Bright Burning Stars

by A K Small

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE: BIRDS OF PARADISE, STARRING KRISTINE FROSETH AND DIANA SILVERS. “A compulsively readable story. I was breathless and battling tears up until the very last stunning turns onstage and beyond. A dazzling, heart-wrenching debut.” —Nova Ren Suma, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Walls Around Us Would you die for the Prize? Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained since childhood at the Paris Opera Ballet School, where they’ve forged an inseparable bond through shared stories of family tragedies and a powerful love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves how far they would go for the ultimate prize: to be named the one girl who will join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic will make them shine, too? Would they risk death for it? Neither girl is sure. But then Kate gets closer to the Demigod, even as Marine has begun to capture his heart. And as selection day draws near, the competition—for the Prize, for the Demigod—becomes fiercer, and Marine and Kate realize they have everything to lose, including each other.Bright Burning Stars is a stunning, propulsive story about girls at their physical and emotional extremes, the gutting power of first love, and what it means to fight for your dreams.

• ISBN10: 1643750305
• ISBN13: 9781643750309
• Publish Date: 2 March 2021 (first published 21 May 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

Marine and Kate come from very different backgrounds but they forge a friendship that has gotten them through their time at the Paris Ballet Opera School. This friendship is one that they think will get them through anything, but as time goes on and things get more competitive everything changes.
Kate makes decisions and gets close to someone that doesn't really care about her. All while Marine is determined to do anything she can to get the top spot and stay thin enough.
We get to see their final year at the Paris Ballet school told in both their perspectives. This story isn't an easy one to read and has mentions of eating disorders and drug use.
Overall I had mixed feelings about this story. I really enjoyed the beginning and the ending of this story. I personally could have done without a lot of what happened in the middle, this part of the story really just dragged for me sadly.
Kate and Marine as characters I went back and forth on liking and not being able to stand them. This part was also what made me like this story, getting to see them grow and change throughout the story was realistic at times. They are young and learning and making mistakes as times go on and living in a very high-pressure environment. The author did a great job of showing how alienated all of the dancers were at times and how they each dealt with this in different ways. This part was really fascinating to me and I loved the ending so much because it really showed how much they had changed from the beginning of the story to the end.

[Sam@WLABB]

"Would you die for The Prize?"

This was the question Marine, Kate, and all the other First Division dancers at the Paris Opera Ballet School were asking themselves, as they began their final year of training. This was their last opportunity to prove they deserved the top spot, and the company position that came with it. However, only two - one male and one female, would get The Prize.

I have read several books set in the world of elite ballet, and like those, this was intense. Like most of the other books, this one focused on the "dark side" of ballet. There was the physical strain on the dancers' bodies, which they tried to soothe with ice baths, warm water bottles, and lots of pain reliever (and not always the legal kind of pain reliever). Then there was the extreme mental stress, the head games, the sabotage, the body dysmorphia, and insecurities. It was super cutthroat, and Small expertly pulled me into their mess. I felt the hunger pangs, the aches, and that out of control type of spiral right there along with the characters.

But you know how Kate and Marine made it this far? By the power of the friendship they had forged from their very year at the ballet school. Since the age of 12, they had been supporting one another, but during this critical year, cracks started to form in their friendship as Kate began to make a string of poor decisions in order to give herself an edge in winning the prize, and Marine starved herself in oder to attain that perfect ballet body.

I worried for both Marine and Kate, though, probably more for Kate. Marine was lucky to have a few other solid relationships, and Luc was an especially strong ally. Once Kate and Marine were on the outs, Kate was alone, thousands of miles from her home in Virginia, and still nursing the wounds left when the mother, who had abandoned her. I was content with the ending Small wrote for Kate, because it was hopeful, but I loved the ending she gave to Marine. It was a little unexpected and quite wonderful.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book was because it was about ballet dancers, and Small opened that window into their world quiet wide. I have already mentioned all the physical and mental pain, but she also invited us to "see" them dance. I got a good sense of the euphoria both Marine and Kate experienced, when they performed, and I loved being part of the action. She described the mood, the music, the costumes, and the movement in such a way, that I could fully envision it.

Overall: A compelling look at the world of elite ballet, which deftly took us through the highs and lows one experiences in their pursuit of The Prize.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Bright Burning Stars in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Bright Burning Stars is the debut novel by A.J. Small. The novel is a tale set in a French ballet school, and understandably it has a lot of the plot devices we’d hope and expect for it. But it’s more than that as well. It’s a coming of age story, a story where one has to learn what is best for them, and of course the story of the hardship dancers can come across while in training.
This novel was an interesting read, though understandable it was difficult at times. It’s so easy to forget that teenagers can be put through situations like this, for the sake of their art, but that doesn’t change the truth.


Warnings: This novel deals with a lot of the heavier elements associated with any field that is highly competitive, but especially the dance field. There’s a lot of pressure about weights shone in this novel, which understandably develops into eating problems and disorders. Likewise there’s drug use, and even a scene where one of the girls has to end her pregnancy or get dropped from the program. If these subjects are upsetting to you, consider yourself warned.
Bright Burning Stars was an enchanting yet disturbing tale of two girls in their journey to be the best. This novel may not have hit me so hard had it not been the first ballet novel I truly read (I know the synopsis of many, but I’ve never actually taken the time to read one before now), or maybe it would have. I can’t honestly say. I can say that there were points where it did hit me hard.
The juxtaposition between Marine and Kate it what really made this novel powerful, in my mind. Here we have two girls, from very different paths in life, trying to succeed in something they love: ballet. They have their own struggles with the art, and different elements where they truly shine.
The difference between how they handle the stress is where things really shine. One girl took her stress outward, while the other suppressed it. One kept making the same mistakes again and again, while the other learned from her mistakes and took action to prevent it happening again.
Seeing their stories spiral out of control, both together and apart, was truly fascinating. I don’t think the story would have been nearly so compelling had only one of them been included here. The conclusion did a great job of driving their different plots home, while also tying them back together in an unexpected manner.
Despite all of this, I do wish that I had more of a chance to know them. That sounds weird, I know. But something about everything made it feel like their emotions were muted. Likely the trauma and stress, and if so that means it was well written. Or maybe it’s the pace in which I read the novel – all in one sitting one Sunday morning.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else A.K. Small will write in the future. I absolutely loved the writing style as well as the unique perspective used for storytelling in Bright Burning Stars. For that reason I think that A.K. Small will be an author worth watching out for.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks