Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

15 reviews

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Death, Classism, Child abuse, Trafficking, War, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Outing, Murder, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Drug use, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, and Alcoholism

kathleencoughlin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

I generally enjoyed Light From Uncommon Stars. It was an interesting and rather stark mix of sci-fi and fantasy. I've rarely seen demons/hell and aliens in the same book which felt a bit dissonant to start, and I still have some questions about specifis there but I didn't find it too distracting.

Katrina is clearly traumatized by the way her family and other people have treated her in the past. It was honestly a bit hard to read at times.

After having spent some time being treated well by Shizuka, it was heartbreaking that Katrina didn't seem to feel betrayed by finding out what she'd been chosen for. She does not expect kindness for free. I hope she gets to go to therapy in the near future.

One of the most interesting and I think underexplored characters to me was Shirley. I find upacking the personhood of AI really fascinating and I think it's important philosophically to consider what makes a person a person.

It's clear Lan didn't fully process her feelings about where Shirley came from couldn't really allow herself to consider Shirley as a full person or truly her daughter. Watching Lan try to reconcile who Shirley actually was with her preconceptions about AI and her sadness about losing the original Shirley was interesting and proves that sometimes, even if you're smart, you need other people to point out what's right under your nose. I wish though, especially as a POV character, that we had seen more of how Lan actually processed that (if she did).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Racism, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Classism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Outing

Minor: Grief, Miscarriage, and War

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Abandonment, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Rape

caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

5.0

This is an incredible story, with meticulously weaved threads of multiple plotlines, endearing and complex characters, a unique mix of genres, fun world-building, and sensory prose that delights equally in food and music. It's part trans girl musician runaway tale, part alien escape and adventure in disguise on earth, part older Asian women sapphic love story, and part Faustian epic about selling your soul for musical success. Its tone is overall joyful and hopeful, despite being very upfront about the transmisogyny Katrina (the young runaway musician) faces. The twists and turns of the plot consistently surprised and delighted me. 

Essentially, it is the story of Katrina Nguyen running away from home to LA. There, she happens to meet Shizuka Satomi, a renowned violin teacher, in a city park. Shizuka has made a deal with the devil long ago to deliver seven souls to Hell. Her six previous students all sold their souls. But time is running out on her contract to deliver the last soul. Enter Katrina. But also: enter Lan Tran, who appears to be a mere "donut lady" at a family-run donut shop but is actually an alien and captain of a ship that escaped her galaxy's pending doom with her family. Lan and Shizuka have an instant spark. Is it possible for Shizuka and Katrina to escape damnation and for these two lovebirds to live happily ever after? 

In addition to these three fascinating ladies, there are a lot of wonderful secondary characters, including Shizuka's delightfully unflappable Swiss housekeeper Astrid; a master violin repairwoman Lucia Matea, who has inherited her family's gift with violins despite not being a son; a demon that pops in and out to hurry Shizuka along while gobbling up earth food; and Shirley, Lan's loyal and all too human AI daughter. 

I loved this! Recommended in audiobook format narrated by Cindy Kay. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Misogyny

Moderate: Miscarriage

kristanura's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Self harm and Miscarriage