Curse of Stars Blog Tour and Review

TITLE: Curse of Stars (Diamond Crier #1)
AUTHOR: Donna Compositor
PUBLISHER: Donna Compositor
PUBLISHING DATE: February 19, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: Sabi Perez is the last Diamond Crier, only she doesn’t know it. Not until a crazed ruler from another world comes to collect her priceless tears and won’t take no for an answer.

Living in New York, Sabi’s seen some nasty things, but the lengths to which her captor will go to keep his crown are things found only in the darkest nightmares. Afraid and alone, Sabi finds solace in her cellmate, Anya, and Cabal, a fellow Crier who also has powers, a rare combination that buys his favor from the ruler. Only it’s a favor he doesn’t want.

In a fit of rage, power erupts out of Sabi, the same power Cabal has, and a spark of hope ignites. Together they may have a chance at escape, something no other Crier has done. Except a ruler hellbent on draining them of every last diamond tear isn’t their only hurdle. If they escape they’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth, if they survive the trek to safety. If they stay the ruler will leech them dry. Sabi would rather die trying than lie down and die, even if that means running away into even more danger.

MY THOUGHTS:  I'm trying to read more science fiction this year which is one of the reasons I requested this book.  Sabi is living in New York and knows something isn't quite right with her family, but little does she know how right she is - Sabi and her family are from another planet.  Sabi is the last born Diamond Crier - her tears become diamonds and are the way the current leaders of her planet maintain their wealth and power.  Trying to save Sabi, her family fled to Earth with her sister. However, eventually Sabi's unknown past catches up with her and before long, she is being held captive.  She meets Anya and Cabal and together they formulate a plan to escape.  However, Cabal is secretly aware their escape will start a planet-wide war.

I enjoyed learning more about Sabi's home planet and really felt sorry for Sabi.  Not only did she not know what she was or where she was from, she is out through torturous means to harvest her diamond tears and is hated by almost everyone who encounters her because her family's escape of brought on a "sickness" which took many lives.  I really liked the developing friendship between Anya and Sabi, which starts out rocky.  Sabi never fully trusts Cabal and I shared her instincts throughout the entirety of the book.  There is lots of actions in "Curse of Stars."  The book covers a lot of territory and is a good setup for future installments.  However, I never felt fully connected with the story and at times I felt it bogged down.  I will more than likely read the next book, but this isn't a tale where I'm dying for the next installment immediately.  If you like YA, science fiction and diverse characters, you may find "Curse of Stars" something you will enjoy.

RATING: 3 PAWS

 

Donna has been writing since she was in the single digits when she first realized she needed to do something about all the thoughts in her head. After a stint with bad poetry she finally found her way to novels, mainly of the young adult fantasy variety. When she's not cranking out more stories she works a regular 9 to 5, reads anywhere from 2 to 3 books a week, drinks copious amounts of tea, eats way too much, and makes her own beauty products because her skin turns into a sentient hive if she uses anything else. This is mostly because she lives in the desert where the air siphons water clean out of her. She lives with a man named Steve and several quadrupeds: three cats named Renfield, Sam, and Dean; and a MinPin named Malfoy.