Stargazer by Claudia Gray

Bianca knows that her second year at Evernight Academy will be much more difficult then her first, and that is saying something. Not only does she have to make it through the year without Lucas, her vampire-slaying boyfriend, but her inner vampire is starting to surface. She finds she is becoming stronger and craves blood more and more frequently and her parents say it is only a matter of time before she makes the full conversion, but Bianca’s not sure if that’s the life path she wants to take.

She does try and make the best out of being at Evernight by searching around for clues to why Mrs. Bethany, the headmaster, admits only certain humans into the school. This way she can give Lucas this information, in order that he can report it to his supervisor and be able to spend just a little bit more time with Bianca.

As the year goes on, Bianca’s life becomes even more complicated. Hordes of information is being kept from her at the same time that she is keeping just as many secrets from the rest of the world. One such secret is her continuing relationship with Lucas. The only way she can really get out into the outside world is if she pretends to be having a relationship with Balthazar, but she feels like this in a way is being disloyal to Lucas. With a major Black Cross mission underway and a mysterious wraith following Bianca, her year doesn’t get much better, but could it get any worse?

In general I find there is a rule that sequels are generally not better then their preceder, but then again there are always exceptions to that rule, especially in the case of Stargazer! While I loved Evernight, Stargazer proved to be an even more intriguing read and moved along at a much quicker pace, picking up right where it left off. With that said it is best if you have read Evernight so that you fully understand the context of the story.

Bianca’s character was definitely more developed in this book as she started to really question if she truly wanted to be a vampire or there was other possible options for her. This really allowed the reader to get to know her better and for her to become more real and three-dimensional. One thing I didn’t like so much though that she was the only character that was fully developed. To me the other characters didn’t have as much life to them and the reader could have gotten to know them better.

The plot was also much better in this book. It didn’t take anytime for me to become re-interested in Bianca’s story and I felt like I hadn’t missed out on anything. There was always so much going on that I was constantly on the edge of my seat eager to find out what was going to happen next and how each event fit into the plot puzzle! Some of the developments that occurred in the story were definitely jaw droppers and I was absolutely stunned, and I have to say I loved evey minute of it!

Claudia Gray really outdid herself with Stargazer. Her writing was fantastic and she created a novel full of daring, romantic, and shocking moments, all of which left the reader wanting more. She especially did a great job with the ending, even though it was a little odd, which left off with a major cliffhanger! I cannot wait for more books in the series and just future books from Ms. Gray in the future.