Review: Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

Title: Eyes Like Stars

Author: Lisa Mantchev

Publisher:Feiwel and Friends

Pages:353

Rating: 5/5

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own. That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Review:

I’m glad I picked this book up from the library, and when I saw it I almost died. I’ve been wondering, ‘what’s the big deal about this book?’ for awhile, but now I totally see why!
The Theater Illuminata is a theater filled with actors and actresses from every play thought possible. They are all bound by the Book, or the ancient scripts of all scripts. It binds them each to the theater. I loved the Theater. The way it was written out captivated me. I was never one to like theaters of any kind, but I have to have a change of heart now. The way Mantchev creates it is magical.

Each of the character resembles the one they play in their own plays, but Mantchev changed and added to them and ended up with truly remarkable remakes. The fairies from A Midsummer’s Night Dream were adorable, they’re remarks were classic. I found myself laughing more than I should have. Lastly, we have Bertie; she’s the girl with no part to play but her own. I found her a little like myself without the acting, blue hair, and sneakiness. I really liked her.

I loved Nate. The pirate, everyone loves pirates- ahem, Pirates of the Caribbean anyone? Even though I couldn’t really distinguish what exactly he was saying, but I got it down. I liked how he cared, and maybe loved, for Bertie in all her ruckus. Oh, we can’t forget Ariel. I liked his character too, even though he was conveying and maybe conceited. But his magic and him in general was off the charts. I hated him in the end, don’t get me wrong.

The writing was wicked, and I mean that in a good a way as possible. You could really feel get the image of what was happening in any part of the book. From the different sets, to the issues thrown in, it was all visibly there. The plot was noticeable, and I enjoyed it. (If you’re wondering, I’m writing and I totally suck at plots. So I’m working on finding the plot in every book I read. It’s worthy of a ha-ha; go on I know you wanna.) There’s sort of a cliff-hanger ending, and those really annoy me! Oh well, we’ll have to wait no won’t we?

Overall, I loved this book. I can’t wait for the sequel, or Act II to come out. And I shall sit here pondering exactly what it should be about.