“All the Stars and Teeth”, an In-Depth Review

Where do I start…

When I first got this book delivered to my door, and I opened the rough brown packaging, I wont lie. I was a little nervous.

There has been such a rise in the YA Fantasy genre since 2019, and the bigger your basket of apples become, the more bad apples you are sure to find. I’ve had my fair share of bad apples, and many of them have something in common. Their covers.

I know, I know.

“But Anon! You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover!”

Well I do, and I did. The cover is very bright and elaborate, with swirling colors of bright blue and purple. I often fear that many authors will try to make their covers extremely eye catching to lure their readers into giving their published piece a chance. Which, makes sense. There are a lot of books on those shelves in Barnes & Noble, and you need to make sure you get a fighting chance! Yet almost every YA fantasy book has the same old designs on them. Bold letters and colors, bones, wildlife usually pertaining to the bird variety, a sword or dagger, and feathers. Not to mention, the very titles themselves follow a very obvious pattern. “Of — and —” or “The — of — and —”, usually two to three word pairings between a noun and adjective. It gets boring. Like its becoming a race to who can publish and get noticed first, and I was a little skeptical when I first laid eyes on “All the Stars and Teeth”.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by the first half of the book. I’ll be getting into the second half later.

The book opens with our main character Amora Montara getting ready for her big night, her performance that will show the world that she is fit to rule. The first few chapters were filled with an enjoyable amount of world building, there’s even a map! You learn of all the seven islands and which magics are assigned to each, you learn about the type of magic Amora has (Soul magic), and the basic rules of the kingdom.

You can only practice one type of magic, anymore and your soul will become corrupted by greed

Corrupted souls invoke the hunger of an ancient beast, long dead and killed by Visidia’s first king. King Cato.

The Montara blood line is the only blood line capable of handling soul magic without losing their soul in the process. And the only blood line chaining the beast back.

Soul magic is deadly.

The other magics in this world are mainly used as tools. If manipulated properly, they can be used as weapons, or aids of war. But that is limited to the skill and creativity of the wielder. Soul magic is primarily used to link the body and soul of one person to the wielder, and using their bones to inflict damage. Whatever happens to their bones, happens to their body. Amore often throws the bones into fire, and then the body of her victim will writhe in pain as in engulfed in flames. There is a description later in the book where someone swallows the tooth of their victim, and their body is practically thrown into acid. Since, you know, stomach acid. There are so many unique ways this magic could be utilized, and I’ll talk about some of my disappointments with that later.

Back to the plot, Amora goes to prove herself worthy to her people a few chapters into the story. She obviously fails (Because then where would the story be?) and is thrown into a cell. She can’t control the beast within her blood, and she is deemed too dangerous. I won’t go too far into the details on this part of the story line, because if you’re reading this that means you’ve already read the book and knows what happened (I hope).

I really had no issues with the book up to this point, I really enjoyed the world building and enjoyed noticing the themes that would come to play in Amora’s character down the line.

Once Amora got onto Bastian’s ship, I was interested. When Ferrick climbed up after her? Hook line and sinker.

I love a man that chases.

In came the love triangle.

I loved the way Ms. Grace wrote a lot of the initial character interactions. There was obvious tension, and the character’s behaviors gave the reader a good understanding of what that character was experiencing, even if this story wasn’t through their perspective. It made everything feel wrapped up nicely with a pretty little ribbon on top. There was a noticeable tension building between Ferrick, Bastian, and Amora and each of these characters interacted in ways that indicated they were more invested in each other than just simple travel buddies. High stakes, like finding and killing and evil villain, can probably do that to a group of young adults. Yet there were certain romantic flares that pointed to something a little bit deeper.

All the times Ferrick had raced to Amora’s side, confessed his love for her, and obeyed her commands, were all pretty obvious pointers to his affections with our heroine.

While with Bastian, Amora had been ogling him on more than just a few occasions, describing his figure as “Broad shouldered” and “strong”. Picking up on the details of his eyes hair and skin, his body, and even his smell. And while Bastian was kind, and even gave Amora a few flirty remarks, compared to the way Ferrick showed his affections… It felt relatively lack luster and not as obvious. The only indications of a budding romance between Amora and Bastian was Amora’s own attractions, it felt as if Bastian was just along for the ride and accepting a pretty lady’s attention. Although, one could argue that Bastian rightfully so had a lot of world shattering distractions with his home being controlled by his evil power hungry brother.

