Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating
Review: I wanted very much to like this book, especially after having loved A Ring of Endless Light. But Troubling a Star threw me again and again. First of all, there are way too many characters. Isn't there some sort of rule in writing where you're not supposed to create more characters than your readers can follow? There were dozens and dozens of them, way more than I could keep track of. Secondly, while the "mystery" in the plot was clever in places and quite good at drawing suspense, it fell all over itself at the end. The "bad guys" turned out to be the Hispanic man and the man with the Texas drawl. Hmm, we're not being stereotypical or anything, are we? The kinks in the story were unnecessarily complicated, and jumped from one point to the next with no apparent connections. Third, none of the characters are remotely three-dimensional. It's painfully easy to tell which are "good" and which are "bad." If Vicky says, "I instantly knew I could trust him," well, then forget anything bad ever coming from him. L'Engle tries to make a few of the characters, such as Esteban, a little more round, but that effort fails. Okay, so he felt bad about choosing evil over good. Oooooh, characterization! Or not. Vicky herself may be the flattest character of all. What's a high school girl doing in Antarctica anyway? Plus, she is an ordinary-looking, introverted girl who doesn't come on to boys, yet every male under the age of 20 who catches a glimpse of her falls for her madly. Why? How? It's just another example of how unrealistic this story is. Fourth, the story drags on, and on, and on, with the occasional significant detail buried in a pile of totally insignificant ones. It's annoying to have to go back and read this babble again and again to figure out what's going on. Finally, there is absolutely no continuity between this story and the previous one! Yes, we all knew she liked Adam best, but what happened to Leo? What about Zachary? Since when does Adam have a rich, amazing great-aunt who happens to live near Vicky? How did we suddenly leap into the post-Soviet world? I think L'Engle would have been better off writing this story as a standalone book rather than as part of the Austin series, because none of it fits with anything that's come before. I did enjoy reading this book in parts; it was occasionally interesting, touching, and funny. But the bad writing and the insanely frustrating ending ruined it for me. What a disappointing, pointless novel!
Rating: 
Summary: Troubling a Star - Review
Review: Vicky Austin, an ambitious adolescent, who has suspicions on everything and everyone, when she takes a trip to Antarctica to visit her boyfriend, whom is stationed their for scientific research. Games are played with people's heads in this book; unfortunately, the one who seemed most respectful and selfless through out the book meets his consequences and his death. There were many important characters in the book. Aunt Serena lost her own son, Adam Eddington II, on his second expedition to Antarctica. Adam Eddington the third is Vicky's boyfriend and is following in his father's footsteps. Adam Cook, other wise know as "Cook" or "Cookie" is Aunt Serena's cook and had gone with Adam the II on his expeditions to the Antarctic. Cook used to be a monk, who lived in the Falklands and knows his way around as well as many trustworthy people. Sadly, the world out side of the U.S. does not always follow the same principals that we do. When Cook and Adam the second went on their second expedition to Antarctica secrets were uncovered and those who knew of anything were a potential danger to countries that wanted Antarctica to be ruled, and not to be an international park. Aunt Serena seizes the opportunity to give Vicky some freedom when she finds out that Adam III is going to Antarctica, although no fore saw the tragic events that lay ahead in the frigid seas of the Antarctic.
Antarctica was well described by Madeline L'Engle. The setting helps make the story exciting because it's unfamiliar to me. One thing that made me want to keep reading was the prologue in the beginning of each chapter. In the prologue of each chapter it would keep the suspense going by making you ask questions such as: why is Vicky stranded on and iceberg? And how did she get there? In Troubling a Star, Madeline L'Engle makes Antarctica a bittersweet place. She twists it just so that it almost sounds heavenly, with the sun beaming off the brilliant blue of the icebergs. This heavenly place on Earth is/was recommended for use as a nuclear waste dump, by some South American countries, in this suspenseful book.
The characters in Troubling a Star are challenged by having to chose between following their heart or following orders, but the most challenging part for this group of tourists, traveling on the Argosy, was battling with knowing, too much or in some cases not enough. For example, when ever the boat stopped at a port or station Vicky would receive post cards from Adam with Shakespeare quotes on them, which seemed to be warning her of something. Each time her post cards would seem to be more threatening and she would try to put the pieces together, yet none of them fit, or even made sense. In the end mostly everything has a happy ending but, a deadly event puts a gloom over the following days. This book surprised me because the end was mostly unpredictable. Troubling a Star was a wonderful bittersweet adventure that took me on a wild ride into the heart of the Antarctic. By,
Leah Arseneault
Rating: 
Summary: Read it!!!!!!!!
