Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

11 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

tessisreading2's review

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An interesting, gripping science fiction read with an emphasis on found family and a through-line of WLW romance... and then it all got weird. The science fiction plot ended with a deus ex machina (after getting bizarre with some weirdness that was not foreshadowed at all), and the romance was hard to root for given that

one MC was in a polyamorous relationship but initiated a romantic relationship with the other MC without telling her as much; while the other MC knew that the first might be in some sort of relationship with someone else but didn't ask questions because she was so infatuated

. That doesn't describe the start of a healthy relationship to me. 

That said, the book is so unusual in the genre/subgenre; I wish there were more like this, that paired challenging science fiction with a romantic through-line and really worked at their characterizations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Chronic illness, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Violence

helalost's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Death of parent

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

madamenovelist's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

bookbrig's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this story, and I really loved the writing which was evocative and beautiful. It's a great found family spaceship adventure, and I think it would work really well for fans of Becky Chambers, Firefly, or Valerie Valdes. My only small issue with the story is that I think it un-spooled a bit faster than I wanted it too. I would have liked to linger on some of the rising action more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

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

morevna's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief

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

lbc's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Medical trauma