in Starborn things happen that are random, make no sense and seem to happen because it's convenient. A huge pet peeve of mine is when there is no flow to the story and things seem to happen because the author needed them to happen instead of them fitting into the story and plot.

3) Writing. While the last couple chapters I read actually had some good writing and dialogue going on; during the first 45% of Starborn it feels like Lucy Hounsom is finding her writing style and therefore it's all over the place (a hot mess). I'm shocked that TOR didn't work on this more and allowed it to be published as is.

Now I know what you're thinking, but Mel if you stopped reading just as the writing was improving how do you the rest of the book isn't great?

The thing is I just don't care. Our lead gal is inconsistent and does things not because they fit her as a character but because they need to happen. Random people show up with no real purpose or semblance of reason. The world building is just strange (ancient superstition, magic, tribal living, then airships, large cities, etc); it's like Hounson couldn't decide what kind of world she was building so she threw everything into it.
I could go on but let's face it I'm just repeating myself.
Maybe if this book had started at the 40% with a short prologue or flashbacks to tell the first 40% of the story in a quick fashion I would have felt differently. But I just wasn't willing to force myself to pick this book up and pretend to care any longer than the 54% I read.

To read this and more of my reviews visit my blog at Epic Reading

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
English I received an ARC of this book on the expectation of an honest review. Unfortunately sometimes an honest review is not a good review, and I can in all honesty say that I could not recommend this book to anyone.

The main reasons for my poor review are as follows: I found Starborn to be badly written, badly plotted, badly characterised, ineffectual and poorly imagined as a novel, and I was extremely angry about the way the book handled 1. the threat of sexual violence against female characters, 2. the only canon queer character and 3. the only canon disabled character. As a whole, the novel is hugely sketchy on consent in any situation, and falls into many terrible fantasy tropes I haven't seen widespread use of since the 1990's.

I'm extremely disappointed that Tor not only published this but is promoting it as one of their big debuts of this year.

The rest of this review will explain certain points of the plot (such as it is) and although I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow of everything that happens, as such the entire thing is going under a spoiler tag.

Let's start with the bad writing.

The prose is clumsy to poor but I would have accepted it as a first novel effort if what was being described was in any way engaging. The only time the writing elicited any kind of emotional reaction - other than frustration - from me was at two brief moment when the action spiralled suddenly into Unbelievably Creepy. More on that later.

The world building is not wholly un-salvageable, just thinner than I like and inconsistent in it's delivery. Using what is essentially a history essay full of made-up words and convoluted sentence structures as your prologue is a bold move that straight-up did not work for me in any way, shape or form. I also wasn't able to suss out any kind of pattern or cultural identity in any of the made-up words, so I never transitioned into believing these were actually the names of places or people. Some of the decisions made spoke either of a massive lack of research (the horses ride all night and then all the next day with only a short break, and the main character notes that they don't seem particularly tired, and then a little later on the characters can only ride very slowly towards their destination because the horses will get tired - or rather because they needed to move slower so a plot point could catch up with them) or... I honestly don't know? Winner of the most bizarrely incoherent piece of world building is a toss-up between the airships (of course airships) that can only travel along set routes because they're chained to rails between the different landing stages, for... reasons? (This one probably doesn't win because I can almost see how that would be a cool idea if more had been done with it, although absolutely no mention was made of how come this aggressively medieval-low-fantasy world has airships) or the fact that the main character doesn't know what bacon is. Yes, we get a whole scene - in a book which largely doesn't mention the actual day-to-day business of life - where the main character watches someone magically cooking bacon, and then they eat the bacon, all the while aggressively not using the word bacon.

Because airships are fine but what is this mysterious thinly sliced pork. I was completely mystified by the fact that this character, who had grown up in a rural tavern, apparently did not know what bacon was to the point that I didn't pay any attention to the magic. Which was probably just as well given how it wasn't time for the plot to talk about the magic yet.

