The Girl and the Stars is the first Book of the Ice series by international bestselling author Mark Lawrence. It has an amazing cover showing the protagonist Yaz against a cold background in the ice cavern with the stars. A slightly closer look may reveal the city which she visits later on in the story; there are some tall structures that appear to be buildings emerging back there.
I found this to be an incredible story, and perhaps my favorite of all his books at this point. I truly enjoyed The Book of the Ancestor: Red Sister, Grey Sister, Holy Sister. I found the book to have everything that I look forward to in a story, and love not only his characters but the dystopian worlds that he builds with remnants of ancient technology. This book is no exception, and takes place on the same planet where Nona’s story took place, and not only brings us many characters that we had a chance to experience with her story, but if I’m not mistaken there were other characters that I had a chance to see in not only The Broken Empire such as The King of Thorns, but also The Red Queen’s War and The Wheel of Osheim.
This story takes place on the planet Abeth, as I said it’s a dystopian world, where the polar ice caps have closed in along the equator leaving a green strip around the center of the planet where the corridor is located, and Nona’s story took place. Yaz’s story takes place at the ice caps along with the ice tribes, where Zole was from and we get to experience more time along the black ice. If you think that you know everything there is to know about the planet of Abeth, then think again because The Girl and the Stars takes place in a world within a world.
The story is told from Yaz’s point of view in limited third person, and to me seems like a there and back again tale. I would like to note that being a there and back again tale, paired with a title: The Girl and The Stars may drum up celestial, and perhaps even angelic images into your mind, however, I would like to remind you that the author of this story is Mark Lawrence so that you may cast away any such dreams and wishful ideas that you may be conjuring up right now. This is not that kind of tale. It’s not The Broken Empire, but it’s also not The Hobbit either.
There are many things that make this book stand out among anything else that I have read recently, and all of them are exactly what I look my stories: the world-building, the characters, the magic. All of these elements are so incredible throughout this book, I could probably do an entire blog post on each one of them by themselves, and I probably will later on down the road but today I’m going to focus on delivering a general review for the entire story.
Yaz is a member of the Ictha one of the northern tribes that live closer to the icecaps than the other tribes. They’re used to a much harder life than some of the other tribes. She’s a young girl that is on her way to her second gathering, where she will become a woman. The tension is incredible from the start(including the prologue—which I won’t spoil); we begin to learn about her while on her way along this long arduous journey with her parents and the other members of her tribe, anticipating that she is Broken, and will be thrown into the pit because of her weakness.
Living the harsh lives that they do, the wind is fierce with teeth, and they don’t have the capacity for powerless. Yaz believes that when she goes in front of the regulator to be judged, she will be deemed broken and thrown into the pit. The tension is further increased as we begin to learn more about her and her family and Quell who is expected to share her tent with her that night, after asking her parents. But when her younger brother Zeen is thrown into the Pit, she dives in after to save him.
Upon entering the pit, she is introduced to an entirely new world that exists beneath the surface of the ice which is only the beginning. After being chased by a cannibalistic gerent, or giant, she meets up with more of the Broken and is introduced to their way of life where the complex world-building of this world beneath a world comes into fruition. She not only learns about the hardships they face beneath the ice, but also the complex relationship that they share with the regulators and the politics they battle amongst themselves. There are rising tensions, a great divide among The Broken, and they are in need of someone
The main conflict of this story is centered around the Tainted, which are mindless, along with Yaz’s search to rescue her brother from the dangers that lurk deep within the dark caverns beneath the ice. While down there, Yaz journeys far away meeting a cast of fascinating characters along her way that teach her valuable lessons. When it comes to the tainted, they are a force that is not to be reckoned with and are more than capable of overwhelming those trying best they can to make a life for themselves after being cast aside by their tribes. But as Yaz begins to go deeper she learns more about the Tainted, and their fascinating story of how they came to be.
If you’re searching for a dystopian tale, incredible world-building, a there and back again tale with an edge checkout The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence. This was my favorite book from Mark Lawrence thus far, and I can hardly wait for the release of The Girl and the Mountain to see where it goes from here.
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