AMERICAN GIRL: Josefina

Books Read:
-Josefina's collection 1-6
-Josefina's Short Stories (there are 5)
-Mystery: Secrets in the Hills

Josefina's stories are slice of life. They cover day-to-day events, not big historical things like wars, slavery or the Depression. The upside of this is that these stories are about life in 1824 New Mexico. Not something a lot of us know back and forth.

I find it very interesting how much responsibility is on the shoulders of these young girls. Flash forward to Maryellen, Molly and Julie and they barely do anything household-wise. Josefina and her sisters have the burden of keeping the rancho household running smoothly and it's not easy when they're four very different characters. Thankfully, Tia Dolores is there to guide the way.

Like Felicity's books, every single one of the characters introduced in Josefina's stories is likeable. I love her entire family, their servants, the villagers, everyone. Even her friend Mariana, who's in all of one book, made a strong impression. I would have loved a Best Friend doll of her and an accompanying book, because I'd love to know what life in the Pueblo was like. The main three sisters are excellent characters. Ana, the eldest, is so soft-spoken and busy that you don't get to know her very well, but feisty Francisca and sensible to a fault Clara are possibly my favorite AG siblings. Tia Dolores is a superb role model and Papa is kind in his quiet way.

This review is actually going to be this short, because I have nothing bad to say about these books.

AG Best to Least Best (they're too good to be called "Worst") Historical Ranking:
-Josefina
-Felicity
-Kaya
-Caroline
-Maryellen

See? Nothing bad to say.

AMERICAN GIRL: Maryellen

Maryellen Larkin is the newest American Girl historical character. A lot of people have been excited about her, because she grows up in the 50s, a time not far removed from ours. My mom is 3 years younger than Maryellen. Actually, I think Beverly, Maryellen's little sister, has that age difference. I was amused at first, because my mom related instantly to one thing: the names. Her name is Joan, just like Maryellen's oldest sister. And Beverly is Mom's cousin. Wayne is her brother.

But as I read more and more, I became less amused.

Maryellen's books are very shallow. They're slice of life style, just like Julie and Josefina. But Josefina's world is so removed from ours that it automatically feels historical. And Julie deals with very relatable things like divorce, animal activism and women's rights. Maryellen has some issues in her books, but they're often mentioned very, very briefly. The Cold War is explained and then immediately forgotten. Interest in space is hinted at with the flying machine contest. And there's a conflict when Maryellen befriends an Italian girl and her two other female friends are mad at her for it, because of WWII. Maryellen is quick to point out that Angela wasn't even born when the war ended, but that doesn't work. The conflict wraps up neatly and quickly though, because Angela helps one of the girls win a geography bee for their team. Yeah, it's fixed that easily. They tossed their friend aside because of her friendship with this girl, but oh, she helped us win, so now she's cool and Maryellen was right. SIGH.

The biggest issue dealt with is polio. I've heard people lauding Maryellen as the great disabled AG character. Yeah...not really. Maryellen had polio and her lasting disabilities are one leg being "a tiny bit" weaker than the other and her lungs being sensitive to the cold. Now this leg issue could have been a thing. Wayne, the bully-who-turns-into-a-friend, teases her about it. But does it keep Maryellen from doing anything? No. She swims. She bikes as fast as her friends. She rollerskates. Beverly teaches her how to ice skate, which she does at her grandparents' house. That would have been the perfect place for a difficulty. Beverly and Maryellen had troubles with the instruction and they could easily have worked her disability in there. Yet I don't think it got a single mention. And the lung thing? That came as a surprise to me when it was mentioned in the beginning of the second book, because it sure wasn't an issue when she went to her grandparents' place and experienced snow for the first time. Not a peep about the cold. She's almost a disabled character in name only, because it never stops her from doing a damn thing and she doesn't struggle with it at all. They could not have done a bigger cop out. Now they can say they have a disabled main character, instead of giving us one that's wheelchair-bound or deaf or blind or has a mental illness of some kind. Disabilities are far better represented by Speaking Rain from Kaya's books and Joy from Julie's.

