Eyes Like Stars (Théâtre Illuminata, #1)

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Eyes Like Stars (Théâtre Illuminata #1)

by Lisa Mantchev (Goodreads Author)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 6,838 ratings · 1,047 reviews

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.
That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.
COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies....more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published July 7th 2009 by Feiwel & Friends

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ya-na, 2012, coverly-love

For a magical fantasy book about fairies, Shakespearian characters and a heroine with blue hair, this is quite a dull lacklustre novel.

It could have been great.

Eyes Like Stars is about a theatre where characters from all the plays are trapped by a mystical "Book of the Stage", doomed to repeatedly perform their roles on a continuous loop forever... unless Bertie - aided by the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream - can discover the secrets of the Theatre Illuminata and what traps them there a...more

31 likes · like · see review

Apr 19, 2010 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, read-in-2010, ebook

I feel like the village idiot, because half of the time I had no idea what the hell was going on. So much stuff happened at the same time and for some reason I kept getting confused because of all the scene changes. Am I really getting that old?

I liked Bertie a lot (her hair is awesome) and the 4 faeries are hilarious. I even laughed out loud a few times. I don't really understand her fixation on Ariel (I kept getting distracted by an image of the Ariel the mermaid) though, there really isn't mu...more

24 likes · like · see review

Feb 14, 2012 fяσzєη rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: covergasm, owned-ebooks, faeries, all-time-faves, faves, heroes-i-adore, heroines-i-adore, love-triangles, made-me-smile, its-so-fluffy-im-gonna-die, creatively-original, amazing-authors, books-i-want-to-marry, deserves-the-hype, wish-i-could-write-like-that

Yes! For the love of God, YES!

This book is exactly what I've been looking for for the past few weeks. A book where I absolutely adore all the characters! Argh, it was so awesome and amazing and badass and cute and adorable and magical and hilarious and fantastic and omg I need to lie down.

Just read it. ._.

18 likes · like · see review

Aug 23, 2011 Ashleigh Paige rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-great-shelf-of-awesome, all-time-favorites

Also appears on my blog, The YA Kitten!

The Theatre Illuminata with its magical book of plays, eccentric characters, and all the friends she's ever known is Bertie Shakespeare Smith's home and she's dismayed to learn that the Theater Manager wants her to leave and strike out on her own. How can she leave? It means too much to her! With the Theater Manager's word that she can stay if she can find an invaluable way to contribute to the theater, Bertie sets out to restage Hamlet--not an easy task wh...more Also appears on my blog, The YA Kitten!

The Theatre Illuminata with its magical book of plays, eccentric characters, and all the friends she's ever known is Bertie Shakespeare Smith's home and she's dismayed to learn that the Theater Manager wants her to leave and strike out on her own. How can she leave? It means too much to her! With the Theater Manager's word that she can stay if she can find an invaluable way to contribute to the theater, Bertie sets out to restage Hamlet--not an easy task when four annoying fairies are always fluttering around, the Players are adverse to change, and Ariel, the air spirit of The Tempest fame, is doing what he can to make sure Bertie fails in her task.

What really makes Eyes Like Stars shine above anything else (any pun you might have seen there never happened) is the characters. Bertie's conflict is relatable--it can parallel anyone's fears of leaving home or a familiar place for the unknown--and she's complex too. She makes mistakes like all teenagers do and no one is afraid to call her on it when she does. The love interests Nate and Ariel both have great chemistry with Bertie (if you read the tango scene and still try to say Ariel and Bertie have no chemistry together, stop reading right now because we're not going to agree on anything about this book), but I've got my issues with both of them and I'm not quite sold on them yet. Even more than Bertie did, Ophelia stood out to me and even after my fifth re-read of this book, she remains my favorite character.

