SPFBO 10: A Circle Of Stars By Craig Montgomery

Welcome to the Semi-Final stage of SPFBO 10! As you know, we already cut 25 books from our batch of 30 and announced our semi-finalists. Check out our SPFBO 10 page for more info! In the next few weeks, we’ll post group reviews of each semi-finalist, and then we’ll reveal our finalist on October 17th.

Our first SPFBO 10 semi-finalist review is for A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery. The order of the reviews within a post will be the following: first is the person who picked the book as a semi-finalist, and then the others in alphabetical order.

In the Semi-Finals all of us will try and read all of our semi-finalists in order to be able to determine our Finalist based on our overall scores.

Both in the Semi-Final and Final stages we’ll have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (either semi-finalist or finalist if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it. If they decide to DNF between 25%-50% they’ll have to give a score but can opt out of writing a review, and if they DNF after 50% (or not) then they also have to score AND write a review.

For A Circle of Stars we have 5 reviews and 5 scores for your reading pleasures.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our first semi-finalist!

Series:	The Stardust Duology #1
Genre:	Fantasy, Sci-Fi, YA, Romance
Publisher:	self-published
Date of Publishing:	June 16th, 2023

Sometimes you have to leave home to find it…

All Casper Bell has ever wanted is to belong. But now, abandoned by his friends and family after being outed, he has nothing left to lose when the people of Novilem abduct him.

Except Earth.

Teleported to a world where stars grant humans magic, Casper discovers he has the rare ability to draw power from all twelve astrological signs — a gift that makes him a political pawn for the Estellar Council. But Novilem’s inhabitants seem as hard and cold as the stone their city is carved from, and Casper’s new role leaves him more isolated than ever. Until he meets the grandson of the council’s most powerful woman. Helix is kind, playful, and heartbreakingly handsome, yet it’s how Helix makes him feel that gives Casper hope.

As rebellion brinks in the city, even the Council starts to fracture, reaching
for extreme measures that could cost Casper not only his newfound abilities, but the first place he has ever wanted to call home. Together with Helix, he must uncover the secrets of his full potential — because the survival of Novilem hinges on Casper’s powers, whether he’s using them or not.

Set inside a hidden lunar city, where astrology is magic and your birth sign defines your social status, A Circle of Stars is a queer young adult fantasy filled with political intrigue and romance.

Tru

Read: 100%

A Circle of Stars is a YA coming of age sci-fi fantasy that starts off powerfully, as our young MC Casper is kicked out of his home after being outed as gay. With nowhere to go, and no one to turn to, it’s fortunate that he happens to stumble into a group of magic-possessing humans from halfway across the galaxy that see Casper as their chosen one. From there, Casper’s life only changes further as he’s whisked away to start his new life in a way he’d never imagine. Casper and the reader are thrown into some cool worldbuilding. His new home of Novilem is built inside a moon and has a lot of good stuff going for it—it’s queernormative, capitalism doesn’t exist, and everyone has magical abilities based on their zodiac sign. But this new world isn’t quite as perfect as it seems. Being the chosen one means Casper is locked away, unable to see Novilem for what it really is, though as the story develops, he begins to realise that even magical societies have their share of social injustice and inequalities. The story is also told from the secondary perspective of Helix, another teen who grew up with privilege within Novilem and must face it, and Talleah, a mother who is all too familiar with Novilem’s injustices.

While I love the concept of abilities linked to one’s zodiac sign, it does take a little while to get used to the twelve different groups, to which I can sympathize, having also written a book with twelve races and abilities! There’s a glossary at the start of the book with a diagram to help ease you in. Between these three POV characters, there’s a lot going on in the story, with obvious parallels to real-world bigotry and injustice that did feel somewhat heavy handed at times. The developing relationship with Casper and Helix did get a bit too YA and insta-love for me, whereas Casper certainly acts like a teen. However, the unfolding story held my interest and went in directions I wasn’t expecting. For me, it was the character of Brissa who fascinated me most—the leader of Novilem and Helix’s grandmother came across as morally grey in how she ruled Novilem and kept Casper in the dark, but also Helix’s relationship with her was complicated and held depth. I also really appreciated the diversity present throughout the book. Ultimately, regardless of all the cool worldbuilding, A Circle of Stars is a YA story featuring teens with space powers, and that may not be for everyone.

