Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev | Review

Title: Eyes Like Stars

Author: Lisa Mantchev

Published: July 7, 2009

Number of Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5

SYNOPSIS

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

QUOTE

"What's past is prologue, and the world awaits." —Bertie

REVIEW

To say the very least, I thought this book got really, really confusing at some points. I enjoyed it, but I didn't like having to go back and read some parts two and three times to get what was happening. That's really the only gripe I had about the book.

Otherwise, it was fantastic. The reason I picked this book up was because the cover is just bee-ay-oo-tee-full. And she has blue hair, like me! ...Sort of. Oh, and the plot sounded good. All I know is that I really need to start reading Shakespeare's works if I'm ever planning on reading this entire series, which I most definitely am. :D I really enjoyed the characters, their witty dialogue, and all the emotions that were caked in underneath. There was never really too much of something, and there were funny parts that I had to stop reading just to laugh before I continued.

I don't know anyone aside from Oberon and Titania from A Midsummer Night's Dream (and that's thanks to The Iron Fey), but I guess I know some fairies from it now—and I love them. They were charming, adorable, hilarious, and almost always craving sweets. I kinda wanted to hug one of them. That is, until they start going commando!

I was really interested in the pick of using Nate from A Little Mermaid, but that's what made him such an interesting character. You never think about him all, really, but this makes you take a second look at the guy who shouts "Man overboard!"

Oh, don't get me started on Ariel. I loved him. I freakin' loved him. I wanted to grab that mean, trapped little air spirit and just hug him right out of the Theater. Even though he's a jerk for a lot of the book. I'm gonna steal him from Bertie. He's almost as charming as Jace from The Mortal Instruments.

Somehow, Lisa Mantchev managed to keep me in the Theater for the ENTIRE book without me ever getting really bored. Keeping me in one place for an entire book like that is a huge accomplishment! XD All of the characters were great, the plot was great, the emotions and dialogue was balanced really well, and the matter of Bertie's past is spaced so evenly through the story you don't ever forget about it, but you don't feel like you're obsessing over it too. I really enjoyed the book.

I just hope it doesn't get so confusing in the next book, Perchance to Dream. I'm hoping to get that for my birthday next month. Otherwise, the book was fantastic.

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Listening to: Prepare for the End - Epic Score

Watching: The computer screen.

Reading: Eldest - Christopher Paolini (God, this is taking forever to finish...)

Quote: "What's past is prologue." (Isn't that from The Tempest, actually?)

DFTBA!