Scan barcode
inthebelljar's review
4.0
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway by the publisher.
Probably more like 3.5 stars? Rounded up.
Local Star is a fun sci fi action/romance novella that I just generally enjoyed reading. The action and plot is fast-paced and entertaining and the world-building is impressively vast and interesting. I feel that the middle part got to be a bit rough to get through - not a lot happening, lots of repetition of how (understandably, but still redundantly) upset Triz is about her partner, Casne, being accused of a horrendous war crime and trying to think of ways to prove her innocence - but the start got my attention, and the ending was snappy and well-paced as the story reached the climax.
It was also nice to get to read a novella with queer polyamorous representation, and I loved that the metamours had their own bonding and closeness. I am not polyamorous myself so I don't want to speak as an authority, but one thing that did bother me was this idea that Triz needed her own partner to bring into a quad? At first I thought that this was a result of her own insecurity and unhealthy self-esteem and would be challenged more, but...ultimately it didn't feel as contested as I had hoped? I did really enjoy Triz's interactions and dynamics with Casne's quadfamily and the struggle for her to feel a part of the family, too, despite loving Casne and her quadparents.
I did also wish Nantha, Casne's wife, had more of a presence in the story. She's mentioned several times but only appears once and seems almost forgotten at times? Triz feels guilt over forgetting her at certain points, too, but ultimately I really felt her absence.
I did appreciate that Triz's anti-modding attitude was called out eventually, as I know I got very irritated at first from her reactions - I only wish it went a bit more in-depth, though I'm glad she realized she has some prejudice to work on.
Obviously, I had my few complaints, but I also did really enjoy this novella. It's fun, I enjoyed the character dynamics and sense of found family (for Triz), and the world-building was interesting and well-done. I'd certainly recommend this novella if you're looking for a quick and fun sci fi action/romance read with a queer polyamorous focus.
Probably more like 3.5 stars? Rounded up.
Local Star is a fun sci fi action/romance novella that I just generally enjoyed reading. The action and plot is fast-paced and entertaining and the world-building is impressively vast and interesting. I feel that the middle part got to be a bit rough to get through - not a lot happening, lots of repetition of how (understandably, but still redundantly) upset Triz is about her partner, Casne, being accused of a horrendous war crime and trying to think of ways to prove her innocence - but the start got my attention, and the ending was snappy and well-paced as the story reached the climax.
It was also nice to get to read a novella with queer polyamorous representation, and I loved that the metamours had their own bonding and closeness. I am not polyamorous myself so I don't want to speak as an authority, but one thing that did bother me was this idea that Triz needed her own partner to bring into a quad? At first I thought that this was a result of her own insecurity and unhealthy self-esteem and would be challenged more, but...ultimately it didn't feel as contested as I had hoped?
Spoiler
It's not that I don't think that Triz and Kalo couldn't have gotten back together at the end without implying this, but even Kalo at the end mentions something about how a trio with partners and a diagonal line wouldn't work...? But why not? I've known several polycules in real life where one person dates two people who are metamours and are not romantically involved. I understand if Triz, Casne, and Nantha desire to be a quad, ultimately, but there's nothing wrong with them being a triad in this way....I did also wish Nantha, Casne's wife, had more of a presence in the story. She's mentioned several times but only appears once and seems almost forgotten at times? Triz feels guilt over forgetting her at certain points, too, but ultimately I really felt her absence.
Spoiler
Like Triz feels guilty about not telling Nantha about Casne's arrest before anyone else, but then at the end...did anyone tell her about Casne's trial and proven innocence? The attack on the Hub? There was no mention of her! I kept waiting for them to at least briefly explain they had called her.Obviously, I had my few complaints, but I also did really enjoy this novella. It's fun, I enjoyed the character dynamics and sense of found family (for Triz), and the world-building was interesting and well-done. I'd certainly recommend this novella if you're looking for a quick and fun sci fi action/romance read with a queer polyamorous focus.
achilleanshelves's review against another edition
4.0
Local Star by Aimee Ogden is a wonderful space opera Sci-Fi novel published by Interstellar Flight Press (thank you to them and NetGalley for the ARC!) with gallons of intrigue, sci-fi antics and queerness. The representation is just as fantastic as the fast-paced and joyfully convoluted narrative.
