Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

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

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

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

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

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, Racism, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

nerdy_reader_9571's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Racism, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

bea_a_bea's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Sexual harassment

cozyscones's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.25

 4.25

How do you even try to explain this story without sounding absolutely bonkers? It was so beautiful and weird. And about finding and building a family full of love from the most unexpected of places.

I really adored this. 😌❤️ 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Minor: Violence and War

clarke's review against another edition

1.0

I nearly DNFed this book early on. It seems to sell itself as a positive book - with hope and found family. There is a little of that between the disjointed multiple narratives, but there is also transphobia, misgendering, violence, sexual assault and exploitation, racism and many other similar topics throughout the book. I didn't feel there was acceptance outside of most of the core characters who quite simply didn't really care about mundanities or things they considered trivial like gender. This book was trying to do too much with multiple storylines and I didn't care about any.

I still don't see the point of Lan Tran and her family's storyline or the scifi ascent at all other than a convenient escape from hell at the end or some handy technology? And just some casual murder? I don't get it

I found many of the chapters samey and this was a chore to read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

scorpstar77's review

emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Transphobia

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual content