Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

121 reviews

readingpicnic's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

What an incredible book! I was so nervous to read this for a while since it's sci-fi, but that's honestly not the genre of most of the story, so it wasn't hard to understand at all. The writing was incredible, the story had a very satisfying conclusion, and I loved the use of many different perspectives throughout the story, even if we didn't get to stick with some of them too often. I do wish that I had gotten to read more of Tamiko's perspective since she was very interesting and was set up as if she was going to play a major part in the plot, but that kind of fizzled out until the very end of the book when she was briefly mentioned by another character. I would have liked to stick with her perspective a little more because her obsession with Shizuka and creepy way of thinking about her was really attention-grabbing. I also wish I had gotten more of Markus' story, as I found myself questioning why he was in the story at all if he was going to be

put in a stasis and never return as a character. I wish I understood his actions and motivations a bit more before he vanished from the book. I understand that he gave more context on the Empire and the EndPlague, but his character seemed to be very expendable to the story other than that.

I really liked the trans rep in this story with Katrina, and I especially liked how she discussed transition with Shirley in her decision to not alter her body, as well as how she came to love her visibly trans body as the story went on. It didn't emphasize medical transition as necessary to being a trans woman or being trans at all, and I liked how it challenged Shirley's way of thinking of transness, even if she was trying to be helpful. I loved Katrina so much though, and she was definitely my favorite character that I was always rooting for. Shizuka is a little questionable with her actions to me, so I'm still not sure how I feel about her...but she's a complex character for sure and meant to invoke that reaction from the reader, I suppose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs

ananthousflorist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts

fionamclary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-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

You wouldn't think that the three storylines of this book would come together well, but Ryka Aoki has meshed them so beautifully. This book is so full of joy and hope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Bullying

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Dysphoria, and Homophobia

Minor: Self harm, Outing, War, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, and Pandemic/Epidemic

doodlesdistractions's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

I am still processing but I am so in love with this book!!! I cannot put it into words that do it justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, War, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia and Deadnaming

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Transphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

gabr7ellereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Misogyny, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Racism, Rape, Transphobia, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Bullying

domtheknight's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-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

This book was slow and thoughtful in pace, and I read it quite slowly as a result.  The narration was beautiful, sometimes kind of understated.  The descriptions of music were perfect (I am not a violinist but other types of music I do).  Also, the donuts.  I loved the different characters, all the varieties of women.  As the plot was unfolding and intertwining I really hoped the ending would go pretty much where it did, and I was delighted to read it.

There's some heavy stuff in this book, in some ways these events didn't feel as upsetting as they might have in a more brutal narrative style.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Dysphoria

There's 1 prominent trans character; she is abused by her parent, and escapes from that house as a teenager. She is raped by a friend, and pushed into doing some sex work, which she doesn't enjoy and wouldn't consent to if not desperate for funds. She experiences ongoing transphobic "jokes" and comments. None of these actions are from the other major heroine/hero characters. There's murder on page from a moderate character, and self harm. Those are separate from the trans character, although multiple characters have suicidal ideation to varying degrees.

ashlee2319's review against another edition

It's hard to follow, weird page breaks and formatting indicating POV changes. Some significant points were written in a very insignificant way. There's a huge amount of text about violens and food, but the story line was lacking. There's a lot of missed opportunities to expand on the story and I just got tired of trying to make it work. I didn't feel like taking the time to finish it when I have others on my tbr shelf to enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Transphobia, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

buttercat42's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I wanted to like this book sooo much more than I did! I finished it because the story was really compelling and I wanted to know what happened, but the writing was very much not my thing. It felt like watching a movie with my eyes closed, it seemed like there was so much information missing. Instead of being immersed in the story, I felt like the author was giving a long, drawn out description of a TV show she had watched. The first half went really fast, which was fine, but the second half really dragged and I think the author was trying to do too much, to the detriment of every part of the story. Ultimately I think this would have made a much better animated TV show than novel. The story was wonderful, truly, but I just can’t recommend the book in good faith because of the writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Bullying, Physical abuse, Deadnaming, Self harm, and Transphobia