The story primarily follows Triz who is a guttergirl (read: a space-mechanic, of sorts) as she is swept into a scandalous and highly volatile plot. She has a girlfriend named Casne and rekindles her relationship with ex-boyfriend Kalo (who is the most interesting character, in my opinion, and is very fleshed out as the novel progresses), with the three of them forming a polyamorous triad.
Ogden wonderfully explores how polyamorous family units operate through the use of supporting characters and background details, normalising this entirely in a Sci-fi setting. The concepts of quad-families and platonic families are explored in such a great and casual way.
My only complaint with this novel was the depth of the world-building with very little time for the reader to adjust or really learn what anything meant before being given yet more information. The first chapters especially were a little hard to get into due to this and I felt like I had to keep flicking back a few pages as to know what was happening or who was where.
Ultimately, if you love space operas, drama, crime and queer families then this is the perfect book for you!
The story primarily follows Triz who is a guttergirl (read: a space-mechanic, of sorts) as she is swept into a scandalous and highly volatile plot. She has a girlfriend named Casne and rekindles her relationship with ex-boyfriend Kalo (who is the most interesting character, in my opinion, and is very fleshed out as the novel progresses), with the three of them forming a polyamorous triad.
Ogden wonderfully explores how polyamorous family units operate through the use of supporting characters and background details, normalising this entirely in a Sci-fi setting. The concepts of quad-families and platonic families are explored in such a great and casual way.
My only complaint with this novel was the depth of the world-building with very little time for the reader to adjust or really learn what anything meant before being given yet more information. The first chapters especially were a little hard to get into due to this and I felt like I had to keep flicking back a few pages as to know what was happening or who was where.
Ultimately, if you love space operas, drama, crime and queer families then this is the perfect book for you!
mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
Local Star was a decent read, but one that takes too long to get going and tries to do too much for such a short novella. I loved what Aimee Ogden did with queer, polyamorous relationships, even if the focal romance is hetero. The characters never have time to develop, though, making it hard to care about their struggles.
The sci-fi aspects, however, are where the story suffered most for me. There's a lot of introductory world-building that's never really explored, and the space opera potential is never realized. There's some interesting discussion about body modification, but even that's more focused on humanity and ethics than technology.
I feel like there's a solid novel laying beneath Local Star, but the story needs to be twice as long to do it justice.
https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2021/05/scifi-book-review-local-star-by-aimee.html
The sci-fi aspects, however, are where the story suffered most for me. There's a lot of introductory world-building that's never really explored, and the space opera potential is never realized. There's some interesting discussion about body modification, but even that's more focused on humanity and ethics than technology.
I feel like there's a solid novel laying beneath Local Star, but the story needs to be twice as long to do it justice.
https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2021/05/scifi-book-review-local-star-by-aimee.html
areaderamongthestars's review against another edition
4.0
Local Star was such an adorable novella to read, and left a truly big smile on my face.
To be true, the reason why I started it was because SFF books with poly relationships are very few and I couldn’t resist picking up a new one… now I can say that I was definitely not disappointed by it: basically every character has a poly relationship, with three or for characters, and everything is crafted in such a natural way that I couldn’t but adore every moment of it.
The plot is pretty easy and the world-building could have definitely used just a little bit more explanations (there is a glossary at the end, tricky to use if you are reading an ebook), but what was truly marvelous is how well the characters and their relationships were crafted in so few pages: I loved so much Triz, how she learned to deal with her insecurities and to accept the love that was given to her, and to see her interact with Casne and her family was just BEAUTIFUL
To be true, the reason why I started it was because SFF books with poly relationships are very few and I couldn’t resist picking up a new one… now I can say that I was definitely not disappointed by it: basically every character has a poly relationship, with three or for characters, and everything is crafted in such a natural way that I couldn’t but adore every moment of it.
