A Dark and Hollow Star

4/5 Stars

This book is the story of a crime threatening to become larger than life - and death. The story follows four queer youngsters, each with a different kind of power to bring to the table, as they - more or less intentionally - dive into the heart of a series of murders happening to the fae community. Ironborn, children born of both fae and human, are brutally killed on the streets and no one seems to do anything about it. When the adults fail to do their job, it's them who hunts the wraith that is behind this scheme.

This book was fun, it truly was! It is advertised as a queer YA fantasy and I couldn't agree more with any part of that genre. The characters were witty and funny, they made me laugh and cry out in frustration. The way fantasy is written into this, as part of a very modern world, is intriguing to me. Apps for magical folk, cafés run by them, grand courts and grander personalities. The author spends a lot of time weaving this very intricate and detailed web of fantasy, mythology, and reality. At first I thought this would end up as a huge mess - and it seemed like that from time to time simply because of the sheer amount of different references to various mythologies - but it is a job well done.

Like many other people I missed any aspect of cultural diversity in this book, but it did handle it's "queer" title like no other book I've read so far. When a honest-to-god Fury lectures you on the pronouns of deities, that's the part where I just laughed out loud at the absurdity of it. But it was really nice and refreshing!

If you like this book's blurb, I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed by this read!