Beautiful photo by @bookish_archive!
Hello fairy friends!
Happy Monday, I hope you all have a good day! Welcome to day 1 of the January Adult Book readalong of The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers. I am super excited to be reading this with you all!
Before we start, how are you all doing? I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready to explore this new fantasy world with me!
Since today is day 1, we’ll be reading from the beginning to the end of chapter 10. Make sure you are comfy then we can begin!
When you’ve finished today’s section, catch up with me in the comments down below so we can discuss the beginning of the book. Happy reading!
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers from the beginning to the end of Chapter 10. Please only read on if you have finished this section!
!SPOILERS!
Starting strong with a quote before the prologue, I wonder if it is foreshadowing something?
A woman who smells like vanilla is stealing children? That is not good at all.
I can’t believe the woman is leaving her child and then magically disappears into the air via a key.
Is the house alive? It seemed more settled once Gabriel entered.
Wait, they are taking care of and trying to hide their niece from the woman who will take her?
The woman who steals the children is called Penelope, but why are they so civil? What does she hold over them?
I wonder why she has an assistant. Also, what does she want the Everly’s for?
10 years to find someone, I am unsure if they will be able to do it as I feel like she is hidden well for a reason.
Every single generation an Everly is taken, I want to know why though. I hate not knowing things!
Aleksander showed her magic in the marble and I wonder how he manages to show her the galaxy from this tiny ball. Does Violet have magic?
Penelope is such an interesting character, I want to learn more about her!
Why would her assistant choose not to show her the magic? I have so many questions.
Where is Marianne Everly?
Now we are finally getting Violet as an older character!
I can’t believe she has never left the Everly house and has only seen like 4/5 people in her entire life.
My heart breaks for her that her mother has not come home or may not ever.
There is a city in the guest room? And her uncle just vanished into it? I am intrigued! I hope she goes on an adventure soon!
Is Fidelis the city that Violet has seen? There are only certain keys to get there, otherwise everyone is trapped.
Penelope I believe framed that boy for stealing the key, this is very telling of her character.
I find the magic very interesting; there is a material that can be transformed and dreamers have a golden glow around them.
I wonder where Aleksander lived before he was in Fidelis?
If Fidlelis cradles other worlds does that mean there is more than earth? Is this going to be a portal magic system? I can’t wait!
They have no time left before Penelope comes for Violet, I wonder if Marianne is going to be able to break the curse?
Now we know Penelope seems to report to something else she calls a monster? I wonder why she is a star-daughter?
Violet has aged up again to 21, this first part of the book is moving fast! Wait she has left the house and works in a cafe now?
I want to know what happened in the past 4 years once she confronted her uncle about her lack of education.
Aleksander is in the same cafe is this a coincidence or does he go there on purpose?
I love that this is set during modern times with a whimsical hint to it!
He waits for her at the cafe and he will come back to talk to her, I am loving this. I hope he doesn’t hurt her as she only wants adventure.
The city is named in a fairytale book from her mum, I wonder if she was trying to prepare her.
It is very interesting to learn more about this city, and how they have to get resources from elsewhere to stay afloat. But what I find even more interesting is that Aleksander was hand-picked by Penelope to be her assistant…
Nooooo not Aleksander meeting Violet on purpose to find out more about her and her mum. This betrayal will hurt her!
Penelope does not seem like the nicest woman as she wants to get rid of Aleksander’s compassion. She is running experiments on other scholars or is she promising ill scholars a cure for their ailment?
I wonder how Marianne is beating Penelope and over what?
I like that the magic system can only be used by those with a certain key, and you have to have visited that location previously.
I feel like Violet can manipulate the reveurite if she got taught as her uncles and mother seem to be able to use it.
I hate that Aleksander keeps trying to dig for information but I am glad she is not telling him anything! He is so in the dark about certain things and does not seem to wish for anything of his own.
I wish Aleksander would stand up for himself as he has had years of abuse at Penelope’s hand and it will only carry on.
Now that he knows Violet is a very powerful dreamer, I wonder if he will see that Penelope has lied to him.
OMG DID SHE JUST FEED HIM TO A CREATURE???
