Review: A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery

Title: A Circle of Stars

Series: The Stardust Duology: Book One

Author: Craig Montgomery

Length: 483 Pages

Category: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, YA/Teen

Rating: 3.5 Stars

At a Glance: A Circle of Stars is a political saga and comes with some content cautions, including homophobia and abuse. Craig Montgomery’s writing is straightforward without being overly simplistic, action-oriented and suspenseful in all the right place, the story practical while still giving its characters depth, though, in contrast, it’s also a very slow-paced read at times.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Sometimes you have to leave home to find it…

All Casper Bell has ever wanted is to belong. But now, abandoned by his friends and family after being outed, he has nothing left to lose when the people of Novilem abduct him.

Except Earth.

Teleported to a world where stars grant humans magic, Casper discovers he has the rare ability to draw power from all twelve astrological signs — a gift that makes him a political pawn for the Estellar Council. But Novilem’s inhabitants seem as hard and cold as the stone their city is carved from, and Casper’s new role leaves him more isolated than ever.

Until he meets the grandson of the council’s most powerful woman. Helix is kind, playful, and heartbreakingly handsome, yet it’s how Helix makes him feel that gives Casper hope.

As rebellion brinks in the city, even the Council starts to fracture, reaching for extreme measures that could cost Casper not only his newfound abilities, but the first place he has ever wanted to call home. Together with Helix, he must uncover the secrets of his full potential — because the survival of Novilem hinges on Casper’s powers, whether he’s using them or not.

Review: “My youth is not a sin [. . .] And the ways of the old have held us back for long enough.”

Make no mistake, A Circle of Stars is a political saga. It’s about personal empowerment. It’s about having a voice and a say in the future. It’s also a story that delves deeply into a world in which Casper is routinely beaten by his father, is thrown out of his house for being gay, is kidnapped in the most spectacular of ways, and is transported to another planet to, in effect, become a god-like presence among its people. But not everyone wants Casper to gain power as a figurehead in Novilem, and they will not hesitate to resort to assassination to serve their goals.

Fans of SciFi world-building will find plenty to sink their teeth into in this epic Young Adult fantasy. It’s one of the story’s highlights irrespective of those details making this a very slow-paced read. But the devil is in the details, as the saying goes, and they serve to enrich the high-stakes maneuvering and back-channel machinations that throw Casper and Helix together in a race to discover who and why someone is bent on destruction. The fighting comes from different fronts, for different reasons, and in pursuit of different goals. This is a story very much about youth upsetting the old-guard status quo for the betterment and enrichment of society as a whole. It takes them confronting danger and betrayal on multiple fronts to begin achieving that outcome.

Novilem is far from a Utopia, though Casper finds one bright spot among the darkness: there is no such thing as homophobia or transphobia. While this doesn’t free him from the triggers that were instilled in him by his religious upbringing and his father’s abuse—from which he suffers panic and terror-induced episodes—it opens up a possibility he never thought to have in an open and loving relationship with Helix, one supported by a family of friends.

Craig Montgomery’s voice is distinctly aimed at his teen audience. His writing is straightforward without being overly simplistic, action-oriented and suspenseful in all the right place, the story practical while still giving its characters depth. A Circle of Stars is book one in a duology, but I must say, apart from a couple of loose ends (including the villain escaping), I didn’t feel as though I’d only been offered part of a story. So much so that I’m not deeply committed to reading the next book, but only because right now I’m satisfied with what I got.