Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

59 reviews

bluebreex's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

I don't think I've ever read a book like this before - it was beautifully written (and even more beautifully narrated). This is a heavy story in my opinion, so please check trigger and content warnings before starting. It focuses on the struggles and pain surrounding transphobia and racism, especially in certain circles and cultures, as well as the intense pressure often seen in the classical musician scene.

I loved reading a plot so involved in music, as someone who used to be involved in the world of professional violinists and competitions, it felt so special. The combination of classic music and fantasy/sci-fi elements is not a mix I would expect to work as well as it did.

Honorary shout out to all of the food descriptions in this book being so good! And special shout out to Aubergine, Katrina's violin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Transphobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Self harm

gwenisnonbinary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

Many many triggers in this book but it was one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Dysphoria, Racism, Transphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Cursing

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Self harm, Rape, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: War, Pedophilia, Murder, and Domestic abuse

lauraliz914's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

 This was so much more than I thought it was going to be. I anticipated a fun romp with a cursed violin and donut-making aliens, and I sort of got that, but also got deep reflections on music, trans identity formation, and family. I found out after finishing that Ryka Aoki is a poet, which in retrospect is obvious with passages like this: 

 

Risoluto, non troppo vivo. Resolutely, not too alive. As how you smile when a stranger spits at you. As how you keep breathing while a friend rapes you. As how you think calmly as a parent is kicking down your door.

 

Every single one of the main characters in this book endeared themselves to me, even if I didn’t always like them (*cough* Lan *cough*). Katrina herself is the star of the story, a gentle soul who has endured some of the worst of humanity. I loved her through every page of this as she reclaims her life and her identity both with her music and outside of it. Her relationship with Shizuka Satomi is very special, and the end made me cry. This could have easily been 5 stars, but I felt the pacing was a bit slow in the middle, then sped up a lot at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Violence

goodthingsread's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Sexual harassment, War, Child abuse, Rape, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Deadnaming

Minor: Drug use, War, Alcoholism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Racial slurs

emzhay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Transphobia

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Ableism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Incest and War

bruisedtigers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really wanted this to be two books -- in a good way and a bad way. Both the 'Faustian deals violinist' plot and the 'Alien donut shop' plot are unique and compelling in their own ways, but I feel like the themes and characters would've benefited from being individually explored instead of blended together. Some of the blending is fun, but overall I think it sadly hampers the narrative overall. I did enjoy this, and I wish it was two stories that I could fully appreciate, rather than one that I'm a bit middling on.

This may not be a problem for other people, but the not-Undertale reference as a core value all throughout really distracted me. Once or twice, I wouldn't have really minded, but it was repeated very frequently, and I think that same theme could've been used without deferring to another media. This narrative was strong enough to stand on its own, without relying on a reference.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Self harm, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Deadnaming, and Body shaming

augustar14's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

One of the first books I've read that shifts character perspectives amongst many characters but not at chapters. Just, whenever it needs to happen. That took some adjusting but once I figured it out, I really began to enjoy how immersive it was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Cursing, Body shaming, and War

Minor: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Deadnaming, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Internalized transphobia as well as external. Abusive family (escapes from). Alcoholic, violent, transphobic father and mother who makes excuses for him. So called friend who "suggests" she pay for rent in sex. Sex cam work with transphobic comments. Bad hookup for money. Other moments of sexual harassment, verbal and physical, past and present. Two characters killed with an alien blaster gun in another character's fit of rage at seeing something that ended up being not true. Somewhat graphic descriptions of their feelings and their deaths. Mother deadnames main character in one scene.

apollinares's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.0

I thought I'd enjoy this book more based on recommendations from friends and other reviews, but a lot of what people praised about it felt a bit overstated/almost cheesy, to me. The sci-fi element (from the name of the book, to the promise of starship shenanigans in the blurb) felt kind of hastily done, and a lot less thoroughly world-built than Shizuka's origins/development (Faustian bargains, Hell, etc). It almost felt like a disservice to Lan as a tritagonist, to have so much less of her history, thought, and motivations explored and revealed. 

There were many things I liked about the book, I'm just disappointed I didn't enjoy it more. Katrina's arc was well executed, albeit cliché at times; as a trans writer, I feel like Aoki can make her trans protagonist as universally relatable as she wants, she has that right (speaking as a trans person myself). Also, many trans people will pour their heart and soul into a hobby as a means of escape, to the point of obsession, and get so good at it that it feels mary-sue-ish - I'm guilty of this with art, and one of my trans roommates is making a phenomenal video game right now. I bring this up because cis friends who have read this book see Katrina's violin playing skills as "overpowered", for lack of a better term, and I completely disagree, trans people are just that cool. 

Lan and Shizuka's relationship was everything I loved in a meet cute - two older wlw (When do you see that??? I love that!!! They're giving owl house Eda levels of pining) struggling to flirt and falling flat on their faces. And the misunderstandings! Ugh, when Shizuka

got a call from Astrid about making dinner and Lan assumed a "housekeeper" was a romantic partner, and got really sad about it, it was so cute.

Or when

Shizuka saw Lan in uniform and had a gay little freakout, I may have squealed in delight despite being way too old for that myself.

Older wlw absolutely carried this book for me,

age gap be damned. They're both consenting adults, and yes, one's in her mid 40s while the other's almost 80, but has Shizuka really lived these past 46 years, suspended in a weird violin-murderhobo stasis? I don't think so. Let her kiss a hot starship captain I beg of you.

So, what didn't I like? I've already mentioned the story's treatment of Lan - her voice and inner world just feels much emptier than that of Katrina or Shizuka, and she deserved more as a tritagonist. Also, regarding Marcus:

the treatment of Marcus was... not great. He killed some people and never really got a resolution. The other loose ends were all tied up, and Marcus was just sort of left with nothing. For a book that is all about community and healing and support, this kid, who was clearly hurting, never got the support and rehabilitation he clearly needed. He was just forgotten about by his own family, who seemed to move on from his absence far too quickly.

Similarly, nothing ever came of

Katrina's friend Evan. I would have liked to see something occur there - like, there were all these threads that got converged at the end, there was even an undocumented immigrant Floresta hires in the epilogue - a random new character shoved in there - and you're telling me Aoki didn't have time for a petty moment with Katrina and Evan's friends, except with the power dynamic now flipped? Come on.

Some of the more cringe-worthy moments like

Astrid walking in on Katrina

gave me the worst second hand embarassment. And Lucy's character felt just a bit cliché with her inferiority complex and the way she spoke about/dealt with it. 

All in all, a fun read with excellent representation that unfortunately fell short in many places. My library doesn't stock the Wayfarers series, so I continue in my fruitless search for good queer sci-fi that doesn't "masquerade as sci-fi" through a contrived title and cover.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Outing, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Body shaming

Minor: Misogyny, Deportation, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Mental illness, War, and Xenophobia

nekoshka's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Deadnaming, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Bullying, Dysphoria, Death, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Rape

Minor: War and Religious bigotry

jabberwalky's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Deadnaming, Self harm, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Vomit