Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

5 reviews

the_vegan_bookworm's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I LOVED the premise. I loved that it was a queer, Black, polyamorous and disabled love story. The anti-capitalist critiques in the story's themes were great.

This being said, the leads had no chemistry and every character besides Alana fell flat for me. I would have loved to see more complex character development to support the romance.

I look forward to reading other books by this author, as it was a great debut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Ableism, Genocide, and Death

obviousthings's review

I liked reading about a main character with a chronic illness, but I found the narration to be way too melodramatic. Alana is quick to say things like "The sound tore through the wall of silence, shattering my nerves" when she's mildly startled, for example. It takes all the impact out of scenes that should be impactful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Ableism, and Eating disorder

switchywitchsitch's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Terminal illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Kidnapping, and Violence

caseythereader's review

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Ableism

inamerata's review

adventurous dark

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I do not recommend this if you have any concerns about disordered eating.

I wanted to like this book. It sounded cool and had glowing recommendations, but it didn't work for me.

Poor communication is off-putting in general, but especially in romance. This is even more-so in poly romances. It was believable the crew wouldn't trust Alana right away, but once you're instigating romantic gestures, you shouldn't play coy with things like "current relationship status and dynamic." It felt deceptive and manipulative, yet Alana's confusion and distress were treated like the problem, rather than her being put in that position in the first place. It left me rooting against the entire relationship.

Alana and Nova's sisterly relationship was perhaps the strongest element, and I bought into the tension with them. However, Nova's personal arc was extremely uncomfortable because of its pro-anorexic spirituality that is glamorized to the point

that she saves the day by literally starving and wasting away, and that's the titular ascension

. The way Alana's experiences with chronic illness and pain were written rang true, though, and it was nice to see the topic come up throughout the narrative.

Unfortunately, Ascension's concepts are much better than its execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Ableism