Woven in Moonlight was one of my favorite reads of 2020, I was utterly overwhelmed by the beautiful descriptions of life in Inkasisa and the magic was unlike anything I’d ever read. So of course, Written in Starlight was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 but unfortunately it just didn’t live up for me.
Catalina, despite being the Condesa, was weak and wishy washy and everything Ximena accused her of. I did not enjoy her as the main character of this journey. She was self-centered, selfish and downright rude to everyone she encountered. For the first 75% of the story she didn’t care at all about anything but her own needs and goals. She wanted her kingdom back and would step on anyone to do it. Hello, 1500’s colonizer mentality, her goals and claims to the throne were the only thing that mattered and she’d sacrifice anyone she could to get there. She does have a lot of character growth in the last 25% but I was already so over her and her nonsense that it didn’t redeem the story for me. Ximena was just a better, more well-rounded character who was more fun to adventure with.
Now, the one thing I will say is that the writing is still breathtakingly beautiful. I felt like I was in the vibrant jungle with Catalina and Manuel on their search for Paititi. The adventure part of the story was entirely thrilling and fun, I was with them through every step of running from jaguars and caiman, escaping blood sucking butterflies and solving temple escape rooms.
The ending was a letdown for me, I was really expecting a stronger tie-in with the first book and that was just not there. The epilogue felt like the editors said, please tie this back to book one, and it was nothing more than a post-it note to remind you that these characters had once known each other. If this story had been written as a stand alone I perhaps would have enjoyed it more but the anticipation of a big meet up of stories one and two left me wanting in the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Thanks to Page Street Kids for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
What’s the last sequel that just didn’t live up for you?
~ Dana
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