I am so intrigued that she called Tamriel her cousin! Is she part astral or full? I wonder if she eats the Everlys to keep herself young and alive.
She did not just leave the monster hidden away to rot, she is vicious. I am even more excited now!
The end of this section just got me even more intrigued by the story!
We have been given lots of information but not all of it has connected!
What do you think of Violet so far?
Do you like this new fantasy world?
How are you feeling about Penelope right now?
So excited to keep reading this one with you, fairies!
Love,
Emily
It’s an interesting start so far! I still need to know more before I form a solid opinion. I’m definitely intrigued.
1) What do you think of Violet so far?
I feel like I barely know her 😅 She hasn’t had much page time at all.
2) Do you like this new fantasy world?
It sounds fascinating! I’m curious to see how many worlds the keys/ doors can connect to.
3) How are you feeling about Penelope right now?
I feel like she’s the character we know the most. She’s got to be a villain. She’s certainly cut throat going after what she wants. I’m curious to see why she NEEDS Marianne.
I want to know why she needs Marianne!
Loved part one of this – excited for part 2!
What do you think of Violet so far? – I like Violet she is written as a likeable character who we feel sorry for – her mother abandoning her, growing up with no friends etc.
Do you like this new fantasy world? – I find it very intriguing – excited to find out more – giving Narnia / Tomorrowland vibes.
How are you feeling about Penelope right now? – I sense she is not a nice person but I’m interested to find out her background and more about the origins of the Everly curse.
It is very much giving Narnia vibes!
The start of this was so interesting but I still feel so confused about what’s going on lol
1/ I love violet so far but agree she hasn’t had much page time at all
2/ the world is my favourite part so far! Very whimsical 🫶🏻 🧚♀️
3/ Penelope is giving 100% evil atm 🙃
Penelope is definitely giving evil queen vibes!
First off, WOW do I live this authors writing. It’s so whimsical and ugh, it’s everything. I keep forgetting I’m actually reading haha
I feel for Violet. I’m sad her mom isn’t around. I don’t understand the curse, it’s so mysterious. So at this point, I’m just really frustrated for her.
Penelope is such a good villain. I hate her so much and can see why she’s intriguing to children and how she can entice older people too.
I’m a bit confused as to what’s going on. The worldbuilding is super confusing and the constant shift of POVs and storylines makes it difficult for me to follow. I usually rely on the summary here on our readalongs to help explain things to me, but with no summaries this week and just reactions, I’m kind of lost. 😅
1) I feel like I don’t know Violet well enough yet to form an opinion. She’s only on-page like half the time and the narration style is so distant and removed from the characters, I don’t feel a connection to her. I’m hoping to get to know her better as we go.
2) Not quite sure on this either. Have we seen a fantasy world? Most of the story is the characters in the real world, right? And the few glimpses we’ve seen of the magical world haven’t explored it in depth. Again, I’ll wait to form an opinion until we’ve seen more.
3) Penelope is definitely an intriguing character/villain. I’m very curious about her origins and backstory. Who is she? WHAT is she? Where did she come from? It’s mentioned that she ranks highly in this academia, but why? What does she do? It seems like she sends her assistant on all of her errands, so what does SHE do for the academia? Looking forward to learning more.
See y’all tomorrow! Hopefully some of my many questions will be answered. 👋
What do you think of Violet so far? She aged so quickly! not seen a lot of her yet though so not sure what to think
Do you like this new fantasy world? I do, I like how it’s got real earth places too 😅
How are you feeling about Penelope right now? very interested to see where her character goes but definitely bad vibes to start
Same, I also like that it is set partially in our world!
I haven’t really got into the book yet, I feel like there has been a lot of information but not enough connections yet. We get some tidbits that will definitely make sense later but right now it’s not there for me yet.
I feel sad for Violet for having such an isolated life so far. At least she has her uncles. But it foreshadows that she will be powerful somehow so I am interested to find out what happens to her next.
I like this fantasy world, I’ve always loved other worlds and portaling somewhere else so that part is definitely intriguing. I’d also love to get to know more about this metal that they’re using for the keys and the whole society of Fidelis, the scholars etc. We haven’t got enough information about that yet!
