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raptorq's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Murder, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent and War
meganpbell's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This was probably my favorite of the trilogy! The grassroots political action and the politics and challenges of activism, an expanded view of Aeland’s less privileged and much more interesting echelons, the non-binary and polyamory rep, renewable energy, I could go on!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Kidnapping, Outing, Police brutality, and Violence
novella42's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
My favorite of the Kingston Cycle! This book picked up momentum and was the most exciting and satisfying of the three for me.
I feel like CL Polk wrote the other books in order to get to the story she really wanted to tell: the revolution. I think that's where Polk's heart has been this whole time, and while they want their characters to be well-rounded, while they want to balance mystery with romance, at the core their story focuses on what it takes for people to transform a nation and reckon with the ghosts of their past. I think the mystery and romance aspects of the story aren't as well-rounded as they could be sometimes, but the elements that she did include felt good and real to me. (I'm taking away a half star for that, partly because I kept coming out of the story when I expected Robin to orient herself towards her love interest and she just... sort of dissociated right back into the work she had to do. It was understandable, and it was addressed in the book with a delightful example of healthy communication, and... I guess I should redirect my frustration at the book cover since it builds expectations for a romance when it's more of a political urban fantasy with some romantic elements.) As I said, the mystery and romance elements were good when they took center stage, it's just that these were eclipsed by the greater love story of revolution—the work we do for people we care about because we want a more just world for them.
This might be a bit of a tangent, but I feel like the progression of this series, particularly the last two books, would be especially satisfying for an Enneagram 1. Or for any person who cares very deeply about what it means to be a good person, and how we all struggle with right and wrong, and the story of convincing others and making an imperfect world a better place for us all.
(Also, hooray, respectful representation for BIPOC, queer, gender non-conforming, and polyamorous characters!)
I feel like CL Polk wrote the other books in order to get to the story she really wanted to tell: the revolution. I think that's where Polk's heart has been this whole time, and while they want their characters to be well-rounded, while they want to balance mystery with romance, at the core their story focuses on what it takes for people to transform a nation and reckon with the ghosts of their past. I think the mystery and romance aspects of the story aren't as well-rounded as they could be sometimes, but the elements that she did include felt good and real to me. (I'm taking away a half star for that, partly because I kept coming out of the story when I expected Robin to orient herself towards her love interest and she just... sort of dissociated right back into the work she had to do. It was understandable, and it was addressed in the book with a delightful example of healthy communication, and... I guess I should redirect my frustration at the book cover since it builds expectations for a romance when it's more of a political urban fantasy with some romantic elements.) As I said, the mystery and romance elements were good when they took center stage, it's just that these were eclipsed by the greater love story of revolution—the work we do for people we care about because we want a more just world for them.
This might be a bit of a tangent, but I feel like the progression of this series, particularly the last two books, would be especially satisfying for an Enneagram 1. Or for any person who cares very deeply about what it means to be a good person, and how we all struggle with right and wrong, and the story of convincing others and making an imperfect world a better place for us all.
(Also, hooray, respectful representation for BIPOC, queer, gender non-conforming, and polyamorous characters!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Death, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Classism, and Trafficking
Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Chronic illness, Suicide, Genocide, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Blood, and Alcohol
There was no antisemitism or ableism in this book, but if you struggle with themes related to the Holocaust or the forced institutionalization of people with disabilities...bookwyrmknits's review
I love the world this series is set in, but I've enjoyed the narrator of each book progressively less. I loved Miles as a MC, Grace was okay, and Robin is not for me. While book one was fantasy with a little bit of politics, book three has flipped that formula and is politics with a little bit of fantasy. I did enjoy getting to see some of Clan life and more of the world in general, but not enough to read about politics and elections. I know there are readers who enjoy that kind of fiction, and they will likely enjoy this. I prefer to keep politics mostly out of my fantasy novels, so this book was not for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I really enjoyed the last installment in this queer trilogy. The characters are fun and the action is continuous as political unreast over the sudden loss of electricity (among other things) reaches a boiling point. Great genderqueer and BIPOC rep. I might have even enjoyed this book more than the first two, and look forward to reading more by Polk soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Classism, Police brutality, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Racism and Sexual violence
Minor: Pregnancy
Toxic parent, execution by hanginglibrarianmage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Confinement, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury
clarabooksit's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Police brutality
Moderate: Slavery, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Confinement
Minor: Rape and War
purplepenning's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing
Moderate: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cancer, Gaslighting, Genocide, Biphobia, Medical content, Child abuse, Homophobia, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Rape
booksthatburn's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
SOULSTAR is the hard work of keeping promises and transforming from survival to thriving. It’s where the characters have to figure out a way to actually solve problems for people imprisoned, displaced, or otherwise affected first by the aether network and then by its removal earlier in the series. It stars a new narrator, Robin Thorpe, who should be recognizable from the earlier books.
