Starcrossed - Josephine Angelini - Review

Book: Starcrossed

Author: Josephine Angelini

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

ISBN: 9780330529730

Rating: A+

When shy, awkward Helen Hamilton sees Lucas Delos for the first time she thinks two things: the first, that he is the most ridiculously beautiful boy she has seen in her life; the second, that she wants to kill him with her bare hands. With an ancient curse making them loathe one another, Lucas and Helen have to keep their distance. But sometimes love is stronger than hate, and not even the gods themselves can prevent what will happen ...

Okay, let’s start off with the major points. 1. It was amazing. 2. It was not what I was expecting, but better. 3. It was boy readable as well! Allow me to elaborate. It was not what I expected, because I’d gathered the whole book was about Helen and Lucas fighting for their love, but it was a nice surprise to have that sorted out early on and have the rest of the book with a lot of Greek myth and Romance which leads me onto the last major point. Most romances are for girls only, and considered girly if a boy reads it but I have to say I truly enjoyed this. I didn’t feel like I was reading a girls book. I felt like I was reading an immense book. That last major point, I’m going to add in is that Josephine Angelini has managed to use the most commonly used children’s book concept of Greek Mythology (Percy Jackson, Halo etc) and weave into a teen fiction, which I found amazing but it added that extra something to the novel, and seeing as the teen Greek twist hasn’t been done yet, well anyone’s gonna have a hard time doing what Angelini has. Looking on those past comments; it’s safe to say Angelini is and will be one of the most brilliant authors of the decade.

Let’s talk about the writing. This writing is something I haven’t experienced before. It is very descriptive but not overly, and has a slight charm so to say it puts the reader in lock, unable to take their face away from the pages of the book. It gave you a sense being there, more literally than hypothetically, so I like the way Angelini writes.

The book follows a slightly twisted plot along the lines of Romeo and Juliet. Obviously there’s Helen, the girl who has the most gorgeous looks and doesn’t realise she is a demigod, and Lucas and his family, the hot new kids who moves into Nantucket. Naturally the fall in love, but also want to kill each because of an Ancient Greek curse, so naturally they can’t be together, and then... something happens which means they can be together and then... a big fighty thingy happens with lots of cool magic. {Sorry, not giving spoilers away}

The characters were all very well built on good foundation. Everything you want to know is explained. Past, present and future (sort of). Their personalities are all very well created and you get the sense of seeing them right in front of you, or being close friends with them. My personal favourite was Helen and Lucas but I think Helen has that bit more, because of the awesome lightning powers! Helen is a very strong character, but she holds back. She doesn’t let her full self show. She hides part of it. And then of course she is a Demigod, with amazingly good looks, (so the school jocks call her heavenly Helen) and can shoot crazy lightning bolts from her hands, electrocute people and just control lightning in general. Oh, did I mention she’s indestructible?

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the epic novel, filled with love, hate, passion, lies and a whole lot of Awesome magic. (I had to do that, couldn’t help it) The novel is so beautifully rolled out into just under 500 pages which make you love, scared, happy, sad, and exited the whole way through. This books is going a long way, count on that, and it’s going on my BEST BOOKS EVER list. So like I just said... BEST BOOK EVER.