Starry River of the Sky Review

My second book from this author! The first book I read from her was Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which was the very first book I did I review on this blog. Read my review on it here !

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin is about Rendi, who has run away from home. He ends up at an inn that's located in a semi-abandoned village, and starts working there. Lots of unusual things happen at this inn and at the village as a whole. The moon is also not in the sky, and the lack of the moon makes Rendi wonder if that is what is affecting the village negatively. As the story goes on and Rendi gets to know the people at the inn more, he hears many stories based in Chinese folklore, and he begins to tell some stories himself. The folktales end up being a key to solving the mystery of the village's downfall. 

This book has a similar setup to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon where our young protagonist has a mission and magical folktales are intertwined in the story. It is super cool!

But I did give this book 4 stars. I felt this book was a lot more angsty compared to Mountain Meets the Moon. This book does has some heavier stuff in it, most notably Rendi's backstory. Also unlike Mountain Meets the Moon, it is set only in one location instead of it being a traveling story, which I usually prefer in fantasy stories. It's still a great story though! I still recommend it if you like mystery stories based on real world folktales.