Ace Book Review: "Tarnished Are the Stars" by Rosiee Thor

"This was the kind of moment people meant when they said he'd 'meet someone someday,' when they said he'd 'understand when he was older.' But he was older, and age had not brought with it the sweeping desire to fall in love or kiss or sit shoulder to shoulder with someone he'd just met."

When I was a child, I was fascinated by things that blended genres – especially when it came to science fiction and fantasy, two of my favorites. As an adult, absolutely nothing has changed. If anything, I’ve become even more fascinated with these blending of themes and plot elements, especially how these two unique genres can overlap, and I gravitate towards all the possible genre-mixing therein. I often obsess over things like magic realism, retro futurism, steampunk, and magic mixed within any of these various types of worlds. I often find myself craving stories that stitch these elements together like a patchwork quilt, all of them recognized and existing beside one another without any of them feeling wasted, all of them contributing to a rich worldbuilding effort to create a unique story. I don’t find them as often as I’d like, but when I do, I usually fall in love with them. When they have characters whose journeys mirror my own, I usually end up cherishing them.

This became the case when I recently started reading the 2019 novel Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor, whose plot and setting is an incredible combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements, courtly intrigue, steampunkish tech, magic, and LGBTQIAP+ representation. The story takes place in the far-future in a world where technology is blamed for the destruction of Earth. Everyone now lives in either “the Tower,” a courtly place full of nobles and their noble machinations, or on a planet known as Earth Adjacent. In the main settlement of this planet, technology is outlawed under orders of the tyrannical Commissioner, but in a hidden town on the coast, those who need technology to live (in the form of mechanical limbs or clockwork hearts) dwell in secret.

The story follows three characters from these three locations, whose lives quickly become interconnected. The first is a young woman named Anna Thatcher, who lives in the hidden town and secretly supplies medical tech to those who need it under the alias “The Technician.” The granddaughter of the town’s surgeon, an inventor in her own right, and one of those who has a clockwork heart due to childhood illness, Anna eventually crosses paths with someone who has her same heart condition and thus the same type of heart – Nathaniel Fremont, who is actually the son of the abusive Commissioner. Nathaniel is a walking contradiction, a boy who lives in the settlement and is the flesh and blood of the very man who has outlawed technology, but who lives only because of his own illegal heart. He is also – Spoiler alert! – the novel’s aspec character, which adds an extra layer of uncertainty and tension to his life – especially because he is betrothed to a young woman named Eliza. Eliza, as it so happens, is the novel’s third protagonist, a girl who has lived her whole life on the Tower, working as a secret spy for their queen with a mission to discover the Commissioner’s plans at any cost.

In a previous review I did for the novel Belle Revolte by Linsey Miller, I mentioned that that novel reminded me of a combo of my favorite video game series Dragon Age and one of my favorite movies of all time, Howl’s Moving Castle. Admittedly, this novel did likewise – combining the courtly intrigue that can be found in the country of Orlais in the Dragon Age series with vibrant steampunk, fantasy, magic elements that reminded me a lot of Howl’s Moving Castle. But beyond that, the novel is gorgeously written with prose that conjured images in my mind not dissimilar to the things you might seen in a Studio Ghibli film or a lush open world game. Very early on, I was swept away by the excellent writing and the third person narration that revolved between Anna, Nathaniel, and Eliza, which made me eager to keep reading. The differences and similarities between the three characters and how they all eventually come to trust each other was extremely interesting, thanks in large part to the novel’s intriguing plot and worldbuilding, as well as the fact that these characters admittedly have a lot of reason to not trust one another.

Something I really enjoyed about the story was that it allowed all three protagonists to do questionable things, but things that we can nevertheless completely sympathize with. For example, early on in their acquaintance, Nathaniel realizes that Anna is The Technician, the outlaw his father has been hunting for so long. Desperate to win his father’s approval, Nathaniel thus begins a mission to try and capture The Technician and bring her to his father, despite the fact that she’s the one who finally helped him understand his clockwork heart and relieved some of the isolation he felt. Although Nathaniel’s decision to betray Anna early on is clearly a bad one (and sets up a lot of tension and tragedy), the story also does a good job of showing us why he feels this decision is justified and even necessary. That doesn’t make it any less sad or gut-wrenching, but we can really see and understand his thought process.

We see these plot elements occur too with Anna and especially with Eliza, who has done some terrible things in her time as the queen’s spy, and it makes the fraught relationship between all three leads even better. It also sets up the story’s romantic relationship, which is an enemies-to-lovers story, but does not feature Nathaniel, as he comes to realize he is indeed an aromantic asexual (more on that later). In general, although Nathaniel becomes a little bit less of a focus in later chapters in order to focus on the development of the story’s other relationship, I nevertheless liked his development and the way his aspec story unfolds. He is never made out to be the “bad guy” in light of his mistakes, nor do his newfound friends treat him as less than because of it. In fact, one of the main themes of the novel is the injustice of treating people as less than, and Nathaniel fits that twofold, both with his illegal medical tech and with his aspec nature.

