When a star dies, a new one must be born. In order for this to happen, the Sun God must create one with a mortal woman. While villagers revere the woman who becomes the Star Mother and brings honor to her family, she does not survive. Ceris Wenden knows this and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to become the next Star Mother. However, Ceris does what no other Star Mother in history has done before – she survives. Charlie N. Holmberg proves her talent for creativity and world-building in this start to a new duology. 

When readers first meet Ceris, she is a bit of a prankster and understands her place in the world. She is betrothed to another young man, but he is in love with another woman. In the meantime, the people of Endwever are searching for a new Star Mother to replace the deceased star. Knowing her betrothed will never love her in that way, she makes the selfless decision to become the next Star Mother. In doing so, she helps her family and gives one last gift to her love. 

Ceris then starts her journey to fulfill one of the most important roles in life. She makes love to Saiyon, the Sun God (which is extremely painful for mortals), and spends the pregnancy in his palace. She tries to befriend the godlings who wait on her, but they understandably resist her attempts since she will not survive the birth of the star. However, she wins them over, along with Saiyon, with her persistence as her belly grows. 

When the star is ready to come into the world, Ceris expects these to be her final moments as she fulfills her duty. But then she wakes up. And everyone is understandably confused. Saiyon asks her to stay in his palace with him, but her desire to reconnect with her family is stronger and she returns to Earth. To her surprise, she doesn’t return nine months later – but rather 700 years have passed since she left. Displaced in time with no known relatives, she embarks on another journey to find her family’s descendants in a world completely different from what she knows. 

While on her mission to find her family, she encounters a godling and rescues him from his pursuers. In return, he agrees to serve as a guide in return. The godling, Ristriel, is very mysterious and will not disclose the reason as to why he is in hiding. Nevertheless, Ceris and Ristriel develop feelings for each other and she eventually discovers what exactly happened when she gave birth to the star and why she survived. 

Charlie N. Holmberg is a well-known author in the fantasy genre. Once again she demonstrates her originality and talent for creating characters that readers will care about. Ceris won me over with her selfless reasons to volunteer as Star Mother, and her persistence to overcome her massive challenges kept me going. Also, the significant implications of being displaced in time by about 700 years really left a mark on my psyche. I’m still a little heartbroken for Ceris and the situation she found herself in after making such a huge sacrifice. But that just speaks to Holmberg’s ability to pull us in and tug at our heartstrings. 

Star Mother is not without its shortcomings. Ceris and Ristriel have known each other for only a couple of weeks yet develop a deep connection and attraction to each other. I also wish there were more details about what the world looks like to Ceris after returning to her village, i.e. dialect, foliage, fashion, etc (although to Holmberg’s credit, she did indicate that she wanted to squeeze more of these details in). Lastly, some of the pacing was slow during Ceris’s trek to finding her family members. I think Holmberg could have done more to engage the readers during the downtime. 

Readers who already love Holmberg as an author will enjoy Star Mother. I also expect religious readers or even historians to appreciate the story as well. Ceris becomes immortal and has become an exalted figure on Earth, so I expect book club discussion to get interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this story and loved the way that Holmberg wrapped up Ceris’s journey. 

Charlie N. Holmberg returns for a second Cantina Conversation on the podcast (her previous interview discussed her Spellbreaker duology). We talk about how her spirituality inspired this story, how being a mother herself allowed her to explore the meaning of motherhood, and what readers can expect from the sequel, Star Father (available March 8). Keep an eye out for an upcoming episode and pick up a copy of Star Mother, available now.