Arina

Read: 100%

A Circle of Stars is a YA coming-of-age story in a far-off world.

When his family casts him out for being gay, Casper wanders alone and finds himself drifting further away, as he is taken by a mysterious group of sorcerers to an entirely different galaxy.

Originally from Ancient Greece, Caspers’ captors are descended from Earth, forced to flee it centuries ago. By harnessing the power of the stars themselves, they can perform wondrous feats of true magic; from teleportation to memory-sharing, each type of magic foundational to a zodiac sign.

Having exhibited fabled powers, Casper discovers he is a Telos, an unusually gifted individual who can control magic from more than one zodiac branch.

The magic system was very original and I found myself wanting more explanation and exploration of it.

Instead, as soon as Casper’s kidnapping, the story branches off into a quintessential YA self-discovery adventure. Casper’s supposed otherness is mimicked by the people of Novilem and their planet, and he eventually becomes much more himself.

However, I did find the worldbuilding swampy at times.

Despite being a far-off world galaxies away and filled with alien wonders, the world of Novilem is frequently familiar and mundane. Even most of the food and spices described are the same as Earth’s. For the backstory of a culture who purposefully veered off Earth, I was expecting more of a culture clash.

In the beginning, it is remarked upon that queerness is a norm, even a revered form of being, in this world. Yet pages after that, one of the characters expresses surprise at seeing Casper kiss his crush (which was also quite an obvious romance, though I suppose these things always are), who is a guy. I wondered then why would someone born into a world where that’s the norm specifically highlight it?

Moments like those made me aware certain worldbuilding details were being handed to the reader on a platter, instead of being nuanced by the story. It left everything, plot, characters, world, feeling very obvious.

But I suppose that’s appropriate for the target audience. This would be a great book to initiate any young reader into science-fiction, or science-fantasy.

It flips YA on its head a bit by focusing on a young character’s identity, his journey to find himself and his place in the world, flipping it by exploring Casper’s acceptance and peace with being gay.

Readers will delight in the magic, strong-willed characters and YA with a gay hero, though older readers may find themselves missing nuance and pace.

Jen

Read: 100%

I was very excited for A Circle of Stars because I love sci-fi mixed in with my fantasy and to be very shallow here, the cover is beautiful.

Casper, newly kicked out of his home after being outed, finds himself on the other side of the solar system with some pretty cool magic that makes him a very special person to the people of his new world.

Casper is a Telos and he is capable of using all the magic abilities of this world (which is astrology-based) something that is a rare occurrence within the inhabitants living on Novilem; a moon that orbits the planet of Ouranos on the outskirts of our galaxy. He is told that everyone else is limited to the abilities of their star signs- so for instance, Leo are the warriors, they’re strong and agile. Pisces are emotion-based and can influence… etc and you get the picture.

A Circle of Stars has a lot of neat and fun ideas that I loved: like the craziness of the planet’s surface with its giant mushroom trees and poisonous sacks that burst into flames – to the air being full of stardust matter which contains aether that allows them to use magic. And I’m barely scratching the surface of what all this story offers when it comes to neat and creative things in this world.

But maybe it had too many cool ideas? Because it did take me a while to settle into this story, despite its quick intro to Casper, his situation, and even quicker to being someone special.

It’s just a very complicated and full world all around. Between the politics, drug running, alien environment, and magic based off astrology – the signs each having unique attributes that are influenced by their houses (and I’m not even pretending to understand how that all works) that in itself was a lot to take in. Then we are also falling in love/building a relationship, while also trying to healthily move on from a messy past (which I approve of the care that’s spent on this btw don’t get me wrong) but the complicated dynamics of everything and everyone involved in such a chock-full story meant that we spent less time getting familiar with each element.

So, I did struggle a little with things like when some characters have history together that puts them at odds with one another, and we don’t see it/their interactions etc. until just before we need a little backstory to explain the issue. I do get it and I know I’d be here complaining about length if we had to delve into every character association there was.

I did enjoy the characters of Casper and Helix. Helix, maybe just a bit more, just because he was a little more mature feeling than Casper. I liked the time spent letting them get to know each other and I am definitely an experience-it type of reader, especially for things that involve emotions. I did get some romantasy vibes from their relationship, which you all know I’m a romance fan so I really liked that aspect of this story.

All and all, I thought A Circle of Stars was a promising start to the series (or duology? I believe I read somewhere) and definitely has some of the cooler ideas I’ve come across lately making for a fun read.