Nathaniel first starts showing aspec vibes a few chapters into the book, particularly during a scene where he meets with Anna to discuss his clockwork heart. When the two sit close together to discuss the issues of the world in secret, Nathaniel privately notes his own awareness that societal conventions would expect him to enjoy being this close to Anna and that most young men his age would. His narration also mentions that all his life he’s been told things such as “you’ll find someone someday” or “you’ll understand when you’re older,” which is where the quote I used at the beginning of this post comes into play. These, of course, are common things many people on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrums hear, and I liked the fact that these were included early in Nathaniel’s journey to help us get to know his identity and the substance of it long before it’s actually played out in full.

In general, Nathaniel being aspec is folded into the story’s larger plot and I think it worked quite well. In the past, I’ve reviewed stories such as Let’s Talk About Love (by Claire Kann) and Tash Hearts Tolstoy (by Kathryn Ormsbee) where the main characters being asexual was a huge part of the story and the driving force of a lot of the plot, which is not exactly the case here. Nathaniel being aspec is not the focal point of the story, but it is the focal point of his story, if that makes sense. The things Nathaniel does, the way he relates to the world and other characters, and in turn the way other characters relate to him are all massively shaped by the fact that he is aspec. His story is unique because – unlike in a novel like the aforementioned Belle Revolte – he’s not getting involved in an asexual romance, but his aspec identity still shapes his other relationships.

In fact, one of my favorite relationships in the story was, surprisingly, the one between Nathaniel and Eliza, and I gladly would have read even more of it. The relationship between the pair starts off, as mentioned earlier, as a betrothal, with both of them exchanging letters for a while before they actually meet about halfway through the novel. At first, Nathaniel is nervous and hesitant about the marriage for obvious reasons, while Eliza oscillates between resenting Nathaniel and trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Eliza’s own identity makes her match with Nathaniel unpalatable as well, so she’s just as apprehensive, but things change significantly when they meet and she realizes the abuse Nathaniel suffers at the hands of his father. When the Commissioner speaks ill of Nathaniel, Eliza immediately takes umbrage to it and sympathizes with her betrothed, leading to a few of my favorite scenes in the entire novel, chief among them being when her narration notes “She would retire her blade to become his shield” – an absolutely beautiful sentiment.

But even more noteworthy and amazing is that Eliza is the one to help Nathaniel really understand his aspec identity. It happens several chapters into the book (thirty-four, to be exact), by which point a lot of plot has happened and Nathaniel and Eliza are really beginning to understand one another. Therefore, he decides it’s time to tell her that he doesn’t feel for her in the traditional sense and doesn’t want to go through with their betrothal – he wants her “close” and wants to like her, but he doesn’t want to love her or be “too close”. In real life, coming out to people is very tough, and I always appreciate when books with aspec characters accurately portray the ups and downs of that struggle. This book is no different, and Nathaniel’s coming out to Eliza is a brilliant push-and-pull as he attempts to find a good way to express himself, made even better by the fact that they both really understand where the other person is coming from.

I would have been immensely satisfied with this scene even if it stopped there, with Nathaniel not having terminology or the ability to put his identity into concrete words but making himself clear all the same. However, the book caught me by total, delightful surprise. Because the novel is a sci-fi/fantasy novel taking place in fantastical far-future world, I wasn’t expecting the terms “asexual” or “aromantic” to be used; but the story does make it very clear that Earth existed and so too did all of its records, accessible to the people of The Tower through databases and other technology. Eliza, as a citizen of The Tower, has heard of asexuality and aromanticism in this way and shares them with Nathaniel, who hasn’t had as much exposure to the concepts, having spent his whole life living on the planet and under the control of his cold father.

I love the idea of Eliza, someone with her own non-straight identity, helping Nathaniel figure out his identity as well; given that I was helped along in my own early aspec journey by a friend who identifies as queer, it really hit home for me too. It’s absolutely beautiful to hear her tell him about the asexual and aromantic spectrums and validate his experiences using the actual terms for who and what he is. The entire latter part of the chapter, in which they talk about these things together, is absolutely beautiful and I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time I was reading it. Additionally, because Eliza knows about asexuality, aromanticism, and their other related identities through reading things that have been saved through records, that idea gave me an odd bit of hope. It’s not always easy to feel like aspec discussions have impact, because it’s often difficult to see if they do or if they’re just lost amid the sea of inevitable pushback aspec people face when sharing their experiences. Even though this world is fictional, I really appreciated the notion that aspec writing and thought would be preserved and used, even centuries later (plus people hundreds of years in the future still not knowing about asexuality and aromanticism feels pretty accurate in my experience – I’m kidding… mostly).

