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raybudbury's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Be aware of the content warnings.
The transphobia and sexual abuse/assault I would say could be triggering for some ppl. This one is both a warm hug but can also knock the wind out of you which the author did well in setting the mood for those situations.
The concept was so ambitious as there is extensive music and violin knowledge/playing, Faustian bargains, found family, and… aliens. And honestly the author pulls it off for the most part. I do think the strongest bit of this book is the relationships between characters more so then plot etc.
(Also this is a 3 am review so if this makes no sense sorry about it)
The transphobia and sexual abuse/assault I would say could be triggering for some ppl. This one is both a warm hug but can also knock the wind out of you which the author did well in setting the mood for those situations.
The concept was so ambitious as there is extensive music and violin knowledge/playing, Faustian bargains, found family, and… aliens. And honestly the author pulls it off for the most part. I do think the strongest bit of this book is the relationships between characters more so then plot etc.
(Also this is a 3 am review so if this makes no sense sorry about it)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Classism, Bullying, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Rape, and Body shaming
invertedsquares's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
I wasn't ready for this book, but I can see some people loving it. Parts were very good, cute and fun and insightful and interesting, but so much of the book was sadness and violence and transphobia which I found hard to bear. Read the trigger warnings!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Racial slurs, Body shaming, Transphobia, Racism, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Classism, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
monstrouscosmos's review
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Characters: 9/10
Relationships: 8/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 10/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 9/10
Internal Logic: 8/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Overall: 62/70, 4.5*
sometimes a family is 2 parents, 2 kids, and a household pet. sometimes a family is a transgender runaway, The Queen of Hell and her living companion Oki, and a group of intergalactic refugees-turned-donut shop proprieters.
I think my biggest issue with the book boils down to the pacing. with 3 primary interconnecting storylines and 1-2 secondary storylines it definitely felt like none actually got the thematic exploration they deserved. specifically I would have loved to see more about the violin shop! this was also the most triggering read I've ever finished. while not necessarily a detriment never feeling like I knew when things would get very heavy very quickly definitely made it difficult to enjoy some of the more sweet and lighthearted moments.
the pros are many though. I actually appreciated the quick POV changes, they were challenging but gave a depth of understanding I appreciated. the LARGE number of neurodivergent-coded characters was also great, love to see a group of people with highly specialized interests who just want to info dump to one another. some of the character beats felt unrealistic at first, but I was quickly able to suspend disbelief when considering some of the sociocultural experiences of the characters (and, again, just coding all the characters as being neurodivergent in some way). given how explicit the writing is in other ways I would have preferred seeing more explanation of how and why characters other than Kristina react the ways they do in-the-moment, but the context clues and overarching pattern of experience was definitely there for me.
Relationships: 8/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 10/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 9/10
Internal Logic: 8/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Overall: 62/70, 4.5*
sometimes a family is 2 parents, 2 kids, and a household pet. sometimes a family is a transgender runaway, The Queen of Hell and her living companion Oki, and a group of intergalactic refugees-turned-donut shop proprieters.
I think my biggest issue with the book boils down to the pacing. with 3 primary interconnecting storylines and 1-2 secondary storylines it definitely felt like none actually got the thematic exploration they deserved. specifically I would have loved to see more about the violin shop! this was also the most triggering read I've ever finished. while not necessarily a detriment never feeling like I knew when things would get very heavy very quickly definitely made it difficult to enjoy some of the more sweet and lighthearted moments.
the pros are many though. I actually appreciated the quick POV changes, they were challenging but gave a depth of understanding I appreciated. the LARGE number of neurodivergent-coded characters was also great, love to see a group of people with highly specialized interests who just want to info dump to one another. some of the character beats felt unrealistic at first, but I was quickly able to suspend disbelief when considering some of the sociocultural experiences of the characters (and, again, just coding all the characters as being neurodivergent in some way). given how explicit the writing is in other ways I would have preferred seeing more explanation of how and why characters other than Kristina react the ways they do in-the-moment, but the context clues and overarching pattern of experience was definitely there for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Classism, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Racism, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Outing, War, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Rape
rape was on page and fade to black, harassment/violence was on page and explicit, assault covers all 3 so I consider it explicitscmiller's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Transphobia, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, and Gore
pandsomeboi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
“Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking.” That’s how this book was described to me by one of the multiple people who recommended it. I don’t know how this book flew under my radar for a year, but I’m so glad folks made sure I found it! Just read it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Ever. It realistically incapsulates so many different experiences of life as “other;” the pain, the joy, and everything in between.