Two more fitting words for the book? Funny and clever. The comedic timing is perfect and it's harder to find a line that isn't quotable than one that is. The four fairy sidekicks from A Midsummer Night's Dream provide plenty of comic relief and the narration itself isn't afraid of a witty quip or two. To the book's benefit, the understated prose keeps the focus on what's going on with the characters rather than on the words. The irony of this in a book with a focus on the power of words isn't lost on me. When I was reading it, I thought, This is how I want to write. Why can't I be this good? *jealous*

The big reveal at the end felt too sudden and a little rushed, and I wasn't sure why Bertie had completely forgotten her childhood like she did. It's one thing for another character to forget what happened while they were away from the theater, but what about Bertie? She didn't seem to know about it because she never thought about it beforehand and she seemed just as surprised as everyone else when it was explained. What caused her selective amnesia? She's got to remember something about it, right? I hate to think it or put it into words, but it seems like a choice made for plot convenience. Not knowing about how she spent her younger years made the plot run more smoothly, but it leaves questions like this unanswered.

Despite my fussing, I love this book and the series to pieces. It saddens me that there is so little attention paid to it (as far as I've seen, not many people have heard of it) and then far worse series regularly top bestseller lists with each new installment. Bad books pile up like muck and you've really got to dig to get to the good books, the buried treasure. Hopefully, this will change; I've already got plans to recommend the entire series to my local library and a few teachers I know so that others can be caught in the spell of the Theatre Illuminata and give it the attention and adoration it rightly deserves.(less)

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 19, 2011 Amelia, the pragmatic idealist rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, favorite-books, ya-kids-teen, macmillan, own, best-characters-ever, mc-girl

While reading Eyes Like Stars, here are some words that kept coming to mind:"Creative!" "Fun!" "Original!" "Whimsical!" "Hysterical!" but most importantly: "CLEVER." The world of the Theatre that Mantchev has created is utterly and deliciously clever. Everything about the book was enjoyable for me. I was a little skeptical of the book's premise that all theater characters - not just the Shakespearean ones - live in the same magical theater, but Mantchev handled it really well and kept the story...more While reading Eyes Like Stars, here are some words that kept coming to mind:"Creative!" "Fun!" "Original!" "Whimsical!" "Hysterical!" but most importantly: "CLEVER." The world of the Theatre that Mantchev has created is utterly and deliciously clever. Everything about the book was enjoyable for me. I was a little skeptical of the book's premise that all theater characters - not just the Shakespearean ones - live in the same magical theater, but Mantchev handled it really well and kept the story simple: she didn't overextend herself or make things too complicated.

In regards to the MC, Bertie, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I actually liked her, from page 1 until the very end of the story. She has an excellent, wry sense of humor that I found very refreshing. She was a little on the bossy side, but her good humor and her spirit of determination proved stronger traits. Bertie's four fairy friends - Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom - were adorable all throughout the story, and I loved them all! I wish I had little fairy sidekicks! And this is almost unprecedented, but as to the two "leading men" characters, Ariel from The Tempest and Nate, a pirate from The Little Mermaid, I love both of them. Equally. Well, maybe I like Ariel just a little more. That's so weird. I am notoriously grouchy when it comes to love-triangles, but in ELS, it totally worked. Maybe it's because Lisa Mantchev doesn't beat you over the head with over-the-top drama and forced feelings, and also she doesn't put a lot of focus on this aspect of the story. It just came together very nicely, and I'm not just saying that, because like I said, I'm usually grouchy about love triangles.

One more thing: I really want to harp on Lisa Mantchev's writing style a little bit, because in all honesty I think this is a part of storytelling that doesn't get as much recognition as it should. Her writing style is absolutely 100% G/T clever. A lot of times authors can get by on just entertainment alone, and so you have books (and sorry to say, I think this happens in YA way more than adult fiction) that are entertaining and present an interesting/engaging story, but the writing is nothing special. The narrative voice, the VOCABULARY, the tone...everything was just beautiful and superb. If you haven't read Eyes Like Stars yet, but plan on it in the future, I really want you to pay attention to the quality of Mantchev's writing.

