Emily Hamilton’s The Stars Too Fondly is a fun sapphic scifi debut with some flaws. It started strong. I enjoyed the story and the characters. However, I found myself putting it down when we got to the unknown narrator interstitials. The bits of communication between the crew members who disappeared didn’t bother me, but the unknown, omniscient narrator who popped in annoyed me and broke my reading flow. That’s very much a me issue, and my frustration is as much with myself as with the book. At a certain point, the unknown narrator becomes known, but I still struggled with focusing on the story because the font changed. It’s too late to say long story short, but basically the way the storytelling was structured and formatted worked against my ability to stay in the story. Not everyone has my unruly brain, so give this a try.
Emily Hamilton isn’t afraid to go big or to go weird in The Stars too Fondly. That was my favorite thing about the book. It’s an accidental interstellar roadtrip and an across the multiverse love story. The found family is strong, but not conflict free, and the story is pretty cozy, but not without tension. There were moments when I had to remind myself that the characters are not teenagers, and then moments that handled complex emotional situations with maturity. For reasons that will become clear, the romance is slow burn, but it isn’t entirely closed door. I think this would make a great full cast audiobook, and I think the storytelling issues that bothered me so much would be less noticeable. I’m interested to see where Emily Hamilton goes.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Harper Voyager and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.