yuerstruly

YuEr is 23, has finished her undergraduate studies and is starting graduate school. Her mother says she should have finished reading the entire Jin Yong collection at the age of 12, and is making attempts to shovel Water Margin and Dream of the Red Chamber into the reading list. Her bookshelf consists of B&N Classics, too many AP prep books, and a bit of YA squeezed in there.

Wait, YA? You read YA?? I wouldn't say I actively seek it out, but I'll give anything a try if I'm into the premise. This is half the reason I chose to pick up Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu. The other half is that I have been trying to write an idol-verse/spy-verse AU for DoJae since 2020, and came across the premise for this duology and gave it a try. I've read two Marie Lu series in my lifetime, and though they were both YA SFF, Stars and Smoke sounded like a fun change-up.

Believe it or not, Stars and Smoke was a fun read. I have some nitpicks here and there, but Marie Lu delivered an impactful story and pulled her punches as needed for climaxing scenes. Objectively, people might say the work is "OKAY," and I could agree, but what fun is there in rating a book 3/5 and leaving it at that?

Pop star Winter Young meets elite spy Sydney Cossette in a task to infiltrate a crime organization and take down the boss, Eli Morrison. Winter is an asset that contradicts the essence of a spy—he's hot, famous, and always the center of attention. This is, however, the ticket into Eli Morrison's lair, with his daughter Penelope being his biggest fan and wanting a private performance from pop sensation Winter Young. With little time to prep, Winter's training focuses on self defense, and applies his choreography-learning skills to imitate whatever Sydney throws at him. He's a quick learner, much to her annoyance and dismay (though his quick reflexes are just what they need if things go south).

Much of the romantic development is built on mutual annoyance and different variations of smugness, which is catered to my tastes, but the actual execution fell short of my expectations. I had previously complained about the story being insta-love, but what really became the problem was the transition from attraction to love. Mutual attraction? Valid. Mutual interest? Makes sense, since neither of them are dealing with the usual crowd of people they interact with. Winter may meet the hottest pop stars around the world, but a spy that keeps you on your toes is another story. Sydney may have her flings with other spies, but what isn't fascinating about a pop star assigned as your newest partner-in-crime? Given these in mind, I did enjoy the swimming pool scene, even though it was probably not the most ideal situation for a makeout session. This is also where I say the physical attraction to one another is genre appropriate but not career appropriate. It makes sense, given that this book is a YA, but I was unable to suspend disbelief for it. Finding someone hot is one thing; finding someone so hot you can't get them out of your mind, to the point you can fuck up because of it, while you are on the job where INTERNATIONAL SECURITY is at risk is another.

Despite my gripes with attraction vs. somehow suddenly being in love, I very much bought into the climatic scene of where their lives were at risk and they could only rely on each other. I cried because they were about to die even though I knew they weren't—after all, we hadn't even gotten to the second book. So, kudos to Marie Lu in that department.

The only other actual complaint I had was the amount of Pinyin in the book. I understood that Winter and his mother were switching between Mandarin and English in conversations, but I found it very distracting as I, a Mandarin speaker, was spending time trying to piece together the words instead of focusing on the content of what was being said. I don't think this is a Marie Lu problem though. People nowadays are somehow obsessed with the amount of Pinyin in books relating to Chinese people, and it gets on my nerves.

Now, Icon and Inferno. Everything here built off of what we had in Stars and Smoke. Not much complaint here. I continue to applaud Marie Lu for her story climaxes and delivering emotional scenes that make me bawl. The major plot twist also fit well into the story, with sufficient action and nerve-wracking moments in place. She also had an Easter egg for her loyal readers—the Warcross Championships featuring Emika Chen. It was one of the primary settings in this book! Loved the reference there.

That about sums up 23-year-old YuEr's feelings about reading YA. Can be fun, but I'm for sure not the target audience. It hasn't gotten so grating I can't stand it, so I'll give some other series a try in the future! May my next Marie Lu read grant me the same level of enjoyment, if not more.