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    Dark Star
    Dark Star
    Dark Star
    Audiobook8 hours

    Dark Star

    Written by Bethany Frenette

    Narrated by Amy Rubinate

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Audrey Whitticomb has nothing to fear.

    Her mother is the superhero Morning Star, the most deadly crime fighter in the Twin Cities, so it's hard for Audrey not to feel safe. That is, until she's lured into the night by something human and not human—something with talons and teeth, and a wide scarlet smile.

    Now Audrey knows the truth: her mom doesn't fight crime. She fights Harrowers—livid, merciless beings who were trapped Beneath eons ago. Yet some have managed to escape, and they want Audrey dead just because of who she is: one of the Kin.

    To survive, Audrey will need to sharpen the powers she has always had. When she gets close to someone, dark corners of the person's memories become her own, and she sometimes glimpses the future. If Audrey could only get near Patrick Tigue, a powerful Harrower masquerading as human, she could use her Knowing to discover the Harrowers' next move. But Leon, her mother's bossy, infuriatingly attractive sidekick, has other ideas. Lately, he won't let Audrey out of his sight.

    When an unthinkable betrayal puts Minneapolis in terrible danger, Audrey discovers a wild, untamed power within herself. It may be the key to saving her family and her city. Or it may be the force that destroys everything—and everyone—she loves.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 23, 2012
    ISBN9780062209207
    Dark Star
    Author

    Bethany Frenette

    Bethany Frenette tried very hard to become a superhero, but eventually decided to write about one instead. Born and raised in Minnesota, she received her undergraduate degree from St. Cloud State University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She lives in Minneapolis, where she still hopes to awake one day with superpowers. Dark Star is her first novel.

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    Reviews for Dark Star

    3.5/5

    69 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      After reading a lot of bad YA on Scribd, I was not expecting much when I saw this audiobook. But the more I listened, the more impressed I was, and found myself listening even when I wasn't in the car. A well-written, well-crafted piece of speculative YA fiction? With characters both interesting, relatable, and likeable? Sign me up! Looking forward to reading the rest of the author's work...
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Audrey who is a perfectly ordinary girl if you overlook the fact that she has the ability to do something called "Knowing" which lets her read people and events some of the time and that her mother is a superhero. Audrey has good friends - Tink and Gideon - and she has the same interests as many high school kids. She wants to get her driver's license but has failed one part of the test a few times. She wants to hang out at clubs like Drought and Deluge. But things start changing for her when she meets some cousins she didn't know she had and finds out that she is part of a group of people called the Kin who are battling demons from Beneath.Demons are currently making a resurgence in Minneapolis as they hunt for the human who is the Remnant - someone born with the abilities of the Old Race. Now Audrey is in a hunt for the Remnant and attracting more demons than anyone sane would want. She learns some startling things about her ancestry and about the people around her. I liked the strong friendship between Tink, Gideon and Audrey. I liked the relationship she has with Leon who she first knows as her mother's sidekick. The two of them have an almost sibling rivalry until Audrey learns something about Leon that changes her viewpoint. The story had enough adventure to satisfy most cravings. The demons were wonderfully evil. Audrey does border on the sort of heroine who is TSTL (to stupid to live) as she recklessly throws herself into situations that she isn't equipped to handle. What saves her are her good intentions and a timely rescue now and then by Leon.I recommend this one to fans of the paranormal.
    • 3/5
      I liked the story in Dark Star, but had some real problems with the way the first part of the book was written. The beginning of the book tells of Audrey Whitticomb, typical high school student except that she has a power called "The Knowing" where she is able to see the lives and events of other people that may not yet have happened. Her mother is the superhero known as "Morning Star," who spends her nights out on the streets trying to help people. We learn about all of Audrey's friends and how they are connected to her. Then, abruptly the story shifts and it is suddenly about demons and something called "The Beneath," which sounds a little like the underworld. Now Audrey's mother is a demon hunter at night and her "sidekick," Leon is a teleport. Audrey's friends, who in the beginning of the book, seemed like main characters are now relegated to supporting roles and are hardly mentioned until nearly the end of the book.
      It just seemed as though the author started with one story in mind and then partway through the book decided to change it completely.
      I did like both story lines, but the original story line never seemed to be completed. Even with these problems, overall a good read. Will a sequel be forthcoming?
    • 4/5
      At the time when I read this, it had some mixed reviews, and I wasn't sure if I sure read it but I'm glad I did. It was actually pretty good. There are some things that need to be worked on to make it less clunky but I think the overall story is still good. I love Audrey and seeing the situation she puts herself in and trying to get out of them. I also the dynamics of her relationship with her mother.

