Book Review: The Chaos of Stars

Title: The Chaos of Stars
Author: Kiersten White
Genre/s: Young Adult, Paranormal, Fantasy, Mythology Romance, Stand Alone
Released Date: September 10, 2013
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Synopsis:

Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal.

Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

My Thoughts:

“Soap operas got nothing on my family history.”

Do you think your family was so chaotic? Well, that's nothing compared to this. What would you feel if you're a mortal child of an immortal Egyptian god and goddess who doesn't want you to live forever like them? Unfair, right? That was exactly what Isadora felt. So, when an opportunity to leave her chaotic immortal family arise, she took it immediately without thinking twice. She thought, she can finally escape the looming darkness in Egypt and be free in the sun-kissed sky of California but she couldn't have been more wrong. Because it seems like darkness was following her everywhere and it feels more menacing than before.

Chaos of Stars is the first novel I read, written by Kiersten White (*shields self from flying tomatoes*) and definitely, it won't be the last. Kiersten's writing style and Isadora's voice sucked me immediately into the story and it didn't let me go until Isadora finished telling me, her story. It was intriguing, it was funny, it was swoony and it has a lot of life lessons about family and love.

I had to admit, my knowlegde over Egyptian Mythology is close to nonexistent. But thanks to this book, I didn't only meet the gods and goddesses of this culture but I also get a lot of inside information about their personalities and history.

Isadora was a really cool chic, gifted with great aesthetics in interior designing. But she has a pretty huge love and parental issues that hinder her from becoming completely happy. She felt like she was only created for the sole purpose of worshipping her parents in order for them to retain their physical form. She felt unimportant, disposable like the other mortal children that Isis gave birth to. And I understand why she's very upset. I mean, I'd be upset too if my parents already built me a tomb, patiently waiting for me to lay in it.

But kidding aside, Isadora mirrors every teenager who felt and still feels unimportant, unnoticed, and unloved. She emulates the eagerness of every teenager who wants to find their own freedom and explore the world without the rules and boundaries of their parents. It was a dilemma that everyone can relate to and I think, a lot of teens and tweens will easily identify themselves with her (including me).

I also love how Isadora's form of rebellion wasn't as wild and extreme as I expected unlike the real rebellion teenagers do today. Her rebelliousness only revolves around eating a lot of sugar and other sweet stuff, drinking lots of soda, cutting her hair, higlighting it with green, and hanging out with a Greek boy(a really swoon-worthy Greek boy!). 

And speaking of that Greek boy, Ry was dreamy. He likes to write epic poetry and is a self-proclaimed "living Google Map" when it comes to the best restaurants in San Diego. He likes Isadora and it was obvious, the feeling was mutual but she refuse to accept it. She thinks love was a waste of time because it doesn't last forever. She believed, she didn't need someone to complete her but actually, she's just afraid to give her love to someone and be abandoned in the end, broken and vulnerable. But Ry was very persistent to change Isadora's perspective about love. He was turned down a few times but he didn't quit until he succeeded in his goal. 

I love the other characters too, Tyler, Scott and Sirius. They add hilarity and a few insightful comments about Isadora's character. They showed her that it doesn't matter whether love last forever or not, what matter is the love you have right now and making the most out of it. Sirius, also explained to Isadora how death is not the end and that mortality is the best gift two immortal gods can give to someone they love.

Overall, Chaos of Stars is an amazing read, full of life lessons and swoony romance. I will highly recommend it to everyone who likes mythology, mystery and contemporary fiction because this book blends all that into one amazing story.

My Rating 

*A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange of honest review. (Thanks, HarperCollins!)