Title: The Stars Never Rise (The Stars Never Rise #1)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Young Adult // Dystopia // Magic // Demons
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: June 9, 2015
Format: Physical
Source: Borrowed (Library)
Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.
When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.
To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?
Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her (goodreads).
The Stars Never Rise is fast-paced and full of shocking revelations!
Plot: Nina and her family live in a country that is govern by The Unified Church. In exchange for safety, each citizen must swear allegiance and lead a modest life without sin or temptation. Clearly, if you've read any other Young Adult novel, you'll know that not everything as it seems and Nina has to learn this the hard way.
If I could only use one word to describe The Stars Never Rise, I would choose "fast." I believe this book takes place over the course of three days, and these days fly by! The novel never dragged and was a real page turner that kept me up past my bed time with all of its twists and turns.
Characters: Nina has not had an easy life. She has had to raise her younger sister by herself as their druggie mother would rather sleep her life away rather than spend any time with her daughters. While sneaking home, she comes across a mysterious exorcist, Finn, who doesn't seem to be ordained by the Church, and those begins our insta-love romance. I groaned and rolled my eyes and how quickly these two seemed to gravitate to each other, but as I learned more about the love interest, Finn, the more interested I became. Their love may be the dreaded insta-love, but Rachel Vincent definitely created some hurdles for our love birds to over come!
There are other characters that make up Nina's ragtag group of outcasts with clear motivation and distinct voices. I can already tell that this will be an interesting group to tag along with for the following installments!
Wolrd Building: Very little is initially explained in the beginning chapters of The Stars Never Rise and when backstory was provided, it done through info dumps. I expect more history and exploration will be a good chunk of the second book; The Stars Never Rise served its purpose to set the scene and introduce the key players of the series.
Short N Sweet: The Stars Never Rise is a wonderful introduction of what will surely be a fast-paced action/adventure series!
Labels: 4 stars, book review, delacorte press, Rachel Vincent, review, the stars never rise