The plot is pretty easy and the world-building could have definitely used just a little bit more explanations (there is a glossary at the end, tricky to use if you are reading an ebook), but what was truly marvelous is how well the characters and their relationships were crafted in so few pages: I loved so much Triz, how she learned to deal with her insecurities and to accept the love that was given to her, and to see her interact with Casne and her family was just BEAUTIFUL
cstenner's review against another edition
3.0
Massive thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Local star is a polyamorous space opera which follows Triz, a guttergirl (spaceship handywoman), her friend Casne and her ex Kalo. When Casne is accused of war crimes, Triz with the help of her ex, Kalo, must do everything she can in an attempt to save her, whilst also saving their Hab which comes under attack from the notorious Cyberbionautic Alliance (ceebees).
I picked this book up because it had polyamorous rep -which honestly is not something you see in books often. I loved how it normalised triads and quadfamilies (a family unit based around a four-person platonic, romantic and/or sexual relationship) as the norm, and it was super refreshing to see how poly relationships can also work in a platonic sense! Further, I adored how non-binary and neopronouns were normalised. For example there's a character which uses E (Spivak) pronouns and one of Casne's parents is referred to as the gender neutral Damu. Overall, fantastic LGBTQIA+ rep.
I really enjoyed the development of the relationship between Triz and Kalo, I really thought you got a sense of who Kalo was, even in such a short time frame! However, the same cannot be said for some of the other characters and relationships... The poly relationship developed by the end of the book just didn't feel right? Triz hardly had any interactions with Nan, and it almost seemed a bit like everyone had forgotten about her? I think this might be an issue with the length of the book, and I truly believe it would have benefited from being around 100 pages longer. Also, the focus on familial relationships, especially with Quelian, Casne's father, was nice to see.
A further issue is the pacing of the book (which again I think is caused by the length of it). I felt that there wasn't enough time focused actually on "main" plot point, and all of the action scenes seemed to be over very quickly, resulting in me just left wanting a little bit more. I also think the novella would have benefited from a bit more explanation of some aspects of the book, such as Triz's reasoning for disliking bodymods (why??) and the backstory of the villain (why are they the way the are? - currently it seems like they're just there for plot reasons).
Finally, the glossary at the end of the book was completely necessary and cleared up a lot of previous questions I had surrounding the new sci-fi world and some of the mechanisms. I just wish it would have been at the beginning of the book (or even mentioned at the beginning, so I knew it existed!)
Overall this book was a super quick & fun read, which I would recommend to all sci-fi fans, especially those who are dreaming of a bit more LGBTQIA+ rep (that's never found in popular sci-fi books unfortunately).
CAWPILE: 6.86 / 10
Blog | Instagram | Twitter
Local star is a polyamorous space opera which follows Triz, a guttergirl (spaceship handywoman), her friend Casne and her ex Kalo. When Casne is accused of war crimes, Triz with the help of her ex, Kalo, must do everything she can in an attempt to save her, whilst also saving their Hab which comes under attack from the notorious Cyberbionautic Alliance (ceebees).
I picked this book up because it had polyamorous rep -which honestly is not something you see in books often. I loved how it normalised triads and quadfamilies (a family unit based around a four-person platonic, romantic and/or sexual relationship) as the norm, and it was super refreshing to see how poly relationships can also work in a platonic sense! Further, I adored how non-binary and neopronouns were normalised. For example there's a character which uses E (Spivak) pronouns and one of Casne's parents is referred to as the gender neutral Damu. Overall, fantastic LGBTQIA+ rep.
I really enjoyed the development of the relationship between Triz and Kalo, I really thought you got a sense of who Kalo was, even in such a short time frame! However, the same cannot be said for some of the other characters and relationships... The poly relationship developed by the end of the book just didn't feel right? Triz hardly had any interactions with Nan, and it almost seemed a bit like everyone had forgotten about her? I think this might be an issue with the length of the book, and I truly believe it would have benefited from being around 100 pages longer. Also, the focus on familial relationships, especially with Quelian, Casne's father, was nice to see.
A further issue is the pacing of the book (which again I think is caused by the length of it). I felt that there wasn't enough time focused actually on "main" plot point, and all of the action scenes seemed to be over very quickly, resulting in me just left wanting a little bit more. I also think the novella would have benefited from a bit more explanation of some aspects of the book, such as Triz's reasoning for disliking bodymods (why??) and the backstory of the villain (why are they the way the are? - currently it seems like they're just there for plot reasons).
