Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood
Series: Inherit the Stars #1
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Three royal houses ruling three interplanetary systems are on the brink of collapse, and they must either ally together or tear each other apart in order for their people to survive.
Asa is the youngest daughter of the house of Fane, which has been fighting a devastating food and energy crisis for far too long. She thinks she can save her family’s livelihood by posing as her oldest sister in an arranged marriage with Eagle, the heir to the throne of the house of Westlet. The appearance of her mother, a traitor who defected to the house of Galton, adds fuel to the fire, while Asa also tries to save her sister Wren’s life . . . possibly from the hands of their own father.
But as Asa and Eagle forge a genuine bond, will secrets from the past and the urgent needs of their people in the present keep them divided?
I am a stupid reckless child. A disappointment. The shame of our House, my House, whom I’ve just doomed to starve.
Yep. Yep. That’s what I think of you too, girl.
This book is more opera than space opera. As in it puts me to sleep within 5 minutes.
The main problem I have with this book is the main character (irritating), the setting (underdeveloped), and the romance (I have more chemistry with my gynecologist).
The main character is weak. This isn’t a true failing. Characters should have flaws. They should mature throughout the book, their weakness turning into strength. The main character in this book is tiresome. Childlike. She isn’t a brat, she’s just infuriatingly insufferable. She cries. She wails. She is a doormat. She makes stupid decisions. She is weak, soft-hearted, despite being a daughter of the house of Fane (a fact that she repeats roughly 1004890384 times to emphasize the fact that she has to be strong – that alleged strength does not show). She babbles. Her sister says it. I see it.
God, all you do is babble, I can hear Emmie say.
She lets people speak over her. Half the things she says are cut off, and it is annoying as fuck.
“But he didn’t,” I say. “It was—”
“You?” Lord Westlet pushes off the cabinet and crosses to the ornate mirror on the far wall. Adjusts his collar. His face is reflected large against the backdrop of us. “The Heir was an asset. You are not. Therefore, we must convince the Electorate that you are.”
“The Elec—?”
She is an idiot. She fakes being her sister to get married, knowing the dire consequences of her action, and when her new in-laws think of a way to “spin” that marriage, all Asa can do is protest that that’s IMPOSSIBLE. Girl, you stupid.
“Love letters. Last year, while Eagle rebuilt his strength in the medicenter, you two wrote almost constantly.”
“Wrote?” I ask. “I wouldn’t have wrote.”
Her lips thin as Eagle straightens, and spiders dance under my skin.
“I’d have been there, at the medicenter. You can’t just write. What if the medics kept him drugged or messed up his meds or—”
“Enough.”
The world building is incomplete. Underdeveloped. We know there are three ruling families. We know this is IN SPACE, Y’ALL. That’s pretty much it. I know nothing about the planets. I know nothing about the history. This book is concentrated around the main character and the events surrounding her and nothing else. It is an incredible waste of an opportunity to weave a new world.
The romance? Nonexistent. There’s hardly anything between the MC and her love interest.
“Should we also make passionate love in the woods?” asks Eagle with no emotion at all.
And then all of a sudden there’s…
“I love you.” Ragged and teary. “I love you like everything.”
The romance between Anakin and Amidala was more realistic, and that’s saying something.
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