Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - On a Sunbeam

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

beccaand's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

so glad i own a physical copy of this one.
amazing.

Content Warnings

deedireads's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-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

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

On a Sunbeam is a beautiful graphic novel about young queer love and found family. I read it all over the course of a Sunday afternoon and loved it.

For you if: You want to try graphic novels and / or are drawn to stories of found family.

FULL REVIEW:

“I like ALL of you, Grace. Even the parts I don't get yet. I'm not dating the 12% of you that I understand, I'm dating 100% of you. Including all your secrets that I don't know.”

This is the first graphic novel I’ve read in years — not because I don’t like them, just because I’ve failed to pick one up in a while. But what a return!

Recommended by and borrowed from my friend @christophermetts, blurbed by Becky Chambers and Martha Wells, and nominated for the Hugo and Lambda Literary Award (among others), On a Sunbeam is a beautiful story of young queer love and found family. The main character, Mia, settles into life with her new crew as they travel to different parts of space, restoring or renovating old buildings. In flashbacks, we watch her fall in love with a girl — and become tragically separated from her — back in 9th grade.

This book isn’t just a beautiful story, but also beautifully rendered. I read it over the course of a Sunday afternoon and loved every second. Mia and all her friends — all women and nonbinary people, by the way, no cis men in this book (or seemingly this universe?) — will just burrow into your heart and stay there.

If you’re looking for an escape into an uplifting story, grab a copy of this one.

Content Warnings

frantic_vampire's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny 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

This is one of those books that will stick with you long after you’ve finished it. It’s like a Studio Ghibli movie mixed with a space western. And I’m absolutely in love with it.

I loved that this is a love story, an adventure story, and above all else it’s the story of a found family. I also loved that the characters are flawed and have their issues, but that doesn’t stop them from loving each other and sticking up for each other. Especially against homophobes and transphobes. Elliot deserves all of the hugs in the world! Mia and Grace, Elliot and Jules, Alma and Char, all of them are just so amazing and I would love to see more of them.

On a Sunbeam is a truly immersive reading experience. I could almost see this book playing out as a movie while I was reading. I want to be wrapped up in the pages of this story forever. I’m just flabbergasted by the writing and the way that the images completely captured my attention. On a Sunbeam is getting a solid five stars. And you should definitely read it!

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anniefwrites's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this. I absolutely love Tillie Walden’s art style, and those intricate details and sweeping scenery were so well-suited to a space story. I’m not usually a sci-fi fan, but the characters’ emotional journeys were at the heart of the story and we’re so well captured. A really beautiful graphic novel in many ways.

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lilly_anne's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

Content Warnings

jessie_h's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

4.5

The illustrations in this graphic novel are beautiful! I really appreciated that this was a space opera graphic novel because I don't come across them very often outside of Saga. The story grabbed my attention from the start and I soon fell in love with Mia and her found family! The story is told in two timelines which was confusing at first as the characters don't look that different despite there being years between the two timelines. One timeline is about Mia falling in love and losing that love and the second is about her searching for her lost love. I absolutely adored the found family aspect of each timeline and that this graphic novel was delightfully queer! It had sapphic rep and nonbinary rep. In fact, I don't recall there being any male characters on the page. I thoroughly enjoyed this and can't wait to reread it so I can pick up on some of the details I missed on my first go through.

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humanmessofaperson's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

Fantastic, masterful, and simply wonderful.

Content Warnings

baponthecob's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious 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

There is absolutely nothing I would change about this book. The art is gorgeous. I fell in love with all the characters and their friendship and relationships. Elliot is the nonbinary icon I needed to see. Everyone is queer. Enough said.

Content Warnings