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A Dark and Hollow Star

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A Dark and Hollow Star

By: Ashley Shuttleworth
Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers, Natalie Naudus, Neo Cihi, Vikas Adam
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About this listen

 The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones in this thrilling urban fantasy set in the magical underworld of Toronto where four queer teens race to stop a serial killer before their crimes expose the hidden world of faeries to humans.

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The half-fae outcast, desperate for acceptance.

The tempestuous Fury, exiled and hellbent on revenge.

The dutiful prince, determined to earn his place.

The brooding guardian, burdened by a terrible secret.

Each holds a key to solving a series of ritualistic murders that threaten to expose faeries to the human world. But they cannot do it alone. To track down the killer, they will have to form a tenuous alliance, putting their differences - and conflicts - aside.

Failure risks the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. And time is running out.

Time to roll the dice.

(P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio©2021 Ashley Shuttleworth Crime Fantasy Fiction LGBTQ+ Literature & Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Royalty Outcast Murder Paranormal LGBTQIA+

Critic reviews

A gripping flight into fantasy
Shuttleworth sensitively tackles the plot's darker elements, including trauma and suicidal ideation, tempering them with tenderness and wry wit. A kaleidoscopic narrative adds depth and drive
Beautifully written and deliciously complex, A Dark and Hollow Star is utterly engrossing. The magic is bloody, the humor sharp, and the murder mystery drenched in violence and intrigue. Like a fallen Fury set on vengeance, I couldn't get enough
A brilliant debut that is both dark and full of humour, with characters you will fall in love with and an incredibly immersive world
A thrilling urban fantasy/murder-mystery which stuns you with ethereal world-building, high-stakes adventure, and a cast of characters you won't soon forget
A fantastical faerie story rich with mythology and lore that takes place in the modern world and is unapologetically queer
A book full of opulence and treats... A confection of a debut that augers well for the author's future as a storyteller - ParSec, Autumn 2021 review
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Loveable characters, incredible LGBTQ+ rep & an exceptionally epic story! For fans of Holly Black, Sarah J Maas and the Final Fantasy franchise. Including plenty of twists and turns that I didn't forsee coming. The full cast was the cherry on the cake of this delicious fae mystery adventure!

A breath of fresh air for YA fantasy

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I really enjoyed the plot and characters but the mental health messages were way too forced and preachy. There was no subtlety to how they were incorporated into scenes and often it jolted me out of enjoying the story.

Could have been more subtle

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like: likeable, interesting characters n good world building. plot n mystery kept me interested through out the story. Narrator for Arlo(?) was amazing. love her chapters the most.

dislike: too preachy about certain topics like mental health n gender identity. it was done with no subtlety n felt very forced. the voice acting for the prince sounded very nasally n whiny n was very unsuitable for the supposedly charming character. Also, using different narrators for the same characters was kinda jarring at times in the later chapters as every voice actors sounds different voicing d same characters.

overall, I recommend this book as the story was good n the characters were charming.

3.5 stars 🌟

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I absolutely loved this book 😊

This story is full of magic and super captivating, I absolutely love it 😊
I can't wait for the next one 😊

I do wish that the reading was done differently, that the narrator was 1 person and the voices were read by one person each instead of them always changing reader
What I mean by this is that 1 person read the dark star another the price and so on, instead os 2 or 3 people reading them 😊 aside from that it was amazing

This was a brilliant book😊

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This could have been a good book as the plot is relatively interesting however it was ruined by torrents of long winded info-dumping about a pretty unoriginal world, the information not usually very relevant to the plot. It felt like it took an hour for the simplest of conversation or action to take place and I found the writing style to be self-inflated and cringe worthy. I did not enjoy the narrators much and wish I’d given up sooner. A real shame.

More of a edgy info dump than a novel

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