Author Marie Lu is a New York Times Bestselling YA author. Her latest offering matches up a superstar and a spy resulting in about a romance-action/adventure mash-up. The novel did feel a bit like a movie in its pacing, style, and story arc. The author did strive to flesh out back stories for the two leads as a foundation for their motivations, but with mixed results. Although the novel wasn’t necessarily teed-up for a sequel or series, the door was left cracked to the possibility.
While there was nothing particularly unique, memorable, or compelling about the characters, relationships, or plot, Stars and Smoke was a pleasant and fast read. This would be a good selection for a beach read this summer for young adult readers looking for light fare.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy from Macmillan Children’s Publishing
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 10 religious exclamations; 26 mild obscenities, 6 religious profanities; 3 derogatory names; 9 scatological words, 4 anatomical terms.
Violence/Gore: Crimes and atrocities a person has committed are listed (~ a paragraph) such as killing a family, beating a hostage to death with a hammer, leaving only limbs for investigators to find, etc.; reference to a family member dying (no details); someone learns that a family member was killed; characters train together (self-defense); character tells how he was stabbed, mention of blood; verbal threats; implied threats; characters struggle and fight, knocking one unconscious; character killed by chemical agent; character shot at with intent to kill; character is poisoned; character kicks another in the throat and knocks them unconscious; characters struggle; character is shot, mention of blood; character reports that father killed mother in a fit of rage (domestic violence); extended fight scene involving fist fighting, shooting, chemical weapons, injuries, tackling, kicking, hitting, cuts/abrasions from glass, stabbing, knocking of individuals unconscious, strangling, etc. resulting in injuries, unclear as to whether deaths resulted.
Sex/Nudity: Female says she hasn’t technically broken up with her girlfriend; report of some individuals having an affair; female notices how attractive a male is upon several separate occasions, brief descriptions; male notices how attractive a female is upon several separate occasions, brief descriptions; friends tease a character about a couple of his flings he has had with girls; friend asks a male about a guy he was attracted to; male character (implied bi-sexual orientation) briefly recalls how he ended up in bed with another male (implied homosexual orientation) and had a several week affair, non-detailed; flirting; innuendo; passing reference to messing around before; male and female characters kiss; extended scene of passionate kissing between male and female; female wonders what a male is like in bed.
Mature Subject Matter:
Murder, death of a family member, crimes (drug-trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, weapon sales, etc.), sexual orientation, parental estrangement/neglect, emotional abuse by a family member, physical/domestic abuse, compulsive shoplifting.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
19-year-old characters and adult characters drink alcoholic beverages and refer to drinking ; reference to drug trafficking; chemical weapons; poison; suicide drink; individual takes prescribed drugs for depression and other mental issues; father is drunk and yells at daughter.