The best part is that it stands on its own as YA, and as sci-fi, and as fantasy, and as speculative fiction. Still feel weary about trans folks? Well how do you feel about space aliens? Or demons? Or music? Or food? Or immigration? Or coming-of-age stories? There are so many in-roads! It’s an amazing piece of literature. Creative. Well-written. Exciting. Compelling. And emotional! Everything you want.
The best part is that it stands on its own as YA, and as sci-fi, and as fantasy, and as speculative fiction. Still feel weary about trans folks? Well how do you feel about space aliens? Or demons? Or music? Or food? Or immigration? Or coming-of-age stories? There are so many in-roads! It’s an amazing piece of literature. Creative. Well-written. Exciting. Compelling. And emotional! Everything you want.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Abandonment, Body shaming, Classism, Deadnaming, War, Bullying, Outing, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Grief, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
spadedigsbutts's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really really wanted to like this book. Trans coming of age story combined with devil deals, older Sapphic romance, and science fiction magic? Absolutely sounded like my cup of tea, unfortunately the negatives just personally outweighed the positives for me.
On a technical level, the book is a huge mix. Sometimes parts are written in the most lovely way with pretty language and clever witticisms, but other times I am struggling to even understand what some sentences mean and having to reread entire paragraphs over and over. The latter happened more for me than the former unfortunately, and the issue was exacerbated by the fact that about every few paragraphs there is a POV shift, so we rarely spend much time with any one character. As a result, we only have strong characterization for a handful of characters as we ping-pong between the "main" protagonists and multiple secondary characters without much relevance. The back-of-the-book blurb for the novel is a bit misleading, because it would make you think we have three protagonists, but we actually have more like 4 as there is a violin repair woman who gets an entire story arc and multiple chapter appearances, yet only interacts with the main three maybe twice? This leads into another major technical issues, which is if you are not good at remembering names (like me), this will be an awful experience for you. Almost every character introduced, no matter how minor, is often introduced with a full first and last name, and description, implying they will be important and recurring, only for them to drop off the face of the earth. Except when they don't and they reappear several chapters later and you, having by that point been trained to ignore most named characters, you have to flip back to the beginning to remember who that was. For context on how bad it gets with the names, I was live-tweeting my friend about my reading experience and by page 50 about 35-36 individual names had been introduced. If these are the sorts of technical issues that don't bother you as much, definitely dive in, but for me it was personally super distracting.
Speaking on the story of the book, it's hard to really call it a story. It would be easier to call it a slice of life with fantastical elements and characters interacting until the last fourth of the book where more of a plot with the central protagonist, Katarina, comes up and we get some much needed payoff to her and Shizuka's arcs. If there is anything to say about this book, it is that almost everything with Katarina and Shizuka is excellent!! I loved seeing Katarina come into her own and gain confidence under the protection of her strong and loving mentor figure. While the book never once made me believe Shizuka would sacrifice Katarina, the inherent drama of the possibility and what they're willing to do for each other is great! If this book had just been about them and condensed to cut the many many side characters I would have rated it like a 4 minimum. Even if you don't read the whole book, read Katarina's stuff!! It's really good!! Unfortunately the biggest weakness of the book is Shizuka's love interest, the space refuge Lan, who just constantly feels out of place in the book. I wouldn't contribute this lack of cohesion to the fact everything else in the book is mundane or magical and Lan's parts of the story are super sci-fi, as I've seen other books do similar successfully, but that she never quite gets integrated into any one character's life. Even Shizuka, who is Lan's romantic interest, just has entire scenes and arcs going on independent of her to the point I forget Lan exists until she appears. Lan comes with a number of plot points and character arcs that unfortunately just flat out don't get a resolution, like with her son wholiterally murders two people, is put into stasis, and is then never once brought up again. Because there's just so many characters and things going on, Lan just doesn't really get the development she needs and it hurts the book a lot as so many chapters are dedicated to her and her family.
Anyways, if none of these are deal breakers for you, go read it!! Katarina's trans coming-of-age story is really good!! Unfortunately everything surrounding it is just very messy and underwritten and I wish i could have liked it more.
