Sci-Fi & Scary

Starlight is interesting. It manages to successfully combine elements in a way that not many - if any - of the fantasy books I have read have. This isn't an alternate world where mages can use guns and such. This is our world, where we've screwed up, and let the dark elves and such (that had been reconciled) back in. So you get tanks versus basilisks, and each side winning and losing in a believable fashion. Its a unique book with characters that are realistic and frequently quite unlikable. The dialogue was a bit awkward at times, but I think that may be because if anyone called me baby as casually as its tossed around in the beginning, I'd probably throat-punch them.

There are two main females in Starlight. One you like, the other you like to hate. Cassie is a strong-willed young woman that has been through way too much, and this story finds her as she's pretty much almost smacked into rock-bottom. She's dealing with the death of her parents, which she blames on herself, has been asked not to come back to college after she did something that anyone who had decent morals would have done, and is trying to figure out where to go when the feces hits the fan. Elizabeth is, as she's accurately referred to in the book, a Jesus Freak who swears up and down that her powers come from God, and yadda yadda yadda, but has no explanation for why an Atheist like Cassie would also be given the powers. Elizabeth is also a stuck-up snot, and pretty much everything you can hate about hypocritical religious nuts, wrapped up in one small package, and deposited straight into the middle of this story.

There was one element that had me laughing unexpectedly. I just didn't expect the 'ancient ones' of our world to end up being what they were, and in the midst of a fairly all-hells-breaking-loose attack, the discovery was a nice counterpoint. I also think the end of the book was well done, and I liked how the author managed to maintain the perfect balance of fantasy and reality, along with realistic dialogue the whole way.

Now, does all the positive qualities add up to enough to make me want to continue the series? No. It was a cool read, and I definitely enjoyed it, but at the same time, it wasn't a "so awesome I flew right through it". It never really dragged, but it felt like a slow read a lot of the time. For people who are in to the epic stories that most fantasies seek to become, it probably would suit them a lot better than it suits me.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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