An Eclipsing Autumn
Deciding last minute to stay in Starrs, Michelle continues her epic adventure as Goddess. After all, learning how to save the world sure beats a year of pre-calculus. With her friends by her side, Michelle travels to a city of scholars to learn the lore of the Cycle of the Six Moons.
At first, the exotic retreat turns romantic, as Michelle spends her free time exchanging sweet letters with the crown prince, Jayse. But, during her studies, Michelle learns something that drastically changes her game plan. Powerful blood must be spilled to end the Cycle…blood that only runs through her veins and the prince destined to fall in love with her.
During a celebration honoring their enlightenment, Michelle and Jayse are whisked off to a rogue city as trophies of a tournament, where only the strongest can claim a taste of their blood. Gallant as ever, their guardian, Gediyon, enters to prevent harm to his friends. Unfortunately for the contestants, the Cycle’s latest trial prevents everyone from waking from a cursed slumber…
Review copy provided by the author
When I first read the synopsis of The Starriest Summer and found out that video games were involved, I expected it to be along the vein of Dragon Age. Instead, I found the adventure to be more like Aveyond. It was rather good and cute. Michelle might have been annoying at times but I factored in her age and her belief that Starrs was just some location in a video game and the Cycle of the Six Moons was just another quest that she needed to complete to finish the game. Even though she accepted that this was no mere video game in the ending, I still didn’t feel the gravitas of the situation.
I still felt the same way in the first half of An Eclipsing Autumn. All cute and such, Aveyond-like feel, even though Michelle was kidnapped by a mutated flying iguana. I perked up when she met the Prince Impostor though. Ha! He didn’t die. I calmly sailed through their time at the temple in Dissett. I appreciated the explanation the Saechin gave Michelle since I didn’t know what the heck was so important about the Cycle of the Six Moons, Pesaeton and the roles of Jayse and Michelle. At least, Pesaeton was not evil for evil’s sake or he was not a megalomaniac (unlike some other people…). *snorts* I wasn’t even that bothered with what happened at Tyrique even though blood and guts were flying everywhere.
But the third part? The third brought it all home, where you could say Wow! It sure escalated fast. While the action and adventure of the story took me through twists and turns, it was the characters themselves that took me by surprise. Everything what I think I knew about the characters changed. Michelle’s role as goddess continued to evolve. Jayse took in a much larger role. Gediyon’s past continued to haunt him. Michelle’s brother surprisingly wasn’t just tripping around. And the Prince Impostor, my Prince Impostor, wherefore art thou….?
The seriousness that I wanted, when everything hangs in the balance, when there’s no hope in the horizon, when the stakes are up… I finally found it in the third part of the book!
Notes:
*I don’t like Dreana. I’m sure she has a tragic backstory to explain why she is the way she is now, but, boohoo, I still don’t like her. Stay away from Gediyon! I thought her character would be like Isabella, from Dragon Age, but whereas I ultimately liked Isabella, Dreana was like… I don’t know, something about her just gets on my nerves.
*Prince Impostor… WHY!?!
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