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Dead Stars: Part One

Emaneska, Book 3

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Dead Stars: Part One

By: Ben Galley
Narrated by: Steven Cree
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Summary

The sky is falling. The world trembles beneath it. Emaneska is crying out for a saviour. Somebody is hunting down the Written mages in the wilds. Murdering and skinning them alive. Who? A mere girl. A girl who was born to rip the stars from the sky and bring them crashing down to earth. The direst enemy Emaneska has ever faced.

In the wake of the Battle of Krauslung, the world has changed. For the darker. For the stranger. Magic swells like a storm, spilling from the stunned lips of farmboys and milkmaids, burning spell books to cinders at the lightest of touches.

As Krauslung unknowingly balances on a knife-edge, tension mounts. Insidious whispers have begun to spread, drawing new enemies to the surface. Discontent, fear, betrayal...it seems that the girl is not the only enemy Emaneska faces.

Who can stand in their way? Will it be a pair of struggling Arkmages, one blind, one Written? An Albion maid, on the cusp of her wedding day? Three shadows of gods? Or will it be a ghost, a bloody rumour, lost in a dark world of murder and bitter memories? One question above all lingers on their lips: where in Emaneska is Farden?

Dead Stars - Part One is the third book in Ben Galley's epic Emaneska Series, and the first book of its brutal two-part finale.

©2022 Ben Galley (P)2022 Audible, Ltd Dark Fantasy Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Magic
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Dead Stars: Part Two cover art
Dead Stars: Part Two By: Ben Galley
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I have really struggled with this book. the first 2 I got through in a week or so and loved them. This book has been a struggle to keep my interest. I felt like not much really happens. I'm sorry to say that this whole book seems a bit pointless, after the first 2 which - were amazing. Narration still good.

Really disappointed with this book

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The story continues. - and gets better and better. I’m not sure if it’s hearing it rather than reading it, the narrator (fantabulous) or just being immersed once again, I love this series more the second time around. The build, the reference back to earlier tales, the continuity of it all. Just brilliant

The story continues

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If you can drag yourself through the first two-thirds of the story, it gets better. Just enough to download the next book.

There comes a point where if the hero of the story is such a loathsome moron you just lose interest.
You start to get annoyed by every little irritating detail for example, everything that is black is described as "obsidian." Characters say or do or think "one thing and one thing only" and then do it again! It isn't the only thing, thought, or word! And who really says "atop"?
I really wanted this to be better than it was.

nearly lost me.

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Really addictive and don’t want it to end. Such a wonderful story. Highly recommend and will definitely re-listen

Incredible

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Farden, our central figure, is in a downward spiral when the book begins. Time has passed since the last 2 novels and our main character is in a bad place. A worn-down protagonist clawing their way back tends to promise compelling reading. In practice, though, his arc feels strangely weightless. It drifts along, hinting at depth but rarely delivering anything that meaningfully connects to the wider story. Instead of evolution, it feels like the narrative is just treading water.

Away from Farden, the wider plot doesn’t exactly expand so much as… exist. A handful of familiar characters from earlier books now sit in positions of power, while a new character works to undermine them by being generally tedious and critical of them. That’s about the extent of it. It never really builds into anything that feels meaningful or urgent. Rather than adding depth to the world, it comes across as a distraction that pulls focus without offering much in return.

The real threat lies in a powerful, mysterious assassin who is taking out mages one by one. They’re hunting Farden, but like everyone else, can’t find him while he gallivants on his pointless side quests. This wastes a lot of time, as despite being an intriguing plot point, there is a universe of wasted potential as this figure barely encounters any of the main cast at all. The writing also downplays how threatening and mysterious they are by simply having the secondary cast say how concerned they are about the situation rather than showing us.


On paper, this assassin should be one of the book’s most gripping elements. But they rarely take centre stage, and when the do, it is mostly through their own perspective. That choice drains some of the mystery. Seeing them through the eyes of their victims might have made them feel unpredictable, even terrifying. Instead, they end up feeling distant and oddly inconsequential, despite the supposed plot relevance.

The overall impression is one of fragmentation. Pieces are in place for something gripping, but they never quite align. Storylines feel like diversions rather than threads pulling toward a shared destination, and by the end, there is a sense that very little has truly changed.

I finished it out of sheer stubbornness and hope that any minute now it’d get better… but it didn’t. Part Two might pull everything together, but right now, I don’t know if I’ll bother finding out.

Some stars are better off dying out

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