Robin’s arc is very different from those of Miles and Grace. Miles’s story is one of running away from power, of refusing to be used. Grace had to figure out what to do with power once she knew what it had cost. Robin is stepping up to accept power, trying to balance between new responsibilities and prior commitments. She’s bonded with her community, paying attention to their needs and trying to get the ruling class to listen. As busy as she is on the page, it conveys the impression that she’s even busier between scenes, every moment full of frenetic drive and concern that unless things materially change for the common people then the small steps won’t be much better than nothing at all.
There’s a major character, Zelind, who appears here for the first time, having been imprisoned in one of the asylums for the last twenty years. I love kher place in the narrative, khe has a sub plot which revolves around kher and becomes very important later in the book. The dynamic between the two of them is understandably strained, as the intervening decades and trauma has shaped them into different people from who they were, and they have to figure out what’s left and what they want now that they’ve been reconnected.
This wraps up a major thing which was left hanging at the end of WITCHMARK, developed but not solved in STORMSONG, and now finally addressed in a really great way in SOULSTAR. There's a few major storylines which begin here and weren't present previously, with a very major thing that's both introduced and resolved here. It is the last book in the series and feels very finished. The world has room for more stories in it, but there's a definite arc that has reached its conclusion, and a minimum of hanging threads. The main thing left is I'd love to see these characters thriving in the background of even more stories, but overall I'm satisfied by what's here. The main character is Robin Thorpe, who was a secondary character in the first two books (moreso in WITCHMARK than STORMSONG), and her narration is very distinct from the other two. One way that I noticed this is as a narrator she refuses to treat whiteness as a default, where the narrators of the other two books didn't comment on race at all. It's a subtle thing that fits the backgrounds and biases of the three narrators in the series and is just one example of the way they prioritize completely different things from each other.
This might make sense if someone started here and didn't know about the rest of the series. The main plot is pretty self-contained since Robin wasn't really involved in how things got to be this way (specifically but not only with regards to the aether crisis), so her perspective would likely help pull a new reader into the story. As always, this is the third book of a trilogy and I do recommend starting with the first book rather than beginning here.
I love SOULSTAR, on its own and as a strong ending to a great trilogy.
Robin’s arc is very different from those of Miles and Grace. Miles’s story is one of running away from power, of refusing to be used. Grace had to figure out what to do with power once she knew what it had cost. Robin is stepping up to accept power, trying to balance between new responsibilities and prior commitments. She’s bonded with her community, paying attention to their needs and trying to get the ruling class to listen. As busy as she is on the page, it conveys the impression that she’s even busier between scenes, every moment full of frenetic drive and concern that unless things materially change for the common people then the small steps won’t be much better than nothing at all.
There’s a major character, Zelind, who appears here for the first time, having been imprisoned in one of the asylums for the last twenty years. I love kher place in the narrative, khe has a sub plot which revolves around kher and becomes very important later in the book. The dynamic between the two of them is understandably strained, as the intervening decades and trauma has shaped them into different people from who they were, and they have to figure out what’s left and what they want now that they’ve been reconnected.
This wraps up a major thing which was left hanging at the end of WITCHMARK, developed but not solved in STORMSONG, and now finally addressed in a really great way in SOULSTAR. There's a few major storylines which begin here and weren't present previously, with a very major thing that's both introduced and resolved here. It is the last book in the series and feels very finished. The world has room for more stories in it, but there's a definite arc that has reached its conclusion, and a minimum of hanging threads. The main thing left is I'd love to see these characters thriving in the background of even more stories, but overall I'm satisfied by what's here. The main character is Robin Thorpe, who was a secondary character in the first two books (moreso in WITCHMARK than STORMSONG), and her narration is very distinct from the other two. One way that I noticed this is as a narrator she refuses to treat whiteness as a default, where the narrators of the other two books didn't comment on race at all. It's a subtle thing that fits the backgrounds and biases of the three narrators in the series and is just one example of the way they prioritize completely different things from each other.
This might make sense if someone started here and didn't know about the rest of the series. The main plot is pretty self-contained since Robin wasn't really involved in how things got to be this way (specifically but not only with regards to the aether crisis), so her perspective would likely help pull a new reader into the story. As always, this is the third book of a trilogy and I do recommend starting with the first book rather than beginning here.
