All the Stars and Teeth Series

I just finished the All the Stars and Teeth series by Adalyn Grace and let me say, it was a good one. This series is a duology that follows a princess heir (Amora) through her attempt to come to power. The series is set in a fantasy island kingdom of Visidia filled with magic and mythical beings. It really hits all of the points when it comes to fantasy and fiction. I love books with magic and other types of beings. It really helps my imagination run wild.

Disclosure: Going forward there will be spoilers, so please read carefully! Also, this is strictly my opinion and how I felt about the books. I am not compensated for any of my reviews.

I will say that I like The Crimson Crown Series better than this series. There are 2 main reasons for this. 1. The world building in The Crimson Crown Series is much more detailed and done throughout the series whereas with this book, the world building seemed rushed to me and I felt like there could have been more done for me to fully be able to visualize the world I was entering. 2. The main character. In The Crimson Crown Series, I loved Raisa as the main character (I also loved Han as the main character). They both had thorough development that made sense. In this series, I had no problem with the characters and their development in the first book (All the Stars and Teeth), but in the second book (All the Tides of Fate), I felt like the main character was extremely whiny and continuously refused to listen to anyone that would help her with her grief and would then complain that she was going through things alone. It made it difficult to read the second book. This is part of the reason why I have only given this series a 2.5/5.

All the Stars and Teeth – book 1

I loved this book. I think that Grace set up the story well here. While there is a map in the beginning of the book, she did describe the island kingdom well in terms of how it is set up. She also described how the monarchy is set up as well so when we find out the truth about Amora’s ancestor it makes sense. However, I would have liked more world building. We do get a glimpse into the the story of how the monarchy was supposedly founded in this book through King Cato (Amora’s ancestor), but I would have liked more detail about how each of the magics were found and how they decided which island practiced which magic. I also think that breaking down the island’s structure in terms of the magic and government would be helpful to see how it all plays into the larger kingdom. This would have been even more important going into the second book where it talks about certain islands wanting to secede and how their trade works. It did feel like it was glossed over and not given the proper attention.

Other than the world building needing some more depth, this book hit the spot on building strong themes. Themes of friendship, love (romantic and familial), and magic permeated the book. Among the types of magic are curse magic, soul magic, elemental magic, enchantment magic, mind magic, time magic, and restoration magic. Amora found her friends through her exile. She was exile due to her magical performance going awry and people questioning whether she was deserving of being the princess heir. Bastian, a pirate, helped her escape when she was imprisoned after the performance. They travelled to each island by sea and Amora uncovered secrets of her kingdom that her father never told her about. Bastian and Amora eventually built up trust with each other and he helped her stop his brother, Kaven, from overthrowing the king (her father) and saved his home island of Zudoh. They added 2 people to their crew – Ferrick (Amora’s pre-arranged fiancé) and Vataea (a mermaid). She learned a lot about her kingdom during this travel because her father kept everything hidden from her. She was shocked at how much her father had covered up and could not believe that he was okay with some of their islands living in peril when he could do something about it. She was determined to do something about it when she returned home.

The story ends with Amora and her friends/crew returning to her home island and fighting a war with Kaven. Unfortunately, because Kaven practices curse magic, he learned how to combine curse and soul magic and cursed Amora’s soul and magic to Bastian. So the book ends with Kaven being defeated, the king (Amora’s dad) being murdered by Kaven, and half of Amora’s soul and all of her magic in Bastian. This sets up the second book nicely because the second book focuses on Amora’s rise as a queen and a search for a way to break her curse.

All the Tides of Fate – book 2

Book 2 follows Amora and her crew around the kingdom as she searches for a way to break her curse under the ruse that she is looking for a husband. She is queen now because he father died and she spends most of the book whining about her grief. Amora is having a hard time dealing with the trauma of her dad’s death and the war against Kaven and refuses to talk to anyone about it. Her friends have all experienced loss in some form and have tried to help her in different way but she continues to refuse help. Even so, she will complain that she does things alone and can’t rely on anyone. If it were me who was her friend, that would be insulting and I would not want to stick around. However, all of her friends stay by her side until Vataea finds out a truth that Amora was keeping from her. Vataea and Amora fix their friendship by the end of the book but it is not as it was. Throughout the book, each friend tries to help Amora with her grief and her search (once she finally decides to tell them about it) but she doesn’t give in until close to the end.

Eventually, Amora ends up finding the artifact that will break her curse and Ferrick ends up using it instead of her because the price to pay was so high. In exchange for using the artifact, the user must give up what they love most. Ferrick gave up the crew – his friends that he grew to love more than anything. Because of that, all of the characters forgot who he was. However, there is no clear closure to what happens to Ferrick. He uses the artifact at the end of a fight in which he was severely injured and it wasn’t entirely clear if he was going to survive. He used the artifact and disappeared. Amora finds a letter signed F shortly after this scene and in it, Ferrick wishes that they will see each other again. I wish there was a bit more closure on what happened to Ferrick. Did he die and move on? Or was he healed and moved to a different part of the kingdom (or universe altogether?)

All in all, the book ends with the crew spread out and Amora and Bastian going on adventures together across the kingdom on their ship. Amora changes the kingdom for the better after learning the truth about her lineage and dissolves the queen/kingdom. She allows everyone to use whatever magic they want instead of just one and gets representatives from each island to work together for the sake of the kingdom without one ruler. Overall, Amora does right by her kingdom and eventually, by her friends. I do just wish there was more closure on the Ferrick issue and that Amora was not so whiny and (almost) unrealistically stubborn throughout the whole book.

The series as a whole was good and interesting. It definitely keep me engaged and wanting to know what happened next. While the second book was hard for me to get through, I would still recommend this book to anyone who wants to read fantasy novels. It is a well written and imaginative story that keeps you engaged throughout. It is worth the read. Overall, 2.5/5.