What makes No Ordinary Star by M.C. Frank Extraordinary

I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

No Ordinary Star (No Ordinary Star, #1) by M.C. Frank
Published by Createspace ISBN: 1518681093
on November 25th 2015
Pages: 150
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis

A soldier is summoned to the North Pole, days before the year changes, told to fix the great Clock for a celebration. He has no idea what to do. A girl, hunted for the crime of being born, almost dies out on the ice. She is rescued by the last polar bear left alive. A library waits for them both, a library built over a span of a hundred years, forgotten in the basement of an ice shack. The world hasn't known hunger or sickness in hundreds of years. It has also forgotten love and beauty. The year is 2525.

Inspired by the short stories of Ray Bradbury, this futuristic novel is set in a world where Christmas -among other things- is obsolete and a Clock is what keeps the fragile balance of peace.

Written in three installments, this is the breathtaking and sensual story of how two unlikely people change the world, and each other, one book at a time.

Immerse yourself into the icy cold world of this scorching hot new novel.

 

What can I say? When have I been able to resist a beautiful cover?

 

Now, on to the story.

 

The reason for the -1.5 stars

Once I started reading, some things became clear. When the synopsis says Written in three installments, it’s not about it being a trilogy. I have the feeling it really is just one book divided in three parts.

I say this because it was a new experience for me, to read something like that. So I’m not sure how it will be received by other people.

For me, it isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just that, as usual, I had other expectations. A bigger sense of completeness? No Ordinary Star is more like a prequel. It’s not that nothing happens. But just not enough? If I had known this before, I’d have been more prepared and the shock when it ended wouldn’t have existed.

There’s also the fact that since this entire first part is sort of like an introduction, there’s a lot of flashback action going on, and sometimes it could be confusing.

 

Now, on to the extraordinary!

 

 

In spite of being an introduction, it does have some key points that break up the narrative

It was still a little weird, but I was extremely grateful that the book followed the structure of having some key events that change the game.

 

I’m a sucker for new worlds

So yeah, the author presents an entirely different world, where men and women fit in an entirely different manner than we do today. There’s so much potential to explore here, and I can’t wait to see how she uses it to tell a beautiful and meaningful story.

For example, there is the face that people don’t have parents in this world. Everyone’s engineered, using women’s eggs. Without them really happy to do it. They’re forced damn it. And that’s awful. And the level of entitlement Felix has at the very beginning? I wanted to punch him.

Ah, but that’s good. That’s some complex dynamics that will make the story much more interesting.

 

The characters grow in this 1/3 of a book

Which is kind of amazing. Even in this small part of the story, the two main characters already have learned so much. I wouldn’t say changed, but grown. They both have begun a journey towards the recovery of their own lives, their humanity, and I like what I’ve seen about it so far.

 

[divider]

You should read No Ordinary Star if

• You’ve read Winterspell by Claire Legrand, and loved it
• You loved the Starbound trilogy
• It doesn’t bother you that this reads more like a very long first chapter than a first book in a series
• You’re also a sucker for fantasy/sci-fi worlds

 

Would you give this one a chance? What are your thoughts on the fact that it’s just 1/3 of the book? (It’s an interesting experience) What was the last sci-fi book you read?

 

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