The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Titan

Published - Out Now

Price - £7.99

Engagement season is in the air . Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, has only one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin.

But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot, returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one who got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg season, she finds herself falling for her first love in a game of love, lies and past regrets.

Science fiction and fantasy has some fans who seems to think love and romance is something the genre should run away from. It’s fascinating that a genre that explores humanity is felt not to have to look at one of our key features. And of course if you look closely you can see an awful lot of it - even Lord of the Rings has a wedding! I quite like to test the boundaries of genre so was fairly enchanted by the scenarios thrown together in the inventive The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne.

The Earth is following a natural disaster uninhabitable and frozen. The last remnants of our world went into space each nation building a spaceship and now several hundred orbit forever hoping a great thaw takes place. There are complex trade arrangements between ships and a lot of miniature aristocracies where power gets cemented into marriage pacts and alliances - the future looks a lot like the past. Which let’s face it happens a lot these days.

Into this we meet Leo - she loves fixing her starship, managing the books and is the only person in the family with a sense of responsibility. Her father and sister loves to party and spend money they increasingly don’t have. But as ruminant monarch of their ship his solution is easy Leo must marry a wealthy and powerful aristocrat to save the family and must end Valg season a event of many dating activities for the wealthy to meet their matches. Leo would rather read a book (like normal people) but reluctantly agrees. And then she discovers her ex is back….

Elliot was the son of a loyal servant - a good friend of Leo and the two understood each other. Then there was love; an engagement and then disaster as Leo’s family found out and a penniless servant has little prospects. Elliott fled never to be seen but now he’s back - rich, hostile and worst of all seems very taken by Leo’s younger sister Carina (who is unaware of the family scandal). Leo feels heartache yet again and yet Elliot and her cannot seem to ever stop meeting.

What Donne really does well in this story is the story of two very stubborn and introverted characters who have a LOT to say to each other and as anyone else in the world can see are still in love with each other. The story is told from Leo’s point of view and is a great lesson in how what people say and what people are really feeling can often be at odds with each other. Leo claims its all about family duty and yet her reactions to Elliott suggest unfinished business. Elliott has a touch of the Mr Darcy about him although less rude he initially is enjoying his romanising of Carina but we see he cares an awful lot more about the state of the wider fleet and can’t help acting honourable to Leo when her rivals try to spoil her attempts to have fun.

This is ready helped by the world that Donne has created - its SF but with families and an obsession with wealth that Austen would easily recognise. The Valg has balls, secrets and rivals but on top of this has holosuites for dates, spacewalks and my personal favourite moment a healthy respect for ancient Swedish tradition like ABBA. This allows for creative scenes for people to chat, share secrets, have scandals and the all important fixed glances across a crowded ballroom. The atmosphere really propels the romance to its inevitable conclusion and makes this a delight to read.

My niggle is that I think the novel could have pushed this boundary a little more. A key sub-plot is the state of the wider fleet and we see a lot of poverty is now out there while the aristocrats feast and while everyone says this is terrible I’d had loved to see Leo actually show why so many people think she will make a great leader one day - sorting this ‘world’ out . A bit more looking at the dangers of the 1% would have been great. On a social level I was impressed that despite the old fashioned traditions this is a world that allows for same sex relationships and even an asexual one (but as the story is focused on Leo we only see those characters serve the main plot and not tell their own interesting tales of life in the stars)

The Stars We Steal was a delightful well crafted and inventive tale that mixes science fiction with some good old will they won’t they romance. I had a lot of fun reading this and hoping these two would eventually finally have that chat and kiss - I think you may too! Well worth a look