Which brings me on to the plot. Largely, the plot lacked focus and drive. It wasn't a bad plot - certainly by two thirds of the way through, at the point at which I genuinely hated myself for continuing to read this book, the plot started to do some things I could recognise as somewhat interesting and unexpected (I think I was supposed to realise they had been foreshadowed, but they really hadn't. This book can't pull off foreshadowing) but it just - happened. Mechanically. Things happened because the plot outline said 'now this thing happens', not because it felt like a natural progression of the story. In all honesty, this should have meant that the book had decent enough pacing and hit the major plot beats - if the plot had been formulaic, I could have dealt with it. But it was badly paced and meandering to the point of aimless. This is how come we have two mysterious characters turning up, speaking cryptically to the main character, and then leaving abruptly in immediate succession - and I do mean immediate succession, there's only a few pages and absolutely no plot movement between the conversation with Kait in the tavern and the conversation with Medavle (how on earth are you supposed to pronounce that anyhow) outside, and then they both disappear entirely for a third of the book before reappearing on the other side of the world. A side-effect of this mechanically driven plot is that characters appear in certain places because they need to deliver a particular piece of information to the reader, not because it makes any sense for them to be there - the biggest example of this is how Jhren (yeah, not sure how to pronounce that one either), the main character's childhood best friend (we know this because she told us so, repeatedly) turns up in the nearest town just as she decides to run away, expressly it seems for the purpose of telling her that he's marrying someone else and there's nothing left for her. That was the most obvious of the clumsy deus-ex-machina devices in this book, but it certainly wasn't the only one.

In case this wasn't already clear, the weakest part of Starborn - which is not a strong book - was the characters. None of them seemed to have any kind of distinguishing voice - I could not tell their dialogue apart. They didn't appear to have any motivations or drive. They were marionettes, being shoved around to make the plot happen according to the outline on paper. I found I cared just enough about Bregenne to hate the way she was treated by the plot (more on that later) but that was about it. I would have disliked the main character, Kyndra, if I'd actually been able to think about her as a person rather than a writing mechanism - all this plot has to happen to someone! - because the decisions she made were entirely nonsensical. Not asking questions until three chapters after something happens because that piece of information can't be revealed just yet. Not realising plot points that were entirely obvious until it was time for her to act on that information. Telling her entire life story and trusting implicitly someone who just assaulted her! (More on THAT later too)

So, that is why Starborn is bad. Now, this is why it's awful and made me furious, which - fair warning - does not involve actual rape but is going to get pretty goddamn squicky:

Firstly, let's talk about what happens to Kyndra. She's been brought to the super-secret invisible magic mountain and is awaiting a test to see whether or not she's got magical powers (I'm being slightly flippant - slightly). Kyndra is studying in the library when three students enter - one is the young girl she met a chapter or so ago who she 'just instinctively knew she could trust' (that's not a direct quote but it might as well be) and her two male friends.

Both young men proceed to mock and belittle Kyndra (who is clearly upset and angry, one of the few times Kyndra actually displays a genuine emotion) and then one of them forcefully immobilises and silences her through magic, climbs on top of her and kisses her on the mouth.

Remember how I mentioned that the writing in this book becomes alarmingly competent at only the creepiest moments? This is one of them. It's deeply, viscerally upsetting. Kyndra is entirely powerless and the man's intentions are very clearly to humiliate and hurt her.

That's not what made me angry. What made me angry was that the very next time they meet, Kyndra tells the two men her entire life story. And becomes their friend. And nobody suffers any repercussions for this at all.

It's entirely like the book is saying Yes you basically sexually assaulted this girl but we know you're essentially a good person so that's fine. And it's not. It's really not.

The other moment of 'unsettlingly creepy and upsetting and also when did the writing become competent in this novel' involves the only canon queer character, Janus. Get it? Janus, the two faced god?

Janus is a minor villain. He's pretty, he's not very competent and mostly ineffectual, he's sneaky and slippery and a liar, his entire job in the plot is to pretend to be the main character's friend and then betray her, and he's madly in lust with an older more powerful man who's using his attraction to manipulate Janus into doing whatever he wants. Their conversation is the aforementioned creepy creepy but semi-competently written scene, in which for three pages the novel becomes insanely queasy simpering sexual tension.

If you're thinking that Janus sounds sort of familiar, then congratulations! You also read all the awful fantasy novels of the 1990's that I did growing up. For literally a decade (and it was a pretty formative decade) this was the only queer representation I saw in fantasy - the soft and effeminate gay male villain - and that is not a place I ever want to go back to. It's not a place we have to go back to! We're better than this! Who read this and thought 'yes okay it's 2015 and this is a reasonable representation of queer people'

Anyhow, this moves me on to Bregenne, who as I mentioned previously was my favourite character (to a vastly reduced quantity of 'favourite'. Least indifferent, perhaps). Bregenne should have been great - she's an older woman, a powerful mentor figure (who quite frankly should not be casually disrespected throughout the entire novel by her peers in the way that she is, but that kind of background radiation pales in comparison to what I'm about to talk about) and she's disabled for most of the novel. She's completely blind, but has adapted her magic powers to allow her to sense her surrounding in some situations. It has limitations, but generally speaking she's a really good representation of a disabled person who is powerful and has adventures. I am 100% here for a book about disabled women being powerful and having adventures.

