All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth Duology, 1)

I think it says a lot that this book held my attention and interest during one of the worst reading slumps I’ve had in a long time. I had high expectations for this book. It has all my favorite elements of a fantasy story wrapped up into one fast-paced and delightfully brutal package. You have political schemes, royalty, smartmouth pirates, dangerous mermaids, and a unique magic system that features different powers.“Full speed ahead. We’ve magic to collect.”MAGIC SYSTEM/WORLD-BUILDING:I think what I liked most about the book was the magic system. There are 7 islands that make up the Kingdom of Visidia. Each island is known for its specific magical abilities. These are soul magic, elemental magic, enchantment magic, mind magic, time magic, restoration magic, and curse magic. There are two rules regarding magic in the kingdom.- No one is allowed to practice more than one magic. It is said that learning more than one is too much for a person to handle and results in dangerous and violent consequences either to the person and others.- Only the Montara family is allowed to do soul magic. The story is that an ancient king, King Cato, control the beast that manifested when people were practicing multiple magic. He was able to tie this magic-hungry beast into his soul. And therefore, only those from the Montara family line know how to use soul magic. And they practice this dangerous and volatile magic is extreme caution and only when necessary.I’ll admit the magic system while interesting was a little hard to follow. I didn’t really understand how soul magic worked, but you get a better sense as you see it in action and as they dive into the history of it. This is the first book in a series so it focused mostly on soul magic, restoration (healing) magic, and curse magic. I think the world-building could have been a little more fleshed out.Because Amora has lived a very sheltered life, her first task is to visit each island to understand the true state of each island. Some are fabulously wealthy while other islands are literally dying from starvation or violence. My favorite island was Mornute where they do enchantment magic (i.e. illusions and charms). This also is where the Keel Haul crew visits The Barracuda Lounge, which was a really fun scene. The whole island had such a whimsical feel to it from the way the author described the fashion and architecture.“The shop looks as though it’s made from thousands of pink bubbles that shimmer, pop, and redevelop as we approach. It creates a quiet little symphony that reminds of the pop pop pop of sparkling wine.”CHARACTERS & ROMANCE:I felt like I could see the scenery and action playing out in front of me. I liked all the characters, but I didn’t love them. At times, Kaven seemed a bit like a mustache-twirling villain. I understood his motives, but I didn’t understand why he would ever think his methods were going to achieve his goals. The king, Amora’s father, was definitely an interesting character but we spend so little time with him. As for our main crew, I liked them, but they also didn’t read as fully fleshed-out characters. There was just something about the characters and romance felt a little flat to me. Something…not sure what. *thinking face*Ferrick: When it comes to the characters, my favorite was surprisingly Ferrick who is kind of the side male character. He is Amora’s longtime friend and fiancé. I love that he wasn’t placed as the typical sad ever-loyal leftover person in a love triangle. He very much had his own personality, desires, and dreams for the future and I loved that. He is sweet, caring, and can hold his own in a fight. And honestly, he saved Amora’s butt in a lot of situations. He also makes me feel soft inside. I really hope we see more of him in book 2.Bastian: It’s very obvious who Amora is going to fall in love with – our confident pirate with a tortured soul. He felt very… noble. I kind of wish he had been more morally gray and had a bit more of that arrogant swagger we’d expect from someone who’s lived on a pirate ship for most of his entire life.Amora: In fact, the most morally gray person in this book is Amora. She’s still very much a chosen-one type hero who is dedicated to protecting her kingdom, but she’s also not afraid to shed some blood when it that’s what it takes. She was brutal AF when she was using her blood magic. Oh, I’m sorry I meant soul magic. I got confused because of the amount of blood that is spilled from soul magic. But I also loved her for that. Amora is not the perfect hero. She’s naive and lacks wisdom in a lot of her strategies and decisions. I found her thoughtless sometimes, but I think it works for her character and background. I liked that she wasn’t stubborn. She accepted feedback and guidance from the crew and would pull out the “princess” rank when she felt it was absolutely necessary.“Pain is the fire that fuels me as I ready both daggers; we’ll strike at the same time. If I’m to die, then I’ll drag him to death at my side.”Vataea: Our resident mermaid with the banging body and some truly terrifying powers. I loved Vataea as part of the crew. She really had some excellent quips in the beginning. However, I didn’t really get a sense of her personality. The story definitely focuses more on Amora, Bastian, Ferrick, and then Vataea. I hope she continues to stay on with the crew in book 2 and we learn more about her history.Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a strong 4-star book with a 5-star ending. The pacing of the story felt just right throughout and then we got this really exciting and intense ending that really gripped me! There are no cliffhangers as well, which thank the LORD because I hate cliffhangers with a passion. I honestly feel like you could read this as a standalone if you wanted. I will definitely continue as I feel like there is so much about this world and magic system we didn’t get to see.** Thank you to Imprint (Fierce Reads) for providing me with an arc to review. Any quotations used are taken from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change.

