Under Different Stars SPOILERS

 

 

                                              

 

 I was going to do a new post with a book series I rediscovered... Something I haven't read since middle/high school years. But then I realized how many book posts I have sitting in my drafts that I need to seriously revamp... Although this one doesn't seem to need a lot of revamping. Yay! 

Amy A. Bartol is another one of my favorite authors and I adore her writing and her stories! So I was ecstatic when I found this! I did end up buying the first two in this series, but I didn't find myself finishing the second one. I found the adventures and some of the characters to be repetitive; it was almost like there wasn't character development in some. The beginning of this book felt...rushed almost.

I did thoroughly enjoy this book, just like most I read. But I do find myself wanting to know more about her life in Chicago before Trey and his team and Kyon all show up. More about Enrique and Bridget (and her boyfriend) since they seem to be important characters, but are only in the first little bit of the book. Also, the bar scene where she first comes into contact with Kyon...I wanted more from this scene! It felt so...sudden how she met Kyon (I mean, that's the whole point, but still). The interaction is...lacking. Kricket is saved from some drunken idiots at the bar from Kyon, but all of a sudden, she runs away from him... and he basically attacks her...

And then we meet Trey and the Cavars... Trey, of course, is mister stoic-I'm here to do a job. Wayra and Jax are the jokesters and you can't help but immediately fall in love with them. Especially with mister hotness: Trey. There's just something about the mysterious brooding type of guy that makes you want to break past that stoic demeanor and find out what's underneath. But with Wayra and Jax as his hilarious friends, it kinda makes up for his tough outside.

As much as I enjoyed the story, I really don't have a ton to say about it. It was definitely well written. I like the world of Ethar, but at the same time, I'm not entirely impressed by it. Kricket is a great heroine and definitely uses living as a human to her advantage, but I also felt she lacked the character development in this book. She's snarky, she's willing to sacrifice herself, and you have that insane love triangle (if you could call it that) between her and Kyon and Trey. Yet, like I said, there wasn't a whole lot of character development and it was a bit...underwhelming. Also, the fact that Kricket's actual power (getting glimpses of the future) doesn't really get revealed until towards the end. 

Overall, it was just okay. It wasn't my favorite series, though I enjoy her other books. I might try to revisit the second book again and make my way through the third. There are rarely books that I dnf; it ends up being a pet peeve of mine--especially from authors I enjoy.