Book Review: Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev

Release Date: July 7, 2009
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 368
Summary:

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.
That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain (From us.macmillan.com)
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Eyes Like Stars and I had a bumpy beginning; I found the first few chapters to be fun and silly, but not wildly un-putdownable, not to mention difficult to follow. Once I got the hang of the Theatre, characters, and script-style flashbacks, though, I had a grand old time. The pages beyond the beginning chapters just flew by, and I was sorry to leave Bertie and her friends. Lucky for me, Eyes Like Stars is the first in a series. (A trilogy, I believe.) I did not, however, discover this until I finished the book and realized that the story was far from over; from the book cover, Eyes Like Stars appears to be a standalone title. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to be incorrect.

I adored the crazy characters and the intricate plot of the novel. When Eyes Like Stars opens, Bertie is about to be thrown out of the Theatre unless she can think of a meaningful way to contribute. Her plan? Direct Hamlet and restage it in Ancient Egypt (instead of Denmark). While this alone is amusing, the story takes many unexpected twists and turns and ends up going places I never expected it to. In fact, so much happens in this novel that I want to read it again just to soak it all in.

Speaking of amusement, Bertie's friends and constant shadows, the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream, are so much fun. In one scene, "The fairies put on their thinking caps, which were red and pointy." I may have giggled out loud.

As far as the other characters go, given that the Theatre Illuminata is home to every actor from every play ever written, there are some great moments with classic theater characters. While the reader doesn't need to be familiar with every play referenced--I was not--to "get" Lisa Mantchev's (the author's) jokes, it certainly makes them funnier. Take, for instance, my favorite, a scene with Lady Macbeth and Macbeth from Macbeth and Gertrude from Hamlet:

"Lady Macbeth, in particular, was livid.

'I don't see why that play should take precedence over the classics!'

'You would think that,' Gertrude said with a sniff. 'Just because you've performed for the queen--'

'I am the queen!' bellowed Lady Macbeth.

'No, I'm the queen. You merely have aspirations for him.' Gertrude pointed at Macbeth, who was holding up a cruller and muttering, 'Is this a doughnut I see before me?' Then he noticed the raspberry jam on everything and started to shriek."

The cruller still gets me. Eyes Like Stars is by far one of my favorite books of 2009, and I highly recommend it.

Book source: My local library.