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shelvesofivy's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Racism, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Colonisation, War, and Death of parent
electricute's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Colonisation, Classism, and Gun violence
bookish_bry's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
3.5
This book was easy to read and rarely bored me, though it had some flaws. To be fair, part of it may be because I am probably getting out of the age range it was intended for.
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 ofFelix's parentage was something I predicted pretty much immediately. I would have preferred the main villain to have been... a bit better cloaked instead of immediately blatantly obviously the bad guy.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- 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
I don’t normally read sci-fi but this was fun! The romance wasn’t incredible and there was one moment I was uncomfortable but it was sweet.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Colonisation
thebakersbooks's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The Kindred, set in the same world as author Alechia Dow’s debut but slightly earlier, has the same powerful emotional core and ultimately hopeful tone that made The Sound of Stars an immediate favorite of mine. This is YA sci-fi at its best: light to medium worldbuilding, a beautiful romance, and several (interstellar, of course) journeys of self-discovery.
Early parts of the book where the characters are new to Earth have strong ‘Star Trek: The Voyage Home’ vibes, which was so much fun. I actually preferred the parts of the book that took place on fictional planets, but watching the main characters discover everyday human practices and items was entertaining. Landing on Earth also allows the main characters to grapple with some of the flaws in their own home, delving into issues of economic disparity and colonialism.
And of course, no review of this book would be complete without discussing the central premise: Kindred. A concept designed to combat but not eliminate harsh class divides, the Kindred system pairs each individual with someone born around the same time. They’re mentally linked for the rest of their lives, able to see and feel everything their Kindred does. The two protagonists, Joy and Felix, are an incongruous Kindred pair, and much of the tension in the story stems from their vastly different social statuses and upbringings.
Above everything else, I loved watching a girl who’s always been told to make herself smaller and quieter get attention from hot guys, receive compliments on her appearance and personality from peers, and generally be affirmed in her existence just as she is. This book is undoubtedly a love letter to anyone who’s ever been told their skin’s too dark, their body’s too big, or their laugh is too loud, to paraphrase a quote from Joy.
I highly recommend this book to folks who enjoyed The Sound of Stars and anyone who likes sci-fi that’s innovative but doesn’t have a big learning curve due to super complex worldbuilding. You’ll probably enjoy the book most if you’re a fan of romance, but I’m not especially and I liked it anyway!
content warnings: fatphobia (external and internalized), body shaming and food shaming, colorism, strong themes of classism, themes of colonization, socio-cultural misogyny
Early parts of the book where the characters are new to Earth have strong ‘Star Trek: The Voyage Home’ vibes, which was so much fun. I actually preferred the parts of the book that took place on fictional planets, but watching the main characters discover everyday human practices and items was entertaining. Landing on Earth also allows the main characters to grapple with some of the flaws in their own home, delving into issues of economic disparity and colonialism.
And of course, no review of this book would be complete without discussing the central premise: Kindred. A concept designed to combat but not eliminate harsh class divides, the Kindred system pairs each individual with someone born around the same time. They’re mentally linked for the rest of their lives, able to see and feel everything their Kindred does. The two protagonists, Joy and Felix, are an incongruous Kindred pair, and much of the tension in the story stems from their vastly different social statuses and upbringings.
Above everything else, I loved watching a girl who’s always been told to make herself smaller and quieter get attention from hot guys, receive compliments on her appearance and personality from peers, and generally be affirmed in her existence just as she is. This book is undoubtedly a love letter to anyone who’s ever been told their skin’s too dark, their body’s too big, or their laugh is too loud, to paraphrase a quote from Joy.
I highly recommend this book to folks who enjoyed The Sound of Stars and anyone who likes sci-fi that’s innovative but doesn’t have a big learning curve due to super complex worldbuilding. You’ll probably enjoy the book most if you’re a fan of romance, but I’m not especially and I liked it anyway!
content warnings: fatphobia (external and internalized), body shaming and food shaming, colorism, strong themes of classism, themes of colonization, socio-cultural misogyny
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Minor: Classism and Colonisation
courtnoodles's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- 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
tw: fatphobia, classism
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Death, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Colonisation, Blood, Violence, War, Alcohol, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abandonment and Cursing
readingthroughinfinity's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- 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 loved the concept of this and I thought the way Joy and Felix's connection played into their romance was lovely. The romance itself is also very sweet and heartwarming to read; both main characters spend a good chunk of the book being quietly in love with each other, but not daring to share their feelings, so there's some top tier yearning in here.
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).
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).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Racism, Violence, Body shaming, Classism, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Murder and War
b_robinson's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
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
2.75
Hmmmmmmmmmm. I really don't know how I feel about this.
We have aliens and a plot to overthrow the monarchy and two teenagers who are connected with some weird brain thingy and so that means that inevitably they're in love. They crash land on earth after escaping without dying in the first 50 pages, make some human friends... And everything sort of goes to plan in the end? Miraculously???
The main element of this story is literally just the romance. HOWEVER there were also some SOLID subplots scattered throughout, particularly the commentary on social classes and race.
AND AND AND AND AND we got some *exquisite* rep in this. For your perusal, a breakdown; demi-ace woman of colour, a pansexual royal adoptee, a gay poc dealing with severe grief, all served with a side of complete and utter acceptance and sensitivity towards gender non-comformity. Like I'm talking every single new character was referred to using they/them until it was indicated otherwise, and multiple characters are introduced with pronouns. Hell yes for normalisation!! And I get that it might not feel like a big deal but man it's just so nice.
Unfortunately, I didn't really vibe with the romance for most of the novel, and the writing style just wasn't for me. You win some you lose some, I guess???
We have aliens and a plot to overthrow the monarchy and two teenagers who are connected with some weird brain thingy and so that means that inevitably they're in love. They crash land on earth after escaping without dying in the first 50 pages, make some human friends... And everything sort of goes to plan in the end? Miraculously???
The main element of this story is literally just the romance. HOWEVER there were also some SOLID subplots scattered throughout, particularly the commentary on social classes and race.
AND AND AND AND AND we got some *exquisite* rep in this. For your perusal, a breakdown; demi-ace woman of colour, a pansexual royal adoptee, a gay poc dealing with severe grief, all served with a side of complete and utter acceptance and sensitivity towards gender non-comformity. Like I'm talking every single new character was referred to using they/them until it was indicated otherwise, and multiple characters are introduced with pronouns. Hell yes for normalisation!! And I get that it might not feel like a big deal but man it's just so nice.
Unfortunately, I didn't really vibe with the romance for most of the novel, and the writing style just wasn't for me. You win some you lose some, I guess???
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Colonisation and Genocide
chippyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
demi MC, on page
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Please allow me to give a wild round of applause to Alechia THE ABSOLUTE QUEEN OF SCI-FI Dow. I don't know how, but she's done it again, and done it SO DARN WELL at that. I have been anxiously anticipating this book release and the second it was available at my library, I checked it out, ready to devour it. And that's exactly what I did. I seriously didn't want to put it down.
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Racism, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: War