When Bregenne, Kyndra and Bregenne's younger male work partner (who is of course madly in love with her, a relationship I was dissatisfied with the execution of but pretty much happy with it's general trajectory right up until the final chapter when everything went horribly horribly wrong) return to the super-secret magic mountain where the magic people live, one of the first things that happens is that we establish one of the minor male characters is creepily obsessed with Bregenne.

He corners Bregenne in her bedroom, while she's in her nightdress, and proceeds to embrace and fondle her while saying generally creepy and unpleasant things like You want this really. Because Bregenne is a semi-competently written awesome character, Bregenne blasts him in the face with magic and orders him out of her bedroom. Because Bregenne also suffers from being in a horrible narrative, Bregenne then spends the next few paragraphs fretting about how she shouldn't have worn such revealing clothes. Needless to say, the man in question never gets punished.

While unpleasant, that scene is nowhere near as upsetting as the one with Kyndra, and although I was overall unhappy with how it was handled, it pales in comparison to what happens to her at the end of the book. In the final chapter, Bregenne's younger, male work partner, who is supposed to be madly in love with her, forcibly heals her eyes without her permission, while she screams for him to stop, and this is portrayed as a loving act.

Let me repeat that; the only disabled character in the narrative gets 'fixed' by a younger man, without her consent, because he loves her. Because clearly, he knows better than Bregenne what is the right thing to do with her body. Because clearly, a disabled woman can't be trusted to make her own decisions about her disability, of course she wants to be 'fixed', this can't possibly need negotiating. I cannot convey how unbelievably furious this casual ableism made me. Like it wasn't bad enough that the only character that was in some way compelling was grossly mistreated by the plot at every opportunity, but had to be denied agency of her own body specifically because she was disabled.

In case you didn't have enough of a bad taste in your mouth, in the final chapter it's also revealed that - brace yourself - Kyndra was conceived because Medavle, a character she also seems to trust for some reason despite the fact that he categorically does terrible things rather than just being quite annoying and a bit of an asshole like every other male authority figure in this book, manipulated the mind of a character who is tactfully described by the book as a madman. When this character appears in the book, his mind is so badly damaged that he's unable to speak, is sometimes violent, and is kept - emphasis on the word 'kept' - in a room with no sharp edges. In case this wasn't weirdly sketchy and upsetting enough, Medavle uses his influence - it's a plot point that would take too long to explain - to convince this character that what he REALLY wants to do is escape from his confines and go have sex with a woman, with the intention of impregnating her.

Because that all sounds completely fine and consensually for everyone involved (Don't worry! Medavle was keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't hurt anyone! I genuinely don't know if that statement - practically a quote - makes it better or worse!)

I feel like most of these points would have been fine if they'd been properly handled - if there had been some satisfying resolution against Bregenne's attacker, if Kyndra had not decided to become besties with the man who assaulted her, if Janus had been a half decent villain instead of a horrible vintage stereotype or you know, not the only queer character, if Kyndra had responded with the kind of revulsion I felt to the news about her parentage instead of going off into the sunset with the man who orchestrated it while the book plays out a 'romantic' postscript between her parents - but even with a proper, consensually discussion I would still have been moderately unhappy about Bregenne's eyes being healed.

As it stands, I think everyone involved in the production and publication of this novel owes me an explanation as to why they think this kind of misogyny, ableism and homophobia warrants publication.
English 3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/02/24/b...

Starborn is the wonderful debut of author Lucy Hounsom, kicking off The Worldmaker Trilogy in style. I found it elegantly written and imaginative, and there’s also a familiar yet down-to-earth vibe that will make it accessible to a wide audience whether you’re an avid reader of fantasy or new to the genre, and whether you’re a teenager or adult.

