The Brilliance of Stars. (Jack and Ivy #1) J'nell Ciesielski. 2022. [November] 352 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: She kissed Jack hard on the mouth, then aimed her Beretta over his shoulder and fired a round of shots down the medieval corridor of Dobryzov Castle.
The Brilliance of Stars is a spy-thriller-romance with hints of the supernatural. It is set during the midst of the first world war or the "great war" or the "war to end all wars." It is published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher, so I assumed that it would be Christian fiction.
Ivy and Philip are orphans continually down on their luck. Though not biologically related, they've been there for each other in their darkest of days. And their luck changes--for better or worse--when they are together on the streets. They stumble across something that could potentially prove deadly... a very private conversation with spies in a super secret spy organization. But, the two are taken back to head quarters and are essentially recruited. (Because why not??? Homeless orphans with no education are prime potential spies.) Philip is drawn to the weapons and inventions and the fighting action--or potential thereof. And Ivy, well, Ivy is drawn to the intellectual aspects of it. She'll learn to read and write English, and pick up a dozen plus foreign languages in just a year or possibly two. All the while packing away history, literature, and folklore for multiple cultures. She'll need quick recall of all the above for her super-secret missions in warring countries.
Jack Vale, our super-dreamy hero, is training both Philip and Ivy. Though he's falling truly, madly, deeply in love with Ivy. (Though pretending not to.) When they are deemed field ready, he'll be supervising them both. The three of them will form part of a team...and most of their mission will occur in a war-torn, toppling Russia.
Their spy missions have absolutely nothing to do with World War I OR with the Russian Revolution. Their spy missions instead have completely everything to do with super secret spy organizations with occult ties. So think MARVEL MOVIES or ALIAS. The potential 'supernatural' connection has more to do with vampire folklore and the occult than to anything else. I also feel the author was inspired by this Marvel-esque super soldier idea.
I was drawn to this one potentially because of WORLD WAR I and, you know, actual history. Whether the focus was on World War I in general OR the Russian Revolution, it didn't matter so much. But I wasn't interested in a spy/thriller that was focused more on occult super secret evil organizations. So the book began to lose me when it went that direction.
There is so much potential for stories set in the real world in Russia during 1917 that I didn't need this other.
The romance I felt was a little heavy-handed. The dialogue was very cheesy. Which might work for some readers. No judgment. But it gave off Anakin and Padme vibes. Again, just my opinion. And to be published by a Christian publisher, I felt it was a little too physically graphic. Granted, they were married. But still. That doesn't mean readers need so much information about intimate moments.
The writing wasn't exactly my cup of tea.
- Jack gritted his teeth as fury boiled to his lips.
- Blood trickled from the slash angled across her bicep, the bright red drops marring her white skin and glowing in the campfire light.
- The body that belonged to the voice stepped out of the darkness, unshrouding itself from a memory of billowing smoke, panicked screams ripping through a castle, and a single bullet lodging into skull and brain.
- Balaur uprooted himself like a mushroom from its mud pit and walked to the reindeer, crooning low in his throat.
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