Set the Stars Alight Book Review

Hello, friends! Today I am doing another book review of a book that I spent time reading when I was at college. It took me much longer than it should have to read it (which wasn’t the book’s fault), but I finally finished it and it is ready to be reviewed now!

The book that is to be reviewed is––you guessed it!––Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes. One of my friends at school recommended it to me, and I really enjoyed it. I was crying by chapter three, which is a pretty good indicator of how emotional the book is… But don’t worry, the book isn’t completely depressing! It was a beautiful book overall, including some sweet romance and some lovely prose.

The book is split into two storylines, one in the present and one in the past. The first one is about an English girl named Lucy who loves learning about the ocean. She has been intrigued by the story of the traitor Frederick Hanford and of his lost ship, the Jubilee, and she wants to find what really happened one day. She also has a best friend named Dashel Greene, an American boy who lost his parents. He loves the stars, just as much as she loves the ocean. They grow apart as they get older, but Lucy continues to research what happened to the Jubilee, even when she becomes an adult. 

The other story goes back in time to the 1800’s and follows Frederick Hanford himself, who is the son of an admiral. His mother died, and his father is continually angry at him, so he goes up to the roof at night to look at the stars (see the theme here?). He starts out as a young boy, but the story follows him as he grows older and becomes a sailor. A lot of sad things occur that I don’t know if I should talk about, but the point basically is that he wants to make up for the wrong he believes he did to a poor shepherd’s family, and he will do anything to make it right. 

This story had a lot of positives, but I think I am going to get the negative things out of the way first. The first thing is that the plot kind of meanders around. There are definitely interesting parts and action in this story, but generally the story feels more like poetic prose than plot-driven action. It could have used a little more direction overall, especially as it came to a close. Sometimes the prose is vague or ineffective as well, and it can be hard to follow at times. Another drawback is that if you don’t like romance, well, this isn’t the book for you. It’s not gross or inappropriate, but it’s an important part of the book, so you can’t really get around it. The last thing I will mention (one that my friend brought up to me) is that Frederick Hanford degrades himself often in a way that is not healthy. Now, this is simply a character choice, but I think it would have been much more compelling if Frederick had put this aside for true humility.

However, there were so many things that liked about it, despite some of the drawbacks. First off, it doesn’t have language or inappropriate scenes, and only a little violence. I personally enjoyed the romance, and the last part of the book was especially very sweet. Even though the prose wasn’t perfect, I did love how it felt like I was reading poetry––the way that Dykes puts the words together is so aesthetically pleasing. Most of the characters themselves are also very likable (especially Frederick Hanford) and the main characters feel realistic. I also liked the way that both stories unfolded at the same time, and you get to see the story of what happened to the Jubilee bit by bit as Lucy investigates it in the present and Frederick lives it in the past. One of the best things that I also enjoyed was the way it would throw in little bits of wisdom and encourage a sense of wonder in the reader. It’s a book that makes you long for beauty and love, and that sense of longing is one of the marks of a truly good book.

So, dear readers, if you are walking through your library and see Set the Stars Alight on a shelf, check it out! I hope you will enjoy it just like I did.

~Evelyn Knight