Finally, the glossary at the end of the book was completely necessary and cleared up a lot of previous questions I had surrounding the new sci-fi world and some of the mechanisms. I just wish it would have been at the beginning of the book (or even mentioned at the beginning, so I knew it existed!)
Overall this book was a super quick & fun read, which I would recommend to all sci-fi fans, especially those who are dreaming of a bit more LGBTQIA+ rep (that's never found in popular sci-fi books unfortunately).
CAWPILE: 6.86 / 10
Blog | Instagram | Twitter
ripavengers's review against another edition
3.0
I mean maybe more of a 3.5 star rating.
So first off, I love all of the casual rep. This is a universe were most people end up in a polyamorous relationships, usually of 4 people but sometimes 3 or 5 (maybe more but that’s all that was mentioned). It’s almost safe to assume that everyone in this world is queer of some sorts. There was also a bunch of non-binary characters that use neopronouns so that was cool to see.
I mean I understand the basic main plot of the story - sort of girlfriend gets arrested for crime we don’t know if she’s committed or not and main character wants to break her out of prison. But other than that I really did not understand a single thing about this story. You get thrown straight into the world and it’s up to you to consult the glossary at the end to try and figure out what these characters are talking about. Safe to say I was confused about a lot of what was going on.
Lastly the main relationship. I suppose it’s a poly of 4 but it really wasn’t. You have Casne and her wife Nan. Triz is Casne’s best friend and is in the mist of joining their relationship. You have Triz’s ex boyfriend Kalo who was set up with her by Casne in hopes the two of them would join their relationship. So initially we see Casne and Triz being together and then we see Kalo and Triz being awkward exes. And glimpses of Casne and Nan and a slimmer of Triz and Nan and background of Casne and Kalo. But we never actually see the 4 of them being together.
All and all it was an interesting premise and a very well written story, but my interest kind of dwindled as time went on and I kind of expected more. Perhaps if it was a bit longer and we got to learn more about the characters I would have liked it more.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So first off, I love all of the casual rep. This is a universe were most people end up in a polyamorous relationships, usually of 4 people but sometimes 3 or 5 (maybe more but that’s all that was mentioned). It’s almost safe to assume that everyone in this world is queer of some sorts. There was also a bunch of non-binary characters that use neopronouns so that was cool to see.
I mean I understand the basic main plot of the story - sort of girlfriend gets arrested for crime we don’t know if she’s committed or not and main character wants to break her out of prison. But other than that I really did not understand a single thing about this story. You get thrown straight into the world and it’s up to you to consult the glossary at the end to try and figure out what these characters are talking about. Safe to say I was confused about a lot of what was going on.
Lastly the main relationship. I suppose it’s a poly of 4 but it really wasn’t. You have Casne and her wife Nan. Triz is Casne’s best friend and is in the mist of joining their relationship. You have Triz’s ex boyfriend Kalo who was set up with her by Casne in hopes the two of them would join their relationship. So initially we see Casne and Triz being together and then we see Kalo and Triz being awkward exes. And glimpses of Casne and Nan and a slimmer of Triz and Nan and background of Casne and Kalo. But we never actually see the 4 of them being together.
All and all it was an interesting premise and a very well written story, but my interest kind of dwindled as time went on and I kind of expected more. Perhaps if it was a bit longer and we got to learn more about the characters I would have liked it more.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
jugglingpup's review against another edition
2.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
I got excited. I saw polyamorous and space opera (and people tagged it as queer). So I needed this book. I thought it was a graphic novel based on the cover, but it was not. That was a bit of an adjustment.
The story itself moves pretty fast. It is the basic sci-fi plot of wrongly accused, the enemy really did it sort of thing. There really is no doubts that the accused didn’t do it, I don’t feel like I have spoiled anything by saying these things. There was a lot of talk of ships and hub systems, basic generic sci-fi stuff. I didn’t even really get why this was labeled as space opera. There was nothing that was space opera to me.
The only thing that made this stand out was the polyam portion. The polyam portion read as so flat though. I wanted to care about the polycules, but I just didn’t. There were a lot of names at once and a lot of red flags. Why was the MC so insistant that she needed another partner and that no one liked her? It was so, so basic polyam problems that I was annoyed. I wanted more.
