Customer Reviews

The Name of the Star (Shades of London)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What a fun book to read! The main character, Rory's parents move to England for business and she decides to attend a private boarding school- to get the whole "English" experience. Shortly after moving in, bonding with her roommate, crushing on a guy, and secretly despising the resident "perfect" girl- tragedy hits London. Someone is murdering people in the same fashion and on the same days that Jack the Ripper struck years ago. Unfortunately, Rory is an eye witness to one of the murders and becomes part of the investigation. I can't say anything more about the subject because I don't want to give anything away. I can tell you, however that Rory is a character. She has a crazy family that she talks about unabashedly, sharp wit that made me laugh out loud, and loyalty to her friends. This is a great book for young adults and for the young at heart- just be prepared to read it from cover to cover. I can't wait for the next book in this series.

When her parents move to England her senior year, Rory Devereaux agrees to go with them, as long as she can attend boarding school in London. The school and the people in it are a far cry from her tiny southern hometown, not far from New Orleans, but Rory likes her new roommate and is enjoying her school (well, except for maybe the field hockey part). Then, a murder is committed near the school, an exact replica of the first of the Jack the Ripper murders. And none of the security cameras in the area ever caught a glimpse of the killer. It doesn't take long for everyone in London to realize that there is a Ripper copycat on the loose, throwing the entire city into mayhem. Rory thinks that she's safe from it all, despite her proximity to the murder scenes, but when she is questioned by a secret branch of the London police, Rory finds that she is a lot closer to the real killer than she thought.

Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star is a fascinating and unique book! It is a bit different from her earlier, humor-driven work, but the writing is just as good as ever, and while the book isn't necessary serious, the mystery of the brutal deaths and the threat to Rory does have a bit of a sobering effect. That being said, there is still a lot of great humor in The Name of the Star, and some fantastic, quirky characters that entertain to no end. Rory is an excellent narrator--she's hardworking, funny, loyal, and when the going gets tough, she's a pretty noble person, even if the circumstances terrify her. The boarding school setting is a great one, with lots of fun and drama, and it's the perfect location for the Rippermania to take place. You'll learn a lot about London and the history of the Jack the Ripper murders throughout this book, and the combination of real facts and places with the special, secret police force Rory becomes involved in (which is a bit reminiscent of the early episodes of the TV show Torchwood) makes this book hard to put down. The Name of the Star is an intriguing, creepy mystery with an awesome setting and a great cast of characters. If the only complaint about it is the cruel cliffhanger of an ending, then you definitely need to pick this one up!

First off... I liked this book. The first half was a slow, there were a lot of details about eating, school uniforms, homework, and so on, but the characters were likable, the romance was cute, and the Jack the Ripper history was well done. If I had bought this book hoping for a light-hearted, slightly funny book with ghosts in it I might have given it four stars. However, I bought this book thinking it was a thrilling paranormal ghost story, which it definitely was not :(

The ending of the book was pretty good, the last 50 pages had some decent tension, Johnson made some bold choices that kept me guessing and left me satisfied. There wasn't a cliff hanger -which was also very nice. And I actually think I might pick up the next in this series. I would say it's the kind of book you could read in a day, but the pacing was a little too slow for that. Other than that it was an easy read. It just wasn't the kind of book that I had expected. I read mainly paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, and I had thought this book would fall into one of those categories, and while technically it does, it read much more like a younger contemporary read -which I am sure is great for some people! If you like books like Heist Society then this book might be up your ally, but if you pick up this book expecting something with a little more of a paranormal/urban fantasy vibe -like Cassandra Clare's City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) then you will probably be disappointed... but at the same time, you still might enjoy it, which I did, I just wasn't crazy about it, and I felt rather deceived by the quotes on the back :(

(This review was originally posted at GoneWithTheWords.com)

Was going to a British boarding school ever one of your dreams? If, like me, your answer is yes, then you're really going to enjoy the setting of this book. Not only is this boarding school co-ed, it's also in London, and the history of the building itself is super interesting. You get a lot of insight into how the school system works in England. It's really rigorous! Still, I would've loved to have gone to school there! Minus the murdering suspect, of course.

