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shelvesofivy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Colonisation, War, and Death of parent
bookish_bry's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It could be a bit repetitive at times, and I often wished it would leave a bit to the imagination. I feel like Joy and Felix's pasts and motivations were often revealed too quickly. There was quite a bit of telling and not showing with the internal dialogue and it left very little to surprise me. Even the plot twists of
Though overall, I do think it was a good book and one I would suggest to someone who likes young adult fiction. Like I said, I was rarely bored. I also appreciate the rather casual lgbt+ representation. In a book that did focus on a heterosexual (though I think Joy is demi and Felix is bi/pan) couple, it's always nice to see lbgt+ relationships just casually in the background.
Graphic: Colonisation, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Classism, Fatphobia, Murder, Alcohol, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Torture, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia
kbairbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Colonisation
courtnoodles's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
points awarded for:
- the coverrrrrrrrrrr
- felix
- general acceptance of all walks of life from the mcs
- a hetero romance being at the center, but one mc being pan/bi (felix) and it being acknowledged and accepted throughout
- use of gender neutral pronouns for a new character until their gender is revealed (why doesn't everyone already do this holy shit??)
- the romance literally being the most swoon-worthy thing ever, go dthey love each other so much
- felix being so obsessed with joy i literally crumbled
- joy's instant obsession with taylor swift, same girl
- this is a soulmate au but aliens and wow wow wow
- did i mention felix is the actual best
points knocked off for:
- yeah the sci fi interplanetary stuff was kinda confusing ok ok
- my brain still hurts a bit after a sci fi novel, wow i am not built for this
- the lineage didn't make a whole lot of sense and the reveals were a little left field? idk how to explain it
- SUPER repetitive, like "we need to get off this planet and go home to face our imminent death" was basically how every. single. chapter. ended.
- for it being an entire point that they have no knowledge whatsoever of terra (earth), there were a couple of instances where terms that they probably wouldn't have had exposure to were thrown in, but they were explained other times, idk some inconsistencies
- also felix calling joy demi-ace, like yes she is, but establish that these sexuality identifications exist on your world too instead of like 70% into the book?
- i think this was my first book that mentions the covid pandemic, and oof, i had to stop reading for a minute, yikes
go pick it up though!!!!!!!!!!!
--
It's a soulmate au but aliens and I swooned 9495859 times
Rtc maybe
Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Death, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Colonisation, Blood, Violence, War, Alcohol, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abandonment and Cursing
readingthroughinfinity's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I found the pacing of the middle third too slow and I think the ending was too rushed, but on the whole, I enjoyed this. I would have loved to see more mentions of Joy's aspec/demi identity, as I feel like this was dropped in near the end but not really discussed in much detail. But Joy was a great character and I especially liked the way she challenged people's fatphobia, racism and colourism (the social commentary was woven into the narrative really well, too).
Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Racism, Violence, Body shaming, Classism, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Murder and War
chippyreads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Racism, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, War, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, and Infertility
theespressoedition's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
If you've read The Sound of Stars, you'll get to enjoy some really fun cameos in this book. That made me so, so happy because I loved that book so much and I had a little bit of hope inside me that there would be references to it. I was definitely not disappointed!
Okay, let me try and convince you to read this the best way I know how - a list:
- phenomenal diversity... like truly gorgeous. I couldn't get enough of the cast of characters and how wildly different they all were from each other - and how that made them all the more wonderful.
- totally immersive atmosphere... I was physically sitting in my bed, but I was mentally on another planet (or multiple planets) and it was easy to picture how everything looked because of the wonderful way it was written.
- mentions of my favorite authors... there was a literal LIST of authors at one point that made me want to weep with joy because it included so many of my favorites - some of which I'm even friends with!
- best friends-to-lovers + forbidden love... and of course this equals a lot of drama but also a lot of emotion and really just the best kind of feels. I was rooting for our protagonists from the get-go because they were just so dang precious I couldn't even handle it.
- TAYLOR SWIFT... you might be like "what???" but if you read it, you'll get it. If you like Taylor Swift, you'll like this book.
If that doesn't convince you, I'm not entirely sure what will. Hopefully, you pick this up because it instantly went on my list of favorites for not only 2022, but of all time!
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Racism, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: War
foreverinastory's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Dear Alechia Dow, please write more books about aliens including: a book starring Allister, and a sequel to The Sound of the Stars. Please, please, please.
The Kindred is not really related to The Sound of Stars, but does take place in the same multiverse as it, and features several references and at least 1 crossover character. I loved all the references to TSOS so much!! However, let's talk more about The Kindred. In the galactic Kingdom ruled by the Qadins, everyone is paired with a Kindred a birth, someone who is always with you inside your thoughts. The program aims to give everyone a voice no matter their socioeconomic status.
Joy Abarra knows her place: it's with her mother until the day she can marry and do her duty to her planet/culture. Joy has one thing most don't: her Kindred is Duke Felix Hamdi, cousin to the Royal throne. However, the two haven't met yet, but they hope to soon. Then the Qadin royals are assassinated and Felix becomes next in line...and the one accused of murdering the royals. Felix and Joy must escape the galaxy and find some place to hide so they can figure out what happened and how to prove their innocence.
This book was a fucking ride. I loved it soooo much. Felix is a disaster bi and Joy is my precious ace. Also the mutual pining? Off the charts. I loved exploring the new alien worlds/cultures. I'm really hoping this will shape out to be a big multiverse series, mainly because I need to know what happens after the end of TSOS.
I loved how queernormative this book was. Which I'm not surprised, because I'm pretty certain TSOS was the same. But every new character is introduced as them until they give their pronouns and I loved that so much.
I feel like I have more thoughts about this book, but my brain is just racing around yelling at me about how much it loved all the characters and the world, so I think this is a good place to stop.
Rep: Fat Black demisexual female MC, biracial/Black bisexual male MC, achillean Black male side character, Black nonbinary femme side character, fat Black female side character, queer normative world, lots of aliens too.
CWs: Alcohol consumption, body shaming, fatphobia, gaslighting/manipulation, kidnapping, murder, violence, war, torture.
Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Violence, and War