With a mix of romance and science-fiction, Hold Back The Stars had all the potential to be an unforgettable story. An original plot, a clock ticking and two characters on the verge of the end of their lives: tension, chemistry and lots of feelings were promised by this book’s synopsis. Unfortunately, if it was an interesting story, it lacked this little something more to be the hit I expected it to be.
AN INTERESTING WORLD, BUT LACKING A BIT OF DEVELOPMENT
“The thing about first love, Cari, is that it breaks you. It changes everything about who you are for the next person.”
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Carys and Max are stranded in space and their oxygen supply promises them only 90 minutes of air left before the end. Secluded, surrounded by stars and each other, all they can do is reminisce on the beginning of their relationship, what brought them here and how to get out of this crazy situation. Told between flashbacks and the present, we follow their story and see their relationship change, evolve in a world that’s not supposed to have them fall in love in the first place.
Hold Back The Stars starts off, just like its synopsis, on a very promising note: we get to discover Max and Carys, two twenty-years-old something living in a dystopian world where the United States and the Middle East have been destroyed in a nuclear war, and Europe has become this utopia where people living in peace, following the rules they are given, moving every few year to another country, speaking a dozen languages and everything. In appearance what seems to be a perfect world, clearly isn’t, because no one settles in love until they are ready to have a family and everything that goes with it, around their 30’s. That’s Max and Carys’ problem: they met when they were twenty years-old, and they can’t be together because of this couple’s rule.
That’s, in a short note, what the world is shaped like in Hold Back The Stars. If that idea of a perfect world, in appearance, is very interesting, I found that it lacked a bit of something to make me really engrossed into it. I followed the characters, their journey and their story into this new world, getting into the new ways of transportation, communication and everything else with no questions asked ; yet I think that everything maybe felt a little bit too simplistic. I wanted to ask questions, I wanted to know why they communicated that way, I wanted to know a bit more about the hierarchy of this world and how everything worked: on that side, if everything was so very interesting and well thought of, I felt like I needed more to satisfy my hunger here.
INTRUIGING STORYTELLING
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The way the story was told, however, kept me guessing and turning the pages as quickly as I could. The flashbacks, allowing us to get into the roots of the characters’ relationships and feelings, struggles and lives before they got into this place, stranded in space, were very interesting to follow and allowed a good insight into the characters we deal with here. If I got a good sight of what Carys and Max were both like, I had a little bit of a hard time actually connecting to the characters – if I cared for them a great deal and obviously wanted them to both be okay, I actually wanted to feel the emotions so much that I would have cried – I know, I might be crazy?! -, yet I did not feel as much. I felt a pang of sadness, I fell things while I read, but I did not really get invested in the characters, their relationship and their destiny as much as I wished I could have.
KEEPS YOU GUESSING UNTIL THE VERY END
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If there’s something that made this book interesting and kind of stand out, it’s the endings. With an S. Since I’m always trying to write spoiler free reviews, I’m not going to say anything about it – Hold Back The Stars keeps you guessing until the very end, which was a very strong suit in the story. It messed with my mind and made me frown multiple times, questioned what was really happening until the very last page. If you’re looking for something suspenseful, then this is definitely it.
OVERALL
In a nutshell, Hold Back The Stars is a promising mix between romance and sci-fi, that unfortunately for me failed at convincing me completely in both departments. That being said, it still was an entertaining read and one that kept me guessing until the very end. If you’re intrigued by this premise, I would recommend this book for sure – who knows, you might fall in love with it.
Final rating: 3 drops!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This did not, in any way, affect my opinion on it.
Do you want to read Hold Back The Stars? Share your thoughts in comments!
Katie Khan, Hold Back The Stars, Published by Gallery Books, May 23rd 2017.