Penelope is annoying as hell and I’m sure that she will not get better. She seems like a nasty character through and through, especially considering how she’s treating Aleksander and her relentless hunt for Violet’s mom.
Even though I’m not most excited yet about this book I think it will become more enjoyable after we keep reading and learning about this new world.
Wow, this was a great start! I love that first 50 – 100 pages confusion when we get so many worldbuilding terms and new characters and then it’s slowly weaves itself into a story!
I love the worldbuilding so far, but I have so os many questions. What’s actually reveurite and how do Dreamers manipulate it? What are the astrals and what is their tie with Fidelis?
Violet seems like a promising character, but I agree we didn’t see enough of her. I do love her interactions with Alekander though, it feels lika it’s gonna be very heart-breaking if Alekander has to choose between loyalty to Penelope and Violet.
And Penelope! She feels a lot like the villain you love to hate, or hate to love. She reminds me a lot of Mrs. Coulter from His Dark Materials. Actually now that I think of it, the whole book has that whimsical feel of His Dark Materials, with scholars and multiple worlds (minus the daemons, sadly)!
I can’t wait to see more of Violet!
This is intriguing so far, & I’d love to know more of the secret city & the Everly curse
Still warming up to Violet.
Penelope is definitely giving evil vibes.
1. Violet seems an interesting character, but I feel like she is not in her full potential. She doesn’t know a lot of thing so she can’t act according.
2. I didn’t read the plot of the book, so I didn’t expect a modern setting, but I really like it because it is modern but with a little magic.
3. Penelope is for sure evil. I’m not sure whether I like or not to have her point of view.
I feel like this whole section I just read and was confused. The magic systems and world are definitely taking time to get used to! Definitely intriguing so far!
I’m loving the writing so far. As soon as I picked up the book I said to myself that I have a feeling I’m really going to enjoy this one.
Violet’s interesting because she hasn’t had a lot of human interaction growing up outside of her family. I hope that she gets to go on the adventure she wants.
I’m intrigued to learn more about the worlds and how they interact and I’m liking the little bit of magic that we have seen so far.
I didn’t like Penelope from the start and I guess I was right in that since she’s turning out to be the villain character. I’m interested to see what more terrible things she’s going to do.
The writing is so magical!
I was a little hesitant going into this one at first, but I can honestly say that I am hooked now!
The way the story is being told I feel like we haven’t really had a grasp of who the characters really are yet. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m intrigued. I do like Violet and Aleksander. And, assuming Penelope is our villain (or at least the antagonist), I like her and I’m itching to know more about her backstory.
As far as how I’m liking the fantasy world, I don’t think I’ve seen enough of it to have an opinion just yet. But, like I said before, I am intrigued and looking forward to reading tomorrow’s section!
So far this book has been intriguing! All of the characters are interesting and I can’t wait to find out more about them. I am excited to watch Violet experience an adventure (hopefully with Aleksander 💕) and nervous for them at the same time. Violets uncles are interesting and I hope we get to see some more about Gabriel and what he does.
I am curious what Aleksander saw when he was looking at Violet and what that will mean. He said she wasn’t a dreamer so maybe something more? I’m still unsure what exactly everyone is 😅 so maybe in the next couple chapters that will be cleared up.
This story is definitely keeping me on the edge of my seat with the more questions than answers. Which I honestly feel is a great way to start a new story. Definitely not generic and predictable so I’m loving it!
I agree more questions at the beginning is better!
I’m definitely intrigued by this book, but I feel like we don’t know much yet. Lots of hints and names have been dropped, but we don’t actually know much about them or this world.
I like Violet, but I’m more interested in Aleksander – we haven’t really seen much from Violet.
I like the idea of the world, we just really don’t know much about it.
Strangely I don’t view Penelope as a villain yet (which is weird considering she fed that guy to that monster who I think used to be a star?), but I need to know more behind her motivations. Currently she feels less like a villain, and more in competition with Marianne (and whatever they’re trying to achieve. Reminds me of the two magicians in The Night Circus
1. What do you think of Violet so far?
I’m liking her, but feel like we haven’t really gotten to know her yet. She feels a bit superficial at the moment to me. Aleksander is way more interesting to me at this point!