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Aug 09, 2010 Joshua rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: horrible

Okay, I wasn't going to review this book, because I really don't like throwing negative vibes out there into the universe. Who wants to waste time on negative thoughts? But I just can't hold back any longer. I've NEVER read anything this bad before. What a completely jumbled mess of uneven characters, non-existent chaos instead of a plot, and some of the worst excuses for purple prose ever written! Sometimes I had to read paragraphs three times just to figure out the action that Mantchev was try...more Okay, I wasn't going to review this book, because I really don't like throwing negative vibes out there into the universe. Who wants to waste time on negative thoughts? But I just can't hold back any longer. I've NEVER read anything this bad before. What a completely jumbled mess of uneven characters, non-existent chaos instead of a plot, and some of the worst excuses for purple prose ever written! Sometimes I had to read paragraphs three times just to figure out the action that Mantchev was trying to describe!

Wow, see, I don't like feeling so negative.

But I do feel compelled to be honest. This is story-telling 101, people! There is such a thing as a plot STRUCTURE. A narrative flow. For a MASTERPIECE of plot and narration technique, read "The Hunger Games." With "Eyes Like Stars" it's almost as if Mantchev gathered a bunch of notecards with various ideas that she liked for possible plot points, then simply threw the cards in the air, let them fall to the floor, and exclaimed (with a flourish of Jazz hands): "Brilliant! The story has taken on a life of its own! That's so... theatre-like!"

When I read the summary for this book and stared at the gorgeous cover, I imagined discovering a story that would feel like a night at the theatre. Dressed up, sitting in plush seats, lights dimming as the orchestra warms up. Then three hours of refined, honed magic, music and entertainment, ending with that sad feeling of having to exit the theatre into a bright, boring every day afternoon.

Instead, we get the book equivalent of a horrible MTV reality show crew that shows up at the same theatre as you, only to skip the performance to go backstage and record all the cat fights between diva understudies and half-drunk, pervy stagehands. Awesome, if you love watching a train wreck.

I've read some reviews that justify the horrible story by saying it reads better to younger audiences (by that I assume they mean about 10 years old). Wait, what? If that's true, then why is Bertie addicted to coffee and cigarettes? What about the skinny dipping hot tub scene? I know that "theatre people" are all about free love and bohemian no rules hippy-ness, but putting all that in a children's story? The morals don't fit children ages, yet the story is too immature for older audiences. This book doesn't belong... anywhere.

But I still love the cover so much. Ending on a positive note, oh yeah!
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37 likes · like · see review

Jul 02, 2010 Morgan F rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, series, own, 2000s, favorite-covers, goodreads-author, read-2010, its-a-girl, medium-sized, awesome-titles

I have to get something off my chest. *takes deep breath* I bought this book for it's cover. I didn't even read the description first.

This book takes place entirely in an enchanted theater ran by The Book. The Book is what bounds the Players to the roles they were born to play, and it domineers over the magical scene changes. 17 yr old Bertie is not a Player nor a crew member, but has called the Theater her home for the past 10 years, not knowing where she came from. Bertie and her companions, t...more I have to get something off my chest. *takes deep breath* I bought this book for it's cover. I didn't even read the description first.

This book takes place entirely in an enchanted theater ran by The Book. The Book is what bounds the Players to the roles they were born to play, and it domineers over the magical scene changes. 17 yr old Bertie is not a Player nor a crew member, but has called the Theater her home for the past 10 years, not knowing where she came from. Bertie and her companions, the four mischievous fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream and Nate, a minor pirate from The Little Mermaid, have been known to get into trouble. After a particularly bad incident, it looks like Bertie's time in the Theater has finally come to pass. But Bertie has one final chance to prove that she can contribute: become a Director and sell out a performance. Of course, not everything goes smoothly as the Players become more and more unsettled with their given roles.

Bertie, while kind of immature for a 17 year old, is strong and funny in her own right. How can you expect a girl who grows up with the most dramatic characters ever to grace the stage not to be colorful? And I love her choice of hair color. The fairies that follow Bertie around and join her in her antics are some of the funnest and funniest characters I have ever experienced. I want one for myself. I'll just have to remember to hide my Twinkies. Nate is a little dry, but sweet enough. I just hope Mantchev fleshes him out more. Ariel's name bothers me. I think of a red-haired mermaid. This made things difficult for me when the romantic tension was being built.

