ARC Review: Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

Author: R.C. Lewis
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Number of Pages: 336
Release Date: October 6, 2015

Synopsis:

"Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.
Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.
Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?
Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow."

The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. I mean, look at it! It's beautiful! And then when I read the synopsis for this book I was really excited to read it. 

When I started the book I was really confused for about the first 50 pages. I didn't really understand the setting and whether or not Earth had anything to do with the story. It didn't. Just a heads up if you pick it up. Also, when Liddi couldn't speak it took me another good 50 pages to realize that her society didn't have a system of writing which is why she couldn't write out what she wanted to say. So, I thought that the author should have made a lot of these type of things more clear especially because it's a dystopian novel and to enjoy the book you really need to understand the setting.

But, overall the plot was amazing. I really enjoyed it especially nearing the end. It really kept the reader on their toes and filled with excitement. Although, the only thing I would change would be the romance aspect. I would have stretched it out further throughout the book because at the point it's at right now it just felt really rushed.

Because the book was a retelling, it's really important that the author keeps the original concept in the book which the author was able to do really well while still creating a whole new world for the reader. And I think the best way was through the characters. They were very unique and completely different from other characters I have previously read about. The relationships between the characters were very touching and left me with a great feeling.

Overall, I liked the book, but I wish it was structured better and was more clear. I would suggest it to anyone just getting into dystopian or anyone who already loves dystopian. I'm expecting a lot from the second book, and I hope it meets my expectations.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars!

*I recieved a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.