Liis

Read: 100%

A Circle of Stars is a Young Adult title that plays with different powers depending on one’s star sign, it has social commentary and a political power struggle – all of that far away from Earth, way beyond the other side of stars. It’s tackling a lot of big problems and current pain points in society. This is not a bad thing, after all, literature, music and other arts have always given voice to the various struggles we face at any point in time.

At the 20% mark of this book I didn’t think I was going to finish the book. But, at the same time, I was curious how this all was going to play out, and the last 40% of the story simply flew by.

Why the struggle at the start? I found that perhaps there were just a few too many big conflicts flung at us at once, but credit to the author, once they all came to a merging point, it was smooth sailing. Montgomery balances the cruel and harsh aspects of society with idealistic views. Views, which we all wish were real, yet know to be impossible, because… well, people. I also found the main character Casper rather sheltered and naive, and that makes sense considering his upbringing, I guess, but personally, I am at a point in my life where I do not have a lot of patience for the juvenile character exploring the world all doe-eyed in its uncomfortable awkwardness. It’s wonderful, sure, but I’m past that phase, instead preferring the mature cynic. That said, I must commend Montgomery on the sci-fi bits in the story (yes, I call them bits!) – to make all the aether and astrology magic flow and make sense in such an accessible manner, to make it such an interesting part of the story – that was top notch!

A Circle of Stars is well written, fast paced, despite the fact that at times you feel like you’re not getting anywhere as yet another conflict is added, and managed to surprise me at the 60% mark with a shocking moment. Did NOT see that coming! If you like your cast young, able and heroic, as their abilities and loyalties are put to the test to change the world order, then this is the duology for you!

Timy

Read: 100%

I admit that I had my eyes on A Circle of the Stars since it landed in our group. M/M romance had kind of become my thing this year (I’m totally laying the blame at A.J. Lancaster’s door for that), so I was curious. But I also had my reservations because it’s labeled as YA (not that there is anything wrong about being YA, it’s just generally not my thing). I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, which is probably good. At first, I was intrigued, then I got a bit bored around third way into it, then it picked up a bit and ended on an all around predictable note.

As a debut, A Circle of Stars is certainly ambitious. We have queer characters, a whole new planet with its own dangers, political intrigue, an interesting magic system, societal issues and I think that’s it. It’s safe to say that Montgomery packed a LOT of things into this novel (which is one part of a duology). But after finishing it, I’m not at all sure that the execution worked out entirely. Less might have been more.

I liked the worldbuilding, it had some cool ideas and monsters which was neat. I also liked the political plotline and that there was a POV character that tied the main story to it, and honestly, I think that was the POV I enjoyed the most, and she wasn’t even a main character, not really. I wanted more of Talleah.

As for Casper and Helix, I never connected with them on an emotional level, and never really bought into their eventual relationship. I know, I know, it’s romance, and it was expected and like obvious from the start, and yet, I wanted more substance there. Sure, opposites attract, and all that, but it somehow never felt natural, I never caught myself cheering for them. And that’s a problem, as this was a big part of the whole book. On the other hand, I appreciated that Montgomery made Casper to deal with not only his own sexuality, but also the fact that he was forced to come out by his peers. Not even talking about his parents who can’t accept him. There is a lot of trauma here worth exploring, and I would expect that it would take a lot of time and healing, and while Casper does deal with it on his own way and does start the healing process, but the pace felt too fast for me. And I needed more depth from him – then again, he is 18, so he still has a lot to learn. Honestly, I found him more annoying than not.

Helix on the other hand is more composed and feels more mature, even though they are about the same age. He also has a lot to learn about life and politics, and of course, he has the confidence of the young, but I liked him more for sure.

Another thing that made me think a lot was that A Circle of Stars felt more sci-fi to me than fantasy what with Novilem being on a whole new planet and the technology and all. Yes, there was magic, and the crazy creatures and it’s essentially a secondary world, but…I don’t know. It’s one of those genre mash-ups that’s hard to decide where it belongs – which normally wouldn’t be an issue, but this is a fantasy competition after all.

All that said, A Circle of Stars kept my interest enough to make read it through, so there is that. I think this book will appeal to a younger audience looking for representation and adventure in a world that’s more accepting than our own – in some ways, at least. Montgomery very likely could become an author to watch for in the future.