Another issue I have with the polio thing is that when they focused on it at the beginning of the second book, poor Maryellen never stood up for herself. The vaccine comes out and a lot of people are thrilled, but Maryellen is appalled that an acquaintance's parents are against vaccinations. She decides to put on a show for her birthday party and make it about getting vaccinated against polio. It's REALLY important to her. But her friends find the show she spent hours writing too long and boring, so they railroad her into letting them perform a variety show. She's still going to give a speech about polio and the importance of the vaccination, but she never once stands up for herself and tells her friends how important this is to her and why. Her older sister Carolyn is even one of these people. That idiot bitch should KNOW her little sister could have died. Yet she seems to not get how important this is to Maryellen at all. None of them do and Maryellen never tells them. This is probably my single biggest issue with the writing. Valerie Tripp used to be good! She did Felicity, Josefina, Kit and Molly! And I think half of Samantha! I read Josefina's first book last night, starting my newest reread, and that single book is better than both of Maryellen's combined and presents us with a set of characters, every single one of which is more likeable than any character in Maryellen's books. What happened? How in the hell is she giving us this weak-ass character? It's horrible! I feel like she had to be instructed to make Maryellen as bland and shallow as possible, because that's what people want to believe the 50s were. Happy go lucky la de fucking da times. They weren't.

Got a bit sidetracked there, but yeah, none of the characters in the books are very good. Angela is probably my favorite. She's the Italian girl. Maryellen's other two female friends are both named Karen and they are hands down THE WORST "best friends" in AG history. Both of them show prejudice against Angela. Both of them get pissed at Maryellen for wanting to do Science Club instead of more girly things with them. One of them is a copycat and the other is a tactless bitch. She even brings up Maryellen's "throwing a tantrum" about her polio show, thus proving that these characters do not understand what Maryellen experienced AT ALL. Davy, Maryellen's male best friend, is pretty cool, but both of them should have tried harder to make up after a fight the first day of school. Her family is boring. Her parents are hardly there and not a big presence when they are. The two younger brothers are typical younger brothers. Beverly is a little drama queen. Carolyn doesn't do much except play piano (and obviously not respect that her sister almost died). Joan is probably the most interesting, but I relate to her because she loves to read. The grandparents are cool. It was really kitschy, but the holiday story was my favorite one of the bunch. I liked the road trip, but not enough was mentioned. That's a story that needed the old AG-style illustrations.

So yes, Maryellen is a big disappointment. She easily ranks lowest on my list.

AG Best to Least Best (they're too good to be called "Worst") Historical Ranking:
-Felicity
-Kaya
-Caroline
-Maryellen

Now I know I've sounded like I hated these books. I really didn't. But they're not up to AG's standards at all, and I really dislike that they gave us such a shallow character that we never really get to know that well. Caroline suffered from the same problem, but we get to know her WAY better than Maryellen and even Caroline pales in comparison to the older girls.

I do have one interesting thing to point out though. In the "Maryellen's World" bit at the end of the second book, Tripp mentions that life was good..."if you were in a middle-class white family." She goes on to point out the struggles of minorities, focusing on black families. She mentions Brown vs. the Board of Education. "This decision became a landmark in the civil rights movement, which gained momentum during the 1950s and would bring even bigger changes in the decades to come."

Anyone else think that's basically a big lead in to our black 60s girl coming up next year?

AMERICAN GIRL: Caroline

Books Read:
-Caroline's collection 1-6
-Mysteries: Traitor in the Shipyard, The Traveler's Tricks, The Smuggler's Secrets

I found this from my personal LJ back in May: "I just finished Caroline #3 last night and I forgot how pissed it made me. Like when Caroline says she feels left out and Lydia and Rhonda say they invite her to do things, but Caroline acts like they're silly things. So what, she has to do what you do? She's allowed to not give a shit about hairstyles. SHE'S TEN. They were forcing their pastimes on her just as much as she tried to get Rhonda to skate. And Rhonda, you don't know you hate skating if you only try it fucking TWICE and give up after falling ONCE. But no, they never admit they were wrong, too. The closest we get to it is Rhonda trying again to skate with the chair at the end. I never really liked Lydia much."

