Love Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

2 Stars
YF
Sequel to Stargirl

I shouldn't have read the sequel. I was already bugged by the first book, I shouldn't have bothered with the second.

Am I the only one that hates sequels that negate things that happened in the first book? It's like in the original Star Wars how Obi-Wan says he was trained by Yoda and then in the new movies he's not. He's trained by what's-his-nose. (Yeah, I know his name, but I'm too tired to figure out how to spell it.)

CONSISTENCY, people. It's not a suggestion. It's a requirement.

Since the last bit of Stargirl is epilogue-ish chapters extending 15 years into the future, I'm not surprised at some of the discrepancies.

I am, however, hugely surprised at the treatment of Stargirl herself. The enigma from the first book is suddenly a totally normal teen.

Sorry, that kind of character shift doesn't work for me. (You don't even want to get me started on the changes in Annakin Skywalker between Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Holy cow.)

Characters have to develop and change gradually. (Or by a huge sudden trauma, and I'm sorry, breaking up with your boyfriend doesn't count.)

This second installment was entirely from Stargirl's point of view, and I think that was the first problem. A character like her is hard enough to write as an enigma, writing from inside her head? Good luck.

Now, all of that said, if this were a stand alone novel with no connection to the first or any other book, it would have gotten more like 4 stars. It's not a bad story in and of itself. Granted her whining and pining through... oh the first half or so... would still be annoying.

But without the setup of the first book (and the obvious gap between said setup and the new story) it works a whole lot better.

As a sequel, I'd call it a book that shouldn't have been written.

(Kind of like those most recent three Star Wars movies....)