Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

4 reviews

monstrouscosmos's review

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challenging emotional inspiring 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

Characters: 9/10
Relationships: 8/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 10/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 9/10
Internal Logic: 8/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Overall: 62/70, 4.5* 

sometimes a family is 2 parents, 2 kids, and a household pet. sometimes a family is a transgender runaway, The Queen of Hell and her living companion Oki, and a group of intergalactic refugees-turned-donut shop proprieters. 

I think my biggest issue with the book boils down to the pacing. with 3 primary interconnecting storylines and 1-2 secondary storylines it definitely felt like none actually got the thematic exploration they deserved. specifically I would have loved to see more about the violin shop! this was also the most triggering read I've ever finished. while not necessarily a detriment never feeling like I knew when things would get very heavy very quickly definitely made it difficult to enjoy some of the more sweet and lighthearted moments. 

the pros are many though. I actually appreciated the quick POV changes, they were challenging but gave a depth of understanding I appreciated. the LARGE number of neurodivergent-coded characters was also great, love to see a group of people with highly specialized interests who just want to info dump to one another. some of the character beats felt unrealistic at first, but I was quickly able to suspend disbelief when considering some of the sociocultural experiences of the characters (and, again, just coding all the characters as being neurodivergent in some way). given how explicit the writing is in other ways I would have preferred seeing more explanation of how and why characters other than Kristina react the ways they do in-the-moment, but the context clues and overarching pattern of experience was definitely there for me. 

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spadedigsbutts's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

 I really really wanted to like this book. Trans coming of age story combined with devil deals, older Sapphic romance, and science fiction magic? Absolutely sounded like my cup of tea, unfortunately the negatives just personally outweighed the positives for me. 

On a technical level, the book is a huge mix. Sometimes parts are written in the most lovely way with pretty language and clever witticisms, but other times I am struggling to even understand what some sentences mean and having to reread entire paragraphs over and over. The latter happened more for me than the former unfortunately, and the issue was exacerbated by the fact that about every few paragraphs there is a POV shift, so we rarely spend much time with any one character. As a result, we only have strong characterization for a handful of characters as we ping-pong between the "main" protagonists and multiple secondary characters without much relevance. The back-of-the-book blurb for the novel is a bit misleading, because it would make you think we have three protagonists, but we actually have more like 4 as there is a violin repair woman who gets an entire story arc and multiple chapter appearances, yet only interacts with the main three maybe twice? This leads into another major technical issues, which is if you are not good at remembering names (like me), this will be an awful experience for you. Almost every character introduced, no matter how minor, is often introduced with a full first and last name, and description, implying they will be important and recurring, only for them to drop off the face of the earth. Except when they don't and they reappear several chapters later and you, having by that point been trained to ignore most named characters, you have to flip back to the beginning to remember who that was. For context on how bad it gets with the names, I was live-tweeting my friend about my reading experience and by page 50 about 35-36 individual names had been introduced. If these are the sorts of technical issues that don't bother you as much, definitely dive in, but for me it was personally super distracting.

Speaking on the story of the book, it's hard to really call it a story. It would be easier to call it a slice of life with fantastical elements and characters interacting until the last fourth of the book where more of a plot with the central protagonist, Katarina, comes up and we get some much needed payoff to her and Shizuka's arcs. If there is anything to say about this book, it is that almost everything with Katarina and Shizuka is excellent!! I loved seeing Katarina come into her own and gain confidence under the protection of her strong and loving mentor figure. While the book never once made me believe Shizuka would sacrifice Katarina, the inherent drama of the possibility and what they're willing to do for each other is great! If this book had just been about them and condensed to cut the many many side characters I would have rated it like a 4 minimum. Even if you don't read the whole book, read Katarina's stuff!! It's really good!! Unfortunately the biggest weakness of the book is Shizuka's love interest, the space refuge Lan, who just constantly feels out of place in the book. I wouldn't contribute this lack of cohesion to the fact everything else in the book is mundane or magical and Lan's parts of the story are super sci-fi, as I've seen other books do similar successfully, but that she never quite gets integrated into any one character's life. Even Shizuka, who is Lan's romantic interest, just has entire scenes and arcs going on independent of her to the point I forget Lan exists until she appears. Lan comes with a number of plot points and character arcs that unfortunately just flat out don't get a resolution, like with her son who
literally murders two people, is put into stasis, and is then never once brought up again.
Because there's just so many characters and things going on, Lan just doesn't really get the development she needs and it hurts the book a lot as so many chapters are dedicated to her and her family. 

Anyways, if none of these are deal breakers for you, go read it!! Katarina's trans coming-of-age story is really good!! Unfortunately everything surrounding it is just very messy and underwritten and I wish i could have liked it more. 

 

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kers_tin's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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


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martinatan's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

Everything I would want out of a queer modern fiction story. I was so delighted and moved by how authentically every single one of the main cast was written, and how Ryka Aoki does not shy away from letting the realities of living while queer/trans and Asian/mixed race play out as they do for many. The whole story represents to me the beautiful complexity of what it means to belong to multiple marginalized communities and understand others within them. I love the use of sci-fi and fantasy elements (my favorites) to explore themes of immigration and displacement, transformation, and self-actualization. I appreciated the connections between music, food, identity, and types of love that all feel essential to my own experience as an Asian American.

Chapter 35 was my favorite part of the writing in the book, but the entire novel is laced with such care and tenderness, as well as wit and charm, that by the first chapter I could tell it was something really special. Most of all I want these characters and anyone who identifies with them to be happy. Hopefully this book reaches others like me who will find much needed comfort in its story. Much love to Ryka Aoki for every word of this book!

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