The setting was easily the best part of the book, even though some times I had no idea what was going on. It's not a point of pride for me, but sometimes I couldn't follow the action. It seemed to jump from one point to the other without much of a bridge in between.

I liked the book. Not as much as I could have, but I'm definitely glad that lush cover pulled me in. And the cover also helped in my visualization of Bertie and the fairies. Alexa, I agree with you. This book would be awesome as a animated film by Mr. Miyazaki.

I will read the sequel when I have the chance. I'm looking forward to being drawn into such an imaginative world again. (less)

15 likes · like · see review

Mar 16, 2009 Sunil Sebastian rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of good writing and strong characters.

Disclosure: Lisa Mantchev is a friend and I've been reading drafts of this book since before she found it's name. Also, I freelance as her sidekick and occasional ninja. Yes, I am bragging. She's worth bragging about.

In Eyes Like Stars, Lisa Mantchev tells a simple story, about a found orphan struggling to save her home.

Except that Bertie's home is a theater. And not just a theater, but *the* theatre, where all the characters of all the works of all humanity make their home. She's grown up amid...more

15 likes · like · see review

Creative A Thanks for the detailed review! This is the first review I've read that actually gave me an idea for what this story is supposed to be about. It sound...more
Jun 08, 2009 03:01pm

Beryl S.K. I'd like to share with you the point of view of someone who did not like the book.

Plot-wise, the story ha potential. The setting was truly interestin...more I'd like to share with you the point of view of someone who did not like the book.

Plot-wise, the story ha potential. The setting was truly interesting and something that could be considered original and new. Yet, I think it wasn't exploited well enough. There was a lot of information lacking around the origins of the theater, where it is housed, how it came to be, and also about The Book. I personally felt lost multiple times, struggling to get a good picture of where everything was happening. The fact that Mantchev dropped in so many characters from various plays didn't help. I am not well acquainted with all the famous plays out there, and so when the characters appeared, I didn't know who I was facing. They came in and went away, without being given a proper description or explanations. Sometimes they would speak and never be mentioned again. That was confusing. I shouldn't have to be familiar with plays to understand the story. The story should provide enough information itself and make things as clear as possible. It often resembled a whirlpool of randomness and incomprehension.

Then, the characters. Bertie started out well, but often her actions were exaggerated. This book, with all its elements, is certainly appealing to children. But then Bertie starts to smoke and drink coffee. I do not see here the good example for pre-teens who we do not want to end up smoking and drinking coffee too early. I did also not consider the faeries as hilarious. It's not as if they got me rolling on the floor laughing. They made me crack a smile here and there, but most of time I saw their actions as distracting from the plot. It's as if the plot could not be concentrated on something more serious and solid, and to compensate the faeries caused trouble or blabbered about cake. Ariel and Nate we're quite ok, but they could have been more developed. Their love for Bertie and from where it comes was quite clear, but I thought that if you took away that element, they stood out as quite flat. Perhaps Ariel less than Nate, since it is known Ariel is very rebellious and wants to leave and all, but I was unsatisfied. For the villains, I thought they were quite typical and their goals all the same. Let's just say I saw better villains.

In the end, I did not see this book as something amazing. To me, it felt like something a debut author could have written. I do not know if Mantchev wrote more before, but the impression stays the same.

It is but alright to like this book. I see why one would. I nevertheless consider it too immature for older teens and adults to appreciate. It also has elements that I wouldn't want a children to get acquainted with.(less)
Dec 04, 2010 05:08pm

Jan 19, 2009 Deva Fagan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-read

This is the sort of book that I love to dive into and just revel in. It's got a brilliant, unusual, magical, enchanting setting and a strong, funny, active heroine. Bertie is a vivid character (and not just because of her Cobalt Flame hair). I love that she lives with such passion, that she has both strengths and flaws, and that she goes out there an makes things happen (though they may not always go the way she plans). And perhaps more than anything, I loved the Theatre Illuminata itself as a c...more

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 07, 2009 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: yafantasy, youngadult, faerie-books

ARC Copy received today!

