Friday, August 13, 2010

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I

Author: Lisa Mantchev
Genre: Young Adult – Fiction/Fantasy
Publication Date: July 2009
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Date Scoot Read: August 2010
Source: Hardback Library Book

Scoot's Rating:
7- Enjoyed most of it.

Synopsis (via Goodreads)
:
Enter Stage Right

All her world's a stage.
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but has no lines of her own.
Until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

Scoot’s Review:

I had to read this book because of the cover. I love the art work they used and knew with a cover that awesome the book had to be amazing too, right? Well sort of. I did enjoy the concept and the majority of the storyline. I liked the ‘living’ theater idea, where all the actors in the plays were real or at least real to Bertie. The story setting is literally on a stage and we follow Bertie as she struggles to keep her place among the fantastical living cast of all of the plays ever held at the theater. I loved the little fairies trailing Bertie around, the swashbuckling Nate, and the mysterious Ariel. However, I was not really a big fan of Bertie herself, and it is definitely harder to enjoy a book when you don’t really like the point of view it is told from. I often found myself just being ready for the story to be done. Some of the scenes were well written and amusing, but I didn’t really know what was going on most of the time because frequent ‘scenery changes’ as Bertie used her imagination. This might be my own fault for trying to read a book during final exams week. The writing was fun, but a little superfluous for my tastes. All in all I enjoyed most of the book and will eventually get around to reading the second one just so I can find out what happens with a loose-end they left unresolved.

FYI: If you are interested in previewing the first chapter of Eyes Like Stars before hunting down a copy for yourself click here!

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