I love SOULSTAR, on its own and as a strong ending to a great trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Police brutality, Gun violence, Confinement, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Slavery, Child abuse, Suicide, Drug use, Medical content, and Rape
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Soulstar has the distinct feeling of a trilogy arriving at its destination. The series has slowly uncovered a corrupt system of government, and the characters have fought against political intrigues, economic strangleholds, and social expectations throughout. Now the storm has come to a head, and Soulstar dials up the activism as Robin takes the lead as protagonist.
Robin is long familiar with agitating for change, unwilling to compromise on championing basic rights and correcting inequities. She doesn't need to learn the world is broken; she's lived it and suffered for it firsthand. Robin is a skilled organizer, a shrewd negotiator, and dedicated to anyone who needs her help. Often, she is called on to support the Solidarity movement because she's the best, her work not asked for but assumed. Through her, the story addresses all the unpaid, no-thanks labor of Black women, even when fighting for something they believe in.
Robin's second-chance romance with her spouse, Zelind (khe/kher) has emotional gravitas. Twenty years ago, they were secretly wed without permission from their families. That very night, Zelind was captured as a witch and shipped off to an asylum. Now, Robin marches into that asylum, the imprisonment of witches abolished, in no small part due to Robin's efforts. She hasn't dared to imagine Zelind alive after all this time, and the asylum held even more horrors than she knew to expect. It will be a difficult journey to find their way back to one another after all they've been through. How do you make room for someone in your life when you've been purposefully filling up the empty space they left behind for two decades?
In terms of world-building, this book offers a closer look at the Samindans, always important to the series but previously peripheral. Not only did I appreciate the invitation to visit the clans to see their family structures at work, but I also admired the way their society is more accepting of queer characters than narrow-minded Aelanders. Space for non-binary people like Zelind is one example, as well as acceptance of poly people through the practice of triangle marriages.
I love the bones of this story. It takes a thoughtful, unflinching look at reparations with obvious real world implications. There's revolution and justice, collectivism and community. There are tense, heart-stopping moments including an assassination and police brutality towards peaceful protestors. I think what held me back from complete enjoyment of the quality content was the heavy emphasis on bureaucracy and the practicalities of organizing. While true-to-life, these portions didn't always hold my attention well. These sections were interspersed with many different plots with more action and intrigue, resulting in a frantic, bouncing pace to match Robin's busy, overextended schedule, unfortunately lacking the sense of adventure and excitement that can wear such an energy well. Because of it, my engagement was spotty even though my overall investment was high.
Robin is long familiar with agitating for change, unwilling to compromise on championing basic rights and correcting inequities. She doesn't need to learn the world is broken; she's lived it and suffered for it firsthand. Robin is a skilled organizer, a shrewd negotiator, and dedicated to anyone who needs her help. Often, she is called on to support the Solidarity movement because she's the best, her work not asked for but assumed. Through her, the story addresses all the unpaid, no-thanks labor of Black women, even when fighting for something they believe in.
Robin's second-chance romance with her spouse, Zelind (khe/kher) has emotional gravitas. Twenty years ago, they were secretly wed without permission from their families. That very night, Zelind was captured as a witch and shipped off to an asylum. Now, Robin marches into that asylum, the imprisonment of witches abolished, in no small part due to Robin's efforts. She hasn't dared to imagine Zelind alive after all this time, and the asylum held even more horrors than she knew to expect. It will be a difficult journey to find their way back to one another after all they've been through. How do you make room for someone in your life when you've been purposefully filling up the empty space they left behind for two decades?
In terms of world-building, this book offers a closer look at the Samindans, always important to the series but previously peripheral. Not only did I appreciate the invitation to visit the clans to see their family structures at work, but I also admired the way their society is more accepting of queer characters than narrow-minded Aelanders. Space for non-binary people like Zelind is one example, as well as acceptance of poly people through the practice of triangle marriages.
I love the bones of this story. It takes a thoughtful, unflinching look at reparations with obvious real world implications. There's revolution and justice, collectivism and community. There are tense, heart-stopping moments including an assassination and police brutality towards peaceful protestors. I think what held me back from complete enjoyment of the quality content was the heavy emphasis on bureaucracy and the practicalities of organizing. While true-to-life, these portions didn't always hold my attention well. These sections were interspersed with many different plots with more action and intrigue, resulting in a frantic, bouncing pace to match Robin's busy, overextended schedule, unfortunately lacking the sense of adventure and excitement that can wear such an energy well. Because of it, my engagement was spotty even though my overall investment was high.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality
Moderate: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: War, Death of parent, and Transphobia