Scan barcode
happily_undignified's review
4.0
⠀
Mark Oshiro, Into The Light⠀
⠀
Into The Light by Mark Oshiro was a heavy book with a slightly supernatural twist that included difficult themes like religious cults, abuse of foster care children, homelessness, and conversion camps. ⠀
⠀
Main character Manny is a jaded, queer, teen who is running from his past but also wants to confront it to try to save his sister from the evil people who have brainwashed her. The story follows his haphazard journey down the California coast as he comes to terms with his trauma and learns to trust the people who come alongside him to help. ⠀
⠀
I enjoyed the first person narration and Manny's cynical yet hopeful personality. The religious trauma was hard to read through but I found it incredibly authentic. This is a remarkable story with an autobiographical feel and I loved the supernatural twist.
Moderate: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Grief, Homophobia, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Racism
citrus_seasalt's review
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Abortion
imstephtacular's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, and Cursing
Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Bullying, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Homophobia, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Blood
Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and War
mellowreading's review
- 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
4.0
-I really liked this book until like 350 pages in. I liked the characters, I liked the themes and real-world commentary explored. I’m a sucker for anything found-family. I had a hard time putting it down, and felt it was really well paced. I was very engaged and on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things turned out
And then the twist happened
I still really liked the book, but the twist was a bit too far out of left field for me. It went from a thriller/drama to a sci fi/horror super quick? With no build up? And all of the characters just. Accepted it. The randomness and unbelievability of it + the unfazed reaction of the characters really soured it for me. I don’t even necessarily think this book would’ve needed a twist - the anticipation of finding the body was nail-biting enough alone. I think Oshiro was going for shocking and accidentally fell into the realm of ridiculous/unbelievable. I think that the book, with its themes of the foster system and religious trauma, would’ve been more impactful had it NOT been for the twist. The end of the book also felt a bit rushed to me in comparison with the rest, because the weird new plot point needed to be explained and addressed as quickly as possible for the conclusion. There were also a couple of plot points (Carlos’ adoption and just. Rakeem.) that seemed resolved extremely conveniently and frankly just didn’t make sense (I did read an ARC copy though, so maybe this was resolved in the final!). TLDR; a plot twist being shocking and completely unpredictable doesn’t necessarily make it good.
Despite all of my problems with the ending of this book, I still really enjoyed the majority of my time with it and it helped me get out of a reading slump. A book that I couldn’t put down.
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Violence, Mental illness, Confinement, Child abuse, Racism, Child death, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Abortion, Incest, Pedophilia, and Body horror
mothumn's review against another edition
3.5
by Mark Oshiro
YA, contemporary, thriller
Thank you Tor Teen for the arc copy in return for my honest review.
Into the Light follows Manny, a homeless queer teen who has spent his entire life in and out of foster homes and group homes. His whole life he has only ever had one thing that stuck with him, his sister Elena, until a year earlier when they were separated and now Manny is on a mission to find his sister. Throughout the book you slowly unravel the mystery of how they were separated and where she might be now, if she is even alive.
For a YA book, it did not shy away from difficult topics, Into the Light explores teen homelessness, the flawed foster and adoption systems, racism, homophobia, religious trauma, how religion is often used to manipulate the vulnerable, among just a few. These issues affect young people but I rarely or never read them in YA and I felt that the author did a good job of touching on them.
I liked the book, I thought it did a good job of exploring the themes and slowly revealing the mystery. Until the last 100 or so pages however, the twist felt like it came out of nowhere, changing the genre of the book completely, and was in my opinion kind of confusing as to what actually happened. There was practically no build up prior to the twist or foreshadowing. Aside from the ending though, I thought it was a good YA book with a bit of a mystery side plot but ultimately was a queer coming of age that I think a lot of young adult readers would really benefit from reading.
Also! I want to bring up another thing, it does kind of spoil a relationship, but there’s a scene where two of the characters get together, both of whom are minors so I don’t know, but reading it just felt kind of uncomfortable. It’s very brief but it didn’t feel necessary and for a YA book, it could have just cut to black. It’s a normal thing for teens to be getting together but in my opinion it just didn’t need to be described in a book. It just felt weird but I don’t know, it’s up to your decision I guess.
Graphic: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Pedophilia, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
obscurepages's review
- 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
Also, I have to commend Mark Oshiro once again. If there's one thing they can do, it's to pull you in with masterful storytelling and riveting perspectives. This book did just that and more.
Full review on my blog soon.
CW: religious bigotry, religious abuse, conversion therapy camps, techniques and forms of conversion therapy, parental abuse (especially from adoptive parents), predatory adults, mentions of sexual assault/harassment, homophobia
Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Minor: Racism
conversion therapy camp, techniques in conversion therapy