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shugentobler'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Sexual assault
meganpbell's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing
novella42's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
I feel like CL Polk wrote the other books in order to get to the story she really wanted to tell: the revolution. I think that's where Polk's heart has been this whole time, and while they want their characters to be well-rounded, while they want to balance mystery with romance, at the core their story focuses on what it takes for people to transform a nation and reckon with the ghosts of their past. I think the mystery and romance aspects of the story aren't as well-rounded as they could be sometimes, but the elements that she did include felt good and real to me. (I'm taking away a half star for that, partly because I kept coming out of the story when I expected Robin to orient herself towards her love interest and she just... sort of dissociated right back into the work she had to do. It was understandable, and it was addressed in the book with a delightful example of healthy communication, and... I guess I should redirect my frustration at the book cover since it builds expectations for a romance when it's more of a political urban fantasy with some romantic elements.) As I said, the mystery and romance elements were good when they took center stage, it's just that these were eclipsed by the greater love story of revolution—the work we do for people we care about because we want a more just world for them.
This might be a bit of a tangent, but I feel like the progression of this series, particularly the last two books, would be especially satisfying for an Enneagram 1. Or for any person who cares very deeply about what it means to be a good person, and how we all struggle with right and wrong, and the story of convincing others and making an imperfect world a better place for us all.
(Also, hooray, respectful representation for BIPOC, queer, gender non-conforming, and polyamorous characters!)
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Genocide, Homophobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, and War
There was no antisemitism or ableism in this book, but if you struggle with themes related to the Holocaust or the forced institutionalization of people with disabilities...therainbowshelf's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Racism and Sexual violence
Minor: Pregnancy
Toxic parent, execution by hangingclarabooksit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Rape and War
purplepenning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Classism
Moderate: Biphobia, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Genocide, Homophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Rape, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
Robin’s arc is very different from those of Miles and Grace. Miles’s story is one of running away from power, of refusing to be used. Grace had to figure out what to do with power once she knew what it had cost. Robin is stepping up to accept power, trying to balance between new responsibilities and prior commitments. She’s bonded with her community, paying attention to their needs and trying to get the ruling class to listen. As busy as she is on the page, it conveys the impression that she’s even busier between scenes, every moment full of frenetic drive and concern that unless things materially change for the common people then the small steps won’t be much better than nothing at all.
There’s a major character, Zelind, who appears here for the first time, having been imprisoned in one of the asylums for the last twenty years. I love kher place in the narrative, khe has a sub plot which revolves around kher and becomes very important later in the book. The dynamic between the two of them is understandably strained, as the intervening decades and trauma has shaped them into different people from who they were, and they have to figure out what’s left and what they want now that they’ve been reconnected.
This wraps up a major thing which was left hanging at the end of WITCHMARK, developed but not solved in STORMSONG, and now finally addressed in a really great way in SOULSTAR. There's a few major storylines which begin here and weren't present previously, with a very major thing that's both introduced and resolved here. It is the last book in the series and feels very finished. The world has room for more stories in it, but there's a definite arc that has reached its conclusion, and a minimum of hanging threads. The main thing left is I'd love to see these characters thriving in the background of even more stories, but overall I'm satisfied by what's here. The main character is Robin Thorpe, who was a secondary character in the first two books (moreso in WITCHMARK than STORMSONG), and her narration is very distinct from the other two. One way that I noticed this is as a narrator she refuses to treat whiteness as a default, where the narrators of the other two books didn't comment on race at all. It's a subtle thing that fits the backgrounds and biases of the three narrators in the series and is just one example of the way they prioritize completely different things from each other.
This might make sense if someone started here and didn't know about the rest of the series. The main plot is pretty self-contained since Robin wasn't really involved in how things got to be this way (specifically but not only with regards to the aether crisis), so her perspective would likely help pull a new reader into the story. As always, this is the third book of a trilogy and I do recommend starting with the first book rather than beginning here.
I love SOULSTAR, on its own and as a strong ending to a great trilogy.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, and Medical content
breekeeler's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
At times, I found it difficult to grasp character motivations. This was particularly true when it came to peripheral characters in this book whose behaviour was essential to driving the plot. Severin seemed to become a plot convenience, his behaviour was not wholly out of character but not entirely believable either. Grace and Miles both dropped in and out of the story, often with flimsy excuses for why they weren’t present or didn’t act. I often felt we could have arrived at the same plot points without undermining characters that we had come to know and love in earlier books. The day to day politics also persisted in this story, albeit from a very different viewpoint, which just isn’t my personal favourite plot.
Good fun though, and a satisfying ending to the series.
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury
maryellen's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
mar's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death and Police brutality
Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
Minor: Blood