The Sound of Stars - Book Review

The Sound of Stars
by Alechia Dow

What is it about:
Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity?

Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.

Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.

Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.

Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.

What did I think of it:
Normally I don't buy books by new to me authors that are more than 10 Euro, unless the book got recommended to me by a friend. But this one called to me: a girl who rebels by having a secret library, an alien who loves music... I decided to break my buying rules and pre-ordered this book anyway (and I got the most gorgeous pre-order goodies as a reward).

And this turned out to be a wonderful read.

Ellie is a heroine I could totally root for. Even while suffering from anxiety she is not willing to conform to the rules of the invading aliens. They have forbidden all forms of creative expression: book, music, art, etc. Knowing she will be executed when discovered she starts a secret library, lending people books to ease the boredom of their new everyday life. Then a book goes missing and soon after she meets M0Rr1s.

M0Rr1s was also easy to root for. He loves music (especially David Bowie, which made him real easy to relate to) and is trying to collect as much music as he can before all of it is destroyed.

The viewpoint switches between Ellie and M0Rr1s and had me invested and interested from the start. In between their chapters are short chapters about the fictional band The Starry Eyed. Their album The Sound of Stars is both the title of the book, as well as Ellie's favorite album. These chapters set the mood of this book, which is about music, books, bravery, and hope, even more.

All in all I loved this book. It is suspenseful, emotional, and filled with music and stories. I hadn't expected to love it as much as I did, I will confess. You bet I'll keep an eye on Dow.

One extra observation from my owner: I've seen a review for this book where the reviewer complained about 'all the labels'. Yes: several people are labeled. Ellie for instance is labeled as demi-ace, and others are clearly labeled as they/them. Maybe the reviewer who complained about this, and said it was unnecessary, grew up in a very welcoming and open environment where information about sexuality and identity is easy to find, but I can tell you that I loved seeing these things mentioned so clearly. If information about demi-sexuality for example had been easily available for me as a teen, I might have understood myself better, and I might have done things differently. I think it's important for teens (and adults as well) to see themselves represented in books.

Why should you read it:
It's a wonderful YA SF read.


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