That's the lowlight of the series.

I feel like we never really get to know Caroline that well. Her series is action-packed and we get a lot of her reacting to the events around her and we don't get into her head much in terms of anything but those events.

She's unusual in that she enjoys "feminine" pursuits like sewing a lot, but she also wants to be a ship's captain. That should have been explored a lot more.

I like the action episodes in her books. Her trip to her imprisoned father, her saving her dad, the potential burning of the shipyard. There are some standout moments there, but I still just do not connect to her as a character.

The mysteries are probably the best books in the series. All three of them are quite different and very good. We've got the traitor in the shipyard one, then travelling with a thief, and a smuggler, which is sort of like the traitor one, but it takes place at the farm, so it's a different cast and setting.

Her books are enjoyable, but she pales in comparison with the earlier characters and I'd rank her almost the lowest in the entire series. I'm not sure if Marie-Grace/Cecile are lower or not. I'll know in a little bit, as I think they're next after Josefina.

Actually, I'm going to start ranking these to encourage myself to read them faster.

AG Best to Least Best (they're too good to be called "Worst") Historical Ranking:
-Felicity
-Kaya
-Caroline

AMERICAN GIRL: Felicity

Books Read:
-Felicity's collection 1-6
-Very Funny, Elizabeth
-Felicity's short story collection
-Mysteries: Peril at King's Creek, Traitor in Williamsburg, Lady Margaret's Ghost

Felicity has always been one of my faves. I was charmed by her when she first came out, but I couldn't afford another AG doll. I barely got my childhood Molly. I happily read her books though. I tend to like the "spunky" characters, so she works for me, even though her obsession with horses (much like Kaya's, so the first two chronological rereads are always HORSES HORSES HORSES) doesn't interest me.

The characters in Lissie's books have a lot of depth, which is a great improvement over Kaya. Felicity's parents and siblings, her grandfather, Elizabeth, Ben, even Annabelle. All of them are memorable and well-written. Any reader of the Felicity books is going to remember Loose Tooth Tea, Bananabelle and Jiggy Nye. The time period is important, but only a few books really focus on the whole Patriot vs. Loyalist conflict, so there's a nice balance between HISTORICAL FICTION and fiction that happens to take place in the past, which I like a lot.

I have only two issues that I can think of.

First, where the hell did Posie go? Did I miss that when I was rereading? She gets the lamb in Book 4 of her basic series and then we never see her again. Unless the mentions just didn't stick in my mind.

Second, I've always taken issue with the blonding of Elizabeth. The Elizabeth I grew up with was dark-haired. I don't think it's ever been said why they changed her. AG claims it was to distinguish between her and Felicity, but they had two brunettes and a blonde in their original lineup. If we can distinguish between Samantha and Molly, I think we can tell the difference between red hair and brown. And Elizabeth has a completely different mold! Perhaps the theory that they changed her to match the actress is true. Maybe they just wanted another blonde doll. Who knows? But Elizabeth will always be a brunette in my book.

AMERICAN GIRL: Kaya

Books Read:
-Kaya's collection 1-6
-Kaya's short story collection (5 stories)
-Mystery: The Silent Stranger

Kaya has one of the most action-packed and tragic story collections. I don't know if I've ever not cried over Swan Circling's death. This is a character we only really just meet in that same book and her loss is still painful and poignant. Kaya endures much loss in her 6-book collection. She loses her sister, her horse, her hero. She is captured and held captive, albeit briefly. She holds the effects of that capture with her from Book 2 through Book 5, when she's reunited with Speaking Rain.

