Review: The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent

Title: The Stars Never Rise
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publication Date:  June 9th, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Won in a Giveaway
Where to find: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

"I feel like my life is a book, and someone turned the page before I was ready, and now I can't follow the story."

Finishing this book has left me with more questions than when I first started it. I absolutely love the characters and the world that Vincent has created. At first I was a little thrown off when the reality of the romance was explained, but it definitely grew on me and had me intrigued to see how it would work out. There were many unexpected aspects of this book that always kept me guessing and waiting to see what would happen next.

As many of you know, I'm a huge sucker for demons so this book interested me right from the beginning with Demons possessing people in this post-war world led by the Church. The society in this world was complex, but also well explained and made sense. Vincent did a great job of world-building. She also did a great job of blending this dystopian world with the paranormal.

While, there were many unexpected plot points in this book, there was a level of predictability at the beginning. The book definitely got stronger as it went on. I was easily able to guess what was going on with Melanie, Nina, and their Mom in the beginning part of the book. It was after Nina joined up with Finn that things started to go in a different way than I expected.

In terms of actual plot, this is a clear first in a series book that focuses mostly on world-building and realization. The meat of this book is Nina finding out who she is and finding other like her. With that comes saving her sister as well. I'm really looking forward to future books with both Nina and Finn and their group of rebels as they find a way to destroy the demons.