Many years ago there was a war, a war that ended in mutual destruction for both parties. This was a magical war. Now those who survived live with the aftermath. One of the new powers is the Empress Ouriana, proclaiming herself the Divine Incarnation of the Devouring Moon, using black magic to control her people and trying to control more and more of the world.

There's a prophesied one, who may be a young girl, who it is hoped will defeat the empress, but the empress knows about the prophecy and is determined to stop her. A band of heroes are determined to fight for the prophecy.

Yes parts of it were a bit predictable but I enjoyed the read. ( )

Madeline Howard's debut fantasy novel is very impressive. She manages, within only about 400 pages (very short for a fantasy novel!) to create a foreign world, populate it with convincingly three-dimensional characters, and create the framework for a trilogy that promises to be the traditional epic fantasy we all know and love, with a twist of something indefinably new and clever to make it stand out.

Howard's characters are her greatest asset- here, her story-telling really shines. Her heroes are not always heroes, but often walk around with chips on their shoulders. Her villain is terrifying in the extreme, but has a truly sympathetic and honorable son. Her female characters are strong without being brats, and hold their own firmly in a cast of brilliant men.

Howard creates a world already steeped with hundreds, even thousands of years of history- all of it fascinating. She creates languages and cultures and gives all of these a sense of history, too. One can only imagine the amount of effort and work that went into making the background for this story, before delving into the plot itself.

The Hidden Stars is a book that would appeal to any fantasy lover- young adult or old adult :-) It promises a strong trilogy of books that are set in an engrossing world. ( )

Madeline Howard is the pseudonym for Teresa Edgerton, who wrote the Green Lion trilogy, one of my favorite series. Now she has been re-branded, and will hopefully have as much success with this as Robin Hobb has.