Reviews

A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong

tessadehart's review

5.0

TW: this book touches on a lot of difficult topics happening in these girls’ lives including self harm, an adult manipulating a girl into a relationship, domestic violence, underage drinking and smoking. There are also references to eating disorders and drug use.

This graphic novel is so powerful. Sloane Leong tells a beautiful story about learning to open up to friendship even while dealing with the messiness and difficulties of life. Set in middle and early high school, the story follows Ren as she reconnects with an old friend and helps build the girl’s basketball team. Every girl on the team has struggles they are dealing with and all must learn to lean on their teammates on the court and in life.

Not to mention, the artwork is beautiful!! The basketball scenes are so fun and have such great movement to them. The color choices inform the mood and scene changes perfectly!

I highly highly recommend this book!! I will definitely be re-reading. I wish I had this story when I was in middle school, it feels so real and is so encouraging in the face of struggles.

breezrose's review

4.0

Spoiler

I received an advance copy of this from NetGalley and First Second for an honest review. A Map to the Sun follows the lives and friendships of five high school girls as they navigate the bumps of adolescence and join a new basketball team at their school. The story opens with the birth of Ren and Luna’s captivating friendship that is interrupted when Luna suddenly moves away and falls out of touch. From the first panels, basketball is introduced as the running theme that brings Ren and Luna together, keeps Ren grounded, and brings the five girls together when an optimistic teacher at school starts a girl’s team despite a lack of funding and support.

The challenges each girl faces in their own lives were complex and heavy but believable. None of their story lines resolve fully, which I appreciated as that isn’t how life is. The final emphasis was on the friendships that were developed and the personal growth Ren experiences over the course of the story. The use of color was fantastic, each page was beautiful.

There were several points in the dialogue that didn’t sound realistic as a teen voice which pulled me out of the story from time to time. I also thought that Jetta’s secret relationship and breakup with the teacher was rushed and brushed off once it was over (1-2 pages that revealed the relationship and one page for the breakup). I think if that kind of situation is going to be portrayed in YA content it should be done with care. It certainly wasn’t endorsed by the other characters who knew about it, but it was handled as if she broke up with someone her own age. Once all of the main characters were introduced the story moved between them all, so I can understand if there wasn’t time to go into more depth with each of them, but in that case I think a student teacher relationship should be omitted.

piepatch's review

emotional inspiring reflective fast-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

4.5

booklover160's review

3.0

A complicated graphic novel about a diverse group of girls making their way in their freshman year of high school. They're somewhat coerced into joining the basketball team and learn how to lean on one another.

I thought the color pallet while super cool was distracting. The plot isn't super linear so it jumps all over the place. And the challenges these girls faced were monumental. But they stuck through and I did like the character growth.

catsteaandabook's review

3.0

This was an interesting read. Some of the art I wasn’t a big fan of but some pages were absolutely stunning. It’s a slice of life coming of age book so of course there were lots of parts that were frustrating to read because they’re young teenagers making bad decisions and not knowing how to talk to people, but it did have a sweet found family element too. Ultimately I think this book was well done but not really for me. Also, side note, I recommend checking trigger warnings for this book before reading it because there was one moment in particular that was difficult for me and there are others that I’m sure would be difficult for others.

rafacolog's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Self harm, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

flowerwineandbooks's review

4.0

Absolutely loved this group of young women. So many issues presented through their unique lives. I loved how, as the last phrase of the novel mentions, they are all their own sun in their own orbits. The main focus was on Ren, the narrator, but all of the teammates had their own full stories too. Plus, the art and especially the color scheme, is stunning!

thisisstephenbetts's review

4.0

4.5* I enjoyed this a lot. Very beautiful palette. Really well-defined, believable characters. Interplay of the games of the fledgling women's basketball and the off-court relationships was very well done. Recommended.

mcgildey's review

emotional medium-paced

3.5

sophmcgraw's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-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

4.75