I finished this book last night and I have to say people who read this are in for a treat. Lisa creates a magical world that draws you and doesn't let go even on the last page. I want MORE! Luckily there are (I believe) three books in this series.

I understand the launch date for this book is July 7, 2009, but hopefully this will be one that they release early!

A great read, great characters, plot twists that will keep you guessing.

7 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2009 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars

This story is amazing and will completely wrap you in it's spell. You can't help but fall in love with it's characters and really wish you had a ticket to the Theatre!

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 22, 2012 Snarky Hatter rated it 1 of 5 stars

This will always be one of those books that even with all of my reasoning I'll wonder why I couldn't enjoy it, because on paper it is the kind of book I like: Fantasy, Young Adult, inspired by other famous works, etc. So why didn't I like it?

I hated the fairies. They were annoying and I wanted to swat them until they were dead or unable to speak. They don't add anything to the plot and are just there to cause trouble. I assume they are there to be funny too, but they didn't make me laugh once. T...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 07, 2009 Kristi (The Story Siren) rated it 3 of 5 stars

An strikingly enchanting debut novel, featuring a quirky cast of characters that not only entertains but enthralls!

Never have I read a novel so uniquely portrayed, so full of magic and awe. Mantchev is exceptional storyteller and I can’t wait to read more. Although most of the characters in the novel have been portrayed in plays of the theater, Mantchev was still able to enhance their characterization into beings as magical as the Theatre Illuminata itself. Not to mention the intrepid Beatrice...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 25, 2010 Alexa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, library, 2010-reads

Can imagine it as an animated film. Hayao Miyazaki comes to mind.

16 likes · like · see review

May 09, 2013 Ashley Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone with a love of Shakespearean literature or Theatre in general.

Shelves: 2012, young-adult, ★★★★★, reviews, cover-love, fantasy, fairy-tale, favorite-books, wishlist, magic

I do not know for the life of me why I didn't pick this book up sooner! This book has been in the back of my mind on my to read list ever since I first saw it on the shelves when I worked at Borders #20. The cover art is simply stunning, and the tag line on the back "all her worlds a stage" should have gotten me to pick this book up much sooner than just now. Infact I knew I was going to finish this book tonight so I stopped by my local library (the LMC dosen't have these books.<- something I...more

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 14, 2009 Proushaat rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: attempted

How can I put this into words? This book is officially on my worthless books list! It did not worth a second of my life to even browse it let alone try to make a sense out of it! The dear author throws you in the middle of a junk, as if the story was going on for ages and you just happened to stumble in between at your own fault! Conversations are going as if there is no need of slightest hint of introduction of the characters or the reason behind the talks! And all that was going on through the...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 19, 2011 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, faeries-and-fey, for-kirsten, audio-book, books-i-own, read-in-2009, read-in-2011, love-or-romance, magic

SECOND READ: July 2011
Listening to the Full Cast Audiobook. I forgot how much I loved this story! Bertie is great, Nate is even swoonier, Ariel is quietly scary, and the fairies are upstaging them all!!

LOVED the story the second time around! Can't wait to dive into the next books! Those fairies are just fantastic! So many great one-liners that have me cracking up!

FIRST READ: March 2009
This is more like 4 1/2 stars ...

When Bertie is told she must leave the theare, she makes a deal with the Theat...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

BEST.BOOK.EVER!!!! I'm so glad I got through the first couple of pages!!!

