Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Synopsis:
All Clarisse wants is to be free. Her life has been governed by abuse, control, and the Church of Light. Tired of ritual exorcisms and condemnations, she’s at the brink of exploding.
Her power is a curse—the reason she can’t be free. Clarisse never asked to be in the center of a centuries-long battle between Terrence, a Reaper-wolf gone rogue, and Death, himself.
If she has to spend one more minute under the controlling thumb of her parents and the Church of Light, she’ll die.
In order to escape, she must choose a side: Death is convinced that mortals wielding power is a recipe for disaster and damnation. Terrence believes magic is a mortal’s key to freedom, enlightenment… maybe immortality.
Will she follow the light of the stars? Or will she let herself fall into the grasp of the shadows?
Trigger/Content Warnings: graphic depictions of abuse, violence, and mental manipulation
Review:
Huge thank you to Eris Marriott and Book of Matches Media for sharing this e-arc with me! The following review is my honest opinion and reflects my reading experience.
I hadn’t heard anything about Remember the Stars prior to working with Book of Matches Media. I was super intrigued by the cover and synopsis. This cover is definitely one of my favorites. It is seriously gorgeous!
Remember the Stars is a young adult dark fantasy story that tells the story of Clarisse, a young woman with magic who has been abused her entire life. It is the first book in a new series called Tales of the Selyento. This story was told in two parts . . . the first is Clarisse’s journey to free herself from the abusers in her life + the second is Clarisse trying to decide what path to take and who to trust. I will say everyone needs to take the time to read the trigger/content warnings prior to reading Remember the Stars. I have included the warnings with the synopsis and at the end of my review.
One of the reasons I was so intrigued by the blurb for this book was the darker themes and cult-like elements of the story. It sounds so weird, but I am totally fascinated by true crime and cults. I thought that Eris Marriott did an excellent job of incorporating the cult (The Church of Light) into the story. She did such a great job showing the manipulation of the cult and all of the people/creatures in Clarisse’s life. There were definitely scenes that were difficult to read . . . again please check out the trigger/content warnings. I will say that I struggled with Clarisse and Terrence’s relationship. The whole thing felt very toxic and full of manipulation, but I think that was the author’s intent.
One of the most unique parts of Remember the Stars is Clarisse’s magic. It sounds so pretty!! It also seems to have no limit in terms of what her magic can do. Although, there are consequences for magic. This is a major part of Clarisse’s journey and it definitely kept me on my toes!
I have a couple of qualms . . . actually just one major one . . . the arachnid centaur demon creature. That is something I definitely did not need in my life lol. The author did too good of a job depicting that image!
Tales of an Avid Reader 