WHEN STARS COME OUT

Hiding her ability to see the dead from her new classmates may prove to be the least of Anora’s problems when she lands in the crosshairs of a secret organization.

After what happened in New York, Anora Silby is determined to fly under the radar at her new school in Oklahoma. That is easier said than done: On her first day she both captures a soul and then loses the resulting resurrection coin that grants power over another’s soul. Between trying not to become the subject of Roundtable, the school’s gossip app, and balancing the uncertain social structure of a new school with the attention of Shy Savior, the mysterious and magnetic star quarterback, Anora has her hands full. When her missing coin becomes a murder weapon and she finds herself the target of a powerful secret organization, deciding whom to trust becomes a life-or-death matter. A reimagined Orpheus and Eurydice tale told in dual perspectives, St. Clair’s foray into YA tries to do too many things at once. Characters are distinctive but numerous, and readers may have trouble following many different concurrent plotlines. Shy and Anora’s relationship takes a long time to develop despite its “love at first sight” beginning, and an interesting magic system and detailed worldbuilding are somewhat lost in competing narrative conflicts. Characters default to White.

Too many loose threads crowd out the details of an intriguing fantasy world.