Review: Dark Star by Bethany Frenette

3.5 stars

Wow, this book is absolutely not your normal definition of superhero book.

Audrey has always been idolizing her mother, the superhero Morning Star. It’s bad enough that her mother doesn’t seem very keen to have Audrey following her path, but it’s even worse when her mother’s sidekick, Leon, keep tugging her patience. Strange things are happening in the city with high school girls gone missing, but Audrey’s mother refuses to give out any information to her. When Audrey’s friend is falling victim and almost dead, Audrey decides to take matters into her own hands and uncovers what her mother and Leon has been fighting all this time. But like Gram said, there are some places it’s best not to look…

The writing in Dark Star is great and very easy to follow. I also like the relationship between Audrey and her mother. Although they fight at times because Audrey’s mother tends to keep her in dark, it’s clear that both of them love each other very much. I like how Audrey keeps first aid kit everywhere in their house because her mother doesn’t want to get Audrey worry when she comes home injured. Leon, with her cookies smell, flour in his hair, and ironed shirt also get some pieces of my heart too.

However, I felt like the characters in this book are not used wisely. They have just the right characteristics to make them even more awesome: a bit reckless and justice-must-be-served heroine, a vigilante superhero as her mother, a mysterious sidekick, stern grandmother, and supporting best friends, but I feel like I didn’t know them much better in the end. I also wished for more romance in air because really, Audrey needs more time to talk to Leon without getting into banter and later, fight.

In overall, Dark Star is a good read but it’s not something that I expected. Although this book gives sense of comic-like superhero, it’s nothing near. It’s a great book but with the superhero thing stamped in the synopsis, I think I raised my expectation bar too high. I think devoted fans of paranormal stories (who can endure slow pacing in their books) would fall in love with this book. I hope there would be a sequel because for me, Dark Star felt more like an opening for an enjoyable series.

But that night I lay awake thinking of girls lured out into the sweet night air, the darkness that awaited them, vanishing lights and a rising wind. Tricia and Kelly and those other nameless girls, bound to me by a shared ancestry and by the cuts above our heels. And when I slept, my dreams were filled with blood.

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I rate this book: 

Three cups of tea. I like it.  Recommended to read in spare time.