Reviews for Falling stars

The average rating for Falling stars based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-16 00:00:00 Vincent Cavuoto A short summary is basically needless for this book. One who's read its predecessor Shooting Stars--the compilation of the four girls' separate stories--knows that each protagonist ended up with a place of enrollment in the Senetsky academy for a study of performance art. It's obvious this next novel is about their time of residence in the academy. It's also just about as obvious that the book contains some of the infamous V.C. Andrews plot points: outrageous family scandal, dark secrets, tension, and breasts (Neiderman's personal favorite). A newer reader might not have such expectations, especially considering the last book was very tame (this is a big reason why I enjoyed that book more than the ghostwriter's other literary progeny...each girl's life seemed more believeable than his usual "let's just throw together some wacky shit"). Well, okay, Rose's and Cinnamon's are more unusual than what could occur in a normal girl's life, but believe me, they're much better than the usual rides he takes us on. Unfortunately, this book falls way, way behind the one that came before it...in all points. 1.) The author decided to pick one girl and stick with her viewpoint throughout the entire novel. After reading each girl's separate point of view just before, it's an uncomfortable change...it doesn't seem to work somehow. We go from being inside each girl's head, first person, to having to read about the other three only from Honey's point of view. It's frustrating, especially if the reader feels more connected to one of the other girls, rather than the protagonist chosen to relate the story. That being said, I don't think it would be possible for the author to assign a different girl's viewpoint to each different chapter. If it were a novel in which the characters do separate things at separate times, in different places, that method would work, but here the girls are all in the same place at the same time. They're not separated except when they have separate lessons or when they go to sleep. There isn't enough difference in their day-to-day life to make the separate viewpoint work. I acknowledge that. Yet, it still feels like sabotaging the original stories to just fall back on one girl here. We spent time in each girl's mind before, getting to know her, only to now be able to see them there, but only through the veil of Honey's interactions with them, not able to get closer. Which leads to... 2.) ...character personality deterioration (ooh, that's a nice term, should I capitalize to make it "a thing"? ;D). We can have a sense of our former protagonists' selves; they're all basically the same girl since they all seemingly have the same train of thought. One girl will say something and then another will finish the sentence, and I get the impression that Neiderman was just keeping track of how many times each person got to say something so that he could be like, "Hmm, well, Rose has five sentences so far and the other girls have eight; I should let her say this instead of letting Honey say it." And since they otherwise seem to be the same girl, Neiderman decided he'd just give each girl one defining characteristic and exaggerate it to give some semblance of difference to each. Cinnamon becomes the Fearless Leader, the one who acts as spokesperson for all the girls and doesn't afraid of anything. Ice becomes the Sassy Black Girl, which I have a problem with not just because of the racial stereotype but also because...she's not the Ice we were introduced to. The author still makes a point of saying how silent she is, and that her words are all the more intimidating just because she's silent, but Ice didn't originally ever make sarcastic jabs at anyone. Even if she was angry--which she seemed incapable of being, almost--she kept her thoughts to herself. So what is this now? Even our voice of the story--who, being such, should have more opportunity for a fleshed out personality--is given the same treatment. Honey's mostly bland in personality save for being the Innocent One; although we don't read anything about her that makes her seem more naive in thought, every character who comes across Honey mentions how ~she's so different from everyone else, so innocent~ so hey, if they say it, it must be true. And Rose...Rose is the Pretty One Who Says "Ya'll" All The Time. 3.) continuity error. Some others might say this is minor, but Balwin Noble was my favorite boyfran out of all the protagonists' boy-toys in the previous novel. Before Ice gets accepted to the Senetsky Academy, she and Balwin have a falling out, but it gets mended. I assumed they'd still be together here, yet when asked if she has a boyfriend, Ice says no and doesn't even mention Balwin at any point. He had such an important role in helping her get where she was that I find that a peeve point. 4.) the cheesiness of the sex scene. "And when he touched me, I felt like we were ascending to a cloud, high above all creation in our love; I could feel our minds becoming one, coloring our very worlds with rainbow joy~" etc. etc. and the like (not a direct quote, but seriously, the real thing is JUST LIKE THIS). HAHA, gurl no, he's just a random who'll be out of your life in a few months since you guys have nothing to talk about and don't even see each other but once every 15 weeks. He's a college guy, come on, he's not thinking that you two are having some spiritual transcendental journey; he's just excited to dip his wick. Let's be real nao. 5.) the unrealistic closeness of the girls. Neiderman describes them being "like sisters". They all get along right off the bat. Honey and Rose seem easy to get along with, but Cinnamon's extreme gothic look would, in real life, likely be off-putting to the majority of people, and I feel that girls like Honey and Rose would be more likely to at least be uncomfortable about her for a long while. Furthermore, Cinnamon always seemed to be pleased at the idea of turning people away purposely, so I'm surprised she was treating them as friends immediately. Same goes for Ice, except in her standoffish ways. She and Cinnamon NEVER had any girl friends, and Cinnamon at least was always outgoing...Ice barely spoke to people before! Their "sisterhood" is just built up way too quickly to be believeable. Especially because right away, they all seemed willing to share the details of their lives that were most mortifying. They'd just be sitting around when Rose, for instance, would be like, "Yeah, my dad got another woman pregnant while he was married to my mom and then killed himself..."...that is not something anyone would tell people after knowing them for so short a time! Even people who have been extremely close to others for a long time would not come forward with something like that so easily! I find it hard to buy the concept of their closeness when there isn't even any dynamic of their friendship really featured in the novel...more like the author's attempts to force them together and claim they're like foster sisters just so plot can unfold. I'm not getting it. 6.) bad ending. Not only is it rushed, but there's no real tying up of conflict. Someone who's been isolated in one room for years has also just been raped several times, and we don't get to see what's done for the poor girl! Everyone's just like, "welp, now that we've explained things, time to get back to the party! Rape victim? What rape victim?" and then cut to Honey talking about being on stage years in the future, which means we also don't find out what becomes of each girl (though I guess we're just to assume they all go on to be super successful and maintain their bond for the rest of their lives, w/e). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ trashy trash. Though I don't think it's as bad as Runaways (...maybe), the sequel to Orphans, another story about four girls. Like this one, it starts out with four separate novellas and then the sequel is in first person P.O.V. from one of the girls. And like this sequel, that one is absolutely terrible, so this sequel formula doesn't have a history of going well. I know Wildflowers, another series, starts out with four separate protagonist P.O.V.'s and although I haven't read the sequel, I'm pretttttyyy sure it'll be the same thing there, and maybe also in the Broken Wings series. Just fair warning.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-27 00:00:00 David Ayers 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.