Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

18 reviews

alice_persephone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Sexual content, Bullying, Dysphoria, Racism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, and Outing

ash_ton's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Fr should have read the content warnings for this because some of this stuff kinda bothered me, and normally reading things doesn't affect me that much. I guess it's kind of on me because obviously I have access to content warnings. Oh well. Anyways.

Complaints first, because I'm an asshole. I'm not sure I liked the different shifting POVs. I like to think I'm not an idiot, so at first I'd be a little lost on who was talking. And there were so many. Some of them just side characters. Wack.

I did really like the book though. I don't normally go for sci-fi, and I actually read this or the LGBTQIA+ book club I'm in. At first I wasn't a huge fan of it but I'm glad I stayed with it. Definitely thought provoking and an interesting story. Shirley was my favorite character. All my homies love Shirley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Dysphoria, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, Self harm, and Transphobia

Moderate: Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Racial slurs, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide, Cultural appropriation, Suicidal thoughts, Deportation, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and War

ka_ke's review against another edition

It starts off fine, the individual character perspectives are kept to individual chapters, but then around 25% of the book, perspectives change characters half way through scenes/paragraphs. 

I also think this book would benefit from a content warning in the beginning regarding the fmc’s body dysmorphia, suicidal thoughts, sex work etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, Outing, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, War, and Xenophobia

bop_a_lop's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Outing

silentquercus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Deadnaming, Body shaming, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Vomit, War, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

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).

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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

achingallover's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense 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

3.0

overall i really enjoyed this, even though it had some tough subject matter.
i really liked the themes and descriptions of music and food and family and parallels between katrina and shirley.
unfortunately some of it felt disjointed or clumsy. but overall i enjoyed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Rape, Terminal illness, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

ronniereadsregularly's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

This. Book. Is. Wild. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Rape, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Xenophobia, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Grief