My Rating: 
Book: The Starriest Summer (The Cycle of the Six Moons, #1)
Author: Adelle Yeung
Page Numbers: 299 pages
Publication date: December 20th, 2015
Synopsis:
Fifteen-year-old Michelle saves the world on a daily basis…with her trusty video game controller, of course! Naturally, she jumps at the chance to play an experimental virtual reality game.
The beautiful fantasy world of Starrs? Check. The power to mold matter? Check. No reset button? Wait, she didn’t sign up for this!
Turns out Starrs is really real, and to make matters worse, Michelle’s interference awakens the Cycle of the Six Moons, a series of devastating trials that will devour the universe.
Fighting the apocalypse was way easier when danger stayed on the other side of the screen, but Michelle finds a secret weapon in her new-found powers. She uses them to rescue the crown prince of a powerful magic kingdom from their sworn enemies, a technologically-advanced cult that strives to eradicate magical blood.
Michelle starts to fall for Prince Jayse, the only one who believes Michelle to be a savior rather than a curse. But not even video games could prepare her for what the cult has in store for them…
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I received a copy through the YA Bound Book Tour to read and review in return.
The Starriest Summer was a fantastic and fun book to read. I would say that this book is especially directed to teen/young adult readers, but the story has such a beautiful world build up, interesting characters and concepts, I think any reader would be intrigued!
The story starts off with no interruptions, where we get to know our young hero and protagonist, named Michelle. She is slightly self-conscious and still a young teenager, who considers herself to be that typical standard nerd type. She loves playing video games and through each level succeeds in saving the damsel in distress or even... the world! But it's just a game, right?
When her parents selfishly decide to leave together on a exotic vacation, leaving Michelle behind, stuck with her mad-science-crazy brother Aaron, she realizes her brother is once again up to no good. Kitchen appliances go missing and she knows immediately that her science obsessed brother is building something very peculiar in their garage. When she abruptly runs into him, he hastily shows her his new invention which is suppose to be something like a virtual reality game. Without a second word, Michelle is pushed into the machine's the chair...
The Starriest Summer was a fantastic and fun book to read. I would say that this book is especially directed to teen/young adult readers, but the story has such a beautiful world build up, interesting characters and concepts, I think any reader would be intrigued!
The story starts off with no interruptions, where we get to know our young hero and protagonist, named Michelle. She is slightly self-conscious and still a young teenager, who considers herself to be that typical standard nerd type. She loves playing video games and through each level succeeds in saving the damsel in distress or even... the world! But it's just a game, right?
When her parents selfishly decide to leave together on a exotic vacation, leaving Michelle behind, stuck with her mad-science-crazy brother Aaron, she realizes her brother is once again up to no good. Kitchen appliances go missing and she knows immediately that her science obsessed brother is building something very peculiar in their garage. When she abruptly runs into him, he hastily shows her his new invention which is suppose to be something like a virtual reality game. Without a second word, Michelle is pushed into the machine's the chair...
I hear him stumble over something and continue, “I hope I’m doing the right thing.” Aaron gasps. “No time to waste! Gotta do it now—can’t regret this!”“Aaron?”
“I love you, Michelle.” Now might be the time to panic.
He says, “Departing at 11:58 AM.”
There’s a strange feeling in my chest, as if my insides are emitting as much light as the lamps, and then —Nothing
What happens after this, I absolutely do not want to reveal, because you should definitely read this book yourself and find out. But I can definitely reveal that Michelle literally falls into a world full of fantastical creatures, mysterious and cunning characters and oh yeah, she is basically The Goddess of this unbelievable world! She is meant to save this new world, and Michelle goes along with everything nonchalantly, confident that this is just a high-tech mysterious game built by her amazingly talented brother. But the stranger things start to get and the more she realizes that everything seems so real and that she can't even save her game, she starts to doubt everything and starts to rethink her role and purpose in this scary but magnificent world.
The world build up done by Ms. Yeung, is absolutely stunning! She thinks of everything, to the air, water, plants, buildings and then some! I felt like her world build up and character creation was inspired by a mix between "The Wizard of Oz" and a tiny bit of "Harry Potter", but there was also so much originality to it. I was able to imagine everything in my head, and boy it looked, tasted and felt BEAUTIFUL!
Ms. Yeung added some fantastic, crazy, spooky and evil characters to her story. They all had their own persona which oozed loads of personality and mostly some fun sarcastic humor. Some characters left the story as quick as they were introduced, like the handsome and mysterious Prince Imposter, the sexy robot named Dreana and her abnormally strong side kick named Wolf, but I have a sneaky suspicion that we haven't seen the last of them just yet!!
I can't wait to read the sequels, they need to come out like right now! Once you have read the book, please hop over to Adelle Yeung's website. Here you will find amazingly accurate drawings of some of the scenes which come forth in the book.
Journey along with Michelle into a wondrous and bewildering world, with so many highs, twists and turns it'll make you want to come back for more. Kings and Queens, handsome princes and mentors, strange magicians and malicious creatures— this story has it all, and I'll be anxiously waiting for the next installment to come out!
Journey along with Michelle into a wondrous and bewildering world, with so many highs, twists and turns it'll make you want to come back for more. Kings and Queens, handsome princes and mentors, strange magicians and malicious creatures— this story has it all, and I'll be anxiously waiting for the next installment to come out!
About the Author
Adelle Yeung is the author of The Cycle of the Six Moons trilogy, a young adult fantasy adventure.
She is also a voice-over artist who can’t go a day without a cup of tea. When she’s not writing or recording, she enjoys sewing costumes, baking sweets, and escaping on video game adventures. She lives in California with a cat that dreams of eating the pet bird.
She has provided script supervision for the independent animation, Shattered Heaven, and is head script editor and one of the co-writers for the upcoming game Fiona Frightening and the Wicked Wardrobe.
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