Review: Double Star by Cindy Saunders

Double Star
By Cindy Saunders
Published November 28th, 2012
Publisher: Book Baby
Paperback, 268 pages

When Cepheus, a dark god, forces seventeen-year-old Ally Ashworth off an isolated overlook, she has no idea she's falling into his world, or that the necklace she’s wearing is actually a key - one with the power to ignite the next world war. But she’s carried beyond his reach and into the one place where he’s powerless ... the forest of Gilgamesh.

Ally’s never been Miss Popularity, but her outsider status takes on new meaning when she’s rescued by Liam Cheveyo and his peculiar friends. After seeing them shape-shift into their freaky humanimal counterparts, Ally smacks hard into a few truths: magic really does exist and, although getting here took no effort, finding her way back might be impossible. Feelings between her and Liam begin to grow along with the realization that, in this world, she’s stronger, better ... until she’s caught in a trap set by the creepy spider-boy Cepheus sends to retrieve her. But Ally’s not going down without a fight, not after learning the horrible truth about the passageways.

The survival of both worlds depends on it. -Goodreads

Review

 

I have to admit it. When I first saw Double Star, I wasn't very interested. The cover just wasn't that appealing. However, I couldn't judge a book by its cover, therefore I had to read it. Double Star definitely turned out to be better than I expected, however it did have some drawbacks. 

The main character, Ally, is a normal girl who leads a normal life, until she (literally) falls into a parallel world. In this new world, people are born with a mark behind their ear, which symbolizes their ability to change into a certain animal. I have to say, Ally's personality is kind of blah. She is nice and has her own special powers, but is also boring and doesn't make me want to really root for her. Her character is flat and one dimensional.

The love interest, Liam is a little more interesting. He is kinda like the tortured guy who blames himself for his mother's death, and is lifted out of it by Ally, whom he originally doesn't like. The thing is, love is actually very close to hate (not that he hates her), and you can just totally tell they're gonna end up together.

With that said, I feel bad for the other guy, Corm. Although he also likes Ally, it isn't quite a love triangle. He is attracted to Ally, but quickly realizes that Ally and Liam are deeply in love, and he can't come between them, which is more than I can say for most third wheels in the love triangle (they continue to fight for the heroine's love, but we all know who will end up with the girl). It may start out as a love triangle, but they don't really end up competing with each other for Ally's love. Although I can't help but feel bad for Corm (I always feel bad for the loser), I'm glad that this book didn't make it into a full blown love triangle and have him struggle along. 

My main problem with this book was it predictability. I have read many YA novels, and this one is very similar to others I have read. I could predict everything that was going to happen, which took all the fun out of it, I like to be kept somewhat guessing. That and it was really cheesy. Some cheesiness in a story is good and can make it cute, but this one had a little too much. Also the characters need more development and back story to them, what makes them unique and different from all of the other characters of YA books I've read? Sadly, not much.

Even though I've mentioned all of this negative stuff, I generally liked the book. It had a good concept, and just needs to find its own voice to stand out, that and more character development. Otherwise, everything else was good. The writing was very descriptive, I could picture everything in my head, and it seemed to flow smoothly (the only problem I had with writing was the speech of the characters from the parallel world, they would flip flop from 21st language to ye olde english). Double Star is started in the right direction, and just needs some improvements to make it even better.

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