Speaking on the story of the book, it's hard to really call it a story. It would be easier to call it a slice of life with fantastical elements and characters interacting until the last fourth of the book where more of a plot with the central protagonist, Katarina, comes up and we get some much needed payoff to her and Shizuka's arcs. If there is anything to say about this book, it is that almost everything with Katarina and Shizuka is excellent!! I loved seeing Katarina come into her own and gain confidence under the protection of her strong and loving mentor figure. While the book never once made me believe Shizuka would sacrifice Katarina, the inherent drama of the possibility and what they're willing to do for each other is great! If this book had just been about them and condensed to cut the many many side characters I would have rated it like a 4 minimum. Even if you don't read the whole book, read Katarina's stuff!! It's really good!! Unfortunately the biggest weakness of the book is Shizuka's love interest, the space refuge Lan, who just constantly feels out of place in the book. I wouldn't contribute this lack of cohesion to the fact everything else in the book is mundane or magical and Lan's parts of the story are super sci-fi, as I've seen other books do similar successfully, but that she never quite gets integrated into any one character's life. Even Shizuka, who is Lan's romantic interest, just has entire scenes and arcs going on independent of her to the point I forget Lan exists until she appears. Lan comes with a number of plot points and character arcs that unfortunately just flat out don't get a resolution, like with her son who
Anyways, if none of these are deal breakers for you, go read it!! Katarina's trans coming-of-age story is really good!! Unfortunately everything surrounding it is just very messy and underwritten and I wish i could have liked it more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Bullying, Body shaming, Transphobia, and Outing
Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Alcohol, Child death, Deportation, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death, Classism, and Murder
Minor: War and Confinement
This book absolutely digs and then dwells in real-world racism, transphobia, and other bigotries. If you want more of an escapist trans story without real-world bigotries, absolutely put this one down. If you're looking for more cathartic real-world brutal depictions of transphobia, etc. you might like this.clarabooksit's review
emotional
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Outing, Dysphoria, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Bullying, Physical abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: War, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Self harm
eni_iilorak's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Outing, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Murder, Self harm, Bullying, Classism, and Homophobia
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide
riverleafing's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Appreciated the Asian representations and real reps of trans misogyny and challenges.
Unfortunately, lots of different POVs mixing in--although somewhat related acceptance of life matters--ultimately took away any potential depth from everyone else and the BIG topics of Katrina's life.
It felt like characters from different books were interrupting Katrina's with whole "hey, samsies!" bits. e.g. The lutier's POV"sorry I wasn't born a son to carry on daddy's business" and aliens escape from plague feelings of purposelessness/wanting to just be free, live safely, love queerly could have been greatly reduced or entirely deleted and we'd legitimately lose nothing significant. Might have made an interestingly deep and wild Triptych of books, though!
Too many detailed other ppl's stories going on in Katrina's life for the length of book. But good job making it unique (if a little unsubtle): Demons, aliens, and POC human transness
Unfortunately, lots of different POVs mixing in--although somewhat related acceptance of life matters--ultimately took away any potential depth from everyone else and the BIG topics of Katrina's life.
It felt like characters from different books were interrupting Katrina's with whole "hey, samsies!" bits. e.g. The lutier's POV
Too many detailed other ppl's stories going on in Katrina's life for the length of book. But good job making it unique (if a little unsubtle): Demons, aliens, and POC human transness
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dysphoria and Transphobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Sexual content
queersicles's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I love slow paced, slice of life books. Much of what I love about this book is about that. The book describes food with such texture and depth, it feels very comforting to step inside this world where there are clear problems but those are taken just as seriously as the character's meals. I love the relationships between these different women, power dynamics of adult-teenager, cis-trans, human-AI, and parent-outside adult giving perspective on her parenting choices were all explored. It felt like love between women was the main focus of the book. Grappling with the outside pressures of war, immigration, misogyny, racism, transphobia, etc, were battled out. No one woman was saving anyone else, they were grappling with power dynamics and how to listen and respect one anothers autonomy throughout, which was beautiful to see unspool in such a cooky little world where the devil and aliens are running around
That all being said, I felt frustrated by the ending. the end leaves Shizuka (the woman who was selling the souls of her students to hell for her own fame/glory) with a happy ending and a gay relationship which had depth and felt interesting and flawed, but left Katrina with no romantic relationship (which would have been fine) except her getting a Tesla and seemingly carrying on some kind of relationship with a man who literally sexually assaulted her the very first time he met her (he grabs her genitals through her dress in a backstage dressing room with a bunch of people around) which felt just.. like such a betrayal? She starts the book running from her abusive family, escapes and finds a new family to be a part of, but then the end, the book doesn't focus on her growing friendship with an AI named Wendy who I think would have been a more satisfying ending to see how their relationship was developing, and instead ties her to this rich asshole where she is (this is a presumption on my part) still in some way doing sex work in exchange for money/a Tesla from a rich asshole? It just felt like a slap in the face. </Spoiler> that unsatisfying ending detail took a lot away for me, which is why I couldn't give it 5 stars
That all being said, I felt frustrated by the ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Outing, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Physical abuse