Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts
Series: The Guardians #1
Rating: ★★★☆☆
To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…
Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Her visions lead her to the Greek island of Corfu, where five others have been lured to seek the fire star. Sasha recognizes them, because she has drawn them: a magician, an archaeologist, a wanderer, a fighter, a loner. All on a quest. All with secrets.
Sasha is the one who holds them together—the seer. And in the magician, Bran Killian, she sees a man of immense power and compassion. As Sasha struggles with her rare ability, Bran is there to support her, challenge her, and believe in her.
But Sasha and Bran are just two of the six. And they all must all work together as a team to find the fire star in a cradle of land beneath the sea. Over their every attempt at trust, unity, and love, a dark threat looms. And it seeks to corrupt everything that stands in its way of possessing the stars…
So, after finishing Year One and being re-invigorated to read Nora Roberts I promptly started this series, hoping for more of the same. This is what always got me going on Nora Roberts in the past. A good book goads me into reading everything else she has. It was nice to feel that again.
This book, unlike Year One, didn’t give me anything really different. Nothing new. And like I’ve said before, I like that on some level. That I can slide into any Nora Roberts trilogy and know exactly what I’m going to get. It’s comfortable. Like coming home. I enjoyed this book – and the series – reading through all three in a couple of days. But it never gave me that … feeling. You know the one, the one that makes you anxious and enamoured. The one that pulls you into the story, the world, and makes you invested, intrigued, and in love. The one that makes you think about it, really think, add it to a favorites list, and pops into your head years later.
I didn’t get that here. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years I’ll have to come back and eat my words – saying how much this book/series has popped into my head, but I don’t really believe that. I’m making a fairly educated guess that, like many Nora Roberts’ books, this book/series will end up mingling with the hundreds* of other Nora Roberts’ books I’ve read that don’t really stand out and don’t really make an impact.
I think this series is a good series, and a nice example of Nora Roberts. But it would probably work better for someone that hasn’t read the majority of her backlist. Or someone that’s taken a break from her books for a good, long while.
Onto some specifics. I did really enjoy how the group came together. It was fascinating to me to watch them meet, learn each other, and become not only a team, but a family throughout. The love/romance seemed a little … rushed. Maybe. Or maybe it was just that everything else was going full steam ahead, and whenever you add a prognosticator to the mix, there’s bound to be some skimming over of some developments. So, while I loved Sasha’s journey and character-arc, I didn’t love what it did for the rest of the story. I liked how we really got to see the effects of someone trying to live with visions, ones that come true, and believe in themselves after spending a lifetime doing just the opposite.
Bran was a pretty uber-powerful witch – I swear, the witches get more and more powerful in Nora Roberts’ books! – but I could only think of Bran from the Kate Daniels’ series (Magic Burns specifically), so I kept waiting for him to call Sasha “Dovey.” I did manage to get past that by the 4th or 5th chapter, thankfully.
Also, there are some pretty big obstacles set up for our intrepid couples. Couples, because we know that when six people come together in a Nora Roberts’ book there’s bound to be three couples that result from it. Have no fear, like all Nora Roberts’ books, the series ends happily. Even if there is a bit of deus-ex-machina in it.
I finished this book without the intensity that I finished Year One, but I still enjoyed reading it. It’s a decent, happy, comfortable read. And that’s what I like about Nora Roberts.
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