It gets worse though, the book was tagged as queer. I thought this meant I would get queer romance, but nope. The main romance that was happening on page was m/f. I lost interest real fast. It was great to have a bi/pan/omni/poly MC, but I am also really annoyed that I had to sit through what I thought was going to be a cute queer space opera for something that could have easily been read as straight basic sci-fi.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. I had to force myself to read and it was sometimes just a page at a time. It was not the book I had imagined and it was not a book I really enjoyed. It wasn’t bad, but it was not for me. I am sort of relieved to be done with it. I was getting really grumpy about little details.
I got an ARC of this book.
I got excited. I saw polyamorous and space opera (and people tagged it as queer). So I needed this book. I thought it was a graphic novel based on the cover, but it was not. That was a bit of an adjustment.
The story itself moves pretty fast. It is the basic sci-fi plot of wrongly accused, the enemy really did it sort of thing. There really is no doubts that the accused didn’t do it, I don’t feel like I have spoiled anything by saying these things. There was a lot of talk of ships and hub systems, basic generic sci-fi stuff. I didn’t even really get why this was labeled as space opera. There was nothing that was space opera to me.
The only thing that made this stand out was the polyam portion. The polyam portion read as so flat though. I wanted to care about the polycules, but I just didn’t. There were a lot of names at once and a lot of red flags. Why was the MC so insistant that she needed another partner and that no one liked her? It was so, so basic polyam problems that I was annoyed. I wanted more.
It gets worse though, the book was tagged as queer. I thought this meant I would get queer romance, but nope. The main romance that was happening on page was m/f. I lost interest real fast. It was great to have a bi/pan/omni/poly MC, but I am also really annoyed that I had to sit through what I thought was going to be a cute queer space opera for something that could have easily been read as straight basic sci-fi.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. I had to force myself to read and it was sometimes just a page at a time. It was not the book I had imagined and it was not a book I really enjoyed. It wasn’t bad, but it was not for me. I am sort of relieved to be done with it. I was getting really grumpy about little details.
emilygaynier's review against another edition
4.0
This was pretty dang good
I think the cover is nice, but not a good fit for this book
Read Infinity and Beyond: Upside down - Pick a book where gravity is weird
I think the cover is nice, but not a good fit for this book
Read Infinity and Beyond: Upside down - Pick a book where gravity is weird
althea's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first book by Aimee Ogden and it certainly won't be my last! Local Star follows Triz who, at the start of the novella, is witness to her partner being dragged off by justice officials to stand trial for war crimes, but her partner is adamant that she didn't commit these crimes. What intrigued me about this book was the fact that it's sci-fi that focusses around a polyamorous triad and, although I don't read a lot of sci-fi, I was definitely not disappointed! Triz grew up having nothing and although she was taken in by her partner's family, she still feels very much on the outside of their dynamic. She's a mechanic on the hub that she calls home and I loved how much detail was shown about her work. The interpersonal relationships were also done really well, between Triz and her partner Casne, Triz and her ex Kalo, Triz and Casne's family, and all the side characters, too! For being such a short book, so much was packed into the 170-odd pages and it really felt like the perfect length! I also adored how normal polyamorous relationships and families, as well as the frequent use of neopronouns, are in this book - it was such a joy to read!
My only reason for taking a star off the rating is that I felt, particularly at the start but also throughout the entire book, that I was missing so much background information. Although I said that the book is the perfect length, I wouldn't have been mad if there was more explanation of the 'jargon' used throughout. Though there is a glossary of sorts at the end of the book that explains these words, I read the book on my Kindle and really was not aware of it being there until I had finished, so I would have much preferred that the information be developed throughout the prose. All in all, though, I highly recommend this novella!
Thanks to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an eARC in return for an honest review!
My only reason for taking a star off the rating is that I felt, particularly at the start but also throughout the entire book, that I was missing so much background information. Although I said that the book is the perfect length, I wouldn't have been mad if there was more explanation of the 'jargon' used throughout. Though there is a glossary of sorts at the end of the book that explains these words, I read the book on my Kindle and really was not aware of it being there until I had finished, so I would have much preferred that the information be developed throughout the prose. All in all, though, I highly recommend this novella!
Thanks to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an eARC in return for an honest review!