The Stardust Grail
Ratings18
Average rating3.9
Save one world. Doom her own.
From the acclaimed author of The Deep Sky comes a thrilling anti-colonial space heist to save an alien civilization.
Maya Hoshimoto was once the best art thief in the galaxy. For ten years, she returned stolen artifacts to alien civilizations—until a disastrous job forced her into hiding. Now she just wants to enjoy a quiet life as a graduate student of anthropology, but she’s haunted by persistent and disturbing visions of the future.
Then an old friend comes to her with a job she can’t refuse: find a powerful object that could save an alien species from extinction. Except no one has seen it in living memory, and they aren’t the only ones hunting for it.
Maya sets out on a breakneck quest through a universe teeming with strange life and ancient ruins. But the farther she goes, the more her visions cast a dark shadow over her team of friends new and old. Someone will betray her along the way. Worse yet, in choosing to save one species, she may condemn humanity and Earth itself.
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I wanted to like more because I really enjoyed the author's first book, The Deep Sky but this one just didn't really work for me. The premise was solid but the worldbuilding was a bit a mess and the characters felt a little flat. It also doesn't help that I've been rereading the Expanse series and that series does many of the same elements - interstellar gate travel, mysterious builders, a badass former solider - better in every way.
Charming book. It does a good job of providing an alien perspective that feels both approachable and very...alien. There were some major plot holes, and the main character is a little too good at everything, but I ultimately loved the characters and wanted to see how everything worked out.
A sci-fi story that thrives in the gray areas of morality, friendship, and the reality of ever changing history.
I really enjoyed this read. The different cultures and worlds felt established and unique. The pacing was great, the stakes are appropriately high, and there's a real emotional depth lying underneath all the action. Big themes of the self vs. the whole, historical blind spots, and whether there are ever truly good guys and bad guys.
