Reviews tagging 'Death'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

79 reviews

jogginglake's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a wonderful book, the descriptions are incredible and it's almost dreamlike. I say almost because there are these jarring, heavy moments that thud in the pit of your stomach and make the book really difficult to read, like when

Katrina is raped by her 'friend' Evan for rent, or is sexually assaulted by the bank manager running the big competition specifically because she's trans,

or the very frank and blunt descriptions of sex work. I don't think these things make the book worse, but they really are very jarring in a way that I think was intended, but still is unpleasant to read. I would definitely recommend this book, but I would warn that it's not nearly as light a read as you might expect from the SFF aliens running a donut store description.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, and Outing

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Self harm, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, War, and Physical abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, and Racial slurs

princesspunx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

adryonsk's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Death

massivepizzacrust's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I wasn't initially sold on the writing style and plot setup BUT the last half of the book was amazing. So beautiful and I loved the character development. 
I do still feel a little bit like there were too many parallel plot lines (not sure we needed

the Matias to start working the the demon, and I thought Marcus's story was extremely unresolved. For a book all about living with your mistakes, there was no redemption for him, he's just being shipped back to the war zone.

). But overall, I think they got blended together amazingly. 
The descriptions of music made me so happy. I'm not trans, but for what it's worth I really did like how Katrina was portrayed. I'm so glad she found a family who sees how beautiful she is. I do think some of the scenes could be triggering for people who have experienced similar transphobia and violence, so please take care of yourselves when reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

gwenisnonbinary's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-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

3.75

Many many triggers in this book but it was one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Dysphoria, Racism, Transphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Cursing

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Self harm, Rape, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: War, Pedophilia, Murder, and Domestic abuse

sylvester749's review

adventurous emotional funny reflective sad medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Bullying, Dysphoria, Murder, Outing, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Moderate: Abandonment and Death

jlye's review

emotional inspiring mysterious 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

3.75

There are many things I loved about this book. It is beautifully written and the characters are engaging. I particularly loved the character development of Katrina and her relationship with Shizuka. My only major criticism is about the mixing of fantasy with science fiction (two genres that I love). I was never fully convinced by the merging of the two worlds in the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Death, Racism, and Sexual assault

nekoshka's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Deadnaming, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Bullying, Dysphoria, Death, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Rape

Minor: War and Religious bigotry

jen_b's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

This book has everything, I loved it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Bullying, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexual content, Outing, Gun violence, and Rape

Minor: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, and War

skudiklier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.5

I feel a bit torn when it comes to this book. On one hand, I was very engaged with it and wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen. I liked the mix of characters and perspectives, and even some of the surprising things (that at first felt like a mix of too many genres) ended up feeling natural and fine. 

However, I also feel like I ended the book missing some of the point. Like, there was just so much going on, and I'm not sure what my takeaways were supposed to be. Also, there was just so much transphobia that Katrina had to deal with; it was hard to read and felt like some of it wasn't totally necessary? Idk. I get that that can be real but it's not like every single trans person has to go through all of the things she did, and it just was so rough to read. Between that and the racism and violence, I would definitely recommend checking out the content warnings before reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Outing, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Deadnaming, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Fatphobia, War, Vomit, Child death, and Ableism