A Dark and Hollow Star

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This quartet all have plenty of their own problems – and most of their stories don’t even intersect in any real way for at least the first half of the novel. But the thoughtful, deft way they all come together is both entertaining and natural, and you’ll find yourself rooting for all of them by the end. A Dark and Hollow Star: Complex plotting and worldbuilding Arlo Jarsdel is an ironborn: part human, part fae and not particularly blessed in the magic department. She’s gentle and sweet and quite content with a regular – or as regular as possible when you’re part fae and best friends / cousins with a prince – life, she’s loveably naïve and awkward at times and struggles with feeling useless in a society where magical ability is everything. I adored her character right from the start and found her easy to root for and relate to and loved seeing her character grow and develop during the book as she realised her worth. There were so many others. In all of Nausicaä’s very long life, she had never encountered so many of magic’s children in one place. The crowd of them stretched far in almost every direction, faces of all shapes and sizes peeking out of the foliage and trees. There were centaurs, goblins, brownies, imps and sprites. There were redcaps, with their crimson-stained hats and vicious scythes, which glinted in the moonlight. There were kelpies dripping sodden weeds, lilies strangled in their manes. Littered throughout the branches above were crows that weren’t really crows at all, but sluagh—wandering souls of the violent dead who preyed on those soon to die. In this world, Fae and faeries also live in the human world, while of course, not allowing the humans to discover that magical creatures do in fact exist. (glamour is truly amazing😌) Eight proud fae from the Four Courts of Folk made up this panel of judges. One each from the factions of Seelie Winter, Summer, Autumn, and Spring—those folk who drew power from day and most valued the qualities of grace and responsibility in their people. One each from the factions of UnSeelie Winter, Summer, Autumn, and Spring—those folk who drew power from night and were known for their indulgence and their cunning.

The Hollow Star Saga by Ashley Shuttleworth - Goodreads

I mean, I can’t even begin to describe my euphoria when I first heard the premise of A Dark and Hollow Star. (Though if you want some idea, please scroll to the bottom of my review and take a gander at my yelling and spluttering!)While the Seelie Court's base is in Nevada—run by their *only* Queen Riadne, the Unseelie Court are the ones who have true power, living in good ol' Toronto, with their High King Azurean. She could take the boon of common citizenship and allow her life to get on with itself as originally planned. She wouldn’t hold the glorious rank of fae, or be allowed to study at fae universities, or take a position in the palace any higher than general help. But she’d at least have a place in both her parents’ worlds, and with all her memories intact. Marriages between fae and humans had to be approved by the Courts, but in this approval was a caveat: if the marriage ended, the human party had to forfeit what they’d learned of the magical community. It had been Arlo’s father’s decision to file for divorce. He’d given up his memories freely because, as far as Arlo understood, he’d grown a vast contempt for magic and those who had anything to do with it.

Hollow Star Wiki | Fandom Vehan Lysterne | Hollow Star Wiki | Fandom

Eternally grateful to Simon & Schuster Canada for bestowing upon me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster Canada for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to read my most anticipated 2021 release as an advance copy.I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your omniscience that her mother is niece to my father, the High King? Arlo is human. She is also fae.” This was better than nothing, and despite the things Arlo had inherited from her father—her burnt-red hair, her underwhelming height, and the sturdy width of her build—Celadon had never once treated her as anything less than a true Viridian. It filled Arlo with teary relief to see Celadon, blithe as ever, wafting into the room in his tight jeans and crisp sage button-down, as usual looking like he’d just walked off the set of some glamorous photo shoot. Thalo and Celadon looked eerily alike, despite the fact they were only first cousins. Her mother looked so much younger than her forty-two years, and with the same twilight-glow complexion, willowy height, russet hair, and lovely features as Celadon, it was a fair assumption to make that they were siblings, when in fact it was the High King and Thalo’s mother—the princess Cyanine—who were brother and sister.

A DARK AND HOLLOW STAR | Kirkus Reviews A DARK AND HOLLOW STAR | Kirkus Reviews

You have, as our law dictates, a choice: You may submit to your human heritage and surrender your knowledge of the Courts’ existence. Should you wish it, however, your sufficient inheritance of magic affords you the option of keeping this knowledge and retaining your citizenship in the UnSeelie Court of Spring. Your fae status will not be recognized, but you will be permitted a place in the magical community.” In the eyes of the High Council, the only thing that mattered was that half of Arlo’s heritage was human. The fact that the other half had come directly from a royal fae family— the royal family, the family that currently sat as head of the magical community above even the heads of all the other Courts—was actually a mark against her. The fae were quite proud of their undiluted bloodlines, and the very long line of the Viridian family comprised only that—fae. There were no faerie relatives—those folk who possessed some animal or natural trait like bark for skin or leaves for hair. The Viridians certainly had no human relatives either, not until Arlo’s mother had married one, and then shortly after had given birth to Arlo. At least Arlo herself looked similar to the fae; she shuddered to think how much worse she’d be treated right now if her magical heritage came from anything else.

Be that as it may, this counts for very little where Miss Jarsdel’s power is concerned.” Arlo’s stomach took a dive for the floor. Gaining momentum, Chandra continued, “Her father’s blood dilutes too much. She has magic, yes, but so little of it that she may as well not have it at all. While our deliberation might seem like prejudice to you, Your Highness, you must understand that there is much more for Miss Jarsdel to gain in pursuing her humanity than there is for her in chasing the formidable shadows of her mother’s family.” If that isn’t enough to satisfy your misgivings, let me remind you of something else: it counts a great deal that your suppliant today is the blood of House Viridian. I, myself, as an example, was a late bloomer. Me, the faeborn son of High King Azurean. I didn’t begin to demonstrate any affinity for air—that element of my Court—until Maturity hit nearly two years ago, when I turned nineteen. And it was only months ago that I discovered I possessed a Gift in addition to that affinity.”

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth | Waterstones

Celadon kept Arlo’s wrist in his grasp but angled around once again to face the stands. “Councillor Sylvain,” he returned, the reply spoken light as air, yet somehow just as gravid as the mood of the room. They hadn’t said it outright, but this was the closest they’d come in this entire meeting to announcing their verdict—to condemning Arlo to a fate she’d never choose if her life were actually up to her.Arlo, a half-human/half-Fae girl (known as an “ironblood”) who desperately wants a life in the magical world that looks down on her for her slightly less than pure birth. An introvert who doesn’t believe she’s anything special, she’ll find herself drawn into a dangerous mystery involving other ironborn teens suddenly going missing. Working to conceal her wince, Arlo forced her gaze level with the Council’s collective stare. Her eyes—as bright and hard as jade—were one of the few things about Arlo that made it impossible for anyone to refute her ties to the Viridian family. But in moments like these, she wished she’d inherited her mother’s skill for cutting those green eyes into a glare.