Book Review: Serafina and the Seven Stars by Robert Beatty (Serafina #4)

 

I believe it's been like two years since I last read book three in this series, but I do still really want to finish it, so here we go. As far as I know the series ends with this book, at least at the moment. Spoilers ahead.

After Braeden leaves to go to school in New York, Serafina is left to guard Biltmore on her own. Mysterious things start happening at the estate, and Serafina is trying to get to the bottom of what it is. Then people start dying under strange circumstances, upping the tension. It seems that Serafina will have to find a way to defeat this strange new opponent before all of Biltmore's inhabitants are killed by strange supernatural creatures. 

Yeah, this is a solid way to end the series, if this is really where things end. Not my favorite book or anything, but it has some good characters, a nice message, lots of stakes and an engaging mystery at the middle of it.

I honestly think I might like the idea of this vague supernatural force as a antagonist more than Uriah from the earlier books, who wasn't terrible but really not my thing and just too generic for my liking. The more supernatural vague force we deal with in this book is far more interesting because it's hard to understand and full of mysteries, yet at the same time we also see what it's coming from because it's against the hunters at Biltmore killing all the animals. It's an extreme measure to go on a murderous rampage of killing all Biltmore residents (or at least, trying to), but you do somewhat understand the white deer's motivation.

I also thought the blossoming romance between Braeden and Serafina was pretty cute. Braeden isn't in the book a whole lot and is mostly AFK, but his presence when he is there is memorable and it's nice to see the book end with him and Serafina confirming their love for each other.  

I guess something that's interesting about this book is that, outside of stuff like some recurring characters and the setting of Biltmore, there are very few references to prior events in the series. Characters like Uriah, Rowena, Serafina's mother and Serafina's Native American friend may be mentioned offhand, but they're otherwise barely referenced. Same with a lot of events in the prior books, there's very few references to it. Seven Stars can almost be read as a standalone, because it feels pretty detached from the first few books. I'm not sure if this is a positive or a negative. I think I see it as a positive personally, but if someone was really into the previous installments they might find it distracting. I don't know.

Overall I do consider this a solid conclusion to the series, though. I had a good time with it and think it's well-paced and has a lot of proper buildup to the mystery of the white deer, the statues, and the Seven Stars.

Rating: 3.5/5