Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - L'Incivilité des fantômes

- lgbtqiap+, adult, sci-fi, dystopian, space gays, horror, makes you go ✨science ✨, ghosts, drifting through space, DIVERSE,
- f|f
-rep: black intersex neurodivergent nonbinary woman mc, nonbinary woman sc (see author’s twitter thread), aroace sc and a casting of racially diverse and queer characters

if i had to say anything about this book, then it would be:
’talented. brilliant. incredible. amazing. showstopping. spectacular. never the same. TOTALLY UNIQUE. completely not ever been done before.’
this. this is my review!!!

-cw: surgery, medical content, needles, transphobia, misgendering, alcohol, death of parent, systematic violence, illness, off-page and on-page suicide, brief mention of cancer, implied child sexual abuse, body horror, injury/injury detail, self harm, abortion, physical abuse, intake of bodily fluids, child death, fire, suicide, torture, confinement, police brutality, minor sexual content

Content Warnings

lolajh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

A black autistic intersex nonbinary lesbian main character, Aster, in space! Aster’s childhood best friend is Giselle, whose character arc was heartbreaking and traumatic and so raw and real that she and Aster became my favourite characters. Giselle had some minor chapters in her point of view that I wish we got more of because of how interesting of a character she was.

There was also kind of a lead up to what I thought would be a romance or attraction between both Aster and Giselle which didn’t happen, but was understandable due to Giselle’s mental state at the time. Instead Aster romances with Theo, the space ship’s surgeon, who I always saw as more of a parental figure to Aster than a romance, but it developed anyway. Both Theo and Aster are genderqueer; Rivers described online as Aster being nonbinary and Theo a trans woman, which was nice to see and I still very much liked Theo’s character and their experiences and discussions of gender, HOWEVER, there was a sex scene between Aster and Theo in which Aster asks for them to not penetrate her but also not saying what they could do, but Theo goes down on her anyway. So I think there was a mistranslation of proper consent being done here, which is what let down Theo’s character for me, especially after Aster had already had experiences with sexual assault and rape, it really surprised me that Theo would not be so caring and thorough to ask consent of her properly before doing anything. Before that happened as well they do kiss her face and lips without Aster’s consent, dominating over her and overall it seeming like an unbalanced power dynamic that shouldn’t have happened and then Aster continuing to romance them afterwards.

Throughout the story Aster uncovers the mysteries of her mother’s death and the blackouts occurring currently on the ship all whilst dealing with trauma and systemic racism and standing up to it more than anyone had done before. Aster is such a strong and admirable character and I loved her progressions of exploring her gender. Will be visiting more of Rivers’ books.

Content Warnings

multiplyoctopi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

marioncromb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

A good book but I didn't really vibe with it, it was just so bleak, understandably so but it was kinda unrelenting. It was refreshing to have a neurodivergent/autistic main character.

Content Warnings