Kaya is a strong character. She's dutiful and genuinely wants to be a good person. But her biggest flaw is holding onto her mistakes too firmly. Her nickname, earned in Book 1, bothers her until Book 6. I hated that aspect of her story because it's so utterly unbelievable that none of the other kids did something wrong in that entire time, so the band of bullies could switch their taunts to that person. No, they're still teasing Kaya for fucking up once. And they're really nasty about it! Like aside from Kaya and Speaking Rain, most of the younger characters are total assholes. Not Two Hawks completely, but he's still got quite a few jerk moments. Raven was okay and the guy who taught Two Hawks how to make and play a flute. But where are the adults who should be teaching their jerkface offspring to be nice to others? Where is Kautsa with a story on how not to be a douche? These brats never get reprimanded! And why are Kaya's little brothers never reprimanded for not listening? Nope, it's always just Kaya who gets in trouble. The brothers are much better in the Beaver short story, but it's pretty much too little too late. What I really wanted was another kid to fuck up and get a nickname, so Kaya could bond with him/her and actually have a friend. She would make a point never to use this kid's horrible nickname. That's something that should have happened. Like the whole lesson is basically "Yeah, names hurt, but they go away in time, so just suck it up" when it should be "Don't fucking call people names in the first place."

Aside from that annoying aspect, the main fault I have with Kaya's stories is the lack of well-developed, likeable characters. Her father is a typical Native American Dad. Her mother is a typical Native American Mom. Kautsa (Wise Grandma) spouts off story after story. Brown Deer, the older sister, is pretty cool and I enjoyed her storyline with being courted and how that works, and I love Speaking Rain, the blind adopted sister. Swan Circling was fabulous, but she's barely there, and the same goes for the good characters that appear in the short stories, like Spotted Owl. Until the Beaver short story, the little brothers are either Brats or They Want a Story. Fox Tail is a Douche always. The books are great on developing Kaya and putting her in intense emotional scenes as well as action scenes, but if you move too far away from her, the characters are all stereotypes, boring, just plain mean, or there all too briefly. Like really, her horse and dog have more personality than her parents. That's not so good.

Her mystery always annoyed, because yeah, traumatized lady, but I hate when people make kids give up things. The whole "keeping your dog would have made you a child" bullshit pisses me off. Kaya has loss after loss. Don't take yet another thing away from her. Also, the mystery should be read before the Injured Dog and Grandmothers short stories.

I'm glad they kept Kaya in the BeForever line, but I wish they'd DO something with her. I want her to go on her vision quest and meet her wyakin. I want to know what happens to her! She, Addy and Josefina have I think only one mystery each, while the others have multiples, and yet the three new mysteries were Caroline, Kit and Samantha. I can see including Sam, because she's back from retirement, but it should have been two of the three I listed in place of Caroline and Kit. Start using your non-white girls more, AG.

STAR DARLINGS 2

Libby's book has an introduction that explains some of the details on how the SD's world works. I imagine this will be in every subsequent book.

Libby rooms with Gemma. They're the other two First year Starlings, the first two (Sage and Cassie) being featured in the first book. They've been sent some pretty flowers, but can't agree what they smell like and get into an argument over it.

Let me just say that Libby has the patience of a saint. Gemma would drive me fucking nuts. I hate people that talk just to hear themselves speak and don't let others get a word in edgewise.

Libby gets a call from her parents, wanting to plan their upcoming vacation. They want to go somewhere luxurious, as they're very wealthy, while Libby wants to work with her Aunt Kit, travelling around Starland and helping in animal shelters and orphanages. (Color me surprised that this planet even has animal shelters. These books are preachy about animal rights, so why does this planet full of more advanced people need something lowly Earth has?) Her parents are a bit rude about it. "That's our Libby. Always thinking about others and never about us." Except that these two are so busy they don't exactly lavish attention on Libby, so shut the fuck up, business parents.

Scarlet pays them a visit and I love that she and Libby are friends. Unfortunately, no one else in the SD's has been willing to give her a chance apparently. Gemma doesn't believe she's as nice as Libby says and that's bitchy in so many ways. Scarlet also clashes with her roommate, Leona, who's a real handful. I'm not really thrilled that 2 of the 3 main POC girls are kind of...jerks. Scarlet notices they got the flowers, too. She and Leona did and so did Tessa and Adora. She comments that they smell like her fave flowers, so it's obvious there's something up with them. Scarlet tells the girls she found Leona wearing her grandfather's top hat AGAIN. Scarlet's grandfather is deceased and she keeps his hat in a special case. This is what made me really dislike Leona, because to disrespect the dead AND your roommate's wishes is just too fucking much. You can't write it off as being the effects of the flowers either, because Scarlet makes it clear this is not the first time. Leona's a selfish bitch. I'm quite hoping she learns a lesson in the next book, because she sorely needs one. I mean, how awful is that? Majorly awful.

