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jamiemamie's review against another edition
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
5.0
Good Omens meets Becky Chambers meets Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I loved this book so much. I wish I kept count of how many times I said “this book is so good” out loud. It’s a little bit sci-fi, a little bit fantasy (in the “demons are real” way), and a lot a bit something all its own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Transphobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: War and Injury/Injury detail
annabella's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was fun and I feel has such good trans representation. The book made me want to play music again, it was inspiring in that way. I thought it was a nice balance of the main protagonist with the queen of hell’s own story but also kinda ensemble with the doughnut lady, Shirley, etc. I unfortunately dropped off in the last half hour or so but I liked the sense of adventure. And the ‘weird’ off the beaten track places for ‘weird’ people and instruments is nice. Though I’m confused bc I wasn’t listening properly about how it ended for Lucia. I definitely felt the first half of the book where it established characters but you didn’t quite know what ea h person’s motivations were was the strongest bit. I liked how the author wrote to make us very empathetic towards Mrs Satomi and the boundaries of good vs evil were blurred and in fact not even existent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Transphobia
tinysierra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Tomorrow is tomorrow. Over there is over there. And here and now is not a bad place and time to be, especially when so much of the unknown is beautiful. (pg 186)
Light from Uncommon Stars was both mundane and magical. It was like an episode of Doctor Who or Good Omens. It was bizarre.
Maybe this is silly but I don’t get why specific car types were mentioned more than once? I don’t see how those details were central to the story, besides what car Shazuki drives 😂 but I’m not a car person so idk
CW: sexual assault, transphobia (deadnaming, death threats, misgendering, sexual harassment, etc), physical abuse, homophobia, racism, sex work
This is the song of a queer kid who escapes from a window to a sidewalk in the middle of the night. This is the song of a trans girl just wanting a fucking bathroom in the middle of the day.
So what if you don't understand? So what if you think I'm a half-woman freak.
This is my song. My voice. My voice leads. (pg 338)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Deadnaming
Moderate: Murder and Self harm
Minor: Miscarriage and Sexual content
danimal_crackers's review against another edition
Beautiful, but bizarre. Found the homeless storyline and resortion to prostitution haunting and triggering. No disrespect to the author, this is an amazing piece of fiction, it just is not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Transphobia, and Domestic abuse
mjwhitlock18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
You know it’s gay when she compared another woman’s eyes to a starry sky. This story is complex, eccentric, and honestly confusing at times. It is soft, but also brutally honest. It follows a trans runaway violinist, her lesbian soul-stealing violin teacher, and a retired alien space captain/mother running a donut shop. It is ultimately about found family and carving out your place in the world. Occasionally there is shocking tonal dissonance and I had to take a break, but overall so unique and entertaining.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, and Transphobia
Moderate: Deadnaming
miss_vonnegut's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
This book was so interesting! It was definitely different than anything I've read before--filled with aliens and doughnuts and beautiful descriptions of violin music. I kept thinking about the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" when I was reading it. I love seeing more trans representation, and the way Aoki did it was fantastic. Warning: the trans character experiences transphobia, abuse, and deadnaming but (minor spoiler): she gets a happy ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Racism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Violence, War, and Racial slurs
The trans character experiences a lot of transphobia and abuse, butreadingpicnic'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.
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
eadonn's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault
za_'s review against another edition
medium-paced
3.75
You met there women - a teenager who runs away from home, but naturally talented violinist, a lady who owns a donut shop and the queen of hell, highly regarded violin teacher, who has trader her soul to this devil guy in order to play violin again, after damning 7 souls.
The transgender teenager is supposed to be the seventh soul, but she can't bring herself to make the trade. Instead the QoH, with the help of the Donut lady - trick the devil. The Donut lady happens to be from outterspace. When the QoH won't give up the teenager, they trick the devil into accepting the QoH's soul instead, but then get on a space ship and outrun the devil - because really he only has control of the people on earth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
Minor: Sexual assault
luisaroesch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Rape, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Death, Outing, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Racial slurs