Falling stars Book

I feel like by the time I got to the fourth book in the mini series leading up to this, I was a little more... generous than usual. Wearily tolerant of some of the flaws in the writing. But I genuinely liked Falling Stars. There were still some... V. C. Andrew-isms. (Like, of course, the boy Honey meets the one time the girls go see the city turns out to be some manipulative asshole who tries to assault her. Why should I have expected anything else?) But all in all, it was a pretty good story that probably could have stood alone with just a little more detail. (The only other mini series of Andrews' that I've read so far has been the Runaways, which I felt relied a lot more on their prequel mini books.) A nice little mystery that was just dark enough to appeal to me.

But what I was really interested in was how all the characters would come together, so let's just get right to that. Well... three of the four girls met expectations, let's say that. I don't mind that Honey was chosen to narrate, though she did maintain an almost too-pure, too-perfect air about her. Ice and Cinnamon, at least played pretty much exactly the roles I'd wanted and expected of them. And Rose? Well... While reading, I bookmarked a page where Honey sums up their little group herself, and that's probably as good a reference as any so...

"We were truly becoming sisters, looking after each other. Each of us lent something to the others, I thought. Cinnamon was our wit. Ice our muscle. Rose our beautiful face. And me? I was our conscience." Pg. 224

Well, eye roll aside because of course, of all the roles Honey would play, she becomes their moral compass... (I mean, that didn't even feel particularly true. She was a little more hesitant about breaking the rules than the others, maybe, but in any situation that counted... where there was something serious at stake, the girls were usually pretty much on the same page about doing the right thing. They could have said she was, like, their mediator or something. That would have been a slightly more bearable phrasing.) But let's put Honey's flaws aside for a moment. I want to talk about Rose.

Rose was the one I was the most worried for, character development-wise, going into this, because she really didn't have much character in her own story. Rose was constantly defined by her relationship to others. That and her apparently unearthly grace and beauty. Originally, I worried that she would just be drowned out by the other girls' stronger personalities and be really forgettable. But I dare say this was worse... Rose, who was apparently just so drop-dead gorgeous that no one could help but take advantage of her wherever she goes, became our resident damsel in distress. The one the others all rally around to protect. I mean, they mention her father's boss creeping on her during a beauty pageant in her own story, but she never seemed truly bothered and haunted by it until now, relating her own experiences back to Gerta's abuse. And you know what? That could have been fine. Rose has certainly got some valid complaints to make. But it's all about how you play it. And the end result was just disappointing.
Upon reading that chapter, I was actually genuinely angry that they reduced Rose to being nothing more than the group's "beautiful face." And presented it like there was no subtlety or shame in it! Like, am I the only one who could see the potential for Rose? You know what she could have been for the group? How about their courage? She certainly had the most reason to relate to and feel for Gerta. It would have been a really nice touch if that had made her the most passionate about helping her, regardless of the risks. But no. Rose was consistently the most weak, cowardly, and shallow character at every turn. And throwing away that potential to actually make something of the blandest character going into this is something I can't forgive.

The only other flaw that really got to me was the writing of the boys in this story. I don't really care about the random minor characters or Evan or the boyfriends who pop up on occasion. I'm talking about Steven and Howard. Though Steven started getting on my nerves at the end too, it was just so disappointing to me how flat the two boys were as characters. From their introduction on it was just so clear that one was presented to be the nice, fairly likable boy and the other was just going to be an arrogant asshole through and through. You know what would have made Howard a thousand times more interesting? How about developing him a little more and giving him a likable side. That doesn't mean he can't still be twisted, but give the audience something to relate to. Something to show why he's so desperate to make it, even if it means using his mentor's traumatized, mentally disabled daughter as blackmail. I think what's so disappointing about this is, like Rose, the author wouldn't have even needed to reach very far to come up with a convincing background for Howard. If he was this serious about performing in high school, I can only imagine his classmates gave him hell. That certainly could have messed him up a bit.

Anyway, it was flawed. But I knew it was going to be. Some of these problems I'm willing to overlook, others you were just treated to a lengthy rant about. But I did enjoy this story as a whole. I wasn't totally sold on the girls growing so close so quickly, but I suppose it could have a ring of truth to it. They're given so little freedom and are bound to feel isolated from the rest of the world. Add that to the paranoia that someone is spying on them and, yeah, I guess I could see it. So am I disappointed that I picked up this series? No. But am I ever likely to read it again? Probably not.