Reviews with content warning for Deadnaming - Light from Uncommon Stars

Reviews tagging 'Deadnaming'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

338 reviews

mjwhitlock18's review

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

You know it’s gay when she compared another woman’s eyes to a starry sky. This story is complex, eccentric, and honestly confusing at times. It is soft, but also brutally honest. It follows a trans runaway violinist, her lesbian soul-stealing violin teacher, and a retired alien space captain/mother running a donut shop. It is ultimately about found family and carving out your place in the world. Occasionally there is shocking tonal dissonance and I had to take a break, but overall so unique and entertaining.

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miss_vonnegut's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

This book was so interesting! It was definitely different than anything I've read before--filled with aliens and doughnuts and beautiful descriptions of violin music. I kept thinking about the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" when I was reading it. I love seeing more trans representation, and the way Aoki did it was fantastic. Warning: the trans character experiences transphobia, abuse, and deadnaming but (minor spoiler):

she gets a happy ending.

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readingpicnic's review

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Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

What an incredible book! I was so nervous to read this for a while since it's sci-fi, but that's honestly not the genre of most of the story, so it wasn't hard to understand at all. The writing was incredible, the story had a very satisfying conclusion, and I loved the use of many different perspectives throughout the story, even if we didn't get to stick with some of them too often. I do wish that I had gotten to read more of Tamiko's perspective since she was very interesting and was set up as if she was going to play a major part in the plot, but that kind of fizzled out until the very end of the book when she was briefly mentioned by another character. I would have liked to stick with her perspective a little more because her obsession with Shizuka and creepy way of thinking about her was really attention-grabbing. I also wish I had gotten more of Markus' story, as I found myself questioning why he was in the story at all if he was going to be

put in a stasis and never return as a character. I wish I understood his actions and motivations a bit more before he vanished from the book. I understand that he gave more context on the Empire and the EndPlague, but his character seemed to be very expendable to the story other than that.

I really liked the trans rep in this story with Katrina, and I especially liked how she discussed transition with Shirley in her decision to not alter her body, as well as how she came to love her visibly trans body as the story went on. It didn't emphasize medical transition as necessary to being a trans woman or being trans at all, and I liked how it challenged Shirley's way of thinking of transness, even if she was trying to be helpful. I loved Katrina so much though, and she was definitely my favorite character that I was always rooting for. Shizuka is a little questionable with her actions to me, so I'm still not sure how I feel about her...but she's a complex character for sure and meant to invoke that reaction from the reader, I suppose.

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luisaroesch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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maryellen's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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chloe_601's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed reading this book; it was fun and mostly lighthearted even though it dealt with a good deal of bigotry and hate. i think Katrina was well-written; her fears and experiences were so relatable (sometimes too relatable) and even though I never went through anything as hard as she did, I could relate to some of what she went through just trying to exist and be herself.

The book does try to take on a lot, though; it tries to do sci-fi, fantasy, a refugee family fleeing an intergalactic war, and a trans runaway who wants to play violin. I’m not sure if it worked combining the spaceship and alien technology with demons and souls. But there were a lot of parts I liked, especially the depiction of the San Gabriel Valley and the diverse cultures and people all living their lives. The place seemed to come alive.

Overall, some elements of the story didn’t quite work and wrapped up a bit too neatly, but the story itself had a lot of heart and made me feel like maybe things will be alright.

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fionamclary's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

You wouldn't think that the three storylines of this book would come together well, but Ryka Aoki has meshed them so beautifully. This book is so full of joy and hope.

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