Review for The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson!
Quick View Review:
Characters: ***** (5/5)
Plot: **** (4/5)
Writing Quality: ***** (5/5)
Amazon Rating: **** (4/5)
Full Review
Rory Deveaux is a teenager from Louisiana who moves to London to start fresh at a boarding school. Rory arrives, though, just as a series of grotesque murders imitating the brutal Jack the Ripper killings more than a hundred years ago consumes the city in fear and excitement. The police have no leads and no witnesses. Except for Rory. Rory saw the man who the police now think is the prime suspect. Except that her friend who was with her didn’t see him, and now Rory has become his next target… unless she can use her previously unknown abilities to save her own life.
This book was intriguing and extremely suspenseful. You knew the climax was coming, and the events that took place in the rising action made it ever the more exciting. Even though I started reading this book the week before finals (oops!) and knew that I should be studying instead, I just couldn’t put it down until I read the very last page. I’m so excited to read the second one!
I loved all of the characters and found that their personalities were very realistic and relatable. For example, like Jazza (one of Rory’s best friends), even if I knew that there was almost a zero chance that this Ripper killer would come for me, I would be totally freaked out and would keep myself locked in the house at all times. Besides the killer (of course), there weren’t any characters that I really disliked or couldn’t relate to in any way.
The plot was also incredible. The story was extremely creative, and I admire Maureen Johnson’s exceptional writing skills. However, it was a little predictable. In a way, though, this made it a little more exciting; you knew what Rory was seeing, but you were just dying to figure out why. I also didn’t quite understand Rory and Jerome’s romance; I felt that it was a little sudden and didn’t understand the significance of it in the book overall. I think it would’ve been better if Jerome had somehow been a part of the Shades and a part of the secret life Rory was now inevitably drawn into. Without his involvement, I just felt like their romance was kind of a ridiculous forbidden love that didn’t add anything. We never heard about any real feelings that Rory had for Jerome; it was just like “ta-da” all of a sudden she’s kissing him and sort of dating him? It was pretty confusing and definitely unnecessary in my opinion.
Overall, this book is suspenseful and represents the definition of a page-turner. If you are looking for a book that will make your heart race while teaching you about an important historical event, this is the book for you.
Happy reading!
XOXO,
Jordan
