Dara Joy – “Knight Of A Trillion Stars”

GENRE: Romance / Science fiction (Futuristic)
PUBLISHED: Love Spell, 1995

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The back blurb:
“Fired from her job, exhausted from her miserable Boston commute, the last thing Deana Jones needed when she got home was to find an alien in her living room. But how else to explain the magnificent man who claimed he was from beyond the stars? He said that his name was Lorgin and that she was part of his celestial destiny. Deana thought his reasoning was ridiculous, and she knew he was making an error of cosmic proportions. But his touch was electric and his arms strong, and when she first felt the sizzling impact of his uncontrollable desire, Deana started to wonder if maybe their passion wasn’t written in the stars.”

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I know Knight of a Trillion Stars is considered a classic. It might be that I’m over ten years late to the party – it was published 1995 – and what was interesting and new and exciting about this novel no longer is, because for me its magic didn’t work completely. Or maybe I should say that I saw glimpses of what’s appealing about this novel, but it was diluted by many, and unnecessary, POV changes. In fact, this novel might very well be the queen/king of head-hopping novels. Not just because there are so many, but also because after some time I didn’t care about them anymore. I just went with it.

The characters are the standard characters for such a story – an alpha, I-know-what’s-best-for-my-woman hero and an entertaining, I-won’t-do-what-he-says heroine. They are both likeable characters, but Deana was at times a bit too cutesy (or naive?) for my taste. I thought this especially in a scene very late in the story where Lorgin and Deana make love. Deana is ‘in the lead’ and she can’t figure out what goes where. This is after they have already made love countless times and (if I read it correctly) this time it involves her being on top. I couldn’t believe this (all this past love making) and thought it there just to make Deana and endearing ‘cute.’ But then, characterisation isn’t something that is at the core of this novel (and I don’t mean this in a pejorative way, it’s just not a character-driven novel).

Then it is a plot-driven novel?

No, not really. For the most part, it’s about the discoveries and antics and misunderstandings that ensue when you’re suddenly in a total different world. There is some hazy quest lurking around in the background, but it’s only for the last quarter of the story that it gets some attention. And then, the climax is rather anti-climatic. So no, it’s not really a plot-driven novel. But there are interesting elements of world building.

Despite all that, I had fun reading this novel. There is something that pulls you in and keeps you reading. For me, Knight of a Trillion Stars was a fluffy and hilarious read. It could have been better/good with a bit more editing, yes, but maybe it’s the imperfections that make it such a fun book to read. And I don’t mean fun in a laugh-about-it way but in the-author-had-fun-with-writing-it-and-it-shows way. Anyway, I think I meant this sense of fun (its not-taking-itself-too-serious) when I wrote I caught glimpses of its appeal.

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Would I recommend this novel? For the fun, yes.

Would I read this novel again? Probably not.

Grade: 3+/ 5

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