The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Menagerie
Published by Random House Children's Books on June 9th 2015
Genres: Action & Adventure, General, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 368
Format: ARC
From RACHEL VINCENT, New York Times bestselling author, comes the first book in a new series about a girl who must join forces with rogue exorcists to save her sister and, ultimately, humanity.Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she’s too busy trying to actually survive. Her town’s population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she’ll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie’s sin has put her in serious trouble. To keep them both alive, Nina will need to put her trust in Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can’t survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.
The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent is one of those books that immediately hooked me and I couldn’t put it down until I knew exactly what was going on. Vincent blends the aspects of a paranormal into a dystopian world and she does a wonderful job of it. I absolutely can’t wait to get the next book (yes…I realize how much longer I have to wait) of this series because she has hooked me with the story and the characters. I am going to do what I can to not spoil anything in this one.
I have to say, Vincent did an awesome job of developing this world Nina lives in. One where the Holy Proclamation established the Unified Church as the “sole political and spiritual authority”. With the church in charge, they determine who is worthy of the limited souls available and they also determine who needs to be punished due to breaking any of their rules. As we get into the story, we find out just how much control the church has over everything.
Nina is just trying to survive and keep her sister safe. Since their mother hasn’t really been involved in their lives for a while, when Nina finds out the reason why her sister has been acting weird and then skipped out of her annual physical, she needs to figure out how to fix things. Before she even has a chance, things go completely wrong. Nina finds out why her mother has been so distant and the mysterious boy who saved Nina from a degenerate that morning is the one to save her from the Exorcists that ended up coming to their house.
As the story moves forward, we learn quite a bit about who Nina is and how she fits into this group of people that the boy, Finn, brings her into. Her main goal is to find and save her sister but as she learns more about herself, she also has a bigger role in the whole scheme of things. As an Exorcist, she is destined to save the world from the demons who are there and it’s because of who/what she is that the church wants to find her.
There is a bit of a twist here that I wasn’t expecting. I’m not going to say what it is but it was something I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. It creates some odd dynamics and with that said, it also helps move the story along and gives Nina (and the group) an edge in their fight against the demons.
As far as characters go, I really enjoyed how Vincent created and developed them. Nina is a loyal and smart girl. She will do anything for the people she loves and she wants to protect her sister as much as she possibly can. It was great to learn what it really meant to be an Exorcist right alongside Nina and I loved seeing the change in her as she learned and embraced the things she could do.
Finn is the boy interest and I really liked him. But really, he is more than just the boy interest. He plays a pivotal role in the story and understands how weird his situation really is but unfortunately, he doesn’t have any answers. He even struggles with it at times, but he also uses his power for good…that’s right I said it. He is willing to take risks for those he cares about and as the story progresses, Nina becomes one of those people.
I loved the secondary characters, Reese, Grayson, Maddock and I suppose Devi. Including Finn, they had all become a family and did what they needed to in order to survive but also find others like them in order to do what they could to get rid of the degenerates.
Now…I am probably not even doing the story any justice. I admit it – I have only touched on a few of the things going on and there are still a bunch of things I didn’t even talk about because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone. Trust me when I say you need to read this book. It has demons, action, romance, and wonderful characters all mixed into a great story that will keep you turning the pages to find out what will happen next. Definitely add this one to your tbr list…you won’t regret it!
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
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