Book Review - Starcrossed

Title: Starcrossed
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Release Date: 3 Jun 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0330529730


Synopsis
When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton sees Lucas Delos for the first time she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands.
With an ancient curse making them loathe one another, Lucas and Helen have to keep their distance. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen . . .

My Review
I saw this book in the shop and it was on a 3 for 2 along with Divergent, so I decided to give it a go. The cover is initially what pulled me in. It reminded me a little bit of ‘Across The Universe’ by Beth Revis.
The blurb was short but very intriguing and immediately grabbed my interest.

Helen has always known she was different. Tall and extremely strong for her age, she tries to blend in with the crowd, but when the Delos family turns up her whole life changes. The first time Helen spots Lucas she wants to kill him, something inside her boils over and she sees red. Lucas and his family hold a secret and Helen must try to work with them and not against them. Fate seems to want to keep them apart, but love is stronger than anything else, or so they hope.

At 512 pages I thought this book would take me a couple of days to read, but I finished it in one. The story starts quite slow for me, there is a lot of back story and getting to know Helen that maybe isn’t all necessary, I think it’s there so you can really see the changes in her when her world turns upside down, but it just seemed a little bit too much. But saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

There were a lot of characters in the story, Lucas and Helen are the protagonists but there is a horde around them. Lucas’ family is massive and occasionally I was confused as to who was his brother/father/uncle/cousin but there are helpful reminders throughout, just a word or phrase from another character that tells you.

Helen discovers that she is a scion, a descendant of a Greek God, and learns to control the powers that come with that. There was a lot about Greek legends, and I really enjoyed the history of it, the author had clearly done her research and it added to the feel of the book.

Helen is a strong character and I love the way she comes to terms with her powers, in some books the characters just seem to wake up with powers and just get on with it, but Helen has doubts and questions, and we get to go on the journey with her and see her grow.

The storyline was very well thought out and I found it hard to tear myself away, I had to know what would happen, and if the star-crossed lovers could ever be together.

The ending is left on a bit of a cliff-hanger and is clearly set for a sequel and I desperately want to know what will happen to them all.

Packed with action, adventure, magic, love and friendship, this book has everything you could want.


My Rating

I would give this book 7.5/10, well written and researched and a page-turner, but a lot of explanation and description that may not have been necessary which slowed down the plot a bit. Still a very good read and I look forward to more.