The Tinkered Starsong Trilogy

iam

Dec 25

Absolutely adored this series that is pitched as "alien taking over k-pop". Which is a very reductive summary, but also sort of accurate. But hear me out!

The aliens are coming for us and they want our voices.
New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger brings you a gloriously warm and unique scifi about the power of art, celebrity, and found family.
Phex is a barista on a forgotten moon. Which is fine – he likes being ignored and he's good at making drinks. Until one day an alien hears him singing and recruits him to become a god. Now Phex is thrust headfirst into the galaxy's most cutthroat entertainment industry, where music is visible, the price of fame can kill, and the only friends he has want to be worshiped.
Welcome to the divinity. Where there is no difference between celebrity and religion, love and belief, acolyte and alien. Where the right kind of obsession can drive a person crazy or turn them divine.

Divinity 36 had a bit of a slow start, but once it turned fully into its "singing competition at alien boarding school" plot I was totally on board. I won't talk about what the book is about, because describing the plot makes it sound weird and random, but on page within the narrative it works super well. I love the way this alien music functions and introduces both mundane and alien aspects.

The real highlight of the book is its protagonist, Phex. With a traumatic childhood that turned him into a refugee with no real home, he is quiet and reserved, hardened but still kind, and I really really enjoyed reading from his perspective.

Some of the bullying subplots felt overdone, but I suppose they fit into the book and weren't too heavy handed or central, and I hope they won't return in the sequels.

I gotta admit, I was really miffed when I reached the ending, because it cut the book off in the middle of the story. I had not previously read into the marketing of the book so I hadn't realized it is a fully written story published as a trilogy (if I'm not mistaken.) Thankfully books 2 and 3 released in the same year, but I wish I had only started reading when all three are out. Having finished this before the second one was out, I felt roughly yanked out of the story, and it was be awkward to get back in without re-reading, but re-reading a book so soon after having first read it was also awkward, you know?

Still, great book, I had a great time with it, I loved the aliens. The one thing I was not looking forward to in the sequels is the romance, but I was ready to be convinced otherwise.

Demigod 12 was a lovely sequel, though I sort of hesitate to call it that, given that this series reads as one book that was arbitratily split into 3 separate books.

It covers Phex's pantheons rise to fame and the brunt of their first tour.
We grow closer to the main six as their relationships deepen, but we also get to know Tillam a lot better, both through Phex's and Missit's relationship deepening and through the two pantheons spending more time together.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the romantic undertones in book 1, and I wasn't the biggest fan of it here either, though it didnt hold a super big part in this book yet.

Phex keeps being an absolute delight of a main character. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I truly adore reading from his perspective. Something about his combination of stoicism, care for others, reticience and natural self-deprication just worked for me.

The plot around the divinity not being what it seems deepens as well, though there are no conclusions there yet.

It ends similarly frustratingly in the middle of the plot like book 1, but thankfully book3 was already out when I read this, and I highly recommend reading the three as a whole.

Where book 1 covers the recruiting and pantheon building competition process, and book 2 the new pantheon's rise to fame and their first tour, Dome 6 is about unearthing the divinity's secrets as it ends the tour and sets up the pantheon(s) for their futures.

I liked that book 3 finally put a bit more light on the pantheon members who previously hadn't gotten so much attention, especially Kagee, but Jin and Fandina as well. Unfortunately, this came at the expense of Berill and Tyve, who take more of a backseat role.
There's some unexpected turns, and while others were expected, it was still a guessing game until the end.

I have to say I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the developments, even though they were well set up.
I also found some details lacked the depth I wanted them to have, while I personally would have preferred much less focus on the romance. For example, song writing or the relation between the dyesi pantheon members and the others would have been two things I really wanted more depth on, but it was barely touched on throughout the book.

Still, a wonderful read, slightly silly in places, but still touching and emotional.

~Iam