Book Review: The Stars Will Guide Us Back

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I read this book as a judge for the Indie Ink Awards 2022 and this is my personal rating. It does not reflect the scoring for the contest.

'Sometimes it's not the dream itself, it's what it makes you.'

Intense and personal, emotional and thought provoking, this collection of 13 short stories is one that will stay with you long after turning the last page.
From mental health, loss and mortality, to self-confidence, and finding hope through difficult circumstances, the stories touch on all these themes and more. Speculative fiction and magical realism nicely wrapped up in intense feeling.

With a relatively short page count, the book can be read in little more than an hour and yet, it is by far not a light read. I found myself twice setting it down because a certain story kicked like a punch in the gut and I needed a few minutes to take a little breather then go on. KUDOS to the author for pulling that off. It's something that doesn't happen often for me.

This little collection is one that highlights the liminal spaces of the human experience, through a range of peculiar, distinct, and queer characters, all nicely fleshed out and well written.
In turn, they each show how we can twist our dreams somewhere along the lines of life and set sail towards a new horizon, if only we keep an open mind. They tell us how nothing is set in stone as long as you face your future with an open heart. They urge us to stop wasting time moaning about how little we have left and make the best of what we've got. They give a gentle nudge to maybe just do the right thing, even if we can't be the hero who saves the day.

So much of heartfelt emotion and food for though is packed into this book here! And even if the shorter stories didn't work for me, because microfiction is not really my jam, the longer ones left quite an impression.

The prose is wonderful. Beautiful and simple in a strikingly evocative manner. A pleasure to read. Then the imagination! Absolutely BRILLIANT! And there's that general feel of the narrative as a whole... raw and intense and unique. a little irresistible something that's Rue Sparks.

This is one book that's bound to affect any reader out there one way or another. It will make you stop and think, perhaps even react, and it will make you feel.

Happy reading everyone
and remember:
'part of being the hero is deciding who you want to be.'

Check out this book and more of Rue Sparks over at https://ruesparks.com/