Author: Julie Eshbaugh
Genre: Young Adult, Prehistoric
Source: HarperTeen via Edelweiss
Goodreads
In the sequel to Ivory and Bone—the prehistoric fantasy novel that New York Times bestselling author Amie Kaufman described as a “richly crafted world of life-and-death stakes”—the story shifts to Mya’s viewpoint as vengeful adversaries force her to flee the life she once knew.Review by Nara
After surviving the chaotic battle that erupted after Lo and the Bosha clan attacked, now Mya is looking ahead to her future with Kol. All the things that once felt so uncertain are finally falling into place. But the same night as Kol and Mya’s betrothal announcement, Mya’s brother Chev reveals his plan to marry his youngest sister Lees to his friend Morsk. The only way to avoid this terrible turn of events, Morsk informs Mya when he corners her later, is for Mya to take Lees’ place and marry him herself.
Refusing to marry anyone other than her beloved, and in an effort to protect her sister, Mya runs away to a secret island with Lees. And though it seems like the safest place to hide until things back home blow over, Mya soon realizes she’s been followed. Lurking deep in the recesses of this dangerous place are rivals from Mya’s past whose thirst for revenge exceeds all reason.
With the lives of her loved ones on the line, Mya must make a move before the enemies of her past become the undoing of her future.
*Minor spoilers for Ivory and Bone*
Obsidian and Stars follows on from where Ivory and Bone left off, with Mya and Kol looking forward to a future together. Of course, instead of the happy ever after that might have been expected after the end of the first novel, there are a few barriers that arise, with tensions between various clans rising.
Unfortunately, the main downfall of the novel is that it is very slow. The plot itself was surprisingly not that interesting considering there actually were a fair few things going on. I feel like that was because of how the book was written, with there not being much tension built up before major events occur. So while there were things going on that should have been exciting, instead I read the novel with a sense of detachment from the action.
On the good side, the book was in first person from Mya's point of view rather than second person from Kol's point of view addressed to Mya. I'm not the biggest fan of second person, so I found the novel easier to read than book one.
It looks like there is another book in this series to end it up in a trilogy. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be continuing with this series. While I liked the first book, the novelty of having a book set in the prehistoric era wore off pretty quickly with the second novel.
It was okay
RatingsOverall: 4/10
Plot: 2/5
Romance: 2.5/5
Writing: 3/5
World Building: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