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 10, 2010 Randy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Welll. . . . I really wanted to like this book. I mean, the cover rocks, and now I want to dye my hair, but I just couldn’t give it more then 2. The reason I gave it 2 in the first place is because I thought the plot was a good idea. Real fairies and everything. . . cool. But I was really confused through most of it. I had to re-read a lot of paragraphs. The characters changed so many times, from good, to bad, and then maybe good again. Some of the characters are straight, then all the sudden. ....more

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Jul 03, 2010 Linz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay! So, I finished this book today, and let's just say... WOW! This is the most unique and refreshing book I've read in, well, forever? Honestly, it was fantastic! Perhaps a little weird at first, since I had absolutely no clue what was going on, but I as I went further, the characters grew on me and I figure out what was happening.

While the Players are born through The Book and how they are their character is still a little hard to get my mind around, this book was truly entertaining and ful...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 11, 2010 Bookworm1858 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2010, ya-read, sffp

Summary: Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in a theater with the characters of every play. It is the only life she knows but she is about to be kicked out if she can't contribute something invaluable. And can she figure out who her parents are?

Why I Read: I had seen it in my recommendations from amazon and I thought the summary looked interesting. I love theater although I am not a performer myself.

Thoughts: This was really weird. So some human little girl lives in a theater and can interact with...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 27, 2010 Eillo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pwnd

I had been wanting this book for quite some time because I'm a theater geek and writer and lets face it, you can't go wrong when both of those things happen at once. So my best friend picked it up for me for Christmas and I pretty much steamrolled through it all the while thinking "This feels like it's a play already." While most paranormal fantasy romance novels feel like just that, novels, ELS feels more like you've settled into a well aged theater fifth row center in your finest clothes (jean...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-gold-star-award-winner, trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in a theater. She's not an actress, but she knows every part. The Theatre Illuminata is the only home Bertie has ever know. But one mishap too many has the Theater Director determined to send Bertie on her way -unless she can prove that she is a valuable part of the Theater. Now, Bertie must fight for her home while unlocking the secrets of her past...

Ok, I'll try to control my gushing and fan-g...more Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in a theater. She's not an actress, but she knows every part. The Theatre Illuminata is the only home Bertie has ever know. But one mishap too many has the Theater Director determined to send Bertie on her way -unless she can prove that she is a valuable part of the Theater. Now, Bertie must fight for her home while unlocking the secrets of her past...

Ok, I'll try to control my gushing and fan-girliness over this book, but EYES LIKE STARS is amazing!!! This has to be one of the most creative, imaginative, beautiful novels I have read. I loved the setting of the Theatre Illuminata and the idea that all the players of every play lived in the theater and were able to be called upon whenever they are needed (and sometimes when they're not needed!).

Lisa Mantchev has managed to capture the magic of the theater in this stunningly written novel. I honestly can't believe this is her debut. All the characters are so richly drawn and detailed and I could hear various voices for everyone as I was reading. Everything was so vividly written, I could actually see the see the story unfolding as a play in front of me. The fairies offer fun comic relief, whereas the tension between Ariel and Bertie provides plenty of drama. The dialog is witty and snappy and lots of fun. This was a book that I literally had to tear myself away from and force myself to go to work and sleep - I never wanted to stop reading.

Shakespeare does play heavily into the novel, but you don't need to be a Shakespearean scholar to follow along and recognize the characters. Also, Lisa Mantchev does an excellent job filling the reader in on the important details of each part, without it losing the flow of the story. There are several plays and characters that make appearances throughout and discovering each one is part of the joy of reading this novel.

As someone who has been heavily involved in theater, I loved the subtle details about theater life that only theater people really and truly understand - the arguments over props vs. sets, the actor's egos. But even if you've never had any experience in a theater, there is sure to be something you'll love in EYES LIKE STARS.

I highly recommend this to all readers, even readers who typically shy away from fantasy. This didn't feel like a typical fantasy to me, so I'm sure it will attract even those who don't usually read that genre. I'm excited to see this will be a trilogy - I'm looking forward to reading more from this fabulous debut author!