The crime spree is pretty gruesome, and the spectacle created by the media and the public was really believable. However, I did not find myself on the edge of my seat until things started happening to our protagonist. Once that happened, I was just as scared as her! One thing I loved was how funny Rory was at times, and also the smart, funny banter between her and her roommate and The Boy. There are some really cute flirty moments. I loved how Maureen described kissing in this excerpt:

"Kissing is something that makes up for a lot of the other crap you have to put up with in school, and as a teenager in general. It can be confusing and weird and awkward, but sometimes it just makes you melt and forget everything that is going on. You could be in a burning building or a bus about to fall off a cliff. It doesn't matter, because you are just a puddle." - pg. 282

So you read that part about the secret ghost police in the synopsis, right? I must confess, after they're introduced, I kept singing "Who you gonna call? GhostBusters!" in my head. Not that anything in the book directly relates to GhostBusters...well, except maybe the ghost busting part. Don't get me wrong! I dug it!! I liked the history and they way they become ghost police, it was just inevitable for me to not relate the two. This group takes care of one another under some dire circumstances sometimes . Here's another quote from the book where I loved how Maureen described bravery:

"It's not that I'm extremely brave--I think I just forgot myself for a minute. Maybe that's what bravery is. You forget you're in trouble when you see someone else in danger. Or maybe there is a limit to how afraid you can get, and I'd hit it." - pg. 307

Although I liked this book from the start, I wasn't completely sucked in until after halfway through, I would say. The ending was suspenseful and it left off on a very intriguing discovery!! I ended up really liking these characters and therefore I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in this series.

The Name of the Star is a story about a girl named Rory who moves from New Orleans to London and then attends boarding school there. Now, you might be thinking.."not another boarding school" - but STOP RIGHT THERE. This book uses the boarding school for the setting and isn't just about running a muck in the halls. We accompany Rory as she settles into her new school, makes friends, and then..Jack the Ripper? Yes, people - Jack the Ripper. Someone is committing copycat murders from the late 19th century and turns out Rory saw him..when no one else did. Don't worry..when you read this book - you'll find out why.

This was, for me, an extremely entertaining thriller of a book. Not only did Maureen Johnson keep me captivated throughout the entire book, she blew me away with her creativity. She started the world-building to this awesome "secret ghost police of London" and I can't wait to know more about that world. Ms. Johnson has some rockin' imagination.

This was such a unique take on the idea of a "ghost-story" and is definitely one to read ASAP.

The Name of The Star was an interesting read that is sure to appeal to teens searching for a contemporary ghost story with a gothic twist. Unfortunately, this one was not a success for me primarily due to the author's failure to generate much suspense, the lack of a firm sense of place, and one dimensional characters that failed to draw me into a story that should have been suspenseful and incredibly creepy, but instead fell rather flat.

Rory is a charming character who was easy to like, but not that easy to care about. The author tells us that she is from the South, but gives us little to indicate that this is true, other than a few oddly placed stories about colorful relatives. There is nothing about her that distinguishes her from any young American going to study abroad. Her emotions often feel flat, and her interactions with her peers are rather bland and unremarkable. The author did little to make her unique, and ultimately she came across as rather boring. Even when she makes some startling discoveries about herself and performs some true acts of bravery, I couldn't bring myself to be that interested in her future because she just wasn't that engaging. Her roommate was more of a caricature than a fully developed character, and it's only when the members of the Shades team are introduced that we are treated to some memorable personalities.

This story is set in England, but it just doesn't have much of an English feel. I did not feel any of that delicious creepiness that can be present in an English ghost story. This one could have been set in any city in America, just by changing a few place names. The plot was interesting, but for a while I debated giving this one two stars instead of three just because of the character and setting issues. I did finish the book though, because I was interested in how things were going to end up. In that regard the story did hold my interest enough to keep me turning the pages, just not with any sense of urgency. There are places that really drag, eliminating any brief sparks of momentum the story manages to produce. I did not appreciate the ending with it's standard "bad guy takes the time to explain everything before he tries to make a getaway" plot device and felt that ultimately it was rather predictable. There were things left unexplained, and I feel the door is wide open for a series.

This is only a marginal recommend, given that perhaps my expectations were a bit too high going in. Not my first choice for a contemporary ghost story, and ultimately just barely a three star read.

This may be hard to believe, but this is my first Maureen Johnson book. I've stalked her on Twitter for a long time, and she is a riot, to say the least, so I was excited to see how that translated into her writing. I probably didn't pick the best example of her comic side, but I definitely enjoyed The Name of the Star.....well, as much as anyone CAN enjoy a book about a guy that's killing people.

