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A review by osladek
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
adventurous
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
4.0
This book was so delightfully weird and whimsical. I loved the writing style, although I understand other's criticisms of the POV switches and dialogue issues. I didn't have any issue with these parts of the book and they felt like a thematic part of the book.
My main criticism was the sensitive content and how it was regarded in the book. This book should've had a large content warning at the beginning of it for the themes of graphic transphobia, sexual assault, physical violence, racial, homophobic, and transphobic slurs, and much more. In addition to it lacking a warning, these issues could have been dealt with a million times better. Mainly with the character Katrina, the incessant transphobia was almost bordering on insane. As a trans person I have never experienced this amount of transphobia in day to day life. Although the abusive, transphobic family part of the book was not unrealistic, the constant transphobia from strangers just felt overboard. Granted, I am not a trans woman nor a person of color and I am positive trans women of color receive worse treatment in everyday life than I do, I doubt it is as depicted in this book. In addition the the external abuse Katrina receives, her internal monologue is difficult to get through. Reading this trans character use "queer" as a slur to herself just felt very gross, just her being trans seems to be equated to being disgusting according to Katrina. I don't want to say this is unrealistic either since internalized transphobia and homophobia are real things, however with a fictional character everything being put on paper is a decision made by the author. I believe the author should have hired sensitivity readers even though I know she herself is a trans woman of color. I think some sensitivity readers could've given her constructive criticism on this portion of the book bordering on trauma porn. Also Katrina seems to have almost no character development even in accepting herself.
Regardless of the issues with Katrina, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the beginning and had trouble putting this book down. The deal with the Devil plot was spectacular and witty. I loved the alien family owning the donut shop plot and I think these completely different themes worked well together. I wished these two plots were the main focus without including the transphobia plot, but still included Katrina. The Markus plot was a little insane to add considering his story has no definite ending and I don't think the author handles it well, it feels like an add-on that makes no sense to the overall themes of the book. Although it has a lot of flaws, I liked this book a lot and I hope the author makes more weird books that keep me hooked, granted she eases up on the intense content.
My main criticism was the sensitive content and how it was regarded in the book. This book should've had a large content warning at the beginning of it for the themes of graphic transphobia, sexual assault, physical violence, racial, homophobic, and transphobic slurs, and much more. In addition to it lacking a warning, these issues could have been dealt with a million times better. Mainly with the character Katrina, the incessant transphobia was almost bordering on insane. As a trans person I have never experienced this amount of transphobia in day to day life. Although the abusive, transphobic family part of the book was not unrealistic, the constant transphobia from strangers just felt overboard. Granted, I am not a trans woman nor a person of color and I am positive trans women of color receive worse treatment in everyday life than I do, I doubt it is as depicted in this book. In addition the the external abuse Katrina receives, her internal monologue is difficult to get through. Reading this trans character use "queer" as a slur to herself just felt very gross, just her being trans seems to be equated to being disgusting according to Katrina. I don't want to say this is unrealistic either since internalized transphobia and homophobia are real things, however with a fictional character everything being put on paper is a decision made by the author. I believe the author should have hired sensitivity readers even though I know she herself is a trans woman of color. I think some sensitivity readers could've given her constructive criticism on this portion of the book bordering on trauma porn. Also Katrina seems to have almost no character development even in accepting herself.
Regardless of the issues with Katrina, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was hooked from the beginning and had trouble putting this book down. The deal with the Devil plot was spectacular and witty. I loved the alien family owning the donut shop plot and I think these completely different themes worked well together. I wished these two plots were the main focus without including the transphobia plot, but still included Katrina. The Markus plot was a little insane to add considering his story has no definite ending and I don't think the author handles it well, it feels like an add-on that makes no sense to the overall themes of the book. Although it has a lot of flaws, I liked this book a lot and I hope the author makes more weird books that keep me hooked, granted she eases up on the intense content.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Transphobia
Moderate: War, Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, and Self harm