Of course, for as much as I love Nathaniel’s relationship with Eliza and as hugely impactful to his character and the story as it may be, I’d be remiss to not also mention his bond with Anna. Due to a lot of plot related circumstances, the relationship between these two characters is often very fraught, but there is still a deep connection between them that is undeniable and purely platonic. I really enjoyed that the characters in this novel were allowed to be “drawn to” one another in ways that could be either platonic or romantic. Although Nathaniel and Eliza find themselves locked in trust with one another, Nathaniel and Anna can relate to one another because of the sameness of their mechanical hearts. This sameness allows both characters to feel seen and to feel drawn to one another in a way that is very obviously not romantic, but still valid and important. Meanwhile, as Anna – Spoiler alert! – finds herself drawn to Eliza, that is allowed to be a romantic connection driven on attraction without invalidating the platonic ways in which Anna is drawn to Nathaniel. It is a rare thing to be able to balance platonic and romantic relationships so well, and to see it done so expertly in this story was a delight. It’s definitely something I’d like to see more of in stories in the future.

Something else that this story did exceptionally well that I’d like to see more of in future is subverting usual expectations about aspec characters. In my experience – and as I’ve discussed often – there are many tropes and stereotypes used against aromantic asexual people and characters. Many of these include portraying them as broken, cold, unsociable, or even childish individuals who have not yet reached their full maturation and need someone else to help “set them right.” In Nathaniel’s case, although he is soft-spoken and shy and thus could potentially be seen as childlike, it seems pretty clear to me that we’re supposed to know this is far less because of his aspec identity and far more because he lives under the thumb of such a tyrannical father. Additionally, because we as readers experience Nathaniel’s point of view a great deal, we have a clearer sense of what makes him tick (no pun intended) than we do for a lot of characters in other types of media, such as ones I’ve mentioned on the blog frequently. All of these things help Nathaniel subvert a lot of the traditional tropes.

The novel, whether intentionally or unintentionally, also takes this a step further by calling attention to these types of tropes. For instance, in the scene where Eliza first meets Nathaniel, I was curious to see how certain attitudes between them would develop when Eliza takes one look at Nathaniel and mentally categorizes him as “a child with mud on his boots.” Aspec characters being seen as children is something I talk about a lot on the blog as being extremely problematic, but in this case, I think it works in large part because, by this point, we have spent time with and thus understand both characters. In Eliza’s case, we know she’s not only a practiced courtier, but is also coming into this situation with a level of hostility that is, in many ways, completely justifiable because her own identity makes the match undesirable. In Nathaniel’s case, as I mentioned in the last paragraph, we likewise understand his motivations and feelings. We know why Nathaniel is the way he is and aren’t really encouraged to see him as a child because we see his struggles. We as readers are also privy to things about Nathaniel’s complicated life, emotions, and how he’s been drawn into dramatic parts of the plot; these are things Eliza doesn’t know yet and so her judgment is incomplete.

Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, Eliza almost immediately changes her attitude and goes on guard for Nathaniel when she realizes how his father treats him. This leads me to another trope the story calls attention to, which is the notion of aspec people being fixed. There is a scene where Eliza is with the Commissioner in which he describes Nathaniel by saying “he can be broken and he can be fixed,” and while he is more likely referring to Nathaniel’s personality than his aspec nature, I think the parallel can be drawn nevertheless. This is especially pronounced because Eliza notes to herself that she’s heard similar words and can both relate and sympathize with Nathaniel because of it. While this could again fit many things in Eliza’s life, including how she was essentially broken and remade as the queen’s spy, I think it also fits her own identity too in a way that makes the moment extremely poignant and fitting for both characters.

In general, there’s so much I could talk about regarding this book and its characters, and I really enjoyed being in their world and exploring their story. For the sake of my analysis, I stuck mostly to Nathaniel, his identity and story, and the friendships he manages to develop as part of his quest to come into himself, but there is even more to the story that I didn’t even get a chance to cover. From other relationships to other plot points, I felt it was a rich book with a great story to tell. Although the ending slowed down quite a bit from the roaring beginning, I still felt extremely satisfied with where it went and how it got there, and having Nathaniel as an aspec character brings me great joy.

As with many of the books I’ve reviewed for the blog thus far, there are some things I feel readers should be aware of when reading that could be potential triggers. Although this novel is less violent than some I’ve reviewed in the past, mentions of blood and death do occur – both within a medical sense, since Anna and her grandfather are surgeons, and outside of it – including for children. Additionally, Nathaniel’s abusive father and the violence he suffers at the man’s hands may be upsetting for some people. Author Rosiee Thor actually has a very extensive list of content warnings on her website, so if you’re concerned about any of the potential content before you read, she lists out what chapters certain things can be found in, all while staying pretty spoiler-free.

Overall, as I’m sure you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it if you want an example of a well-rounded canon asexual character, as well as just a highly engaging plot in a beautifully written narrative. It’s a story that raises a lot of great questions about life, death, grief, hope, and moving forward, and the characters give us depth and representation that I’d love to see more of in media. Like many aspec characters and people, Nathaniel Fremont is markedly different and looking for belonging in a world that feels confusing and hostile. He is also a character who finds it in unexpected people and places, such as within himself and his own clockwork heart. I hope that more aspec people find Nathaniel and his story, and learn to appreciate their own value in the same way.