In this book we follow Amora, a princess set to take over the rule of the kingdom after her father. To do so, however, she needs to perform a deadly ritual and use the magic reserved for her family’s bloodline to prove to her people that she’s strong enough to take on the burden. Her magic fails her though, and she risks execution for it not being able to control it. She flees her land with a mission to prove that she’s a worthy queen, but on her quest for redemption, she learns not only of an ongoing rebellion, but of secrets that changes everything. Now, she must decide which road to take and who’s side she’s really on.I feel like I’ve said this a lot lately, but I’m really conflicted about this book. There are a lot of things that I like about it. It’s a great concept with an interesting and unique world, and the plot is good too. But the execution is lacking a bit for me, well, a lot actually. I had a really hard time believing the characters and their motivations and their actions. The characters are very one-dimensional and flat, and there are no development at all.It’s overly described to the point that I’m like “I know, can we please move on?” The characters jump from one emotion to the other without any explanation, things don’t add up sometimes and rules that have been set previously are either broken later on, or explained in such a way that it sounds like they have been broken.The scenery and people’s looks are explained in such detail, and in such long paragraphs that it felt like my eyes were bleeding after a while. At the same time, I wanted to know about the world, but it was just a little too much, especially in a situation like the characters found themselves in. They wouldn’t have had time to stand around for half an hour pondering over the color of the houses and the hair of the fifteen people around them and the sky and the jewelry and the history of the city and the magic they wield and so on.And when it comes to the characters, for me they fell completely flat. There was no chemistry between them. I could see the attempt to create it, but to me it felt forced, and I could tell someone else was pulling the strings there. It wasn’t fun to read, and I just kept rolling my eyes, hoping that things would get better.Most of all, though, I disliked how cliché the book was. Just take the love triangle. I mean, they are sort of cliché as it, but when the two men literally fight over the girl … I don’t know, it’s too much. And it wasn’t just that, it was basically like every decision and action from the main character was cliché in some way. Or perhaps it was just she who was a cliché.I liked the plot a lot, the different islands and the way the magic worked and the different kinds of magic. It was exciting at the right times and the pacing was sort of there (apart from the mind-bogglingly slow heaps of exposition). The writing was easy to read, at times a little too purple prose, but overall, the style of writing fit the genre. It was more what was written that didn’t really work for me. But there was a clear structure in the plot that I thought worked, and it’s obvious the author knows how to create an alluring plot with its rising action and climaxes and so on.The side characters were way better than the wishy-washy female lead which honesty changed her mind and thoughts and feelings with every other page. But not even the side characters got enough depth to them, they are all very very flat.So, when I say I’m conflicted, that’s not an understatement. On one hand, it felt like I read an early draft of a story that still has leagues of edits to go through before publication. On the other hand, I enjoyed the core of what I was reading.As a developmental editor, I would have said that this was an amazing story with so much potential, that it just needed a little more to reach the top. As purely a reader, I want to say that it wasn’t finished, that I don’t want to read it again.At the same time, when I finished the book, I felt like I wanted to read the sequel because I wanted to know what happened next. I wanted the end to Amora’s story. I did remember the story the day after finishing it, which to be honest doesn’t happen with every book. And I found myself thinking about the book and the characters while doing everyday tasks.So, I suppose that my brain liked the good parts more than the bad parts initially. That the editor in me chose to praise it instead of getting stuck on all the things I wish had been different.After reading it, I was ready to give this book 4 out of 5 stars and buy the sequel. Now however, a few weeks later when I return to this review to give my final verdict, I don’t even know what happened in the book. I can’t remember how it ended or why I even wanted to read the sequel. That’s not a good sign at all.Therefore, my final rating for this book will be 3 stars out of five, and I probably won’t read the sequel. I’m disappointed of the execution of a story I had so much hope for, of a story that had so much potential to be amazing.All in all, this book doesn’t feel finished. It reads like an early draft with too much exposition, too many clichés, too much tell, too little character development, and too little focus on the things that actually matter. Maybe the sequel is better, but that I’ll probably never find out.If you like YA fantasy, mermaids, magic and seafaring pirates, you‘ll probably love this, though. So, I highly recommend you reading it and decide for yourself. It’s not a book for me, but plenty of others love it, and you might too. I don’t regret reading it.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I started it 3 times before I finally read it all and I think the reason for struggling so much are the character’s depth and personalities. The story itself is a great idea and well thought out. The male characters are good, likeable but are missing an element that would make you really care about them, but the main issue is Amora, the main character. In style and genre this book would be directly comparable to Sarah J Maas Throne of Glass series but if you look at the Throne female characters, they are so fantastic. There are 4 main female characters in Sarah’s book and they are all flawed but you love and care about each of them deeply. In this book Amora is in my opinion quite unlikeable. Only in the very last couple of chapters did she redeem herself. There are also some major story flaws, Bastion says he will kill (someone) when he gets the chance, and yet he has the perfect chance, a knife to the throat even and yet he doesn’t kill him?! Why? It’s silly... again if this was Aelin in Throne she would have slit that throat without a second thought :] It’s such a shame because the story is there, I just didn’t care a jot about the main character. One character I did care about was the mermaid, but she simply wasn’t given enough story time, another shame. Also the Soul magic doesn’t work for me, at the beginning it shows how she can easily take lives with it, she tells how she has taken ‘hundreds of lives’ and yet when in difficult spots with villains she only manages to do some slight damage, enough to make them scream so she can run away. It didn’t make sense.

