Stargazer (novel)

Synopsis

The book returns to Bianca's story a few months later. Both she and Lucas will stop at nothing to see each other again—even if it means living a life of secrets and lies. But even as Bianca finds herself torn between two worlds, she soon discovers they aren't the only ones keeping secrets.

Plot summary

Evernight Academy is an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them. But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.

Although they may be separated Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

Yet Bianca is not the only one with secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning.

Bianca breaks into Mrs Bethany's carriage house in an attempt to discover what Lucas wanted to know; why humans are allowed at Evernight. She discovers nothing and heads back to Evernight, disappointed. She sees someone in the hall, but decides that it was just her own reflection. Orientation day sees Bianca sharing a room with Raquel, as Patrice has left Evernight for a few decades. Raquel's parents forced her to return to Evernight, despite her having told them that she was stalked by Erich. Bianca catches up with Vic, who gives her a letter from Lucas. Bianca's mail is being searched for this exact reason, so they cannot keep in contact. The letter tells Bianca to meet Lucas in October at the Amherst train station.

As Bianca leaves her room to drink blood (she is the only vampire sharing with a human), she sees a blue light and thinks that there is a person on the stairs. This time, she is more curious, but is interrupted before she can investigate further.

Bianca tells everyone there is a meteor shower so that she can camp out on the grounds to watch it. Really she is going to see Lucas. She hitches a ride in the laundry truck into Amherst and is walking along to find Lucas when a young vampire girl joins her in her walk. She is afraid of someone following her, and Bianca thinks she looks so lonely and innocent that she cannot refuse. The girl says she once went to Evernight, but did not get along with Mrs Bethany and ran away. They arrive at the train station and Lucas follows shortly after. He sees the girl with Bianca and thinks she is going to harm her. It turns out that Lucas had been the one following the vampire girl and she is very frightened. She attacks Lucas and wants to kill him, but Bianca stops her in time. Lucas calls for the rest of the Black Cross to come, so Bianca tells the girl to run away. She escapes before the Black Cross arrives, and Bianca and Lucas share the weekend at the Base Camp, as Black Cross does not know she is a vampire. When she sneaks back, Balthazar catches her. In an attempt to reason with Balthazar and make sure he does not tell Mrs. Bethany about her visit, she mentions the vampire girl who turns out to be Balthazar's sister. Soon Bianca and Balthazar make an arrangement; they pretend to be dating so Balthazar could get her off campus, since he is a trusted student, so she could meet Lucas while in return Bianca and Lucas help Balthazar find his sister, Charity, which they do. She is now part of a clan and blames Balthazar for killing her. After Courtney finds out about Bianca and Balthazar leaving school she stakes her and then decapitates her before leaving.

An attack on the school by Charity and her clan while an attack by Black Cross is taking place leads Bianca, Lucas and Raquel to leave the school and head to Black Cross HQ. On their way out of the school they meets Charity who they think will kill them but as they prepare to run she is pushed against a tree and staked by a sharp branch. Although Lucas wants to finish her off he cannot find anything to destroy her with so agrees to leave her. When at Black Cross HQ Raquel volunteers to join and Bianca later agrees to join.

Reception

Stargazer was listed as "The # 1 New York Times Bestseller". Seventeen magazine praised Claudia Gray's Stargazer writing: “If you like Twilight, this book has even more drama.”. Kirkus Reviews wrote critically of the book saying "Bianca’s tendency to belabor every point, particularly the depth of her love for Lucas, makes for a dull narrative style, and three-dimensional characters are pretty much nonexistent. Despite the predictable romantic entanglements and the constant telling, the plot races along with a search for a crazed renegade vampire, threatening ghosts, uncovered secrets and a flaming climax with a significant body count. Fans of the first volume will be satisfied; insufficient back story means no one else will know (or care) what is going on." Stargazer received a rating of 3.96 on Goodreads.com which is the highest rating of the series.