The girls go to breakfast and it's clear something is up between Adora and Tessa, too. Tessa and Gemma cannot fucking shut up about the farm they're from, which wouldn't annoy me so much if it didn't strike me as preachy. The worst thing about these books is that the authors clearly have some pro-vegetarian agenda and this society is supposed to be perfect because absolutely everything is a vegetarian. It's so creepily unnatural. Without natural predation, the animals should be ruling the goddamn planet. So weird. But anyway, yeah, I'm not sure I'm going to like Tessa either. I hate those people that yammer on about fresh food and organic yadda yadda, like everyone can afford it.

At the end of the day, the girls are in their special class and they're discussing Sage's mission and where she went wrong. Lady Cordial accidentally interrupts and this poor lady. I feel so bad for her any time she's in a scene. The guide didn't make her sound so incredibly awkward. She knocks over a plant and asshole Leona laughs at her. She's the only one who does, by the way. Why are we supposed to like her? They've made her into an even more unlikable character than the original version of Sage. The professor isn't very nice either. She's so into her subject that she's being completely insensitive to Sage and she spills the beans that Sage didn't collect as much wish energy as she should have, which upsets her. Thankfully, Libby provides the bright side to her situation and that helps Sage feel better.

Leona announces she's holding Star Darlings-only tryouts for a band. She's going to be the singer, of course. Libby heads back to her room and pulls her keytar out from under her bed. Gemma gives her attitude because she's played sooooooooooooo many instruments and never seen a keytar before. Libby decides to go for it, partly because she wants to show Gemma up. And I don't blame her one bit. The brat's a know-it-all. I'll be curious to see if I like her when she's not under the effects of these flowers, but right now, she's a jerk. Not nearly as bad as Leona, but close. Unfortunately, these tryouts that were supposed to be SD-only have now become an all-school thing, complete with adult supervision and a "ranker" that makes sure the band is selected fairly. Which is completely unfair, because it was Leona's idea and she might not even make her own band. What the hell is the point? Why would a band even stay together without the person whose idea it was? Leona is suspicious that Scarlet sent out the holo-flyer advertising the tryouts, but Scarlet says it wasn't her. I find it amusing that Leona is not nearly as talented as she thinks. She's got a good voice but not a lot of range. She makes up for it in stage presence, but I always love it when cocky people don't have quite the skills they think they do.

Libby gets the notice that there's about to be a new wish mission. When she's the one selected, she's pleased but nervous. She talks to her parents before she goes to bed and says maybe they can compromise and she and Aunt Kit could do some volunteer work at the same place her parents go.

I'm not going to write a ton about her Wishworld mission. She locates the right person, but doesn't get the right wish until the last moment with a little help from Sage. It concerns a class election, which is where the title comes from. For some reason, I thought there would be an election involving Libby herself, too. I think she said in the guide something about wanting to be class president. Eh. Whatevs. My favorite moments from these chapters were her reactions to everything. She, way more than Sage, makes it clear that she's never seen a lot of Earth things before. There is a preachy section on how there's no waterlife in Starland, but instead of being really interested, she's sad the animals are contained. Everything roams free on Starland. Yeah, there's no predation either, so they're safe to roam free. Humans do plenty of dumb things concerning animals, but this whole preachy bit really needs to lay off. You're not better than anyone else if you don't eat animals. You still eat living things, after all. There's one glitchy moment, because Libby sees Sage in her Wishworld disguise. In the previous book, Sage saw Tessa as her Starland self, not the disguise.

Back at school, the band results have been posted and we know who made it. Later, Libby and Gemma have a scene where they admit they find each other really annoying. But that goes unresolved. Then Libby doesn't get her flower or power crystal, because something has happened and it seems like one of them is not a Star Darling after all. And finally, Scarlet is the one told to stay behind, most likely the one not a SD.

So that's where the book ends, with three cliffhangers, as I mentioned yesterday.

