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wildatheart1339's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Torture, Child death, Homophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
melaschnie's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Grief, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Torture, Death of parent, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: War, Homophobia, and Outing
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Nonetheless, I was very invested toward the end and liked Will and Nico's relationship very much.
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Murder, Outing, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Police brutality
annahamburger's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Self harm, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror
Minor: Homophobia, Stalking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders
eloise648's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Panic attacks/disorders
avacadosocks's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Blood
Minor: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Outing
theliteraryteapot's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I prefer to start with the things that bothered me a little so I can end the review on a positive note. Honestly, this co-author thing didn't work great because I thought the voices didn't merge well: you can feel who wrote what. And what happens when you let your characters be used by someone who hasn't spent the same amount of time with them, or who hasn't being working on them for decades, is that you get some characters such as Mr D. who don't feel like their "authentic" selves; they don't feel like and act the way they've been for the rest of the series. It also felt like the authors suddenly at one point remembered that Hazel is Nico's half-sister, but there wasn't enough of her in Nico's story, like he barely thought of his half-sister. Maybe it's because Hazel is one of my favourite characters, but it felt wrong to not give her an important place in a Nico di Angelo book.
Now, the thing that bothered me the most was how a few times, it felt a bit like fanfiction. Like this was a fandom version of Nico, Will and Solangelo. I'm not sure how to explain it though and that feeling actually left after hitting like the 50-60% mark.
As for the rest, I simply enjoyed it. Loved it. It's Nico and I love this fictional character so so much idk man he's everything to me.
Although reading about Nico's trauma again, his nightmares and his doubts hurt, I loved reading Nico's flashback tartarus journey (those dark pages in the book).
I do have mixed feelings about how Will was treated because: I kind of thought he wasn't enough developed like yes he's the son of Apollo, he's a literal sunshine, but somehow I still felt like I didn't really know his personality? Like his personality traits are being a child of Apollo, being Nico's boyfriend, being an extrovert and? (Then again I have yet to finish The Trials of Apollo series so maybe we learn more about him there). I also felt soooo bad for Will because he was really trying his best in the most hostile environment that can exist for him while feeling useless at the same time (he was not useless). This was very brave of him to not give up. So to add to his personality traits: he's brave and very loving. I'm glad we got Will's point of view, it added to the storytelling and showed us how much love Will has for Nico.
ALSO, oh my god chapter 48!! I'm not someone who cries or even has one tear while reading but seeing that little reunion with the di Angelo family made me fight tears stuck in my eyes!!! Bianca!!!! Mamma Maria. Nico is so loved! This was very much needed.
Overall, as it's a middle grade book, I'm glad queer kids will have this story. And I appreciate R. Riordan's effort in inviting a queer co-author to tell Nico's story, so we can have a queer author telling stories about queer kids.
The Sun and the Star is Nico's quest yes but it's mostly him facing his trauma, learning to let go of his pain while not ignoring his past, and learning to let people in, let people love him for who he is. It's about Will learning to not have so much prejudice against something that is so different from what he knows and learning to love someone for all they are and have. And it's about romantic love, friendship love, family love, and self-love.
Some quotes were quite emotional lol but I can't remember the pages and where to find them again so I'll end with this one, still fresh in my mind and which, although used here quite literally, I find it very poetic. It is from Will's point of view:
"Will had heard love described in so many dramatic, bizarre ways over the years, but no one had described it like this: it's like drifting down a river of pain and knowing you are safe."
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Blood
Minor: Homophobia
dmatson21's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
Minor: Blood, Death, Eating disorder, and Fire/Fire injury