A Sea of Stars

*DNF AT APPROXIMATELY 140 PAGES*

Maybe Christine Brodien-Jones's writing and stories just aren't my thing. I read The Owl Keeper a few years ago and was not impressed. I felt the same thing with this book. I thought the plot was better in this book than in The Owl Keeper, though this is probably due to my love of time-travel and alternate dimensions. But I did have a lot of questions concerning it. Sure, there were some explanations for things, but you know how sometimes you're left there thinking, "That doesn't actually make sense to me."? Yeah.
Our main characters, Zoe and Ian, are pretty unbelievable little buggers. Actually, most of the characters were. They sort of read like fake automatons to me.This mostly had to do with their absurd reactions to things; the exact opposite reaction of what any normal human being would do in the same situation.

Zoe & Ian: We're 11, and the owner of this tea shop has a third eye and looks suitably scary through this piece of blue glass and also we narrowly avoided her attack on us. We'll be visiting this tea shop again, I think.

Me: GAH NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING

Hands down, my favorite part of the book was the atmosphere and the setting; Tenby, a small village in Wales. And honestly, the descriptions of the village were the best written part of the book too. Oh, and I really did appreciate the friendship between the cousins. But even with that bright spot, I really don't hold out much hope for The Scorpions of Zahir.