Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts

Mynxofhearts · Post by **Mynxofhearts** » 08 Sep 2016, 19:13

Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts is the first book in her newest trilogy set, The Guardians Trilogy
The three books for future reference are
Stars of Fortune
Bay of Sighs
Island of Glass (out in November)

Nora Roberts has a style of writing that usually sets up as each book is one character. This trilogy was unusually different where the focus in each book was a pair characters with one taking the focus a little more then the other. There are 6 active main characters. As I've started the second book, I see each book taking the direction of a "couple".
Stars of Fortune focuses heavily on Sasha Riggs, a talented artist with visions. Often during the night she dreams of exotic places, battles, and people. She isolated herself from society because her gift of visions made her feel different and withdrawn. One particular summer the dreams are stronger and more vivid, so that she must paint them everyday to relieve her mind. To gain clarity she followes her paintings and dreams to a Greek island of Corfu.
In Corfu she finds one by one a team of 6 people looking for the stars of fortune. Sasha, formally known by them as the seer, guides them to find the stars through her dreams, paintings, and sleep walks. Together they are forced to overcome darkness, trust, and a god to get the first star and protect it. Their lives are what they have to lose.

Each character is found one by one and it takes most of the book to get the full story from each. Each character was also extremely different from a young graceful naiive girl to a Silent, strong, tall man. All characters battle trust with each other and fight to protect their destiny. The character progression was marvellous, the best I've seen in any of her stories. The story conclusion was slightly predictable but the methods to get there were not. I found myself glued to the pages and anxious to finish. I was involved in a world of magic, of myth and legend, and a lot more paranormal entities than I could have imagined. The Greek island was amazing as far as imagery, and you were taken from the sky to the depths of the ocean. I was hooked on all the new locations and the breathtaking vision I had in my head. There were times I myself felt suffocated as the characters did.

I rate this book a 4.55/5. I found no flaws, and I ended the book with no questions. I read the book and felt satisfied that the story wasn't over but that the chapter i finished was actually finished. Nora has written many great books in her time but this was my absolute favorite. My only negative experience with this book is the lack of intensity in the villian. You have an enemy as you read the book for sure but I didn't feel she was as scary as I wanted. You start off with some feeling that someone is over your shoulder in the shadows, but as the book progresses I feel that presence less and less. I almost felt her weak and for being a God I didn't like how easily she was handled. I expected more casualties or more of a struggle.
There is promise that this will get more intense in the future books.

Spirit Wandering · Post by **Spirit Wandering** » 22 Apr 2017, 19:38

The first hundred pages where Sasha meets Riley and Bran were interesting and I thought this book was going to be really good. Then the addition of the other three players was tedious and the plot grew thin. Riley was my favorite character-as both a human and a lycan. Sasha, whose story is the primary focus in this novel, never really captured my attention. I thought Annika was poorly written. To me, she came across as dumb rather innocent. Since Annika is the focus of the second novel, Bay of Sighs, I think I will skip it and head straight to Island of Glass.

Snowflake · Post by **Snowflake** » 12 Jun 2017, 13:08

I really enjoyed all three books and all of the characters. I think I enjoyed this series more than many of the Nora Roberts books I have read recently. I do like that her series books allow for more time with the characters than the stand alone books. I also thought this particular series went a bit deeper than Nora Roberts books sometimes do. I was able to read the series straight through from start to finish and then I started back at the beginning and read it through again.

Spirit Wandering · Post by **Spirit Wandering** » 14 Jun 2017, 05:13

I finally got around to reading Island of Glass. Overall, the thought it was good but not the author's best effort. Riley was still my favorite character.