In Kyndra Vale’s village of Brenwyn, there is an ancient rite of passage. When a young person comes of age, he or she would partake in a meeting with a relic-keeper to find out their true name and the path they are destined for. However, on the day of Kyndra’s ceremony, she receives a strange vision. And when it is her turn to view the relic, it suddenly breaks, putting an end to a centuries-old tradition. Worse, immediately following the incident, Brenwyn is set upon by a Breaking, an unnatural storm that destroys the village.

Frightened and superstitious, the community is quick to blame Kyndra, but before they can act upon their anger, she is whisked away by two mysterious strangers who had come into town the day before. They are Nediah and Brégenne, a pair of bonded Wielders who can harness the power of the sun and moon to do amazing things, and for reasons unknown to Kyndra, they seem to have their eye on her. But while agreeing to be taken to the Wielder’s faraway citadel of Naris may have saved her life, Kyndra also becomes their prisoner. As her visions become worse, the Wielders suspect Kyndra may have some magic of her own, and she is kept from leaving until she can pass a brutal trial to determine the nature of her abilities.

It was easy to become drawn into this world Hounsom has created. As Kyndra travels to Naris with Nediah and Brégenne, snippets of history and magical lore can be gleaned through their conversations. Learning about the Wielders’ powers was fascinating, and the magic was perhaps my favorite part of the book. Based around the energies of the sun and moon, those who can use the former are known as Solars, while those that harness the latter are called Lunars. Often they travel in pairs while working in the field, so that they can watch each other’s backs. For example, Nediah is a Solar who can protect Brégenne, a Lunar, during the day while her powers are latent, while at night she can do the same for him. This way, a Wielder team is never left helpless.

Hounsom also doesn’t resort to overwhelming the reader with a flood of information. I felt that a lot of the world’s background had to be deduced, which might be a stumbling block for some, especially in the last quarter of the book where most of the big reveals and connections are made in a very short period of time. The pacing is a bit uneven for this reason, with the plot being slower to build in the beginning, but coming in fast and hard towards the end. There’s a lot going on, with multiple characters being driven by different motivations, and it can get confusing if you let your guard down. Still, the many plot threads kept me guessing, especially when it came to the question of whom Kyndra could trust.

In the end, the pleasure and satisfaction are in the details. Past some of the more common tropes in the story, there are a good number of innovative twists on familiar themes, such as the world-building and mechanics behind the magic system. Characters are likeable, even the supporting ones like Nediah and Brégenne (and speaking of the two of them, can I say what a breath of fresh air it was to see a romance sub-plot that actually did not involve the main protagonist?!) There’s a good amount of crossover appeal here that will make this a potentially attractive book to both Young Adult and Adult readers, and despite some minor issues with the flow, this book was intense enough to be very satisfying.

I can definitely see fantasy fans enjoying this novel, especially if the description of the magic appeals you. At the same time, I also would not hesitate to recommend it as a light introduction to the genre. All told, Starborn is an entertaining read and perfect for when the mood for a lighter kind of fantasy strikes you. English I didnt realise this was an adult fantasy when I requested it. I dont read much of that genre because I find the pace to be too slow for me. However, the pace in Starborn wasnt too bad. My main issue was not having much motivation to pick it up, which affected my reading pace. Some parts were vague. Important questions werent asked and important elements were ignored. This books strongest asset was the world and the magic system. The addition of the steampunk elements was also a nice surprise.

Sadly, I wasnt completely invested in the characters. So many of the characters and scenes made me angry. Not all of them bad. Some parts were suppose to make me angry, but it did make it harder for me to enjoy the story and like the characters. I didnt agree with a lot of their decisions. For example, going into a room for no reason after she was told not to was pretty stupid. The main character seemed clueless and her denial got frustrating. I like my protagonists to be a bit more resourceful and cunning. I liked the main characters friendship with Iri and how the other friendships developped, but I would have liked to see them explored more.

I probably should have read the dreams more carefully, but I started skimming them because they just confused me. At times the plot felt aimless without a clear direction, but there was some entertaining and intense moments. I thought about giving more examples for the issues I had but I wanted to keep this review spoiler free since the title itself is kind of spoilery. I liked the ending and I do want to know what happens next, but I doubt Ill read the sequel. The characters just werent for me, but Im sure other readers will connect with them more than I did.

*received in exchange for an honest review* English https://martinabookaholic.wordpress.c...

