A review by timefliesaway
Star Quest Academy: Above and Beyond by Adrian Lynch

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thanks to my cousin, Amélie, who has the habit of looking for namesake characters in books and sending them to me for me to read. Might’ve not found the book without them. 
 
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Doesn’t feel that brand new, possibly has lots of similarities to other works (someone mentioned Harry Potter, can’t confirm though), but it was a fun ride. (And I’m way older than the target group!) 
Diverse, adventurous, creative, and focused on friendship, which always is a plus. 
 
• Story: 
Quite fast-paced, there’s always something happening with barely any time to rest. Sure, it makes sense for it to be a constant adventure, but even the plot points came right after the other, not giving the reader any time to process. 
 
And quite cliche at times as well. The academy is said to be really safe and high-tech, and yet, Amelia, an earthling with no knowledge of space, was the one who always had to rescue everyone. A bit contradicting and the opposite of "show, don't tell". At least, I’d find it sus if I were a tourist there. (And adds a reason to join the villains.) 
 
It’s diverse, I loved that, but honestly could’ve been a little more so, especially with the pronouns – even with the universal translator, I can’t imagine everyone’s pronouns is translating to he/him and she/her, as well as boy and girl. 
 
Also the skin colors. The appearance of many different creatures have been described, often vaguely, and the skin colors were rarely mentioned. But when it was added, it was always a light one – milky, ebony, pale, etc. A bit odd. 
At least their hair, dresses/clothes and even objects (like jets) were quite colorful! 
 
Personal highlights: 
- the library 
- the talking book 
- space whales 
- Voice(s) of each building/place 
- the jets 
- Psymersion 
- aliens don’t like humans 
 - Disability Rep: limping character + character who loses limbs, often his ears, which makes him temporarily deaf 
 
Personal confusions: 
It’s cool that most are and shops sell only vegetarian, at least on the main planet, but they still have leather, milk products, etc. From what creature do they take these then? Or is it plant-based (i.e., leather from mangoes, milk from soybeans)? 
 
• Characters: 
It being fast-paced leaves barely any time to flesh out the characters. Amelia and Jingles, and a few side characters (like Honey (can’t believe that’s her name) or Glux), had a relatively deep personality (albeit cliche at times), and I’m especially fond of Jingles. 
 
The male-leaning* characters, however, apart from Toulay, fell a little flat and useless sometimes. But it’s also kinda nice to have more female-leaning* characters in the spotlight and the opposite of Bechdel’s Test to be the case. 
 
(*male/female-leaning: I’m guessing the men/women in the alien species are not called ‘men’/‘women’, possibly have different genders altogether. They are described as such, though.) 
 
The villain(s) were surely interesting; I kinda rooted for them, and yet at the same time I was on the heroes side. Well, could be because the villains aren't evil, just grey-leaning and acting out of fear, rather than wanting to actively harm. That was cool. I do agree with their goal, just not really their ways of doing so… 
 
• Overall: 
Recommended. Some nice quotes and messages that aren’t the usual “humans are the best”, but also call out human’s negative sides and show it to the reader well, without forcing it. 
 
A few illustrations would’ve made the reading experience more colorful, like the bus ride was at the beginning. (Wouldn’t have to be anything fancy; simple chapter headings/patterns would’ve worked too. It just feels a little empty.) 
 
If there’s gonna be a sequel, I’m definitely interested. 
 
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Thank you to The Book Guild on Netgalley for a digital review copy. 
 
-07.03.25