Review: This was one of her best books yet. I had it for a couple of years before I read it, because I didn't know how great her books were. Most of my favorite books by her are fantasy books, so I wasn't too sure about this book, it not being fantasy. I was wrong, though, because it was really good. It has a lot of suspense, and I was able to escape into it so much that I didn't do almost anything until I was finished. YOU should get this book if you like Madeleine L'Engle's books. P.S. Please take the time to write in complete sentences, use correct spelling, grammar, and capitalization. It doesn't take that much extra time, and people will read your review if you do that. When you don't it is very hard to read your review.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Continuation
Review: When we last left Vicky Austin in "A Ring of Endless Light", her grandfather had just died, and she was slowly falling for Adam Eddington. When we meet up with her again in "Troubling A Star", she is just about to celebrate her sixteenth birthday, and has just met Adam's eccentric great-aunt Serena. Serena gives Vicky the chance of a lifetime, when she gives Vicky tickets to travel to Antarctica, where she will meet up with Adam, who is working in one of the research stations there. But as Vicky slowly begins meeting her fellow travelers, she realizes that she's being led into more and more dangerous waters as the trip continues. And soon she's thinking if she will ever see Adam or her family again. This was a very exciting continuation of "A Ring of Endless Light", that was a bit different from L'Engle's previous work. "Troubling A Star" follows Vicky as she's growing up, but also features, mystery, suspense, and danger. A very interesting read if you ask me. A must for all L'Engle fans. Erika Sorocco
Rating: 
Summary: boring book
Review: I had to read it for school. I think its one of the most boring books I've ever read. I'd almost fallen asleep a couple of times because it was so boring. I would not recemend this for anyone...
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but not a great one
Review: This is pretty good book of mystery, suspense, intrigue, and some romance, all of which are wonderful qualities in and of themselves. It's a great adventure story, if that is what you're looking for. But this book has a lot to live up to, seeing as it's the sequel to "A Ring of Endless Light", one of my all-time favorites. I find that "Troubling A Star" has a lot less to do with Vicky as a person. Her character is not as well-developed as it was in previous books, and we see few of Vicky's thoughts about the world around her. She seems almost too naive for her sixteen years. Even a little bit of the plot, mostly the political twists and turns, was hard to understand. But, in praise of a good book, I did like the writing and description of Antarctica, as well as the way Madeleine L'Engle portrays feelings. I could often sense Vicky's wonder at the beautiful Antarctic, and I found myself as shocked as she was when she recieves one of Adam's letters. Madeleine L'Engle is very good at bringing you into her books. She has created a very interesting plot, as well, and an intriguing cast of characters. Some are good, some are greedy, and others are something else entirely. This book felt very real and vivid to me because of her style of writing, and I enjoyed it very much.
Rating:
Summary: Magnicifent!
Review: Vicky is the main character in Madeleine L'Engle's 'Troubling A Star.'Surprised by her borfriends Aunt Serena for a trip to Antarctica aboard the 'Argosy,' Vicky receives mysterious letters telling her not to go. Along with other people (including a prince from Zlatovica) aboard the 'Argosy' Vicky uncovers the hidden truths about them while someone keeps sabotaging the group. Along with Adam (her boyfriend) she receives letters and more messages while writting her opinions in her journal. The mysterious Vespugian second lieutenant, Estaban and the Zlactovican Prince seem to be giving her secret messages. Vicky tries to solve the puzzle of the links between the characters while trying to survive threats from anonymous people. Madeleine L'Engle has written a magnificent and riveting novel for young adult readers in 'Troubling A Star.' Her brilliant writing abilities allow the reader to imagine Antarctica, its climate and the actual characteers. This thriller has an intriguing plot combining adventure, creative conflicts, well developed characters and every essential quality to keep it suspenseful. It includes several letters, messages and journal entries that gave opinions of the supporting characters. Secret messages with clever codes gave a mysterious quality to the book as well as the betrayal of some characters and purported deaths. The plot may also leave the readers puzzled because of the extra details, the confusion and the numerous characters included in each scene. Seldom used words (to most people) such as 'miching mallecho' and 'fo'c's'le, were included, causing confusion because the meaning seemed anonymous and these words were used constantly throughout the book. The ending was ratheer predictable and the characters just exposed the hidden truths, ending it too fast. Furthermore, the beginning and middle rambled on too long. Despite these few flaws, 'Troubling a Star' was a very interesting read. I would highly recommend it to people of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Troubling a Star
Review: This book is a very suspenseful book.Just the cover made me want to read it.The book is about a girl that recieves a present from her boyfriends aunt.The present is to go to antartica to visist her boyfriend Adam. But for some reason she gets these threatening notes in her locker warning her not to go.She goes but something terrible happens. Will she live through it? To find out just get the book and read it.
Rating:
Summary: read it, you will LOVE IT
Review: If you liked A Ring of Endless light, you will most certainly like troubling a star, it is fantastic. i found it almost as good as a ring of endless light, and that is a high compliment. troubling a star is a sequel kind of to a ring of endless light and it follows her and her friend adam eddington to (of all places) antarctica. trust me, you will LOVE this book. it is thick in plot and interesting to read. it will keep you on your toes and dying to read more. i hope you enjoy, i did.
Rating:
Summary: Extrordiny! Very Riviting!
Review: This book is wonderful, with great description of Antartica! When I read this book I became entangled in the detail, charaters, and the mystery. This is a great book for the imaginative reader. I recomend this book to anyone who loves mystery, adventure, and suspense. I Loved It! This Is a book that you can read over and over.:) Eden
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