Still, an obvious love triangle situation was present. Ferrick loves Amora, Amora loves Bastian… and Bastian loves… ?

That part wasn’t made as obvious as I had hoped for. A part of me was wondering if there was some complicated affections that would arise, tying the three of them into some relationship too deep and intimate for friendship, but too foreign and unknown to be accepted as romantic love.

As the author continued this build of tension, with me gnawing on my fingernails to see how this bubble would pop, I noticed a lot of character reactions that would indicate something deeper than friendship.

Any time Ferrick would do something relatively dangerous, like when he jumped in the stormy seas after Vataea once she fell overboard, Amora was described as panicked and constantly scanning the water for his familiar red hair. Or Bastian and Ferrick’s rocky relationship seemingly smoothing over, and even deepening with their love for Amora. There were many scenes written where Bastian had gone out of his way to make sure Ferrick was safe or shoving him from danger. Taking special care to both Amora and Ferrick.

Here are some excerpts from the material that further led me to this hope of love triangle madness:

“‘…And all I have beneath this dress is skin I’d prefer to keep covered, considering I’m on a pirate’s ship.’ While Ferrick’s pale skin darkens to crimson, Bastian’s expression contorts into feigned horror.” — Clear example of how Ferrick’s affections for Amora are on full display, and Bastian just seems to partake in friendly banter and is not as affected at the mental imagery of a nude Amora as Ferrick is. One could argue that Ferrick is just less… experienced as Bastian? But where’s the fun in a romantic interest that shows… no interest in the main character?

“Drawing a deep breath, he says more calmly, ‘There is. I know neither of us asked for this, but you’ve known how I feel about you for years, Amora. I know I’ve never been more than a passing thought for you, but I truly believe you’re the right heir for Visidia, and I’ll help make that reality in whatever way I can. Then, once we’re home… I want you to know that I plan to be good to you. I didn’t have the chance to say it before, but I really want you to know that.’” — Come on! Acknowledgement and acceptance of Amora’s feelings towards him, a love confession, and devoting himself to her dreams? Even though Ferrick knows Amora has had no love for him, he loves her enough to help her become heir, and support her in any way that he can, with his love left unrequited. I was hoping that this sudden boldness from Ferrick would have had Amora looking at him in a new light, deepening this love triangle drama.

“‘You should eat something with iron tonight,’ Bastian offers, trying hard to look me in the eye so he can feign comfort. ‘I hear that’s good for those who are… indisposed.’

Ferrick nods in vehement agreement. ‘I hear salmon helps with that. Perhaps tuna would work the same? I can catch some for you, if you’d like.’ His jaw sets into a determined line, and I laugh even harder.” — Such good boys. Amora has had what many women fear happening to them happen to her, she has bled through her white trousers while menstruating. Hey, it happens. What’s cute about this scene is Ferrick’s offer to go catch some tuna or fish from the ocean. Ferrick was willing to practically jump overboard and catch her some fish in the hopes it might alleviate any side effects that he wasn’t even aware Amora was experiencing or not. Now that’s love.

“‘Run, Amora.’ Ferrick’s hand is on my back. ‘We’ll hold them off.’” — This scene is pulled from the moment a fight is due to break out inside the VICE tavern where the time gamblers are staked out. Can I just emphasize the hand placement? Maybe I have a bias for Ferrick, but I specifically underlined this bit and wrote in the margins a triangle drawing, exclamation points, and several little hearts. It’s very obvious that Ferrick deeply loves and cares for Amora.

“Ferrick’s on the other side of the counter. He leans in and offers me his left hand. Because I don’t have time to dig through my satchel to find the bones i need, I wipe my blade on the back of my hand, saving Blarthe’s blood, and quickly reach over and slice off two of Ferrick’s fingers. He barely winces before I snarl at him to go help Bastian …” — !!! Ferrick is in love love. I personally didn’t catch on to what was about to happen with Amora using Ferrick as her personal bone farm, I genuinely thought he was offering her a hand to pull her back over the counter top so she could get some space between herself and Blarthe. So to read Amora chopping off Ferrick’s limbs (again, poor guy) with him willingly offering his own bones really threw me for a loop. Annotated with “True love <3” written in my purple pen.

