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3.0 

Stars and Soil

By Dax Murray
Stars and Soil by Dax Murray digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Die as a queen or live as a rebel?  

Caitlin Peddigree faces a dire choice: accept a loveless marriage to the crown prince, or die as a traitor to the throne. While Caitlin still grieves the death of her wife, a rebellion simmers in Fayn, the streets filled with cries for the monarchy's fall and the rise of democracy. When Caitlin unwittingly befriends a rebel leader, she believes she may have a way out of her unwanted relationship.  

Marrying the prince would protect her family's fortune and her life, but can she also be an informant for the rebellion? Caught in a tangled web of political intrigue and court gossip, Caitlin treads a treacherous path, made more dangerous when a spirited new lady arrives at court and ignites a new fire in Caitlin's heart.  

But power in Fayn is ever-shifting. Whispers of magic and long-forgotten gods stir beneath the surface. Religious orders conspire against each other. New nobles scramble for power and old bloodlines seethe with resentment. The rebellion fractures into factions as they bicker over strategy. But underneath it all and unbeknown to most, dark and ancient forces are waiting, watching, and plotting. Surrounded on all sides, Caitlin finds herself a pawn in a deadly game.  

But she must decide for herself: remain a prisoner of her circumstances—or reclaim her own life. And she must decide fast, otherwise the flames of revolution may be put out by a force far darker than a tyrannical king. 

Stars and Soil is the exciting first novel in the Scions and Shadows series from Dax Murray. A finalist for the 2024 Indie Ink Awards for "Writing the Future We Need: Best Disability Representation by a Disabled Author" and "Writing the Future We Need: Best Gay and Lesbian Representation," Stars and Soil is perfect for those who like their fantasy full of shifting alliances, deep worldbuilding, backstabbing and betrayal, and sapphic and disability representation set in a magical, queer-normative world. 

Note: This book contains LGBTQ+ characters who use gender-neutral pronouns such as they/them/their, xie/xir/xirs, and more. 

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7 Reviews

3.0
“DNF at 12%”
“The story follows Caitlin as she deals with grief, gets tangled up in court politics, and tries to navigate her love life—both the messy and the sweet parts. And I have to mention how much I loved the little touches, like the chapter titles with alliteration (who doesn’t love a good bit of wordplay? "Love and Lies," "Dangers and Dukes," "Flowers and Foes"—so fun!). I also really appreciated the comprehensive list of content warnings at the start—it’s always nice to see that level of thoughtfulness in a book. Overall, I had a blast with this one. It’s got everything: a cool world, messy but lovable characters!”
“The best thing about this book was absolutely its world-building. It's clear that so much work was put into this society and a lot of attention was paid to the intricate politics and different factions within this world. The class issues and rebellions in this book were really fun and I enjoyed the way they influenced the plot. I love an epic fantasy with an emphasis on court politics, conflicting motives, scheming and secrets so that was an aspect that I really loved! The queer-normative world was also great and I especially liked how there were gender non-conforming races and individuals as that's something that isn't present in too many high fantasies. I really loved the main character as well. I thought she was written in a really complex and interesting way and her grief over the loss of her wife was a thread that stayed strong throughout the whole book, adding a lot of depth to her character and helping to make her more sympathetic and relatable. Her grief was written really well in my opinion and I enjoyed the dual timeline at the beginning of the book exploring her relationship with her wife. However, while her grief remained consistent throughout the book, it's really the only thing that did. Her relationship with her fathers, her friendships, loyalties and motives all felt temporary and mercurial. Things that seemed to have incredible importance for a few chapters suddenly became irrelevant as soon as their purpose was served and the main character no longer seemed to think much about them. The romantic subplot also felt really rushed and underdeveloped. The love interest's character seemed to change out of nowhere to serve the plot and the chemistry between them felt forced. I think if the romance was left out of the book, nothing really would have been lost and the motives of the main character would make a lot more sense without the love interest to further confuse them. While the main character was well developed and had an interesting and developed back story, not many of the other characters felt anywhere near as developed and many of them were forgettable. This was especially an issue with how large the cast was as it became hard to follow who was who. The prophecy aspect of the plot also came out of nowhere, and the main conflict of the story definitely needed a lot more build-up and time on page to feel like more of a threat. Overall, I loved the world that this story took place in and I thought the main character was great and her complexity was written really compellingly. However, the plot felt a little weak and many of the side characters were forgettable and inconsistent. If you enjoy epic fantasy with extensive world building and a queer-normative society, I would recommend this, but the story itself may be a little underwhelming and the romance especially leaves a lot to be desired. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.”
“There’s a lot happening in Stars and Soil. It’s got political intrigue, competing religious sects, forbidden magic, and deals heavily with grief. It’s all told from the POV of Caitlyn, the successful daughter of two merchants who works for the family business, although more out of a sense of familial obligation to her fathers than a true desire to do the work. The story is mostly told in the present, but there are some chapters that are memories of past events. I liked Caitlyn as a character and empathized with her, but found myself struggling to believe the depth of some of her relationships, as there’s a lot of time spent on worldbuilding and politicking and not as much spent on developing those connections. I think it’s interesting that the world itself is very diverse, with plenty of LGBTQ couples, non-binary characters, and even a couple of non-human races, but it’s still rather misogynistic and patriarchal. My copy was an ARC, but this is an edited republishing of an existing novel, and the eBook contained numerous grammatical errors throughout. Not enough to make me DNF or not recommend the book, but enough that I’m sticking with 3 stars rather than rounding up for what is more like a 3.5 star read for me. I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.”
““She cannot grieve a freedom that she never had.” “Stars and Soil,” by Dax Murray I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t like this book very much. The number of times she says Xir in the beginning was super annoying. I felt maybe the timeline of the story took way too long, it was over many years, and it was at a slow pace. Also, the male character I liked was hardly ever in it. I couldn’t tell if she was bisexual because she made it seem that way through actions, but she said she was just a lesbian so idk. I just kind of didn’t like it much, 2 out of 5 stars. Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.”

About Dax Murray

After realizing their dream of being a curmudgeonly hedgewitch in the woods of Western Pennsylvania was not possible due to the construction of an outlet mall, Dax took up a new form of sorcery, where they whispered to rocks in arcane languages and taught them how to spy on you, colloquially known as software engineering.

After an epic battle between the forces of Ethics and Student Loan Payments, Dax left that behind to join the magical order of word-placing. Today, they can be found waiting on the two gods (ie: cats) who have allowed them to live in their abode and use their word-magic to make others cry.

Dax studied political science and creative writing at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. When not writing, they can be found at the Crystarium in Norvrandt.

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