Description :
Book: A War of Swallowed Stars (The Celestial Triology #3)
Author: Sangu Mandanna
Genre: Young adult fiction, Science fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Epic Fiction
Number of pages: 288
Published by: Sky Pony
Published on: 29 June 2021
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Blurb :
A prince without his kingdom.
A kingdom without its princess.
The destruction of the stars themselves.
War is destroying the galaxy. Esmae has vanished without a trace. A terrifying, ravenous beast is devouring the stars one by one. Titania is offered a gift that may well be a curse. Alexi, the exiled prince, is asked to pay a heavy price for his mistakes. And far, far away, on a dark, mysterious planet, a sleeping god stirs awake.
War or family.
Pride or peace.
As the end of the world draws ever closer, Esmae and Alexi must decide how far they’ll go to win—and who they’ll sacrifice along the way.
Premise:
A War Of Swallowed Stars is the third and final book in The Celestial Triology.
The book starts with Esmae missing and the world in danger of being eaten by a huge beast. For the first few parts of the book, Titania plays the main character where we learn more about her and the secrets she knew and kept away from letting out.
With the first book from Esmae's perspective, second from Esmae's and Titania's , the third book is from three perspectives- Esmae, Titania and Radha.
Since Esmae tackled too much betrayal at the end of book 1 yet she had the hope of finally meeting her mother only to be shattered in book 2 where she learns of all the dirty and painful truth and secrets which everyone knew except her.
In this book, Esmae is vengeful yet conscious. She thinks before making a decision. This book witnessed Esmae's best character growth where she realised all that she still have even though she lost some precious things and memories.
Titania is an indestructible warship but she wishes to be a human despite knowing everything a human is capable of, despite knowing how vengeful a human can be, all she wishes for is to not be a warship but a human. She shows us what truly being a human means when she enjoys every little thing which we take as granted.
Sybilla and Radha are an amazing duo who knows how to stand strong and loyal and give cheesy moments.
The characters are the plus point of the book. Max, Esmae, Radha, Sybilla and Titania shows us how much it matters to have someone to watch our back and stand with no matter what the situation demands.
To be very honest, I didn't feel even an ounce of love or generosity for the other side of Esmae's family. I genuinely would have killed some characters only if I was capable of.
The end of the story was something I didn't wish for. The end was nothing I wanted it to be but that doesn't mean that I'm not satisfied with it.
Honestly, the author wrote the best ending possible. As I think about it from time to time, I understand how much the end makes sense. Everyone lost someone precious to them but the best way was to not lose anyone anymore by making a sensible decision. Because at last we need to take responsibility for our own actions and not blame them over fate. No matter what decisions we make, we will always get a chance to make better decisions and have a better future.
With teary eyes, I bid a final goodbye to the book. Hope to read a physical copy of this amazing series soon.
I absolutely loved and enjoyed Mandanna's writing and will surely be reading more of her.
About the Author :
Sangu Mandanna was four years old when an elephant chased her down a forest road and she decided to write her first story about it. Seventeen years and many, many manuscripts later, she signed her first book deal. Sangu now lives in Norwich, a city in the east of England, with her husband and kids.
Books: The Lost Girl, A Spark of White Fire, Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love, House of Rage and Sorrow: Book Two in the Celestial Trilogy, A War of Swallowed Stars, Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom