Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo

9 reviews

jayburding's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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haileyhardcover's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Aria spends the summer before starting college discovering who she really is and who she wants to be. 

I was so excited for this book. I read Last Night at the Telegraph Club earlier this year and was absolutely blown away by Lo’s writing, the history, and the characters she created. As a companion novel to Telegraph, I expected the same magical experience with A Scatter of Light. Sadly, I didn’t feel it. 

The two main characters, Aria & Steph, felt so overly dramatic - especially considering they are older than the characters in Telegraph. I physically cringed multiple times at some of the things they said/ did. I didn’t find either of them very likable, and I couldn’t root for them. 

Part of what made Telegraph so magical was the history. A Scatter of Light is also set in the past, but a much more recent past - 2013, right when Prop 8 was overturned, making gay marriage legal in California. This is mentioned a few times in the book, but I wish more attention had been given to everything going on at the time, rather than focusing so heavily (almost entirely) on the “relationship” between Aria and Steph. 

There is also one scene in which Steph implies that she is struggling with her gender, but it is completely brushed over and never explored. It felt like a last-minute throw in for some additional diversity as there was no other trans/non-binary/gender queer rep in the book. 

The best part of the book was the (very brief) glimpse we get into the lives of Lily and Kath (the main characters from Telegraph) in 2013. No spoilers, but I was glad to see where they had ended up, nearly 60 years later. 

Maybe my expectations were too high, but overall I was just really disappointed with this book. Telegraph has a permanent home on my shelves, but A Scatter of Light is probably going to be one of those getting unhauled at the end of the year. 
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linnea1801's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. Joan has my heart. <3
I was sobbing when she died ;^; I also didn’t really like the relationship between Aria and Steph especially because Aria only just graduated high school and Steph is way older and also HAD A GIRLFRIEND. I was really glad when it didn’t work out
 
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averyprettyboy's review against another edition

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

5.0

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pj_steph's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really enjoy Malinda Lo's writing. It was one of the main reasons I was able to finish this book even with the characters it had. I really enjoy the little hints of love Lo shows for Northern Cali. 
But overall, I felt that I couldn't really get past my annoyance with the characters, especially Aria and Steph. I felt there wasn't that much self reflection. There was some character development, but I felt that it wasn't as much as I would hope. I think it focused too much on the
infidelity and not enough on reflecting on the mistakes that were made throughout.
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sarah984's review against another edition

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

3.0

I started out really liking this book and I loved the ending, but there are so many inexplicable writing decisions made in the middle that it wound up disappointing me. The parts about Aria learning to appreciate the perspectives of the adults in her life, going to the dyke march and the music festival, and trying to make art were really compelling but the romance was just... it was bad. The LI is older and already has a girlfriend and it's impossible to see what she could possibly see in this bland 18 year old that would make her act out like that.
Aria is also like... there is a scene where she finds out a relative might be dying and all she can think about is cheating with this woman again.
Also imo the sex scenes were way too graphic - yeah I'm an adult and I read adult books but also I do not want to know what is going where in YA.
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kappafrog's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

2.25

Big disappointment after how much I liked Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Boring characters, pretty predictable plot, and the infidelity made the main character very unsympathetic. I only kept reading for the promised update on Lily and Kath but it was very anticlimactic and felt shoehorned in. 
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bookishsapphicshay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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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librariangeorgia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective 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

I absolutely adored LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB that I just /had/ to read this one. And the fact that it’s linked to that book made it so much more exciting!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - like I’m struggling to put into words how much I loved it. I wanted to take my time with it so that it wouldn’t be over too soon but also speed through it to find out what happens.

Now, tell me why I got so invested in the characters that I actually started welling up at /that/ moment. I felt like I was going through all the emotions that Aria was going through!

I just loved the Lily and Kath mention!! I was waiting for them to crop up!

I highly recommend this book, and LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB if you’ve not read that one either!
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