I’m truly obsessed with this tragic star-crossed love story.
The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin is now available to buy, click below!
Aurora is a girl who lives in a village on what is said to be the most northern mountain in world and loves the stories of how her village came to be. It is told that the Sun loved watching the village, but one day the earth shook and the mountain peaks blocked it from the Sun’s view. She came to earth and fell so deeply in love with a human that they couldn’t bear to be parted, but that human was the Starmaker who brought in the light to the village everyday, and the Sun had to return – parting them forever. Aurora’s family lives in the darkness where the light doesn’t reach, but she is about to marry and secure them a “glare line”, until she meets a cold figure in the woods – the fourth Starmaker – who tells her she is to be the next Starmaker who will live a semi-immortal life bringing in the light everyday.
Powerful love stories are the driving factor behind the narrative of this story, and the different types of love are so beautifully written. The Sun and the original Starmaker in their folkloric tale; the yearning between two Starmakers who know they can never be; and Aurora’s protection for her family. It has a true enemies to lovers feel where you think that they’ll never manage to see eye-to-eye as the Starmaker is so cold and unfeeling. And the star-crossed story is so heart-wrenching. I loved it.
Read more:
- Godstorm by Solitaire Townsend – Fantasy Book Review
- Heir of Illusion by Madeline Taylor – Romantasy Book Review
- Wicked Onyx by Debbie Cassidy – Romantasy Book Review
I read before reading that the author had a traumatic brain injury during writing, but honestly I’d forgotten this by the time I read it. It was only when I read the note at the back that I remembered. The story has so many parallels with the author’s own – the feeling of being out of touch with the rest of the world and even herself. Such heart and passion has been written into this tale, even among the magical beings through the story.
This is listed as young adult, but I’d probably only recommend to older YA (16+) or even new adult readers as while it’s not a “spicy” book, there is one scene that’s slightly more heated than I’d like a young teen reading.
This is a story like no other that I’ve read. It has true magic in small doses, set in a world that’s realistic but has a magical thread running throughout. The closest I could liken it to is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. I’d highly recommend it.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
