Sorrow and Starlight by Susanne Valenti & Caroline Peckham

The fucking font size… you’re kidding me… I’m so tired. These books are already so long and now we’re also dropping the font size? Please, please, put me out of my long suffering misery. 

I want Darius to actually be dead because STAKES. However, I do not want Catalina and Hamish to be dead. They’re minor characters with barely any page time, they’re nothing more than a plot device, but I love them and I root for them. Because of the fact that they’re minor and just plot devices, I know they’ll stay dead because obviously. But Darius is a POV character, so no way he stays dead. I don’t think the author realizes death shouldn’t only permanently come for the minor or background characters, it should be everyone. No one should be safe. The 100 season one shocked us because Wells seemed like he was a pivotal character to the story, but dies in the first 5 episodes. People that we love consistently die with very few coming out unscathed. In the end, there’s so much heartache and devastation, it makes a compelling story that makes you want to scream and cry and curse the writers and producers. With this whole universe at this point, I want to curse them for being so goddamn predictable. 

And I’m so unbelievably tired of this old ass “you’re my slave” story line whether it be forced, willing, temporary, or supposedly permanent. It’s tired at this point. Darcy and Orion to Seth when he finds out about them, Tory and Darius to the stars when she rejected the mate bond, Tory to Lionel in the form of the rape bond, and now Orion to Lavinia to free Darcy from the curse. For shit fucks sake, if your books weren’t so unnecessarily long, you could have more original ideas per book instead of recycling the same shit over and over again to draw out a tired narrative. 

1. Why are we platforming a fae with only one element? 2. Why were his two pages so necessary? I don’t understand why we needed that. It offered nothing. (After finishing the book, I conclude still it offered nothing. None of the Justin or Milton chapters offered anything truly pivotal or vital to the story.)

“-and I shall bay for vengeance on behalf of my dear Daddy while ripping the throats from our enemies as we retrieve him.” I love you more than words can express, Geraldine. You are one in 7 billion. Please, never change. 

Seth and Caleb are so exhausting. Miscommunication is such a boring and tired ass plot device and I’m so over them just not talking. 

Why on gods green earth are we platforming so many one element fae in this book? This is ridiculous. We all know I can get fairly petty when it comes to character agency, so, I’ve done it again. A good rule of thumb is for your main character to have 50% MINIMUM of the chapters from their POV, agency being the key to that determination. With the formatting of characters in this series, that means 50% should be split between Darcy and Tory (roughly 25% each) and then the remaining 50% should be split between the Heirs and Orion (roughly 10% each). This was not even remotely the case. Tory had 24% and Darcy had 13% for a combined total of 37%. Too low. Orion had 11% (too much), Seth had 7% which is fine, Caleb and Xavier (as the stand in Heir for Darius with him being dead) had 6% each, and Max had 4% for a combined total of 34%. Much more reasonable. IF we hadn’t had all the unnecessary extra shit. We don’t need Lionel’s POVs or Lavinia’s or Vard’s or Mildred’s. We do not need to platform the villains. Their moves are SUPPOSED to be unknown to us. This series is exclusively first person, so we should learn things as the main characters do. If we have the antagonist’s POV’s and can see their moves, it may as well just be in 3rd person omniscient. Francesca, Dante, Leon, Justin, and Milton were not necessary POV wise. Use Faebook as a tool for Justin and Milton’s narratives. Use dialogue with Gabriel as a tool for Gabriel, Dante, and Leon’s POV’s. Use the villain monologue as a tool for Lionel, Lavinia, Vard, and Mildred’s POV’s. We did not at all need NINETEEN different POV’s. 

As much as Darcy knifing Lionel is exciting, it’s also not because obviously nothing is going to come of that attack at roughly 10% of the way through the book when there’s a whole other book in the main series to read. Nothing ever actually comes of these characters doing anything against Lionel and it has gotten so unbelievably boring. 

And now we’re platforming Leon? This isn’t the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac??? There’s too many fucking POVs as it is and now we’re throwing in just the most random ass characters and for what? I understand Gabriel is the twins brother and the future Seer to the throne, but Leon is just his boyfriend in law or I guess husband in law at this point in the universe timeline. I want a succinct focus on the main characters and the main story line. Put all this other shit in a fucking novella or a tandem novel for gods sake. 

DANTE TOO?

I truly hope Xavier is the one to kill Lionel. 

It is so abhorrently and disgustingly bold to ask a man if he ever loved you right in front of his WIFE. Come on Francesca, have some class. 

Okay, rude as all absolute hell to BURST INTO the room of anyone at all but Tory? Jesus, leave the girl alone. Let her grieve in peace. Let her sleep. I get there’s a war going on, but had she actually been in that room, you two numbskulls are the last people she wants to see first thing in the morning before the sun have even had a chance to fully crest the horizon. But the whole fallout of that particular romp in the hay? Mind your own business. I like everything in this series that was pre-counsellor intervention because those bitches are exhausting. Every single one. What right do they have to 1. Spew lies about my girl Geraldine to the media? That woman is a powerhouse and an icon, they are so out of line. If my girl Grus wants to let Max take her in front of the whole of Solaria, that’s their business and not the counselors. 2. Tell my boy Caleb he can’t be with who he wants? Quit being a couple of bitches and act like you care more about your kids than politics for once. There’s obviously more going on there than they’re admitting to. 3. Have some weird ass sex talk with their fully grown, completely adult sons who are consenting adults and living lives that aren’t your business? And 4. Say that Tory doesn’t have the authority to place anyone in charge? You people are nobody. You’re a bunch of blind fools leading the blind who ignored Lionel’s cruelty for decades and let him get away with countless atrocities INCLUDING murdering poor Tory’s parents and attempting to murder her and her sister and infants. Piss off. 

Stella finally did something right for her son and it only took upwards of 30 years. And it had no impact on me whatsoever. She spent his entire life treating him like he was nothing, like he was worthless because he’s not his sister. Even had the audacity to blame Orion for Clara’s death on numerous occasions. In my opinion, what she did was literally the LEAST she could do. 

1. Called it. No consequences, no stakes. 2. Given that, we all know Tory won’t face any genuine consequences for what she did. 

I think it is so incredibly selfish of Tory to put her emotional labor on Darcy. Yeah, Darcy chose Orion. Yeah, it used to be Tory and Darcy against the world, but that was before. Before they had family and people who would fight and die for them. They aren’t alone anymore. It isn’t them against the world anymore. Tory wasn’t alone while Darcy was cursed. She had Caleb, actively. He was consistently showing up for her. She had Geraldine. She had Max. She’s had Max in a real way for a while. HE consistently shows up for her and has since she got free of Lionel. You grow other interpersonal relationships because one person cannot be everything for you. Darcy cannot be everything for Tory. It’s not healthy and it’s so selfish of Tory to put that on her. I truly believe Tory would choose to stand by Darius’s side instead of run with Darcy if their roles had been reversed and they were in Darcy and Orion’s positions instead. It wasn’t Darcy choosing Orion over Tory and Tory is showing just how truly selfish she is with this bullshit. 

Anyway, the ending made me tired.