Meine Gedanken zum Buch:
Wo soll ich nur anfangen bei diesem Buch, auf das ich mich eigentlich gefreut habe, da mich in den letzten Monaten doch für High Fantasybücher begeistern konnte, mit denen ich lange auf dem Kriegsfuß gestanden bin … und jetzt weiß ich auch wieder warum. Weil ich zu Beginn genau solche high Fantasybücher wie dieses hier gelesen habe und das hier ist wieder genauso ein Buch, dass mir High Fantasy vermiest und madig macht. :/

Vor allem liegt es daran, dass sehr wenig passiert ist und die Handlung einfach nur sterbenslangweilig war. Außerdem konnte ich mich mit der Hauptfigur Kyndra, aus deren Sicht die meiste Zeit erzählt wird, überhaupt nicht identifizieren. Sie war mir nicht direkt ständig unsympathisch, aber leider doch die meiste Zeit, da sie manchmal sehr egoistische Gedanken hatte, die für mich einfach nicht passten. (Die zwei Zitate am Ende verdeutlichen das)

Hinzu kommt, dass mir der Schreibstil auch nicht gefallen hat, was das Lesen zusätzlich erschwert hat und ich muss gestehen, ab der Hälfte habe ich vieles noch nur überflogen und schnell weitergeblättert, weil sowieso NICHTS passiert ist… zumindest nichts halbwegs Interessantes. Es gab nicht mal eine richtige Liebesgeschichte, was sowieso ein no go bei mir ist… und da diese ganzen Sachen alle auf einmal zusammen gekommen sind, kann ich dem Buch nicht mehr als 1-Stern geben… das ich, ehrlich gesagt, sogar abgebrochen hätte, wenn es kein Rezensionsexemplar gewesen wäre. Manche Bücher und Leser passen wohl nicht zusammen, und so ging es mir hier mit diesem Buch. Sehr schade, da ein Funken der Grundidee Potential gehabt hätte, aber für mich nicht ausgeschöpft wurde. Dieses Mal von mir leider keine Empfehlung.. nicht einmal für High Fantasy Fans, da es definitiv bessere Bücher in dem Genre gibt.

Das Ende war dann wieder etwas besser, aber generell noch immer nicht meins und auch zu offen. Bzw. wirkte das alles auf mich wie ein langer Vorband für den nächsten Teil und genauso endet es auch… unabgeschlossen und unbefriedigend in jeglicher Hinsicht. :(

(Mehr dazu auf meinem Blog) English

Kyndra finds herself running away from home with two strangers on the day of her Initiation Ceremony -a day when she was suppose to find out what was in store for the rest of her life. Kyndra's new friends are beings of power -Solar and Lunar and they think she has power too. But Kyndra's experiencing weird visions that may be a sign of something even more dangerous and ancient.

This was a real let down for me and I'm so sad I had to give it two stars. I was expecting a really exciting fantasy journey which saw a young girl come into herself and tap into a power she never knew existed. Instead I got 400+ pages of a lot of boring, confusing nonsense and a rush at the end where everything ended up being explained in a rush. I just felt like there was very little character development, most of the character's seemed disjointed and all over the place (Bregenne and Nediah - I just couldn't figure them out and the romance was played up too much between them considering hey weren't main character) and the story just didn't come together for me like I expected it too. Also Reena and Kierik, where did that happen? How did they meet? Did Reena go to Naris? Did Medavle somehow sneak Kierik out to the Vales? That was so confusing

I kept waiting for that moment where everything clicked and it just didn't. I'm not sure if I'll continue on with the next book, though I do have hopes it will be a bit more exciting and action-packed than this one. This ultimately left me really bored and unsatisfied. English DNF at 32%

I'll be honest. I think I knew from the start that I was going to be DNFing this, but I stuck with it for as long as possible until I got to the point where I was saying to myself: Kayleigh, you're not enjoying this. You're struggling to read this. There is nothing about this story that you like. You shouldn't have to force yourself to read a book. Give up the ghost.

The writing is generally of a decent quality, but the pacing was awful - it was all over the place. You would go for a few pages of decently paced, decently written prose and then all of a sudden you were flying through important scenes which seemed to have half the information you need missing and you'd come out the other side more confused than you went in - and not in the way that makes you want to read more to find out what is going on but in the way that makes you wonder why you're still reading.

But then the things that are supposed to be mysterious and keep you guessing - for example: Kyndra's special snowflakeness - are so blindingly obvious that it makes you feel genuinely embarrassed for Hounsom

The plot is something I've seen a hundred times before: ordinary village girl turns out not to be so ordinary after all. I can enjoy these books if they are well written or if the author has done something new and exciting with the story. Hounsom does nothing new or exciting and it is not well written.

