Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - A Scatter of Light

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo

98 reviews

novella42's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I know part of my frustration with this book is that I didn't notice it's not a romance novel, like Last Night at the Telegraph Club. I went into it expecting something else, and so I spent a lot of time angry and confused, and didn't see what it was trying to do until the very end.

There were some beautiful lines. I think I most appreciated her relationship with her grandmother, a wonderful character who definitely stole the show for me.

I may try to revise this review after I get some distance from it.

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taylorunger's review

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved Last Night At The Telegraph Club and have been wanting to read this for a while. Aria is a difficult main character to love because of some of the choices she makes but I was still interested in her story. I liked the California summer setting and really enjoy Lo's writing. I definitely preferred Last Night At The Telegraph Club overall but I'm glad I finally picked this up.

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kat42's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A solid book and I really liked the ending, but it doesn't compare to Last Night at the Telegraph Club imo. Lo's writing style is really descriptive and pretty. However, I didn't like that there was smut. There was only a little and it was mild, but I personally don't think smut belongs in YA.

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luckyonesoph's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It’s like Malindo Lo read every thought I had in high school while trying (& often failing) to figure out my sexuality and first crushes and complicated female friendships and grief all at the same time. Aria and Steph aren’t perfect characters - they’re messy and sometimes unlikeable and I didn’t agree with every one of their choices - but that’s what made them feel so real. The ending, even though

it wasn’t necessarily a happy romantic one

, felt really genuine and raw and honest, which I loved.

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sundayfever's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A good queer YA read. Vividly made me feel like I was in SF. Kudos for being a YA book where the teenage romance doesn't continue into the future - it felt more realistic, with a bittersweet ending. Don't get why the blurb says the main character joins a working-class queer community, when she does no reflecting on her own class privilege at all in the book.

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patchthecat's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Heartbreaking. First time I've ever cried over a book. I recommend this if you are looking for sapphic, sad romance.

Joan's death made me so extremely upset. I thought she was getting better when she went into the rehabilitation center and was shocked to find out she had died. Finding out Steph and Aria didn't work out really made me feel hurt. Both things together made me cry. Analemma being confused about Joan's death really hurt me aswell. The poor dog will never know what happened. This book goes from a teen summer romance to a sad story about death and mistakes really fast.

This book is amazing when it comes to sad books. I enjoyed reading it.

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ronan_lesh's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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kyrstin_p1989's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A story about life and death, love and loss, and the complications of familial relationships, this book is well-written and interesting. It took a few pages to get into the writing style but once I did I couldn’t put this one down. It made me laugh and cry in equal measure. The characters feelings are raw and real and the story is truthful and wise.

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haileyhardcover's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Aria spends the summer before starting college discovering who she really is and who she wants to be.

I was so excited for this book. I read Last Night at the Telegraph Club earlier this year and was absolutely blown away by Lo’s writing, the history, and the characters she created. As a companion novel to Telegraph, I expected the same magical experience with A Scatter of Light. Sadly, I didn’t feel it.

The two main characters, Aria & Steph, felt so overly dramatic - especially considering they are older than the characters in Telegraph. I physically cringed multiple times at some of the things they said/ did. I didn’t find either of them very likable, and I couldn’t root for them.

Part of what made Telegraph so magical was the history. A Scatter of Light is also set in the past, but a much more recent past - 2013, right when Prop 8 was overturned, making gay marriage legal in California. This is mentioned a few times in the book, but I wish more attention had been given to everything going on at the time, rather than focusing so heavily (almost entirely) on the “relationship” between Aria and Steph.

There is also one scene in which Steph implies that she is struggling with her gender, but it is completely brushed over and never explored. It felt like a last-minute throw in for some additional diversity as there was no other trans/non-binary/gender queer rep in the book.

The best part of the book was the (very brief) glimpse we get into the lives of Lily and Kath (the main characters from Telegraph) in 2013. No spoilers, but I was glad to see where they had ended up, nearly 60 years later.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but overall I was just really disappointed with this book. Telegraph has a permanent home on my shelves, but A Scatter of Light is probably going to be one of those getting unhauled at the end of the year.

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