In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown. Yaz’s people call it the Pit of the Missing and now it is drawing her in as she has always known it would.

To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.

Yaz’s difference tears her from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.

Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength and that the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people can be challenged.

Any new book by Mark Lawrence is cause for a huge celebration, as far as I’m concerned. The Girl and the Stars maybe doubly so, as it’s a return to the world of Abeth, from his Book of the Ancestor trilogy.

If I had to pick a current favorite novel of Lawrence’s, I think I’d still go with Red Sister. There was just something so special to me about that book…the exact right book at the exact right time. I fucking adore the whole Book of the Ancestor trilogy, but Red Sister will, I think, always hold that extremely special place in my heart.

The world of Abeth seemed absolutely vast & so it made a perfect kind of sense to learn Mark Lawrence was setting another trilogy there. Over the course of the Book of the Ancestor trilogy, we got more than a few glimpses into what the majority of Abeth was like.

And it was cold. So brutally cold. An entire world, being slowly consumed by ice. So, naturally…The Book of the Ice.

Oof. The Girl and the Stars was everything I had hoped it would be, and more. Just starting the book, that first page…I was completely flooded with ALL THE FEELS, thrilled to be back in this world, and so excited to see what kind of adventure Lawrence was going to take us on!

This is the story of Yaz, a sixteen-year-old member of the Ictha tribe. We learn a bit about the various tribes that are scattered all over the ice of Abeth. The Ictha are known for their strength & endurance above all, as they live in the coldest region of Abeth. One thing all the different tribes have in common is the Pit of the Missing. Every few years, all the tribes gather there for a brutal & macabre ceremony: children who are deemed broken are cast into a hole in the ice, never to be seen again.

Yaz is convinced she will be found broken. There’s something very different about her, and she feels that as a result, her life is at an end. She’s about to find out there’s a lot more to her world than she ever knew about, and that the thing that makes her “broken” might be what keeps her alive.

Look, there’s only so much I can get into plot-wise with this book & keep the review spoiler free. So…yeah. READ THE BOOK!!

The Girl and the Stars has one of the more memorable first chapters I’ve ever read. To the point where, after I had read it, I think I just closed the book and took a little break to gather myself. It’s fucking intense! I loved everything about this book, truly. There’s an incredibly vivid & diverse cast of characters that fill out this story, something Lawrence has been particularly great with of late. Queer characters & characters with disabilities feature prominently in the story.

Yaz is a phenomenal protagonist, and I loved her as soon as I met her. She’s very much figuring herself out at the moment, which lends a lot of coming-of-age flavor to this amazing fantasy story. But she is someone who is all-in for the people she loves, whether they are family or found family.

The magic in this world is one of my favorite aspects, and it’s really cool to see how it’s presented here as compared to the Book of the Ancestor. Things that are familiar, but are explained & understood a bit differently by the characters in this part of the world.

The Girl and the Stars is another example of why Mark Lawrence is one of my very favorite fantasy authors. He’s such a gifted storyteller, and this is a book that hooks the reader instantly. The world he immerses you in is stark, and dangerous, and hauntingly beautiful. I have no doubt that Book of the Ice will be a masterpiece of a trilogy, and The Girl and the Stars is an absolutely stunning beginning.

Endless thanks to Ace Books for sending me a copy!! The Girl and the Stars releases April 21st!!