The Girl and the Stars (Book of the Ice #1) by Mark Lawrence
I received a complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
BOOK SUMMARY
A stunning new epic fantasy series following a young outcast who must fight with everything she has to survive, set in the same world as Red Sister.
In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown. Yaz’s people call it the Pit of the Missing and now it is drawing her in as she has always known it would.
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 not the same.
Yaz’s difference tears her from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.
Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength and that the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people can be challenged.
BOOK DETAILS
The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence
Book of the Ice Series #1
Published April 21st 2020 by Ace
Fiction / Fantasy / Science Fiction
Hardcover, 384 pages
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Review
THE GIRL AND THE STARS by Mark Lawrence is the first novel in The Book of Ice series. Danger and wonder fill this exciting new epic fantasy set in the same icy world created in The Book of Ancestor.
The story follows a fierce, young heroine who believes something is wrong with her but chooses to embrace her destiny the only way she knows how, head-on, leaping into the dark abyss of the unknown awaiting her.
The tribes of the ice live harsh lives, and the northern people of the Ictha tribe are especially fierce. Bred to endure the unforgiving life upon the polar ice, Yaz knows her days are short and fears the moment of discovery when her tribe realizes she is different. Something other to be feared and cast out.
“In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown.”
But, Yaz refuses to go gently into the night, and what follows is the story of a young girl who discovers her brokenness, her difference, could just be her saving grace and her greatest strength.
Yaz must survive in a world, unlike anything she has experienced before. A world of mystery and danger.
“You stand before us still wet from the drop. Your tribe and your clan have thrown you aside and not one of them raised their voice to save you. They called you flawed, wrong, unworthy, and you were cast into darkness to die.”
Lawrence does not disappoint with this new series opener and the majestic and deadly world of Abeth is brought to vivid life, now in the subterranean world that lies below the ice.
One of my favorite themes presented in The Girl and the Stars is that in the darkest of night that the greatest light, can be found—Hope, strength, and acceptance.
“The stars,” the girl said. They burn brighter when you’re near.”
Yaz is a stunning new heroine to follow. Despite her fear of her abilities, she is determined to discover the truth. Along the way, she will realize her people’s view is not necessarily the only view nor right one.
I love the whole quest and adventure while discovering a whole new layer to the history of the Missing and the ancestors.
Lawrence continues to surprise me and keep me guessing. The mix of fantasy and magic with science fiction and adventure blend to create an exciting new epic to escape to.
I can’t wait to continue this series and I definitely will be grabbing up any earlier series I can as Mark Lawrence is a new favorite.
