All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth, #1)
Author: Adalyn Grace
Publisher: Imprint
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Note: Trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.
Cover Description
She will reign.
As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.
When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.
But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder — and more peril — than Amora anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.
I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.
TL;DR Review
This is a fast-paced, easy to read, exciting YA fantasy novel. I liked it!
For you if: You like YA fantasy, strong female leads, pirates, and adventure.
Full Review
Thank you to Imprint and the Macmillan team, plus NetGalley, for the advanced review copy of this book. It will be published February 4, 2020.
All the Stars and Teeth is a fun, fast, exciting YA fantasy novel that I liked very much! I will be keeping an eye out for the sequel.
The main character is Amora, the princess of the kingdom of Visidia. Visidia is made up of several large islands, each one populated by people who practice a different type of magic. But only the royal family practice the dangerous soul magic, and the book opens with Amora on the eve of her birthday, preparing to demonstrate her mastery of soul magic in front of all her people and to claim her place as official heir.
As you can imagine (since it’s at the very beginning of the story), that doesn’t exactly go according to plan, and a debonair pirate saves her and convinces her to go on an adventure across Visidia to save their people from a growing threat that her father, the king, has been ignoring — and hiding from her.
In the beginning of this book (and a little bit throughout), Amora is kind of a brat. She’s full of herself and feels entitled to everything she has. But then Bastian comes into the picture, and I loved him right away. I also grew a huge soft spot for Ferrick, Amora’s betrothed (by family/royal arrangement). And, as you’d expect, Amora grows a lot throughout the book. I also expect that she’ll continue down that path of growth in future books of the series.
The magic system in this world is really creative and fascinating! Amora thought she had her magic all figured out, but now it seems like there is soooo much more that’s going to be revealed. And we barely got a look at other types of magic in the kingdom. But I can tell that we will soon!
One nice thing — especially since book one is barely published yet, much less the sequel — was that this book didn’t end on a huge cliffhanger. The characters’ arcs are obviously not wrapped up completely, but this particular story wasn’t left totally in the lurch. I do want to read the next one!
Trigger Warnings
Violence/gore
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