It feels wrong to be fascinated by Jack the Ripper, a man who brutally murdered at least four women in 1888, but that's exactly what's happened to the town that Rory has moved to, and I found myself swept up in the Ripper frenzy right along with them. This book was creepy, on multiple levels. I definitely recommend reading or listening to this at night, to get the full effect. There were a lot of interesting facts, and quite a few gory details, that I had never heard about Jack the Ripper in the story. Maureen did a good job interweaving all these details into the plot, and not making the jump from present to past choppy. I loved that not everything is what it seems.

I liked Rory a lot. She was fun-loving and adventurous, but at the same time just trying find her place in this new world she's found herself in. Not only London, but also her part in this new Ripper mystery. The romance was cute, but not anything spectacular. I felt like her relationship with Jerome was sweet, but very surface. I'll be surprised if they stay together in the future books in the series, and I'm ok with that. The only thing that bothered me about Rory was that there are a few hints that are dropped in the story about the killer and the mystery, that are pretty obvious to us as readers, but that Rory is oblivious to. This makes her come across as.....not quite as intelligent as I would have liked.

Overall, though, I thought this was an exciting and suspenseful book that I'm happy that I got a chance to listen to.

Book Doppelgangers: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, Deception by Lee Nichols, Clarity by Kim Harrington

Content:

Sexual Content: Mild
Profanity: Moderate
Violence: Heavy
Other Notables: Legal Drinking (in England)

For more details, check out The Name of the Star on ParentalBookReviews.com

-Andye
Readingteen.net

Aurora (Rory) leaves Louisiana for a British boarding school, and after a whirlwind introduction to schoolmates and the British routine, the story introduces grisly murders, in a style directly copied from Jack the Ripper. I stayed up late to finish this book, so if the idea of a reluctant teenage sleuth, a British boarding school and a modern day Jack the Ripper roaming London appeals to you, this would be a good choice. Why not 5 stars? Well, the title seems purposefully obtuse and the whole (SPOILERS COMING********) I see dead people aspect seems thinly considered in its logical details and why can't they make more of the Terminus devices if they are needed?

Maureen Johnson has surprised me with this one. I will admit that I wasn't even that interested in reading it until a few weeks ago. I think the Abraham Lincoln lookalike on the cover threw me off. But I started hearing some very good things about it, so I ran out and bought it. I am so, so happy I did. I really don't even know why I had any misgivings. It's Maureen Johnson! So of course it's going to be good, but it wasn't just good. It was fantastic!

Maureen takes the jump from witty contemporary to creepy supernatural with absolute ease. I knew that this was about Jack the Ripper, but I had no idea it was going to be as creepy as it was. I love creepy, so this was a treat for me! Maureen's usual quirk and humor is not left behind though. The book was laugh out loud funny at times. There was a great contrast between the horror and humor. There was something for everyone.

Rory was a lot of fun. I especially loved all of her strange stories about her Louisiana family. They were as crazy southern as they come. I also loved Jazza. She was a great friend to Rory. I didn't like Boo at first but she definitely grew on me before the end. I'm really excited to see where Johnson takes the characters in the future. There are so many possibilities. I'm so anxious for book 2 already.

All in all this was a fabulous book. Ghosts have been done one million times, but The Name of the Star manages to stand out and be original.

This is the first book by Maureen Johnson that I've read and after finishing it I can totally understand why Maureen is so popular in the YA world. The Name of the Star was awesome!

The Name of the Star, although set in modern day, is written around the story of Jack the Ripper and thrives on the fact that the Ripper story, although morbidly gruesome, is also totally fascinating.

Rory is an American who has come over to England to board at Wexford just as it seems that Jack is back and killing again. You would think being in a boarding school would be the safest place to be when this kind of thing is going on wouldn't you? Well not for Rory it isn't!

Maureen's writing totally takes you into Rory's world and I found it very hard to put the book down. There wasn't a single character in the book I didn't enjoy reading about and I especially adored Rory, the main character, and her friend Jazza. The story leads you though many twists and turns and although I kept thinking I had this story sussed out, things would change again and I'd be nicely, if not creepily surprised again. It was definitely more creepy than I thought it would be and even a little gruesome in places.

The Name of the Star was released last week and I most definitely recommend that you head out to the bookstore this weekend and grab yourself a copy!