{"id":36523,"date":"2019-09-06T22:54:44","date_gmt":"2019-09-07T02:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36523"},"modified":"2019-09-06T22:54:44","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T02:54:44","slug":"review-of-the-stars-we-steal-by-alexa-donne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36523","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Stars We Steal, by Alexa Donne"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Stars We Steal<\/em><\/p>\n

by Alexa Donne<\/p>\n

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 2020. 389 pages.
\nReview written July 12, 2019, from an advance reader copy picked up at ALA Annual Conference<\/p>\n

The Stars We Steal<\/em> is a science fiction retelling of Jane Austen\u2019s Persuasion<\/em>. Because I love Persuasion<\/em> so much, and because I love Diana Peterfreund\u2019s science fiction retelling of it, For Darkness Shows the Stars<\/a><\/em>, and because I loved Alexa Donne\u2019s science fiction retelling of Jane Eyre<\/a><\/em>, Brightly Burning<\/a><\/em>, I picked this one up eagerly after I got the advance reader copy at ALA Annual Conference.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid I was a little disappointed. It\u2019s still a fun romance, with an interesting science fiction setting, but it\u2019s not a terribly faithful retelling and doesn\u2019t have the poignancy of the original.<\/p>\n

Right off the bat, the difference in the age of the heroines made me less sympathetic. Anne Elliot in Persuasion<\/em>, was nineteen years old when she was in love with Frederick Wentworth and was persuaded to reject him. The story takes place seven years later. She is twenty-six years old and has no prospects for marriage. In The Stars We Steal<\/em>, Princess Leo Kolburg is nineteen years old. She was briefly engaged to Elliot Wentworth when she was sixteen, but her father and aunt opposed the engagement. I probably shouldn\u2019t be less sympathetic to younger love, but Leo seems to have much more chance for finding someone new than Anne Elliot did.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that aside, Leo is a princess living in a society centered in space \u2013 humans have taken to space while waiting for earth to warm up from a human-induced ice age. She\u2019s a princess, and lives with her father and sister \u2013 but they are running out of money, so Leo has rented out their ship while they stay with their aunt on the Scandinavian<\/em> and participate in the big once-every-five-years match event where all the eligible young royals and nobility get together to find matches.<\/p>\n

Now, Leo needs to find a match with money to save her family\u2019s ship. But she would rather get the money with her water filtration invention. Meanwhile, Elliot is now wealthy, captaining a ship of his own, and ready to find a match. He doesn\u2019t seem to mind Leo becoming fully aware of what she lost.<\/p>\n

I want to mention, without giving anything away, that this book has the first mention I\u2019ve seen in a YA novel of an asexual character. It\u2019s a nice answer to a marriage of convenience.<\/p>\n

The plot itself is somewhat convoluted. I didn\u2019t really believe some of the interactions and motivations.<\/p>\n

However, that said, I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book. It may not be my new favorite, but it was a whole lot of fun, and I hope Alexa Donne has more retellings in store for readers in the future, with more insight into this future society in the stars where the glittering wealthy try to forget about those who are struggling for space and food and teens figure out their response to that.<\/p>\n

alexadonne.com<\/a>
\nhmhbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/stars_we_steal.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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