      I haven't read the second book in the series yet but it is on my waiting list of books to read.
    • 4/5
      I've read a fair number of these 'teenage girl discovers she has special powers' stories. In almost all of them the girl is headstrong but not very smart about exploring her newfound abilities, the adults around her are constantly putting her in danger by not telling her enough about what is going on, and despite her inexperience and the spoonfed bits of information she can get ahold of, she manages to save the world or a significant portion of it in the first book. This is yet another of these 'special teenager' stories, but it was a lot more engaging than the last few I read. I only have the first book in my possession right now, and I was wishing I had the next book here so I could start in on it tonight. I do wish that the girl in this book was in a more supportive, informative situation while she was learning her powers, but she does at least get a little help eventually, and the reasons she has been kept in the dark about everything makes a bit more sense by the end of the book. But, for a 30-something, cynical reader like me, wanting to read the next book is still a pretty good sign for less jaded readers who like stories in this subgenre.
    • 4/5
      This was surprisingly good - not predictable, pretty funny. Solid characters, good plot line. Would have benefited from a bit more angst. Looking forward to the next installment.
    • 4/5
      Originally posted on A Reader of Fictions.

      3.5 Stars

      Even though I love this cover, my expectations going into this were pretty low. I haven't seen any reviews for it, but I've heard from people who read reviews that they've seen less than encouraging ones. As such, I adjusted my hopes down a bit and set off. Actually, I ended up really enjoying Dark Star. Is it perfect? No. Is it a fun? Heck yes!

      The very best part of Dark Star is the characterization. Recently, though I've been on a really good reading streak, I feel like most of my star deductions have been for characters that didn't feel real to me or that I simply could not connect with, so I really needed this character-driven read. Audrey has a huge personality, funny and clever and a little bit rebellious. I loved her voice so much that the writing style, which leans a bit more to the choppy fragments style than I generally care for, didn't bother me much.

      Not only is Audrey awesome, her friends are great too. She has two best friends, Gabriel and Tink. Gabriel is the only one who has been trusted with her mother's secret (that she's the superhero Morning Star, though she prefers to be called a Guardian, and fights bad guys with her younger partner Leon). Audrey trusts Gabriel implicitly, the only secrets she keeps from him being ones she's not allowed to tell. Tink, who I totally pictured as the character of the same name from The Guild, is outgoing and tiny and a little bit terrifying. They have a real bond and I love to see that in novels.

      Perhaps even more rare, Audrey has a loving, protective, approachable, attentive mother. Can such a thing truly exist in YA? Apparently so! Audrey's mother, Lucy, does go out all night to fight crime, but she's in no way an absentee mom. She manages to spend a lot of time with her daughter. While definitely not an overprotective hardass, Lucy does keep informed of her daughter's whereabouts and try to keep Audrey safe, except for that one flashback where Lucy totally battles this demon preggers. Plus, they totally have the mother-daughter banter down. Of course, to fulfill the YA parental drama, her father's out of the picture, but I was still so glad to have a loving family dynamic in this book.

      The romance, which does exist, satisfied, even if it was totally predictable. Of course, if a romance has to be predictable, I'm not going to complain too much when it's my favorite of the cliched romance patterns, which this happens to be. Also, the best part is that the romance totally isn't the focus. It's there and believable and has chemistry, but flirting is minimal and Audrey doesn't spend the whole book mooning over boys.

      The first half of the book, had it continued in that vein, might even have gotten four stars from me for the sheer fun of it and the awesome characters. However, the book took a bit of a turn, and, though I didn't hate it, I would have preferred for the book not to have a paranormal twist. If you don't want to know what the twist is, skip to the last paragraph now.

      In true YA fashion, it turns out that mom is not in fact a superhero; she fights demons. Basically, the book takes this whole twist to the paranormal when I really just wanted to read a fantasy novel where some people have a little bit of extra power for who cares why and do some vigilante justice, okay? Mom has super strength, Leon can teleport, and Audrey Knows things, or, in otherwords, is a little bit psychic. That was all awesome and I had accepted it and then it was all because of paranormal things, which wasn't bad, but I've had enough of that and was so excited for something a little different.

      The bigger problem with the paranormal plotline was that it was weird and a little haphazard at the end. Like, the final confrontation was so abrupt. There's this small battle and it's dramatic, but then instead of the BIG crazy showdown, it just sort of ends. I want my epic battle of powers and superheroes, dang it! Also, the book didn't really feel wrapped up plot-wise at the end. I haven't heard rumors of a sequel, so, if this it, poorly done on that.