Overall, I enjoyed this one more than Sage's. Sage's was bogged down with the world-building info that was necessary, but doesn't make for the best story. I find Libby a more likable character than Sage, likely because I can relate to a lot of things she does. I would want to help so many people if I could grant wishes. I let more self-centered people like Gemma talk over me all the time, just like Libby did. And I like to mediate between people and bring up "bright side" things that make others feel better. I'm also really pleased she's friends with Scarlet, because I see a lot of me in Scarlet, too. (Others as well, but these two are sticking out the most so far.) I am greatly disappointed in Leona, because she seems way too selfish and disrespectful. The incidents with Scarlet's heirloom and Lady Cordial are pretty bad. Gemma is more annoying and rude than anything else, but she's not presented very well either. I think the rudeness is the effect of the flowers, but her yabbering would make me crazy, so she's probably going to be pretty low on my list of faves.

Definitely looking forward to the next 3 releases in January. I'm really hoping Leona's improves her character A LOT. I don't want to dislike her, but how can I not right now?

(Also pretty disappointed that Wishworld Libby is another brunette. She looks a lot like Sage's disguise. I really thought she'd be blonde and I'm sad she isn't.)

STAR DARLINGS 1

(ETA: I don't have a single review for SD #1, because I did this comparison.)

So I have both the original version of Sage's Story and now the new Sage and the Journey to Wishworld. I'm going to do a chapter-by-chapter comparison of the two, because I skimmed the first chapter and we've already got one enormous difference!

I'm only going to hit the major points. The writing has been amped up a lot. Definitely polished and given more detail in a lot of places.

PROLOGUE:

-The family characters didn't have names before.

-Swiftcar is now Starcar.

-The biggest change: Sage's mom is alive! In the original story, her mother was dead.

-The differences are mostly world-building. Lots more descriptions of the environment and interactions between characters. Sage's mom seems cool, which obviously she didn't before, because she didn't exist. And Sage's grandmother is fleshed out more.

CHAPTER 1:

-This is hugely different. The Bot-Bot wasn't in the first version and this whole tour thing is new.

-Leona makes a quickie unnamed appearance. I bet we'll see more of the other SDs than we did in the first version.

-In the new book, Sage is told not to bring anything but the "clothes on her back." In the original, she had to unpack. They describe the different sides of the room for Sage and Cassie and it's clear they were designed for the girls based on information they provided in their applications. Cassie now has lots of books instead of knick-knacks.

-Cassie has changed slightly. Her hair was silvery-white and now it's pinkish-white, which I guess might happen from the illustrations of her. It's a shame they didn't have the guts to keep her the way she was. I love white hair and there are other characters with pink hair. We didn't need another.

-Sage not having read the Student Manual is downplayed a bit, because in the new book, she only just got it when she arrived. So Cassie's saying the Star-Zaps are discussed in the manual and Sage's grandmother's tsking don't quite make sense anymore.

-There's an addition of the Welcome Procession and the girls receiving their new outfits.

CHAPTER 2:

-Most of this chapter is very different. All the procession stuff and the glimpses of Libby and Scarlet are new.

-Vivica makes an unnamed appearance in a new scene.

-All the info on Wish Orbs is new. Good world-building again.

-In the original, Scarlet is the one who sticks out her tongue at Sage. In the new version, it's a girl with orange hair. I wonder if it's Gemma.

-Vivica takes the place of the girl with "acid yellow" hair who made fun of Sage's SD message in the first version.

CHAPTER 3:

-The descriptions of the other girls have been amped some. Scarlet is once again mentioned.

-Yes, it was Gemma that stuck out her tongue. And there's an amusing scene with her and Tessa.

-The energy crisis is not mentioned. The Star Darlings project is treated more like an experiment, although I still disagree with the cover of it being that they need extra help. Vega protests that and it does seem flimsy, especially if she's one of the best students.

-There's a funny moment when Sage answers Lady Stella first and Astra is annoyed because she wanted to.

-The girls receive their Wish Pendants.

-Lady Cordial, head of admissions, is introduced. She and a few select profs will know about this.

