delicate eternity logo
A haven for lovers of the written word
separate post

chasing starsWhat: Chasing Stars (After Eden #2) by Helen Douglas

Who: Bloomsbury Childrens Books

When: June 5th 2014

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Bloomsbury Australia in exchange an honest review.

The boy Eden loves just saved her life. Now she must save his. To do so she must make a huge sacrifice. Eden can never see her friends or family again, as she travels a hundred years into the future. But the dangerous risk Ryan took to rescue Eden has been uncovered, and now Ryan faces an exile …which will leave Eden separated from him – the one person she can’t live without – and stuck in the future. She must fight to save both of them.

The mesmerising sequel to the author’s wonderful debut, After Eden.

2.5B

Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of Chasing Stars. I liked its predecessor, After Eden, but the things I really loved about that book were all absent in Chasing Stars.

First of all: nothing really happened. In the first few chapters Ryan is taken into custody because the government of the future thinks he broke a law by going back in time and saving Eden’s life. So all the ‘yay they’re back together’ disappears after only a few scenes. The entire book is Ryan being in custody and then Eden eventually deciding that she is going to save him. Literally, that is all. Those two things.

Looking back on Chasing Stars, I kind of wonder what else happened in the 350 odd pages. We’re introduced to Ryan’s friends from the future, of which only one was interesting and fleshed out. We had the token bitch, and then two geeky twins who had about ten words between them in the entire novel. All Eden does with these friends of Ryan’s is drink, eat, and party. Seriously. That. Is. All. They. Do. Which is fine once or twice but when YOUR BOYFRIEND IS FACING TRIAL – THAT IS NOT OKAY. I mean, Eden was getting plastered almost every night and Ryan was in a jail cell. Caring and concerned girlfriend? Not so much.

And then we have the weird weird weird relationship between Eden and Ryan’s best friend, Pegasus. Seriously freaking weird. They’re all flirty but they claim to be in love with other people. And then Eden MOVES IN WITH PEG, and just somehow becomes comfortable enough with him to strip down to her underwear in front of him – numerous times. Caring and concerned girlfriend? Not so much.

Fast forward repeated and indistinguishable scenes of underage drinking and little world building and we get to the end. Which is left open. After all that. After all the nothing and all the ‘what the hell’ing – we get an open ending? We don’t know where they end up? Or when? We just have to be content with the flipping of a coin and a possible future that we don’t get to see at all?

No. I’m not content with that. Not after liking the first book and pushing myself through this one. I am not content at all. In fact, I am quite disappointed in this sequel altogether.

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

Your Turn: Have you read many disappointing sequels? Do you think it might be a symptom of the new duology phase?

separate post
Posted on: June 9, 2014 • By: Chiara

2 Responses to Review: Chasing Stars by Helen Douglas

  1. Kelly says:

    That’s so funny, I was the opposite. I enjoyed this more than book one, but I also assumed it was a trilogy, but apparently it’s only a duology. It ended with too many loose ties for me. I wondered if it was because the first in the series wasn’t received as well as the author had hoped, so she wanted to wrap it up quickly. The premise of time travel and alternate worlds really does intrigue me, but the series really did need something more. Fabulous review!

    • Chiara says:

      There were HEAPS of loose ties, and that always annoys me to no end D:
      It would be a shame if it was only a duology because of popularity, because I think the series could have been improved upon if there had been more time to acclimate ourselves with the future setting and all the other things that were a bit rushed in this one.
      The premise is wonderful! Which is why I was so disappointed in this one :(
      Thank you, dear!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *