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moonisav 's review for:
On a Sunbeam
by Tillie Walden
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved this book.
Art:
The artwork is absolutely stunning, and I couldn't help myself from rereading the same page over and over again just to make sure I appreciated it properly. Walden's understanding of color and composition stood out to me most, and the world she built is so creative and vast that I was absolutely hooked on the concept of exploring it. I loved the complex space jungle-like backgrounds, the sleekness of her architecture, and the whimsical nature of the fish ships.
Characters
One of the best aspects of this book is the way we get to watch the relationships between the characters bloom over time. All of the crew are at different points in their lives in terms of age and career, and I think the conflict that can arise from such a situation, as well as the way the characters differences complement each other, is portrayed really well. I also loved that every relationship we saw in this book was wlw (yes, more than one! Three!)
In both timelines, Mia struggles to find a sense of belonging, and I liked how we also saw that reflected in Jules, Grace, and Christie(?), all people who are very different from Mia. In the end, Mia ended up being the person to make all three of them feel connected and supported, which really highlights one of the main takeaways I got from On a Sunbeam: the best way to find a community is to build one.
I think one of my only critiques of this book worth mentioning is that I had a hard time connecting with Mia and Grace's boarding school timeline. I loved the setting and their story was so cute, but I think a few more scenes where we really see their personalities come through would have made their relationship a lot more impactful. I struggled to pin down who they were as people, especially Grace, and because of that I didn't care about her as much as I wanted to. I understand that we're seeing things mostly from Mia's perspective, and she didn't know a lot about Grace back then, but it's less about her shrouded backstory and more about her personality, her likes and dislikes, her personal style etc.
Plot
While I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot stood out the least in comparison to the art and the characters. I don't see this as a bad thing, every book emphasizes things differently. The planet/space building(?)- hopping structure of the adventure was super fun, and allowed us to explore Walden's gorgeous world. Its funny to think back on my reading experience, because even though the plot is about flying across space and fixing mysterious buildings or traversing a hostile and mystical planet in pursuit of love while being hunted by the people who live there, it still didn't feel very thrilling. It was interesting and high stakes and I couldn't put the book down, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat being blown away by intricacies of the plot or world building. I actually found it a bit refreshing to have a story set in such a wondrous and dangerous world, told within a typically thrilling genre, turn out to be a sweet and subtle tale of found family and first love.
All in all 4.75/5
-.25 for Grace's and sometimes Mia's lack of depth in such a character centric story
Art:
The artwork is absolutely stunning, and I couldn't help myself from rereading the same page over and over again just to make sure I appreciated it properly. Walden's understanding of color and composition stood out to me most, and the world she built is so creative and vast that I was absolutely hooked on the concept of exploring it. I loved the complex space jungle-like backgrounds, the sleekness of her architecture, and the whimsical nature of the fish ships.
Characters
One of the best aspects of this book is the way we get to watch the relationships between the characters bloom over time. All of the crew are at different points in their lives in terms of age and career, and I think the conflict that can arise from such a situation, as well as the way the characters differences complement each other, is portrayed really well. I also loved that every relationship we saw in this book was wlw (yes, more than one! Three!)
In both timelines, Mia struggles to find a sense of belonging, and I liked how we also saw that reflected in Jules, Grace, and Christie(?), all people who are very different from Mia. In the end, Mia ended up being the person to make all three of them feel connected and supported, which really highlights one of the main takeaways I got from On a Sunbeam: the best way to find a community is to build one.
I think one of my only critiques of this book worth mentioning is that I had a hard time connecting with Mia and Grace's boarding school timeline. I loved the setting and their story was so cute, but I think a few more scenes where we really see their personalities come through would have made their relationship a lot more impactful. I struggled to pin down who they were as people, especially Grace, and because of that I didn't care about her as much as I wanted to. I understand that we're seeing things mostly from Mia's perspective, and she didn't know a lot about Grace back then, but it's less about her shrouded backstory and more about her personality, her likes and dislikes, her personal style etc.
Plot
While I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot stood out the least in comparison to the art and the characters. I don't see this as a bad thing, every book emphasizes things differently. The planet/space building(?)- hopping structure of the adventure was super fun, and allowed us to explore Walden's gorgeous world. Its funny to think back on my reading experience, because even though the plot is about flying across space and fixing mysterious buildings or traversing a hostile and mystical planet in pursuit of love while being hunted by the people who live there, it still didn't feel very thrilling. It was interesting and high stakes and I couldn't put the book down, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat being blown away by intricacies of the plot or world building. I actually found it a bit refreshing to have a story set in such a wondrous and dangerous world, told within a typically thrilling genre, turn out to be a sweet and subtle tale of found family and first love.
All in all 4.75/5
-.25 for Grace's and sometimes Mia's lack of depth in such a character centric story