‘All the Stars and Teeth’ by Adalyn Grace is the first in a Teen/YA duology that I feel will also appeal to readers of fantasy of all ages, especially if they love sea monsters, pirates, and mermaids.Its young protagonist is Amora Montara, princess of the island kingdom of Visidia. She has spent her entire life training to become High Animancer - the master of souls. Everyone in the realm is free to choose the type of magic they will practice, apart from Amora. In order to secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove that she has mastered the dangerous soul magic that is restricted to the royal family.Naturally things don’t go to plan and Amora is forced to flee Visidia. She makes a deal with Bastian, a dashing pirate. He will assist her in proving her fitness to rule and in return she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.They are accompanied on the voyage by Ferrick, Amora’s betrothed. Grace neatly avoids the YA love triangle trope as it’s an arranged marriage between Ferrick and Amora. She considers him a childhood acquaintance rather than a suitor.They have many adventures during their quest including encounters with a mermaid and a kraken-like monster! Great fun. Aside from this, I was fascinated by the magical system, even though aspects of Amora’s magic were rather a bit gory.Overall, I found this an entertaining fantasy adventure with an engaging group of characters. I look forward to reading the conclusion when it becomes available.4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

The world buoldijg in a lot of books I'd either terrible or goes on forever, but in this book it was actually so much fun to read the descriptions and about the outer people. It really helped to set the scene.However, the depth in the actual characters and plot was very surface level. It's sorta like if this was a really well written shipping of the character archetypes so we're meant to use our knowledge of these character tropes to fill in blank spaces in their personalities and the development of their romantic development

Loved it

Amazing book, great characters and even better storyline. Great for anyone one lives fantasy novels. Loving the magic, pirates and mermaids