2. Do you like this new fantasy world?
Yes, but I want more information. I feel like to much is still unknown about this world, but I am very intrigued!
3. How are you feeling about Penelope right now?
Don’t really trust her to be honest, but I also don’t think she is “the big bad” of this book.
Ew I hope she’s not eating the Everlys, I didn’t even think of that!
First off, I’m loving the style Georgia Summers rights in. It really lends itself to a mysterious/fantastical feeling.
Would love to know the specifics of this curse. I’m assuming Marianne has been off trying to find a way to break it so Penelope doesn’t take Violet. It seems she’s trying to find the city of stardust, but who knows how that will help.
If the curse takes one Everly per generation was there another sibling that was taken? Or was it supposed to be Marianne, but she ran off? Though why wouldn’t Ambrose or Gabriel be an option instead of Violet? Yeah really gonna need more explanation on this curse lol
I can’t wait to find out more about the curse!
I really enjoyed the first chapters of this one! I adore the style and the whismical atmosphere, the characters and the promise of magic. Because yes, I feel like Violet craving for magic during my everyday life.
Still not sure if Fidelis is the City of Stardust or there is another one.
Penelope is a very harsh villain, killing without a blink and leaving her cousin to starve without a second thought.
I am still wondering what she really needs Marianne for.
I’m interested to see what happens with Violet now that we know she is a super strong dreamer. She’s is an interesting character, but I think Aleksander is more interesting. I wonder if he’s bi and Violet is a love interest or if they’ll just be friends. I really like the concept of the keys and the star-metal. That would be so cool to jump from place to place. I see why Penelope made Aleksander go to all those cities when he was younger now. I’m not really sure how I feel about Penelope yet. It’s interesting that she is Tamriel’s cousin.
I’m really enjoying this so far! I’m finding the writing really atmospheric and immersive and i am very intrigued as we find out more mysteries.
I really like Violet so far – her inquisitiveness and need for adventure. She seems to have turned out really well despite a sheltered life! Penelope on the other hand is quite awful. I feel sorry for poor Aleksander! Interesting that Penelope tells him things about himself and his past that are not at all true in order to keep him under her thumb.
Violet is definitely an interesting main character!
What do you think of Violet so far? I think she is an interesting character, especially towards end of chapter 9 when Aleksander checks to see if she has scholar potential and the cafe is surrounded by gold with her in the middle.
I think that she is from a line of scholars and that her mum was one or perhaps her dad. Her mum has a key, it will be interesting to get more information on how she came about getting it and being able to use it.
Do you like this new fantasy world?
Violets house is very curious, I’m hoping for more expansion on what secrets it holds.
I’m really interested to see if Violet makes it to Fidelis as it sounds like it will be really magical. I think the book is warming up and it will open to new areas that both Violet and Aleksander will explore.
How are you feeling about
Penelope right now?
I honestly don’t like her. I think she is very cruel. She is definitely wearing a mask to lure people on her side but cracks appear when she doesn’t get her way.
She is very adamant on finding Violets mum, is this due to the key she has? Or power?
So far I have really enjoyed the story! It’s been a very interesting read and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to Violet and Aleksander throughout the story! I have a soft spot for Aleksander as I feel like he is one of the children from the prologue and want him to get away from Penelope as she is cruel and nasty.
What do you think of Violet so far?
I think there is more to her than meets the eye. I feel like we are going to get the chosen one trope with her.
Do you like this new fantasy world?
I am intrigued in the world. I feel like we have had a sip of the magic but I know it goes so much deeper. I am hoping as the story continues we can explore it more as we search for our missing mother.
How are you feeling about Penelope right now?
I don’t trust her. I’m not sure what her motive is but she’s giving villian vibes.
Penelope does give off the bad guy vibes!
What do you think of Violet so far?
-I like her and am excited for her get more truths.
Do you like this new fantasy world?
-I do! It reminds me the show Locke & Key but more fantasy and less magic.
How are you feeling about Penelope right now?
-She’s scarrrryyyy and brutal, and yet….intriguing.