Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow

4 reviews

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Gun violence, Medical content, War, Child death, Alcoholism, and Murder

Minor: Police brutality, Child abuse, Infertility, Vomit, Sexual content, and Fatphobia

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Medical content, Alcoholism, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Fatphobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

3.0

When I was reading the first few chapters of this book, I thought I would like it a lot. The setup and worldbuilding were compeling.

However, by the end, I felt it was too tropey, too focused on romance, and relied too much on deus ex machina

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Blood, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Cursing, and Child death

Moderate: War, Torture, Racism, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

jazdono's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-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

3.0

In part 1 of this book, I was really skeptical that I would finish it. The beginning dragged on, and the world building took quite some time. On top of that, it seemed that the author did not subscribe to “show, don’t tell.” Every bit of symbolism and representation was spelled out in a way that seemed like the author just didn’t trust her audience to get it.
 
However, once I hit Part 2 and the plot picked up, I found myself continuously wanting to keep reading.  This was the first time I’d seen this type of representation in books for a lot of the identities that were in it, and I fell in love with the story for that. It was still predictable and there was a lot of telling instead of showing, but the plot and the characters were so heart warming and hopeful that I didn’t really mind. 

I did choose this book after doing an online search for “LGBTQ Black stories”, because I have really been searching for diversity as the norm. This book did pretty good normalizing diverse characters without making the diversity the entire story. There were lots of current events and popular media referenced, from police brutality to Love, Simon, giving the book a grounded feeling to accompany its “head in the clouds” premise. 

I would recommend this book especially to any middle schooler and high schooler out there who feels a bit lost—like they don’t fit in or like they don’t have a role to play in the world. I wish my younger self had had this book. If you’re older than that, I’d say this book is still worth giving a chance, but expect there to be parts that seem predictable or cringey. Those parts didn’t stop me from enjoying the book and its good moments, though. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Police brutality, Racism, and Murder

brief (non-graphix) mentions of sex, one f-bomb