The world building was ... lacking. I'm trying to be nice. Again there's nothing new here but she does try to shake things up (air ships?!?!) and gets it horribly, horribly wrong. The characters were awful. Completely 1-dimensional and unrelatable. I hated most of them. Passionately. In fact the only character that I remotely liked was Nediah and even he was on the flat side.

It's like Hounsom has taken aspects from books written by Trudi Canavan and Brandon Sanderson and tried to make a story out of it. Just minus the writing talent and creative genius.

Sorry, but no.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
English

This debut epic fantasy caught my attention because of the premise. There are a few familiar tropes, like a protagonist with a different magical gift and visions, but the approach to magic is unique and interesting.

The opening coming-of-age ceremony in which the members of the community are assigned their future positions for life is a little overly-reminiscent of YA dystopian novels, but the story swiftly moves on as Kyndra, having accidentally broken the sacred Relic (an object used to divine the future), is outcast by her fellow townspeople when a storm hits her town. She's rescued by two strangers who might be able to give her answers about the odd visions that have plagued her since the ceremony.

The story is plot-driven at first and the pace initially moves slowly, so it took me a little longer to get into Kyndra's story because her motivations are largely based on where the plot happens to be moving and she doesn't ask some obvious questions. The plot itself lacks focus sometimes and there are quite a few side characters whose motives come across as muddled. It seems strange that Kyndra's visions are ignored for a large part of the book, while certain events seemed odd and inconsistent. I think if the characterisation had been stronger, I'd have felt more invested in her quest.

With that being said, the worldbuilding is the strongest aspect of the story, with plenty of unique touches to build a vivid picture of the world and its history. Some readers might find the level of detail slows down the pace, but the narrative kept me engaged and entertained, and the complex and detailed fantasy world provides a strong foundation for the rest of the series. English ARC copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an enjoyable fantasy, somewhere between a pure adventure and an epic. The world building was well done and evocative - managing to conjure images of something like middle earth mixed with medieval England with a few almost steam punk elements and an interesting magic system. It does travel the well worn treads of a young person of ordinary descent suddenly finding out that they have a birthright which shapes their world view anew, however it tackles this in a fresh engaging way, not merely resorting to tired tropes. The plot may contain few surprises for dedicated fantasy fans but it is nevertheless an entertaining journey.

I found the characterization a bit spotty - none of them really stood out for me although I liked a few of them well enough. A few characters might have benefited from greater exposition, whilst others could have done with less as they didn't really add anything. Kyndra was a puzzle in this regard; one moment she has agency and the next she doesn't and things just happen to her while she passively thinks about them. I did like her but I can't say I really connected with her. There was no great strength or great flaw, nothing to really get a grip on.

The pace could have done with variation. It wasn't too slow or too fast but it was pretty much the same throughout. Which is fine if you want to follow an epic adventure slightly removed from the action, but I like to be a bit closer to the characters I'm reading. I was pulled back to read the book not out of a need to know what happened next, but out of a desire to visit that world again. If you can have 'ideas fantasy' then this is probably a good example - at one stage almost all the supporting characters, and consequently the choices they represent, are uniformly horrible. However this does call into question the responsibilities of power, the habit of clinging to outmoded beliefs and systems, and the effects of segregation - even the psychology behind the latter.

It may not have had me on the edge of my seat but I would definitely look out for book two. Quiet, slower fantasy is good if it is done well and this is. English Starborn harks back to the pre-Grimdark epic fantasies of the late 90s and early 00s in construction and tone. Lucy Hounsom focuses on building her world, guiding protagonist Kyndra as well as the reader through the familiar landscapes of a continent hemmed in by the borders of the page (see the map), unraveling the politics of Solar and Lunar relationships, and slowly turning up the heat on the plot until it bursts into an incendiary confrontation at the book's climax. So far so standard, but bear with me - the world feels very artificial because it is artificial. Those borders? They aren't supposed to be there. This cosy world? Not so cosy. Kyndra is her continent's saviour and destroyer all in one, and only at the very end does she realise just how serious that is.

Lucy Hounsom's real achievement here is in paying tribute with her worldbuilding to all those bright and ultimately optimistic fantasies of the last generation while simultaneously setting that world up to fall in very interesting ways in time for the next two books. Very nicely done. English