An interesting premise with a frustrating delivery…
A Wilderness of Stars is a beautiful story at the surface that turns muddled.
SYNOPSIS
Vega has lived in the valley her whole life—forbidden by her mother to leave the safety of its borders because of the unknown threats waiting for her in the wilds beyond. But after her mother dies, and Vega sees the fabled twin stars in the sky, it’s an omen she can no longer ignore, forcing her to leave the protective boundaries of the valley. But the outside world turns out to be much more terrifying than Vega could have imagined. People are gravely sick—they lose their eyesight and their hearing, just before they lose their lives.
What Vega keeps to herself is that she is the Last Astronomer—a title carried from generation to generation—and she is the only one who carries the knowledge of the stars. Knowledge that could hold the key to the cure. And so when locals spot the tattoo on Vega’s neck in the shape of a constellation—the mark of an astronomer—chaos erupts as the threats her mother warned her about become all too real.
Fearing for her life, Vega is rescued by a girl named Cricket who leads her to Noah, a boy marked by his own mysterious tattoos. On the run from the men who are hunting her, Vega, Cricket, and Noah set out across the plains in search of the cure the stars speak of. But as the lines between friend and protector begin to blur, Vega must decide whether to safeguard the sacred knowledge of the astronomer. Or if she will risk everything to try to save them all.
A Story that Never Felt Complete…
The book itself is all very ambiguous. It relies on your need to know the answers to the questions introduced to keep you invested. Because of that, it was the type of book that if someone had asked me what kind of book it was before I had finished it, I would have probably sounded like I was only pretending to read.
It’s all nonsense until the author doesn’t want it to be. Which is why this book is a mystery. Even the timeline is a mystery. There is information which lulls the reader into thinking they know exactly what they are reading. The existence and common use of wagons, saloons, and horseback riding for instance, but also the mention of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday as legends already gone. At the same time information is introduced which doesn’t match the suggested timeline such as constellations being information no one knows.
A Childish and Infuriating Main Character…
The main character, Vega is burdened with information passed on to the women in her family from generation to generation, but she is very unreliable in a way that made me worry if she was truly the last hope of humanity. It is mentioned that she was trained her entire life for the day she would leave the valley for this important journey, but her mother’s training didn’t seem to mean anything when danger arose. Most of the story seems to rely on her being childish, indecisive, and incredibly naive. Each time she should run or is told to run, she hesitates. Each time she notices possible danger, she goes toward it. I wanted to shake this girl and tell her to start using her brain. Even knowing she is in danger doesn’t seem to help her instincts. The book relied on her stupidity to introduce danger which made each situation frustrating.
To add to her lack of instincts, it is mentioned that the tattoo on her neck must be hidden, yet she does nothing to hide it, only covering it with her hair which constantly shifts, exposing the tattoo.
Each idiotic decision she makes is followed by her immediate regret as if the well deserved self chastising is enough to redeem her. It’s a miracle this girl survived so long, and by miracle, I mean she’s lucky she always has character’s with her who are much brighter than she is.
MORE DETAILS
Word Count (rounded)~ ?
Page Count: 416
Genres: Mystery
Wonderful Side Characters…
Luckily what made me keep reading this book was the wonderful side characters who kept her safe. There is her father, in name only, who is a wonderfully kind man. Then there are two teens, Noah and Cricket, who are much more equipped for survival and understand the importance of Vega’s role.
My Rating…
I hope this book has a sequel because if Vega is in desperate need of a redemption arc for her basic human instincts. My rating for this book is once again so complicated. I liked it so much that I don’t want to give it low stars, but what I hated was enough to deter me from a reread. I’ll give it three stars to remind me of the good in it, but really no rating makes sense for me.
The next book I’ll be reading is “Romantic Comedy” by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Jasmin De Anda 