      But, you know what? I still had so much fun reading this that I'm giving it a bonus .5 for keeping me engaged in the story. Of course, now I really want to reread After the Golden Age, which is about a woman who's the daughter of superheroes that are actually just superheroes and so, so good.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book! Audrey is the daughter of a superhero in Minneapolis. But that's not the whole story. She's always had a special gift, Knowing, but learns that she has Kin with other powers who are ready to take on a dark and dangerous world she didn't know existed.
    • 4/5
      Audrey Whitticomb has never led a normal life. Her mom is the superhero Morning Star, the most revered and feared superhero in the Twin Cities. But there is a whisper in the night that something in town isn’t quite right. She keeps having dreams of burning down the city. And young girls are disappearing and found dead weeks later with no clue as to who is committing the crimes. Then...they come for Audrey. She escapes, but discovers that her mom isn’t fighting your typical criminal. She’s fighting demons. And Audrey has the power to fight them as well. But will she use her powers to defeat them....or will her dreams come true?I think what I like most about this work is that it isn’t your typical superhero novel. You aren’t reading the story of Audrey’s mom, Morning Star. Instead you’re reading the story of a young girl who discovers that there’s more to the world than what she’s been led to believe. And that there is more to her life than she knows. And while there are some formulaic plot points to the work, such as the romance that develops between Audrey and her mom’s ward/partner (which frankly just annoyed the crap out of me), there are some good moments to this book--such as the characters themselves. Although they could have use a bit more depth to them Audrey and her friends weren’t your stereotypical oversexed, perfect, confident teens. Instead...they act like real teens, with bursts of confidence, but mostly still trying to feel out who and what they are. Audrey’s friend Gideon is probably my favorite, because I recognize myself in him. He’s kinda of that shy, somewhat awkward kid that everyone likes because he’ll stand by his friends when they need him and because you can kinda sense that there’s something special about him. My one complaint about the book (other than the romance) is that I really want this to be a series, where the world and the mystery of the demons is developed further. And while the ending hints this maybe the case, to me the ending almost felt force, just so that if there wasn’t a second book we’d at least have something to wrap the story up with. Even with that complaint about the ending though, there are still some really nice plot twists happening at the end that will catch the reader off guard (in a good way.) This is engaging and fast paced book and I really do hope there’s a second book in the series, because this is just the right combination of paranormal and hero all thrown together. I’d recommend this to teen readers +
    • 3/5
      Audrey Whitticomb has known for quite some time that her mother helps keep the streets of the Twin Cities safe from harm. We slowly come to learn, as does Audrey, that her mother doesn't face normal felons, but Harrowers, eking their way from another world. The Harrowers are looking for a certain member of the Kin, one who will hold the key to to their eventual return. I thought it was interesting that we learned about this new world piece by piece as did Audrey. I still have some questions, but as we don't know the final story of the Remnant, I'll bet there's another book on the way.
    • 4/5
      (Lovingly copied and pasted from my Goodreads)I took a chance on this book and I'm really glad I did. Sure, it fits in with the dozens and dozens of teen occult books, but it's disguised as a superhero book. Audrey's mom is more than just the city of Minneapolis's super hero North Star, she is part of the Guardians that helps protect the city from "demons". So there's your occult. Demons want to get through, Audrey wants to help with her talent of Knowing. It's a pretty simple plot, and the book moves really quickly, but the writing is fresh, the relationships stay uncomplicated, and I had a lot of fun reading it.
    • 4/5
      Note: I received my advanced copy from NetGalley.comThis dark and gritty supernatural story kept me on the edge of my seat. I almost didn't pick it up because of the blurb; I'm not into super heroes. There are the typical teen elements inside (romance, rebelling against a parent, etc), they never feel forced or overdone. This book will stand out from it's competition.If you liked this book, try the Demon Trapper's Daughter series by Jana Oliver.
    • 4/5
      Audrey Whitticomb is the daughter of a superhero, her mom, aka Morning Star, and her sidekick Leon patrol the streets of the Twin Cities and keep everyone safe. I thought this book was good, I enjoyed the humor throughout the book and the relationship between Audrey and her mom. I would have liked to have seen some more character development for the secondary characters like Tink and Gideon, they were a little flat to me. I did enjoy the hint of romance and look forward to exploring that relationship further if there are future installments in this series. All in all I thought this was a good, quick read.This review was based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
    • 4/5
      Some books just hit all the points. Some books just completely jive with who you are and what you love. Some novels leave an impression, and some novels are worth raving about.Dark Star is one of those books.Audrey's mother has a secret. Well, more like, a secret identity. During the day, Audrey's mother is a hard working Minneapolis-ite, but at night she dons her costume and becomes Morning Star, a (for lack of a better term) superhero (even though she prefers the word "Guardian"). It turns out that Audrey's mother is fighting against more than just crime, she's fighting demons known as the Harrowers.This book has it all: great action, well-paced plot, quirky characters, sassy dialog and just all kinds of awesome (and not just any kind of awesome, plenty of geeky awesome). How can you go wrong with superheroes turned demon-hunters? It may sound a little crazy to superhero purists, but this concept just works in Dark Star. The best part? Author Bethany Frenette does an incredible job of weaving together realistic characters that leap off the page with fun dialog.In a sea of dark, dystopian fiction Dark Star stands out with its unique brand of action and supernatural elements all set within the "classic" superhero myths put this book in its own category. This book is just so much fun -seriously, read it.