{Early Review} Starling by Lesley Livingston

Starling by Lesley Livingston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: YA Fantasy
THEME: Mythology / Romance
RECEIVED: ALA
AUTHORS BLOG: Lesley Livingston's Blog

BLURB:

"Love is just the beginning... of the end."

Mason Starling is a champion fencer for Gosforth Academy, but she’s never had to fight for her life. Until now. When a ferocious storm rips through Manhattan and unleashes terrifying creatures onto Gosforth’s campus, Mason barely escapes alive. Without help from the mysterious stranger who appeared in the midst of the storm, she might not have made it at all. But now, in the aftermath, Mason’s life begins to spin dramatically, mystically out of control, and the only one who seems able to help her is the stranger who can remember nothing but his name: Fennrys Wolf.

As Mason and Fenn uncover more about Fenn’s past and the strange events that surround them, they realize that Mason’s family — and its dark allegiance to the ancient Norse gods — is at the center of everything. A predetermined fate seems to be closing in on Mason, but is it possible to change one’s destiny?

Readers who fell in love with Lesley Livingston’s Wondrous Strange trilogy and those who love Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series will be captivated by the sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action of Starling.

REVIEW:
Lesley Livingston really hooked me into her other series Wondrous Strange and I was thrilled to hear about her new novel Starling about Norse Mythology. I was captivated right from the beginning, not only from the fantastic writing but the strong characters that really stood on their own.

Starling follows Mason Starling who is one of the best fencers at Gosforth Academy. But one day during practice changes not only her life but her friends and families as well. A terrible storm hits, destroying their gym and brining along mystical and dangerous creatures. Luckily a random boy saves the group, who just shows up out of know where and doesn’t know who he is. But this is only the beginning and Mason find out her family has many secrets and that her destiny that many people want to make happen.

Mason is one of the cleverest and independent girl out there that I’ve really enjoyed reading about; in all the books I’ve read lately. She not overly confident and really just wanted to be a great fencer. I loved reading about her family secrets, her relationship not only with her brothers but her father too was insane and I couldn’t believe half the stuff that they were going to put Mason through. Secrets are definitely a family trait, but only from Mason and her brother Rory. Lets just say not only does Rory get involved in the family secret but he turns out to really be my most hated character in the book. I felt bad for Mason, she really gets her life turned upside down and cant trust her family and even her friends start to change. There are some great side stories with her fellow teammates from fencing that get pulled into their own family secrets.

Fenn aka Fennerys Wolf has to be the most interesting character I have absolutely loved even though I thought he was a bit strange. First off his name is really odd, but its perfectly explained as the story moves on and introduces the readers to Norse Mythology. He has a destiny and also is trying to put the pieces of what he’s supposed to be doing, since he has no memory of his life. I loved his relationship with Mason, together they were like detectives trying to put the pieces of Fenn’s life together and see how Mason’s actually coincided with his. He’s also very protective of her and makes some mistakes here and there but slowly tries to understand his purpose.

Overall I loved Starling and really enjoyed once again the writing of Lesley Livingston. She really gets into detail explaining the myths and brings to life her characters, especially Fenn with such great storytelling. There is romance in Starling and its perfect, not forced but I see a lot of potential for the next book. Pretty much everyone is connected to Mason’s destiny and it makes for such great suspense. The ending was not so much a cliffhanger but more of a shocker that was down right fantastic and really kicked the story up a notch. If you love mythology stories, this is one you shouldn’t miss out on.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a young adult novel that brings to life the Norse mythology in such an exciting way. Fans of authors Sarah J. Maas of Throne of Glass and Aimee Carter of The Goddess Test will love Starling by Lesley Livingston.

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