Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

57 reviews

amby's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

I'm having a hard time rating this book... it is complet chaos. I don't think this are really spoilers, but if you wanna go in blank, don't read this. Refugees from a galactic war start a donutshop. 70+ years old violin teacher has a deal with hell. And a teenaged transgender runaway girl. It sounds like a weird combo, it stayed a weird combo! 
Some triggerwarings (below) are necessary, defintly for transpeople who don't have a supporting familiy. I as cis-women already found it very hard to read the horrble stuff Katherina had to endure. 
Yet, I got annoyed by how often the writer refered to her trauma as a reasons to feel shit about herself. I understood it about the caracter but it's just the way it's written.
But my biggest problem is the switching of points of views. Sometimes it took 3 alinea to realise from who's point of view I was reading the story. It made it a lot less relaxing to read. 

The ending of the book made up for a lot! And the description about violin music was so beautiful ❤️ as well as the found family element.

Triggerwarings, and I'm sure this is not all of it. Deadnaming, very often misgendering, prostitution, (sexual) abuse.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Death, Bullying, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Addiction

nataliation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, War, Hate crime, Self harm, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, and Deadnaming

beezinda's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-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? No

3.5

The beginning of this novel had me excited and engrossed. I was so excited. I flew through the first 30% of this novel with breathtaking alacrity. However, this book didn't deliver on its promises and premise. 

The characters and the plot just fall flat as stale as the story progresses. These are easily sympathetic characters but I found myself emotionally uninterested and terminally bored by the end of this novel.

The story has such potential to explore so many themes and it does, but kind of blah by the end. Also the mid sentence POV changes is bizarre.


I do think there is an unimaginable amount of love in this novel. I truly believe this author loves writing and music and queerness and Asian heritage. This book oozes a charm of carefully crafting something from love. Even though this book wades through some tough topics it is ultimately a story hopeful story of self discovery. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

brinsay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

This book is so good it amazes me question wether anything else I've given 5 stars is worthy in comparison. I love these characters, I love this story l, I love the big donut. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: War, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, Racism, Mental illness, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Grief

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

This book has so much in it. So many plots, so many characters, so many trigger warnings (seriously check them, i didn't and almost stopped), but it's also filled with so much love that it is hard to critique it. It loves its characters, music, donuts, the community of Monterey Park, me, you, and every messy thing. Much like Katrina's music, discordant notes are brought together into an interesting whole. I'm typing through tears and my heart is full. (Though the people who say this book is cozy is a dead liar)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Death, Child abuse, Outing, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, and Child death

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Deadnaming, Cursing, Outing, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Rape, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, and Abandonment

lilly_anne's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Self harm, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Death, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Suicide

jareadforfilth's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

I loved this book, the writing is so enjoyable and the characters are juicy and warm! Katrina has an incredible arc through this book and there are beautiful themes of what makes a family. The sapphic romance is so sweet and wholesome, and the plot is really good as well! It’s interesting—there are incredibly soft, touching and light moments of found family and blossoming friendships amidst an almost never-ending see if racism, transphobia, hate speech etc  that are very jarring to read but also an unfortunate reality that needs to be addressed. The juxtaposition of this light hope and dark despair is masterful, and the feminism in here is also miraculous. My only qualm is that the pace itself felt rather slow, I had to switch to audio because it was just taking me forever to get through and I could only read like, a chapter at a time before putting it down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, and Body shaming

Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was pitched to me as wholesome & hopeful book and, while I did find the ending hopeful, I would not consider this book wholesome in any capacity. There's lots of traumatic stuff explored so I recommend reading the trigger warnings before starting.
 

I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. There were parts that I really enjoyed (the relationship between Lan & Shizuka, watching Katrina grow more confident, etc.) but overall I felt that the author was trying to weave too many disparate stories together. At least 2 storylines I do not feel needed to be included at all and there's at least one POV that I think could have been much more limited. It felt like some of these storylines petered out, without impacting the story in any real way. This could have been two books that tie into the same universe, rather than one book trying to smash as much into it as possible. 

That said, I really enjoyed the relationships between all the characters and, as a trans & queer reader, there were so many parts that were emotionally impactful in ways that I especially appreciated. This book could be enjoyed by anyone though, especially given the right information before starting. If I'd had different expectations going in, I may have enjoyed it more!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, War, Physical abuse, Drug use, Violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

solspringsreads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, but I’d primarily been excited to read it because I found it on a list of books with “trans joy,” and I seriously hesitate to classify this as a “trans joy” book. It’s a book where a trans character suffers immense amounts of abuse (in literally every aspect) and has to actively work through her trauma—and while there’s certainly a lot of joy that she feels throughout the book, it’s usually at the cost of a huge asterisk next to that brief moment of happiness where you know something bad is going to happen to her immediately after. She’s not quite “a woobie” in the trope sense, but she just borders on it enough throughout the book that it can be kind of exhausting. Even so, I still hesitate to say that her struggles are inaccurate to the lived experiences of trans women, especially trans women of color; Katrina suffers from a lot of mistreatment, and while it can be pretty overwhelming to read, it’s unfortunately pretty reflective of what it can be like to just… exist while trans. I personally just felt frustrated by it because it felt like her character arc never quite moves past the rampant transphobia she faces and how it makes her dysphoria worse; while other characters get to have sapphic love stories (and somehow still have subplots involving homophobic slurs) and family curses and all of these other things, Katrina’s main motivations are more-or-less to just survive and not get actively dunked on for, again, existing while being trans. She does find joy in her music and find a family of her own, but while listening to the audiobook I think I constantly felt like I was holding my breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Again, while this might be accurate to true trans experiences, I had perhaps hoped for a little bit more escapism from the hardships that trans people face. After all, this book includes a love story between a “Queen of Hell” and an intergalactic war general with the backdrop of a kitschy family-owned donut shop. If this can exist within the same book, I don’t think “trans girl experiences 0.5 seconds of unadulterated, non-dysphoria-inducing, no-strings-attached joy” would be a huge stretch.

This was a long rambling review to still say that I enjoyed the book very much. It touches on a lot of great themes, and the audiobook was fantastic. I just want to urge readers (especially other trans readers) to check out the warning tags for this one and to prepare themselves for some intense and heavier moments in an otherwise lighthearted and whimsical book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Outing, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, War, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, and Toxic relationship