And All the Stars

And All the Stars - Andrea K. Höst

I received And All the Stars by Andrea K. Höst for review ages ago (like last year I’m pretty sure) and just never found time for it which makes me so sad in hindsight. I haven’t read a lot of alien YA (5th Wave is still waiting!), so it was a lot of fun to dive in with And All the Stars. First things first: from what I can tell on Goodreads, And All the Stars is indie published, but good god I could not tell at all. The writing is better than many traditionally published books I’ve read recently, so don’t be scared away! If you like alien stories or just cool sci-fi in general, you have to try this book!

Note: I received And All the Stars through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

And All the Stars by Andrea Höst 
Published by Author on September 30th, 2012
Genres: Sci-fiYA 
Length: 204 pages
How I got my copy: NetGalleyPublisher
Book Depository - Goodreads
Purchases made support this blog 

Come for the apocalypse.
Stay for cupcakes.
Die for love.

Madeleine Cost is working to become the youngest person ever to win the Archibald Prize for portraiture. Her elusive cousin Tyler is the perfect subject: androgynous, beautiful, and famous. All she needs to do is pin him down for the sittings.

None of her plans factored in the Spires: featureless, impossible, spearing into the hearts of cities across the world – and spraying clouds of sparkling dust into the wind.

Is it an alien invasion? Germ warfare? They are questions everyone on Earth would like answered, but Madeleine has a more immediate problem. At Ground Zero of the Sydney Spire, beneath the collapsed ruin of St James Station, she must make it to the surface before she can hope to find out if the world is ending. 

 

Strengths:

  • The infection mechanism and alien premise and everything about this post-apocalyptic were so cool! I love the descriptions of their skin :D.
  • And All the Stars has a sweet romance with no love triangle, yey!
  • There are some subtle and not-so-subtle messages about gender and sexuality being fluid and different for different people. In the end it was a very lovely message about what is true for someone is their truth and that’s all that matters.
  • Did not see those plot twists coming! Well, I saw the first one like a couple pages before it happened, but then everything just went crazy awesome from there :D.
  • I love a cover and title that make sense and actually relate to what is going on in the story. And All the Stars has a beautiful cover that makes complete sense, don’t you worry ;-).
  • As I said already, the writing and editing were polished to perfection. I read And All the Stars in one and a half days of pretty much straight reading during my recent roadtrip.

Weaknesses:

  •  Can I please have more of an explanation of what is going on with those aliens and the other type of infection? I mean I just really want to know, ya know? Any chance of a second book? :D
  • There has been some talk recently about the not popular, socially inept brunette MC. Yeah, here’s another one.
  • I’m not sure if And All the Stars can really count as YA given the mature sexy times. You’ve been warned!

Summary:

So excellent! I haven’t read a lot of alien apocalypse stories because I just didn’t think I would like them. I was so wrong! I think And All the Stars has started an alien story craving in me because there is so much potential for awesome sci-fi :D. I’m very excited to see what Höst has in store for us next because I’m definitely reading it and you should too.

Source: http://www.onstarshipsanddragonwings.com/2013/06/21/and-all-the-stars-by-andrea-k-host