All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace follows Amora, the princess of a magical realm, on a journey to save her kingdom. Amora and the royal family are the sole practitioners of soul magic, a dangerous magic that can become all-consuming. That’s just the case for Amora: on the day she’s meant to secure her place on the throne, she gets consumed by her magic, and is forced to flee. Joined by a dashing pirate and a stowaway, she faces a journey filled with monsters, mermaids, and magical ships. On this journey to explore a kingdom she’s never seen in person, Amora must unravel her complex past in order to save her kingdom and restore peace.
Grace’s language is rich, and I was grateful for the ways in which she breathed life into her world. I felt as if I was in the story, experiencing what Amora felt and seeing scenes play out before my eyes. My absolute favorite part was the flashback scene towards the end of the book, which provided so much insight into the mystery of Amora’s kingdom and family and how their fates were intertwined. That section was handled flawlessly, and answered many of the questions I had up until that point.
Along with the language of the book, the characters and world were very finely crafted. While some secondary characters were left flat, the main characters were carefully thought out and shaped. Grace made it clear that she knew her characters well, and was very good at revealing the right sliver of information at the right time. She had a very strong control of their character arcs and made sure that they grew and developed steadily over the course of the story. The world was secondary to the characters, perhaps, but Grace had clearly worked out what made it work, as well as how magic fit in to it all; the way in which magic enhanced the world and perhaps the ways it held it back.
Although strong in many ways, there were a few things that I was hesitant about with this book. For one, the gore. I consider myself pretty tolerable of violence in books, yet the graphic scenes of this novel made me squirm in my seat. This note might be more of a personal preference than a real flaw of the book, but if you’re a sensitive person and reader (like myself), take caution when reading.
Something else that I was a bit hesitant towards was the romance in the book. There was this love triangle troupe that I just wish hadn’t existed. It was unnecessary, and I would have much preferred a love triangle with some better conflict, rather than the awkward, tense relationship between all three characters. It just seems like one more twist would have really put this book over the top, and having a plot twist/ conflict with a previous romantic interest would have redeemed the whole love triangle and really enhanced the whole book.
All the Stars and Teeth is a wonderfully written story filled with magic and adventure. Although gory in some parts, the world building and characters are extremely well-done. This book is perfect for lovers of high fantasy and pirates, of folklore and rich language.