On the Bookshelf

From the Back Cover
Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning....

Warning: This review contains some spoilers.

I did not dislike Stargazer as much as I did Evernight but I remain far from being a fan of the series.

In Evernight Gray tried to draw a comparison between the themes in her work, particularly pertaining to Raquel and Erich, and Bram Stoker's Dracula by having the book and it's flaws discussed in a class. This time around, they discuss Romeo and Juliet and Bianca wonders if her relationship with Lucas is the same kind of foolish love shared by Shakespeare's famous "star-crossed" lovers, risking everything for someone that she hardly knows. I came to feel that, in regards to the relationships in the book, Gray sets up a lot and then doesn't follow through. Bianca has doubts about Lucas and there is conflict between them but everything of course turns out fine between them in the end. The attraction between Balthazar and Bianca is explored but just as it seems like it might genuinely develop into something the nature of their relationship abruptly changes to make way for Bianca and Lucas to be "true loves" again.

In Evernight the twists were more difficult to guess but not necessarily appreciated for it. In Stargazer most of the twists can be seen from a mile off. One wonders why Bianca cannot figure out the obvious and when she does it is only when the information practically drops in her lap. Readers may find Bianca quite dislikable because of this and some of her poorer choices.

On the positive side, Stargazer contained much more action which was much more welcome than sitting in on more classes and cattiness in the hallways. We got enough of that in the first book. Support characters also received much more development, adding more depth to Gray's world. Vic, for example, is not just the funny guy in the group but he is actually pretty smart and philosophical.

I doubt that I will actively seek to read the next instalment in the series, Hourglass, but seeing as this book showed some improvement on the previous, in hope that the next book is improved yet again, I may read it if it shows up available at the library.

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