Book Review: The Chaos of Stars
Book: The Chaos of Stars
Author: Kiersten White
Genre: Teen Fiction/Mythology/Romance/Coming of Age
Summary: Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up. Of course, when you’re the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that comes with the territory. Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she’s offered the chance to move thousands of miles away, she jumps on it. But as much as Isadora tries to keep her new world and old world apart, she quickly realizes there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. - HarperTeen, 2013.
As soon as I saw this cover, I knew I had to read this book. When I read that this book was about Egyptian gods and the myths associated with them, I was completely sold. The summary was written well and allowed for you to invest your interest if you were engrossed by the taste of the material.
Overall, it’s a very good book. It’s a great coming-of-age story and Isadora is a relatable, likable main character. She’s spunky, feisty, and, interestingly, very human for someone who has gods for parents. For anyone who has had problems in their relationship with their parents, I think this book would be one that they could really understand and get behind. Isis is one step away from a helicopter mom and she has some touches of the I-don’t-want-my-baby-to-experiment mom. Isadora has trouble understanding the feelings of her parents, and so, when she gets the opportunity to leave them, she does so without a second thought.
The essence of the story is the appreciation of family and of your roots while, at the same time, finding yourself and your individuality. I find this book to be, at once, both timeless and of-the-time. Today, many young people have trouble finding themselves and taking the opportunity to look inside to find who they really are when they’re being constantly bombarded with other distractions. Isadora is a remarkable character in that respect; in trying to find her niche as opposed to simply accepting her spot in the tapestry of life.
Her friends are just as interesting as her and her love interest is like the love interest from a romantic comedy - goofy, charming, and a little cheesy. They didn’t take away from Isadora and she didn’t take away from them, so that was really refreshing to see.
As this is a teen book, the characters aren’t as fleshed out as they could be. Isadora, while very likeable, can tend to stray into the one-dimensional realm of “I-am-rebellious-teenager-hear-me-roar” from time to time. White relies on the Egyptian mythology to flesh out the god characters for her. Isis was the only god character who got a little more development than keeping her in the roles she has in the mythology. The other god characters are kept within their mythology and the personalities that would arise from those circumstances. There are exceptions to this, but I would be spoiling major plot points of the book so I’m going to leave the comment there.
I do have to say that I thought the climax was a bit rushed and out of place. Perhaps if the book was a little longer, White would’ve had more time to place the climax in a better spot.
Other than that, I had no problems with the book. It’s not too long so it can be finished relatively quickly. I enjoyed it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who asked.
I give The Chaos of Stars an A.
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