The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

I really really wanted to like The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White.  I am a fan of the Mind Games series, but not of the Paranormalcy series... that should have been a small clue.  So here is a quick recap of the story:

Isadora is the 16 yr old daughter of Isis and Osiris.  Unlike her famous brother, Horus, she is mortal much like the rest of her siblings.  Every 21 yrs Isis produces another offspring.  According to Isadora, this is all apart of the plan to create more worshippers.  Unfortunately, not only is Isadora hurt that her parents would just let her die eventually but now her mother is pregnant! 5yrs before it is time!  With this pregnancy, Isis has been having terrible dreams and fears for her daughter's safety.  They both decide that she would be safer with her older brother, Sirus, where no one knows where she is. 

Isadora moves from the only home she has ever known in the Egyptian desert to San Diego, CA.  Her mother has set her up to work at a museum that will be receiving some of her own articles.  There Isadora meets Tyler (a girl) who introduces her to Ry.  Isadora is a broken girl that feels let down by her parents, no one in her family remembers her name (most of her siblings have similar names) or who she is, and she knows that romance leads to heart break and babies.  On top of trying not to fall in love, Isadora is having bad dreams.  Is Anubis up to something?  Is her mother in danger or is she the one in danger?  Does she even care?


Let's start with what worked:

I loved the selection of mythology.  Usually we deal with Greek or Roman mythology, along with some Norse for some added spice; however, rarely do we see the Egyptian mythologies at play... well rarely enough for me to be excited about this aspect of the novel.  So yay! mythology selection. There is also some Greek thrown in there for added gusto.

I really liked Ry, he was a good character.  He didn't make me want to barf or scratch my eyes out.  Actually every character was like this, except the main character..Uh-oh.

I liked what the overall literal chaos of the stars meant.  I will not explain further, because that cuts out a good chunk of the book.  Let us just say that Chaos is an important character, but the chaos I am talking about has to do with Ry and Isadora.

Finally, I liked the mythology snipets that gave you some background information on some of Isadora's family.

What didn't work:

This story was every where.  Is this story about family?  Is it about love?  Is it about mythological beings/gods/goddesses?  Is this story about dreams?  Tell me, please!!!  I never grasped a concrete feeling of this overall story, there was too much going on and not enough of one subject was fleshed out enough.

It fell flat.  If your character hates her parents and can never see two sides of the story, it gets old... even if she eventually gets it.  She's whiny and not at all the tough girl she thinks she is, she's more spoiled than anything else.  The myths and characters were not used to their full potential.

I gave this book 3/5 stars because it is a quick light read, more around the guilty pleasure than the "you have to read this book right now!"  All I can say is just try it, it might be the right fit for you.