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Jun 21, 2009 Abby Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: blogged

The Theatre Illuminata is a magical place where all the characters in the history of the theater live, ready to perform whenever they're called. Bertie has lived there most of her life, brought when she was a young child by a strange woman she barely remembers. She was raised among the Players, costumes, and scenery but now that she's older she must leave unless she can prove herself invaluable to the Theatre. But what Bertie doesn't know is that another force wants to destroy the Theatre, the o...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Shoujo & YA Banter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, trilogy, would-so-tap-that-cover, kick-ass-females, fantasy, favorite-series-books-of-all-time

I fell in love with this book. Bertie (AKA Beatrice Shakespeare) is an orphan, and only knows the characters from all the plays ever written as her family. From Macbeth to Romeo and Juilet, each character is alive as if they were a real person. But there's a catch- they all are trapt in the theater, and are unable to escape by The Book that holds each of their lives within the pages.

I loved Bertie's character. She was sarcastic, witty, a little helpless to romance, and had blue hair. Blue hair....more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 24, 2009 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, ya-teen, fairytales-retold

I have some mixed feelings about this book. Well, it's really just that some of the "romance" scenes with the male characters seem a bit forced. But otherwise, I really like this book so far. It's very creative and inventive in its language, its characters, and its plot. I love the fairies who follow Bertie around. They're hilarious and sweet and I want them as my full-time entourage. I also like the moments of creative genius that bubble up in this book. It's what kept me reading until the plot...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 01, 2009 Reed rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hmmmm. I was hoping to love this book, but it was merely "ok". Matchev has created a sort of all-encompassing theater, where all the plays in existence are part of the "Book of Plays", where all the characters come and go, sets appear and disappear magically. It's a magical theater created to delight theater fans.

My wife and kids are huge theater buffs, so I wanted to like it. But it was all a bit of a jumbled mess, truth be told. The main character Bertie is likeable, but the plot meandered, pl...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Polina rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: part-of-a-series

I'm going to start with the things I enjoyed in this book. I loved the way the author constructed the world of the theatre, and the idea that the players are bound to it. The fairies were great as they added humor to the book.
Yet, even though the book started nicely, the introduction was too long, and there was a feeling that there was no action. When the action began, there seemed to be too many things happening at once, and it wasn't clear what is the main event.
Towards the end, even though so...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 04, 2009 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

An utterly enchanting book with a premise so unique, you couldn't guess it if I gave you a hundred hints...

And I'm not going to! Because so much of the magic in this book lies in discovering the pieces yourself through Mantchev's thorough characterization and uncanny ability to set even an unusual scene with so much detail that you will feel as if you are right there watching the whole thing unfold.

This is a magical book - a perfect blending of contemporary dialogue and situations against a fai...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 08, 2011 Jennifer Kahl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eyes Like Stars is the story of Bertie, a teenager who has spent most of her life living in the Th

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Young Adult Reads: Théâtre Illuminata series	3	22	May 08, 2013 03:14pm
Suggestions	3	13	Nov 03, 2012 03:27pm
Movie	2	17	Sep 27, 2012 11:14pm
Butterflies!	4	7	Aug 22, 2012 11:10am
The Théâtre Illuminata website is live!	2	20	Aug 10, 2012 08:21am
Fairies Vs. Demons: Who will prevail??	2	8	Aug 10, 2012 08:20am
The Worldwide Glitter Tour	6	14	Aug 10, 2012 08:20am

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About Lisa Mantchev

When not scribbling, Lisa Mantchev can be found on the beach, up a tree, making jam,or repairing things with her trusty glue gun. Her short fiction has appeared in venues like Clarkesworld, Weird Tales, Fantasy Magazine and Strange Horizons. Her YA fantasy trilogy, The Théâtre Illuminata, is being published by Feiwel & Friends. Book One, EYES LIKE STARS, was released in 2009, the sequel PERCHA...more

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Books by Lisa Mantchev

Perchance to Dream (Théâtre Illuminata, #2)

So Silver Bright (Théâtre Illuminata, #3)

Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes

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“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” — 176 people liked it

“Could we wear spandex and blow things up?” — 100 people liked it

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Eyes Like Stars (Théâtre Illuminata #1)

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