“Bastian shoves me forward and I nearly fall face-first into Ferrick, who pulls me onto the dinghy. He gives it a firm kick into the water before falling into place besides me. Bastian’s still running.” — This is one of the prime examples of when I mentioned Bastian doing something to ensure that not only Amora, but also Ferrick make it to safety, sacrificing himself for the two of them. Bastian is actively pushing Amora into Ferrick so they can flee. One could argue that Bastian cares for them both, but how deeply was never quite made clear. This had me waiting for the pop of this bubble with even more baited breath.

“They stare unblinking at the mermaid, lost in the trance of her song. Ferrick tries to stand, but I push him back down onto the dinghy’s small wooden bench. When Bastian moves to stand as well, I sigh and collapse into his lap while draping my feet over Ferrick’s thighs, locking him in place. … Both Bastian and Ferrick try to do the same, but I grind my boots into the bench and stiffen my legs to keep Ferrick down. As for Bastian, I pinch his cheeks in my hands, trying to get him to look at me. … I rush to my feet, swaying the dinghy, and throw myself back on top of him and Ferrick.

‘Kiss them,’ The mermaid whispers, her words wrapping around me. … I sigh, staring at Ferrick’s lips. … Ferrick doesn’t budge as I lean in and press my lips against his. He tastes like the sour ale he sipped on at Vice, lips soft and fuller than I gave him credit for. His hands twitch at my sides and settle on my hips, attempting to draw me in. He pulls my bottom lips between his teeth and bites it gently. … When I draw back he gasps for a breath, flushed from his forehead to his neck. … I shift my attention to the pirate who’s lap I’m sitting on. … This is how a kiss is supposed to make me feel. … I turn to Ferrick, whose sharp face is turned from me as he rows. His shoulders are slumped as though an anchor is pulling him to the sea. My smile falters.” — Girl. Of course I was going to mention this scene. I think the tension between the characters was near exploding here, with Amora making out with another man right in front of the one that gave her a love confession mere days ago, I was so excited for this love triangle mess to give me the juiciest read in a long time. I had no need to worry, I had only enjoyed the rising tension, the world building, the witty banter and, at least what I thought, obvious budding romance between these three characters.

So as you can imagine, I was horribly surprised when this bubble of tension didn’t quite pop, but just… floated away.

I’ve gushed about what I loved in the first half of this book.

Its time to tear into the second.

Vataea.

Lets start off with lost potential. I think those two words cover the main grievances I have with the second half of this book. I mean, it makes sense. This book is only 368 pages long. With the amount of events that are supposed to be happening in this one book alone, I’m not surprised some things got overlooked. It is still disappointing though.

When Vataea’s character got introduced, I was really excited to see the depth of her character. A mermaid, suffering at the hands of men for years. Her magic is nothing to the system Amora’s entire kingdom is based off of or rooted in. It’s deeper, more ancient. Supposedly.

I was so upset to see that the story doesn’t delve much farther into Vataea’s character. She’s freed, then without much conflict other than a few descriptions of longing for the sea, she swears herself to Amora’s cause. She has maybe three or four moments where she implements her ancient magic, controlling the ocean and charming others around her, but besides the moment where Amora has to break Ferrick and Bastian from her charm Amora is only partly conscious every other time it happens. This gives the reader only a somewhat foggy description of Vataea’s shining moments. There is so much that could have happened with this mermaid character. Vataea is supposedly filled with malice for men, they’re the very creatures who had captured, starved, and even tried to force her into prostitution. She had been held away from her home for years, the ocean being as much of a piece of herself as her own bones, but yet she doesn’t seem to have any in depth convictions. Vataea mentions how she wanted to explore the land more, but her character doesn’t seem to reflect on this much. Her character doesn’t do much in general, besides being the easy answer to this love triangle mess.

As soon as Amora, Ferrick, Bastian and Vataea are all safe and on Keel Haul there’s an argument. Ferrick is pissed, and honestly, I can see why. He makes a pretty valid point, saying even if Amora doesn’t love him she could at least be a tad bit kinder to him and not treat him as if he’s disposable or utterly repulsive to her. And Amora counters with a valid point of her own, arguing that she never asked to be engaged to Ferrick, and the last thing she needed was another person telling her how to live her life. Both fair arguments. With this little scuffle comes some flirting from Vataea. She makes some sort of offer with Ferrick, basically telling him she wants to explore with him and see what it would be like to be with a man. And Ferrick immediately caves, blushing and red faced.

… ?

What?

This bubble I was waiting half the book for to pop, never really pops. There’s about a two to four sentence argument, and later they’re interrupted by a sea beast, the Lusca. A fight scene breaks out, honestly not too poorly written, and then Ferrick jumps in after Vataea after she falls off. I can’t argue that this is too over the top for Ferrick’s character, jumping in after a woman he barely knows, since he is very selfless and self-sacrificial in nature.