CHAPTER 4:

-This chapter is mostly quite different. The Star Darlings meet at the beginning for breakfast, which doesn't happen in the first version. Then we've got a very expanded section on the differences between Earth and Starland, which is a general class and not just the dozen SDs. I was irritated at the description of Wishling holidays because Ursa only mentioned primarily American holidays. I was hoping the missions would be a bit more varied than going to the US over and over again. There's still a sense of superiority from the Starlings, because Earth is technologically less advanced. Someone on Tumblr complained about that, but it's a frequently used aspect of aliens vs. Earthlings. Then we move on to Professor Delphinus's class, which covers the same info on wish identification from the first book and adds a lot more. Vivica is in Professor Raye's class, which Sage has next. Then we flash-forward to the final class. Sage catches up with Cassie in the hallway and they discuss their days, although they had one shared class and it seems a bit odd they wouldn't have done this then or at lunch. Then we have the scene from the beginning of the chapter in the first version of the book, where Vivica confronts them about their SD classes. In their special SD class at the end of the day, Professor Dumarre gives a lecture on Wishling schools. Overall, this has a lot of the same info as the original Chapter 4, but the teachers are given bigger personalities and there's a lot more info presented.

CHAPTER 5:

-The major difference here is that a lot of time passes and there are no SD missions, whereas in the original, they rush right off on the first day.

-Sage has joined a couple clubs AND read the student manual. Very different.

-In a new scene, Vivica insinuates that Sage only got into the school because her mother is a well-known scientist. See, this is why the remedial cover story falls apart. No one in this school should be remedial anything. It is that competitive.

-In another new scene, Sage runs into Cassie's father. Only he's not her father, he's her uncle. Cassie made it sound like her parents were still alive, but they're not. She's lived with her uncle since she was 6. Sage manages to slip away before Cassie sees her and stays away until later that night to give her some space. (This is a nice bit of characterization for her, because the original Sage was a more negative, impulsive character and I like this new Sage a lot more.) When she returns to their room, Cassie talks about her uncle and starts to say something about her parents when Sage interrupts and says Cassie's uncle told her the truth. Things are a bit awkward and they both go to bed, but Sage wakes to a text from Cassie, who communicates her feelings better via writing. After apologizing and explaining herself, she asks never to speak of this again and Sage agrees. She does learn more about Cassie's life though. Her uncle is a best-selling author and Cassie is an occasional star in his mysteries.

-The scene in the Wish-Cavern is similar yet of course different. There are no flowers, no clue about the wish.

CHAPTER 6:

-The biggest difference here is that the Travel Star, a vehicle in the first book, is now an actual shooting star.

CHAPTER 7:

-No major differences except the elimination of a scene at the end of the chapter with the "mean girl."

CHAPTER 8:

-Mostly the same with some expansions. The missing scene from the end of 7 turned up here.

CHAPTER 9:

-Also mostly the same, minus the scene about Sage and her mother.

CHAPTER 10:

-No major changes.

CHAPTER 11:

-Tessa is the only one who comes to Earth, not Arly and Piper, too, as in the first version. Sage sees Tessa as a Starling, not in her Earth disguise.

-Sage figures out that her Wisher is Genevieve without the aid of Cassie sending her the gift clue, as in the first book.

CHAPTER 12:

-They added Tessa kinda getting drunk on lemonade.

CHAPTER 13:

-The biggest change is that in the first version, Sage's randomly appears as her Starling self to the Earth girls, but now it's a conscious decision.

EPILOGUE:

-Sage receives her wish blossom and power crystal. Only the crystal was in the first book. The flower appeared earlier.

-Sage learns that she was admitted on her own strengths. There's nothing true in Vivica's nasty rumor.

And that's that. The changes are predominantly in the first part of the book, which is where they really needed to be. Some serious world-building was needed and we got that. And we got glimpses of the other girls' personalities, which were lacking in the original. Both Sage and Cassie are much stronger characters now, though I liked Cassie from the beginning. She's more well-rounded whereas Sage has become more likeable.

No mention of the band! I wonder if that won't be until Leona's book, since she starts it.