Book Review: The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahn
Title: The Shadow Behind the Stars
Series: Standalone
Author: Rebecca Hahn
Sale Date: September 1, 2015
Age: 12 And Up
Genre: Fantasy & Magic
Pages: 256
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Buy: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads
A girl’s dark destiny could cause the unraveling of the world in this spellbinding novel from the author of A Creature of Moonlight, which Kirkus Reviews called “cumulatively stunning” in a starred review.
Heed this warning, mortal: stay far away from the three sister Fates. For if they come to love you, they might bring about the end of the world…
Chloe is the youngest. Hers are the fingers that choose the wool, that shape the thread, that begin it. The sun smiles upon her. Men love her without knowing who she is. She has lived forever and will live forever more. She and her sisters have been on their isolated Greek island for centuries, longer than any mortal can remember. They spin, measure, and slice the countless golden threads of human life. They are the three Fates, and they have stayed separate for good reason: it is dangerous for them to become involved with the humans whose lives they shape.
So when a beautiful girl named Aglaia shows up on their doorstep, Chloe tries to make sure her sisters don’t become attached. But in seeking to protect them, Chloe discovers the dark power of Aglaia’s destiny. As her path unwinds, the three Fates find themselves pulled inextricably along—toward mortal pain, and mortal love, and a fate that could unravel the world.
Heed this warning, mortal: stay away from the three sister Fates. For if they come to love you, they might bring about the end of the wold...
The Shadow Behind the Stars is pure magic! The story of Chloe and her sister Fates reveals a tale of love and loss, of beauty and tragedy as they follow in the footsteps a mortal girl who will forever changed these immortals as they learn the very brilliance and heartache it is to be human.
The setting of The Shadow Behind the Stars takes place predominantly on a Greek island, one that is shrouded away from mortal eyes, where the three sister Fates dwell. There, maiden Chloe spins the threads of destiny while motherly Serena measures and elder Xinot places the final cut. Time shifts here in and out like an endless wave. Until, a mortal girl appears and changes everything.
The story unfolds with a plot that is delicate and drama-rich in tone. The writing poetic. Told through Chloe’s voice who is the youngest Fate, it is a story that revolves around the non-human and indifferent qualities that most of us have alway perceived the mythic Fates to have. Rebecca Hahn gives readers a different tale. What if these immortal goddesses who were thought at one time to be in charge of the fabric of human destiny, were somehow irrevocably changed by a mere mortal girl? One who makes them question their existence and purpose. A single girl who threatens to disrupt the nature of their seemingly passivity to one of passion, pain and all the brilliance of human nature.
There's drama, touches of Greek mythology and fantasy, with a focus on the bond that builds between the sister Fates and Aglaia. The story poses the question: Can Aglaia, a simple girl struck by tragedy, change the very course of destiny? The author, Rebecca Hahn, answers it with a brilliant and stunning story.