When Amora falls unconscious (again) after being struck with the Lusca’s poison, she’s down for a few days. When she wakes, Ferrick charges her for a hug. This is the first time I think the two of these characters ever physically expressed care for one another. He gives a quick apology, and Amora admits to herself that she was filled with panic whenever she could not find Ferrick’s bright red hair in the ocean. It’s obvious these two care for each other in some regard. We already know Ferrick loves Amora. Once again I was left hoping that a near death experience would somewhat make Amora realize how much she really does care for Ferrick, and I was left with the idea that maybe this love triangle situation was still on-going, and that this wasn’t the pop moment. It sure didn’t feel like this conflict had been resolved. After this little reunion, Bastian and Amora have a passionate session together behind closed doors.

I will give Ms. Grace thanks for this one thing, that she kept a YA book for YA readers. Too many fantasy novels or series geared towards young readers have amounts of “smut” or “spice” that is inappropriate for young readers. So I appreciate this moment not being pushed past a quick little make out session.

Once they’ve had their moment, they leave their room and walk in on Ferrick and Amora sitting “too close”. Amora makes the observation that her and Bastian were not the only ones getting “friendly”.

Ugh.

Punch to the gut.

So this is the pop? This was the resolution to nearly 200 pages worth of build up? Introduce a shallow character with hardly any depth and just make her Ferrick’s new love interest? I have the feeling that the author just had this idea of Amora kissing both Bastian and Ferrick to break them from the charm, which was a wonderful idea. I was reading that entire scene with baited breath. And then, light bulb! Vataea became an easy solution to the love triangle that im not sure this author had thought all the way through. Almost as if she had a few good ideas she wanted to execute, and she executed them well, but then put no thought into what would happen next. Or how to even end this arc in the story.

There was no further explanation to what the relationships between these characters were. Amora and Ferrick were still too close to be friends, and Ferrick’s action towards Vataea had no romantic undertones. There’s even a scene where all four of the characters have a near death experience while swimming to Zudoh, Vataea included, and Ferrick is described as just tossing a bundle of wet clothes in her general direction.

This is the same red headed man who risked his life to save her, and I’m supposed to believe that he’s in love with Vataea? If I was in love with someone, I would at least attempt to ensure they’re okay. The same way Ferrick had done for Amora many times before. Even if that meant making sure I was okay first and then tending to my partner. Ferrick has been known to be a self-sacrificial man, he’s let Amora use his limbs in fights. Yet he’s never written interacting with Vataea the way his character would normally show romantic interest.

The relationship between Ferrick and Vataea never felt like a relationship. None of the relationships did, really. There was no development. It felt very elementary in the sense that, oh we kissed and held hands that means we’re boyfriend girlfriend.

Moving past the romantic complaints, a lot of dialogue felt very in-organic. As if the author read or saw something from another piece of media and thought to herself; “Thats wicked, I’ll use that in my book!” There are a couple of moments that sort of pulled me out of the reading, mainly the moments where Amora is describing herself as some sort of beast or monster.

Girl.

Every fight you’ve been in you’ve received some sort of horrible injury that required you to be dragged, shoved, or pulled to safety. You know what you want, you know who you are, and you’re very forward about all of that, which is great. But you’re an 18-year-old girl with no experience outside your castle walls, not some battle seasoned adventurer to be warry of.

I will start to wrap this review up as I am well aware of how long it has become.

This book had many good moments and so much potential, but the delivery of these plot points faltered and disappointed in the second half of the book. There was so much good opportunity with all of these characters, if only there was more depth and development, if only Vataea was fleshed out more as a full character and not just a plot device, if only the book was a little longer.

I’ll give credit where credit is due, this was a creative story with an in-depth magic system that seemed fairly thought through. With just an initial reading (and most of my focus on the love triangle happening) I couldn’t notice many plot holes, I didn’t notice them until after a group review over the book with my book club when others brought them up. Even with them I felt the story was still relatively enjoyable, but if you’re looking for a book to really wow your wonder, this might not be it. There’s not enough character depth to really dive in and bathe in this story.

But who knows, maybe thats your cup of tea.

If you agree, disagree, or have any other takes I may have missed, feel free to reach out to me via my contact page.

As always fellow Bookish Creatures, happy reading.