REVIEW: Night of a Thousand Stars by Deanna Raybourn
On the verge of a stilted life as an aristocrat’s wife, Poppy Hammond does the only sensible thing—she flees the chapel in her wedding gown. Assisted by the handsome curate who calls himself Sebastian Cantrip, she spirits away to her estranged father’s quiet country village, pursued by the family she left in uproar. But when the dust of her broken engagement settles and Sebastian disappears under mysterious circumstances, Poppy discovers there is more to her hero than it seems.
With only her feisty lady’s maid for company, Poppy secures employment and travels incognita—east across the seas, chasing a hunch and the whisper of clues. Danger abounds beneath the canopies of the silken city, and Poppy finds herself in the perilous sights of those who will stop at nothing to recover a fabled ancient treasure. Torn between allegiance to her kindly employer and a dashing, shadowy figure, Poppy will risk it all as she attempts to unravel a much larger plan—one that stretches to the very heart of the British government, and one that could endanger everything, and everyone, that she holds dear.
Dear Ms. Raybourn,
I seem to have a “thing” for brides on the run. Perhaps it’s a leftover from one of my guilty pleasure movies “Smokey and the Bandit,” but regardless it seems to be like ringing a dinner bell for me. The blurb might make one think Poppy is a scatterbrained nitwit but it’s soon obvious that family pressure pushed her into the engagement while her common sense that the marriage would never work out got her out. After all, in this age of “divorce is possible but still scandalous in upper class society” pulling the escape ripcord before the vows makes more sense. And since her own parents went through a divorce, I can see where she’d be skittish.
Who is Masterman? There’s obviously more than meets the eye with Poppy’s masterful lady’s maid. But then it’s pretty obvious that there’s more than meets the eye about a lot of these characters. Some surprised me while others didn’t at all given the clues and vibes about them. That was part of the fun of the story – getting to see if I guessed correctly.
Fans of the Lady Julia series will be happy about Poppy’s family connections though it is a bit sad to see how her father’s marriage turned out. The book is also slightly tied in with “Spear” as well though I think – I hope – that this will be expanded on in a future book. There are enough “deliberately left loose” ends for quite a few more stories in this world.
Poppy is definitely an upper-class Englishwoman and she acts as I would expect one to. The East is mysterious and unknown to her so she buys into some of the stereotypes but at least she’s aware she’s doing it. Is she showing her privilege? Yes but again, with no previous exposure to the countries, customs or people it would seem strange to me if she didn’t. Some of the people around her are more experienced and it’s obvious that many of them love the place and people. Poppy is more than open to learning the beauty that is to be found here as well as seeing the reality of the political turmoil that is roiling just under the surface.
I have meant to read the previous book to this, “City of Jasmine” though after a certain character gets introduced and explains his relationship to Sebastian, I already know the details of that story. It’s right about this time that the book shifts into gear for me. Up til then, it was a lot of setting up the characters, the place, the reasons why Poppy heads out on a lark to find Sebastian. I was also unsure exactly who would be the hero as there’s a plethora of men who enter Poppy’s life.
Once Our Hero arrives back in the story, it’s clear who Poppy will end up with even without the murder. I love the way that the alpha/beta thing gets played with a little. Just which is Sebastian? He can shift depending on what he’s up to being both a quoter of poetry and a man of action when the situation demands. He’s got a realistic grasp on the situation there and what you must be ready to do if you wish to survive.
The opening scene of the book is straight out of a screwball comedy. I love the way he and Poppy can snark at and tease each other. They both just sound so British in how they can enjoy taking the piss out of each other. However the comedy can become a mystery and then a thriller at the drop of a hat before twisting back to comedy again. One minute I’m on the edge of my seat as guns are leveled and shots taken then I’m laughing again as Sebastian deadpans his way through the tight spot.
With the page count dwindling, I did wonder how they’d escape from their captors and if they’d find the you-know-what. It all happened so neatly that I didn’t see it coming until Poppy had proved herself in the field – I loved that she took an active part in saving them – and the cavalry had arrived. But then, things sort of slipped into a lower gear and a lot of explanation occurred that slowed things down to a crawl. I was on an emotional high and giddy at the way Sebastian and Poppy survived only to get bogged down in a Human Resources meeting. It does make sense to me that Poppy needs to think through what she’s just been through but this part got draggy and she seemed to lose some of her agency.
The book does end on a higher note. You’ve left some pieces to be picked up and loose ends to knit into another story. While I don’t doubt that Poppy and Sebastian might pop up at a later time, their story here is complete. I also adore how Poppy turns the tables on Sebastian and regains a bit of control that I’d felt she lost. I had a blast dipping into a 1920s time frame that didn’t involve the usual Downton Abbey plot and that took advantage of the fascinating political situation in the Middle East. I only hope that future books will return here and mine it and the characters even more. B
~Jayne
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My copy downloaded today, but I’m planning on reading/rereading City of Jasmine and Whisper of Jasmine first. And heck, maybe Spear of Summer Grass too. So much reading, so little time.
I really like this author though. I’ll never forget her first paragraph in Silent in the Grave. I’d have given my first born to have written that, lol.
@Carolyn: I’ve had City of Jasmine downloaded for months but just never got to it around when it was released. Based on how it’s referenced here, I do want to go back and read it too.
@Jayne – I just finished this book and was disappointed. It wasn’t a bad story, but it could have been so much better.
Poppy learned very early on about Sebastian’s background, yet why did she keep assuming he was hapless? I agree with you that the author played with the alpha/beta stereotype, but after learning Sebastian’s profession, it strained credulity that Poppy always believed the worst about his training/abilities.
I did like the conclusion of Masterman’s role, but that should have been woven into the story earlier, instead of dropped in at the end. Finally, how many times did the author have Poppy “trotting” after Sebastian? Poppy is a woman, not a horse. The verb was overused as was the device of having either Poppy or Sebastian rolling their eyes. While this borders on nitpicking, almost every chapter had them rolling their eyes or Poppy trotting.
I’m not sure Deanna Raybourn will re-vist this plot. She just changed publishers and announced that they don’t want any more Lady Julia Grey novels. She said publishers don’t usually want to pick up a series from another publisher, so I wonder if that would go for this series, too?
@Kim: I read somewhere – sorry, can’t think where just now – that Raybourn was trying to keep the family ties with the Lady Julia books hush, hush until the end of this book so I’m guessing that’s why the Masterman aspect didn’t come out earlier. I’d have like a few dropped clues too.
I didn’t notice the trotting and eye rolling but similar things have bothered me about other books so I can feel your pain.
Hmmm, that’s bad news about the publisher change. Sadly, it’s become all too common. In my years of reading romance, several series have either been cut short by authors moving to new publishers or publishers deciding not to publish any more of the series for whatever reason.