The Bursting Bookshelf

Title: Eyes Like Stars
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release: July 7, 2009
Rating: 3/5
Pages: 352
Series: Theatre Illuminata
Synopsis:
All her world’s a stage
Enter Stage Right
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith (Bertie): Our heroine.
Nate: A dashing pirate who will do anything to protect Bertie.
Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom: Four tiny, mischievous fairies, and Bertie’s loyal sidekicks.
Ariel: A seductive air spirit. Disaster follows in his wake, but Bertie simply cannot resist him.
Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. The actors are bound to the Théâtre by The Book, an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of the actors, but they are her family. And she is about to lose them all because The Book has been threatened, and along with it the Théâtre. It’s the only home Bertie has ever known, and she has to find a way to save it. But first, there’s the small problem of two handsome men, both vying for her attention. The course of true love never did run smooth....

Review:
First off look! The colour of my text matches Bertie's hair! OK, so now that that's out of my system, we can continue. Ah, Eyes Like Stars, how you tempted me so. I really enjoyed the summary that I read on the back! It made me fall for it so much! Because, if you haven't noticed, I love books that are different than the regular old staple YA fiction. Don't get me wrong, I love all the big names in YA right now but I like to be able to read and review something that people might not have heard of before or that no one has really reviewed yet. Like this book. I haven't seen many blogs in the YA blogosphere review it and I happened to have read it so...


*SPEECHLESS*


You may wonder why I am so 'speachless'. I. Just. Adore. This. Cover. It's just amazing looking. I mean the artwork is phenomenal and I can say nothing bad about it. I mean it's got cool artwork, the text is fun, and most importantly, it does not have 'A Novel' or 'A Novel By...' on the cover. Yes that is probably my biggest pet peeve of all. I just hate that, but that's another story altogether. But look at the pretty little fairies around Bertie's head, and her hair! Oh her hair! I love her hair and this is just the way I saw her and her hair while I read the book. But the absolutely best of the whole cover is the review down at the bottom of the page.*

"Magical stagecraft, unmanageable fairies, and a humorous cast of classical characters form the back drop for this imaginative coming-of-age."
-Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire

Suzanne freaking Collins! She's my favorite author but when I first read this book, I had no idea who she was. But then I was showing this book to one of my friends and I noticed Suzanne's name and I just freaked out. I am a huge fan and I have read the whole Hunger Games Trilogy.

The characters were alright in this book. My favorites were the fairies. they were funny and lovable all at the same time. They brought this fun air to all the serious parts and parts where the writing lost me completely. That's my problem with this book, but I'll get to that later. Out of the two guys my favorite was Ariel. He made me so mad but happy at the same time. If that made sense. But for me Nate was just too tame compared to Ariel who was out there, adventurous and dangerous. That for me is just way more appealing in a book than the tame character.

The story was a great idea. At times it made no sense, at times it confused me and at times, and it made me want to give up on this book. Don't get me wrong, I finished and liked more parts towards the middle than I thought I would at the start. The writing is also just a little odd for me. I have never read a book written like this before. Hey if you like plays and stuff, this is the book for you. It just didn't appeal to me in how the writing was also very young feeling. And I mean young as in not the maturity I was hoping for in this one. The writing just screamed middle school book to me when I wanted YA fiction out of it.

That's why I can only bring myself to give this a 3/5 overall. I'm sorry if you like it, but I just didn't like the writing and how confusing it got. In the end I did finish it, but I had to convince myself to. It took a lot of convincing.

* Please note that the review quote at the base of the cover may not be available on all editions. But it's on mine.