Trapped in the vast void of space, Carys and Max have only ninety minutes of oxygen left to live. None of this was supposed to happen. After a freak accident, Carys and Max are left adrift in space with nothing to hold onto but each other. As they fall, they can’t help but look back at the world they left behind. A world whose rules they couldn’t submit to, a place where they never really belonged; a home they’re determined to get back to because they’ve come too far to lose each other now. While their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation—but who will take it?
In this startling and evocative novel harkening to both One Day and Gravity, Hold Back the Stars shows how the choices we make can change the fate of everyone around us.
Reg @ She Latitude says
Great review, Marie! I hadn’t heard of this book until your post but I’m kind of intrigued by the summary, though I’m in a slump SO deep I don’t think I’m interested enough to actually read it. ? I’m sorry to hear that while it kept you guessing, you ended up not really loving it, though – tons of books are like that and it’s just a damn shame, but oh well. Hope your next read is better!
Marie says
Thank you so, so much Reg! The synopsis really is intriguing, and I liked the whole idea behind this book – I’m just sad I didn’t connect with the story so much in the end. I hope you’ll want to give it a try whenever you manage to get out of this slump – which I hope will be soon! <3 <3
TeacherofYA says
What drew me to this book was the U.K. cover with all the stars on it…I have the edition you have and I do like the sound of the blurb…but I’m now not in too much of a hurry to read it. ??
Marie says
Oh, well I hope you’ll enjoy it bit better than I did! It still was a lovely read 🙂 Thank you for stopping by <3 <3
Coffee Shop Book Review says
I saw this book somewhere and thought it might be interesting since I like sci-fi. One thing that concerned me, however, was that I don’t like books that keep going back in time. I want to know what happens in the future, not what happened in the past! Although, this book might be different.
Marie says
Ohh well maybe you’ll enjoy this book! It is true that there are parts of the books where characters go back to how they met and how their relationship evolved. However, if the synopsis intrigues you enough, you might end up enjoying this 🙂 Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Beth (Reading Every Night) says
Great review for this book Marie. 🙂 Hold Back the Stars sounds like a brilliant story, like you I’ve kind of been hooked by the blurb, it’s just a shame this was missing a certain something. I’ve had books like that, at first glance it seems to have everything needed to be a brilliant story, there’s just some small spark missing that makes it truly unforgettable.
Again great review. 🙂 <3
Marie says
Thank you so much, Beth! I thought it missed that spark indeed, that’s such a shame, the story was so promising! I hope you’ll enjoy it if you end up reading it 🙂
ravenblake99 says
Great review! I love reading dystopian novels and this book sounds very very interesting! I would love to check it out. 🙂
Marie says
Oh thank you so much, Raven ! I hope you’ll love this book 😀
Kelly says
I really like the sounds of this one! I think I would have all the same questions about the world as you did, but it doesn’t sound like that was a deal-breaker for you. I think the suspense of the story might outweigh my concerns with the world-building – great review!
Marie says
Yeah definitely! I would have loved to know the whole world a bit more but was still curious about the rest of the story and about how things would turn out. It didn’t bother my reading so I guess that’s still good 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂
theorangutanlibrarian says
Ah shame it lacked that “something more”- I’ve been there with so many books! It sounds like such a good premise- so it’s a pity it didn’t entirely live upto that :/
Marie says
Yes it made me a bit sad but well, the story was overall still good to read 🙂
Elisabeth says
I guess this is why plagiarism of ideas isn’t a big deal: EXECUTION IS EVERYTHING. At least the suspense was good and there was at least one pretty decent line, right?
Marie says
Yes it still managed to be entertaining 🙂
Analee @ Book Snacks says
I totally wouldn’t have guessed this was a sci-fi kind of book if it wasn’t for your review haha. It sounded like it had such potential, it’s too bad you didn’t really connect with it very much. The cover and title are so pretty though ahah! ?
Marie says
Haha right? When I first saw the title, I thought it was a contemporary ahah.
It did have a lot of potential – I’m guessing here this is more of a case of, it’s not you, it’s me. If you ever want to give this one a try, I hope you’ll enjoy it! 😀