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A review by lemonlemonster
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow wow wow. Best book I’ve read this year. If you’re a fan of the Parable series by Octavia E Butler you’ll probably like this book, as I feel like the two are in conversation. They both have themes of climate change, new religions, and conversations around entropy.
The storyline in the year 3012 really stuck with me and made me think about what’s possible in a thousand years and what we might see as inevitable pats of life (capitalism, nation states, strict sex/gender/sexuality identities) and how they’re not necessarily inevitable. The book really zoomed me out from the present and helped me imagine what it might be like to live post-climate change or post-“Age of Emergency”. Each timeline was so well written and I was never disappointed to get back to another storyline or characters and I really can’t imagine them as separate books (as Byrne has said she originally wrote it as). Do yourself a favor and pick up this book, especially if you feel like you need a new perspective on the craziness that is the 21st century.
I also thought it was interesting it shares with the Parable series the controversial idea of humans leaving Earth. It was a small part but i feel Butler would have enjoyed it. :) <\spoiler> ).
The storyline in the year 3012 really stuck with me and made me think about what’s possible in a thousand years and what we might see as inevitable pats of life (capitalism, nation states, strict sex/gender/sexuality identities) and how they’re not necessarily inevitable. The book really zoomed me out from the present and helped me imagine what it might be like to live post-climate change or post-“Age of Emergency”. Each timeline was so well written and I was never disappointed to get back to another storyline or characters and I really can’t imagine them as separate books (as Byrne has said she originally wrote it as). Do yourself a favor and pick up this book, especially if you feel like you need a new perspective on the craziness that is the 21st century.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm