"The Blighted Stars" First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come talk about your initial, general impressions!

Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoilers thread.

Content warnings for those who want them: (view spoiler)[ Blood, Body Horror, Death, Death of a parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Vomit, (hide spoiler)]

User-submitted content warnings on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/2...

(More about CWs here.)

[CJ]

I'm about 25% in and am struggling to get into this one. So far, it is decently written, it just feels...formulaic, maybe. Some of the worldbuilding is interesting but the characters seem a bit flat.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

I am restarting the audio because I missed too much detail to track what's going on. The beginning is a bit tropey, but the book is pretty long so I'm hoping it mellows out.

[Mai]

Ho-hum.

[Shannon]

I am actually really enjoying this book. I think I will go ahead and read the entire series :)

[Nicci]

I'm about 36% and almost DNF. There is a lack of energy in the storytelling. But I will continue reading now that I've reached an interesting point.

[Becky]

I started this last night, and I'm currently about 10% in, on audio. I'm seriously questioning whether I should continue with audio though. The reader has a nice enough voice, but there's just something about this that feels... empty. I don't know how to describe it. I'm a very experienced audiobook listener, and I don't care for overly-produced or full cast (or even multiple reader) audiobooks, so it's not that.

I immediately felt it when I started last night, and then today when I picked it up at lunch it was the same again. I feel like... there are words being spoken, but they don't really mean anything. It's like those "this is what English sounds like to a non-English speaker" videos, with a bunch of words that are English but don't add up to a sentence. I'm struggling to find anything to connect to so far.

Another aspect is that I just don't like the feel of the dynamics between the Mercator (royal?) family and... everyone else so far. It's feeling very much like indentured servitude to me, and I am not digging it. But I guess I'll see where it goes. I might shift to the ebook and see if that goes better.

[Becky]

OK yes, I am definitely going to switch to the ebook version. I restarted and read a bit and it seems much better for me that way.

[Riyadh]

Contrary to some of the opinions here the audiobook hasn’t been too bad for me, has been the best book by the club this year although the bar has been set quite low

[Becky]

Riyadh wrote: "Contrary to some of the opinions here the audiobook hasn’t been too bad for me, has been the best book by the club this year although the bar has been set quite low"

They have been kind of all over the place, haven't they?

I restarted this via ebook last night, and it's going much better that way for me. I'm glad that the audio is working for you, Riyadh. It's such a subjective medium! People seem to love Jim Dale as a reader, but he could read the announcement telling me that I won a million dollars and it would annoy me. LOL

To be clear, I don't think the audiobook reader for this book is bad, but I think audio for this book wasn't a good fit for ME. I don't particularly like when readers "do the voices", so his accents and tone for some of the characters was a bit much for me personally, and when added to unfamiliar names, terms, and technology concepts, it just made it really hard to parse for me. Like "I iced Ex. Sharp." - I completely missed/misunderstood this in the audio. Between the combination of the voice choices made for the character saying it, the complete lack of context around what "iced" means, and the title of "Ex", the fact that "Sharp" was a name, not a description - nothing about this made a bit of sense to me, and I couldn't even really figure out the words that were being said, even when I slowed it down (though for me 1.5x feels sluggish).

[P.E.N.]

@Becky The indentured servitude vibe hits hard early on, that oppressive family dynamic and 'everyone else' feeling like tools really sets a cold, hierarchical tone. It's one of the things making the world feel lived-in and uncomfortable in a good way for me, like the stakes aren't just cosmic but deeply personal and moral.
The audio vs. ebook struggle is real, unfamiliar terms/names + accents can make it tough to parse at first. Ebook helped me too for clarity. Glad it's clicking more for you now! How's the energy shift feeling as you get deeper, does it pick up pace or stay deliberate?

[Becky]

I'm not sure yet, PEN. I guess time will tell how the author handles that aspect, and whether there's any worthwhile subversion of that hierarchal structure.

[Elizabeth]

I feel the same way about the audiobook so far Becky - debating trying to pick up the ebook so I can switch between the two!

[Becky]

Elizabeth wrote: "I feel the same way about the audiobook so far Becky - debating trying to pick up the ebook so I can switch between the two!"

The ebook/print is much better!

[P.E.N.]

@Becky That’s exactly what I’m curious about too, whether it stays as a rigid hierarchy or actually *breaks* it in a meaningful way.

What’s interesting to me is how that kind of system can feel almost invisible at first, like it’s just “how things are”… until the story forces you to look at it differently.

If the book leans into that, it could turn something that feels flat early on into something much more unsettling.

I’m wondering if that early “emptiness” some people are feeling might actually be intentional, like a kind of emotional distance before things start to crack.

Let’s see if it pays off… 👀

[Becky]

P.E.N. wrote: "@Becky That’s exactly what I’m curious about too, whether it stays as a rigid hierarchy or actually *breaks* it in a meaningful way.

What’s interesting to me is how that kind of system can feel al..."

I'm about 70% through it now, and I see the author's purpose regarding the hierarchy aspect. I won't say more in this thread though... twould be spoilery. :)