Tag: LGBTQ

Book Review: 8 Stellar Things about SOUL OF STARS by Ashley Poston

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“Soul of Stars”

Heart of Iron #2

by Ashley Poston

Nikki’s Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary: On the run from the Emperor and the HIVE, Ana, the true Empress Ananke Armorov, is desperately searching the galaxy for a way to save Di and the other Metals who have been HIVE’d. With the aid of the colorful Captain Siege and her misfit crew, Ana gets closer to her destiny to save the universe from the Great Dark, D’thverek. But in order to defeat the Great Dark, she will have to sacrifice the robot she fell in love with.

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8 Stellar Things about SOUL OF STARS by Ashley Poston

(May Contain Spoilers)

1. Map

I was so excited that “Soul of Stars” included a map of the planets involved in the Heart of Iron world. While this did not make or break my understanding of the universe (I read “Heart of Iron” no problem which did not include a map), I am a visual person and I enjoy being able to visibly see where everything is relative to each other. Plus, it just makes the world more believable and the map is pretty.

2. LGBTQ

“Soul of Stars” includes multiple LGBTQ couples! There is Captain Siege and her wife Talle, Robb and Jax, and then Lenda and Viera are an item at the end. What I absolutely love is that LGBTQ relationships were a norm in the Heart of Iron universe, there were never any comments or derogatory remarks about characters being with same gender partners.

3. Jax

While I had a mini heart attack because Jax basically died, getting his light sucked out of him, his near death experience actually brought him lots of joy. He can touch people now without risk of seeing their stars or having his light drained! Which means, he and Robb can fully be together both emotionally and physically. Both of them deserve to be happy.

4. Background

Finally! Finally we get to have Di’s background story and it was wonderful. I liked that when Dimitri was human, he was Nicholii’s friend and that once he was a Metal, they developed a friendship once again not realizing that they knew each other before. And while he made the mistake of making a deal with Mellifare, he obviously didn’t know who she truly was and in the face of death, most of us would sell our souls for the chance to live.

5. Writing

Ashley Poston’s writing throughout “Soul of Stars” was great. The story moved at a fast pace without me being bored or feeling like the story was being bogged down by too much description or dialogue. Characters were likable and the overall storyline was interesting, especially the relationship between Ana and Di. But most importantly, while “Soul of Stars” was an emotional rollercoaster, there was plenty of humor and light-hearted banter to provide comic relief.

6. Robot Love

Falling in love with a robot brings up so many questions. It brings up the argument of whether an AI is truly “alive”. Does it experience emotions and feelings? Does it possess a soul? Can you love something that is soulless? Can you love something that is not organic but rather “made”? If you are in love with it, can it return your feelings, is it capable of love? So many questions and absolutely no fucking answers because Poston had a solution. The Metals each housed a soul, a soul that came from a human who “died” from the plague. Fucking genius!

7. The Dilemma

Apparently “Soul of Stars” is full of philosophical dilemmas and hard questions. Ana’s dilemma is to kill the HIVE and save the universe and billions of beings while allowing all the HIVE’d Metals to die. It is the age old ethical situation of allowing the sacrifice of a few to save many. And of course to make the whole debacle more difficult, Ana would be sacrificing the being she loved the most. Thankfully Ana thought the whole situation was bullshit and was determined to destroy the Great Dark without sacrificing the Metals.

8. Bittersweet

Overall the ending of “Soul of Stars” and the Heart of Iron duology was bittersweet. While the main characters survive and Ana and Di end up staying together, Di’s memory core is malfunctioning. Ironic as this was the problem with his old body and how everything started in “Hearts of Iron” but as we know from that, he will not survive without his memory core and there is no way to fix it. So while Ana and Di are together, their time is sadly limited.

As always, thank you for reading. I would love to hear from you so feel free to contact me or comment below. If you would like to support this blog and/or my paintings please become my patron.

Be Authentic. Be Unique. Be You.

July 2021 Book Reviews

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Book Review: I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE by Farah Naz Rishi (OwlCrate Book October 2019)

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I Hope You Get This Message

by Farah Naz Rishi

Nikki’s Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary: As Earth is put on trial for their crimes, humans face possible extinction in just a few days. As their days are counting down, everyone begins to question what is important to them and how they would like to spend their last days. Jesse continues on with his life of crime and conning but comes to realize that love is worth more than money. Following her mother’s wishes, Cate takes off in search of her father but finds herself instead. And Adeem tracks down his sister and truly comes to realize the importance of family.

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8 Interesting Things about I HOPE YOU GET THIS MESSAGE by Farah Naz Rishi

1. Minorities

I Hope You Get This Message focuses on 3 different characters, all from different situations, backgrounds, and areas but all 3 of them are part of a minority group. Jesse is part of the LGBTQ community. While the book does not explore whether Cate has any mental illness, she is part of that community being the caretaker of her mother who is mentally ill. And then Adeem is a Pakistani-American Muslim boy. Throughout the book there is mention of the difficulties that each of them experience due to being part of their minority such as Adeem often having people start speaking spanish to him due to his complexion.

2. Earth

Earth in I Hope You Get This Message is actually our world with a twist. It is revealed to be the location of an experiment, the experiment being us, the human race. We were created by the Almaens to test the viability of using planet Earth as a new home. I Hope You Get This Message opens with the Almaens debating whether to shut the experiment down and kill all the humans or to allow the experiment to continue and risk the humans possibly destroying planet Earth.

3. Crimes Committed

Essentially, humans are put on trial for the crimes of destruction of environmental resources, abuses of its own people, neglect of preservation and sustainability for future generations, armed attack and devastation without provocation, subjugation and slavery of free-thinking organisms, disruption of the peace, and elimination of a people’s right to self-determination. We would be found guilty without a doubt. This is a neat way for a novel to bring up our current issues of global-warming, war, waste, etc.

4. Mental Illness

Rishi touched upon so many important problems in our society and one of those is the stigma and isolation that people experience with mental illness. And it is not just those that directly experience mental illness but also their caretakers. As Rishi showed in I Hope You Get This Message, caretakers may be ashamed to share and process with others what they are dealing with and contribute to their own sense of isolation and shame, which could negatively affect their own mental health.

5. LGBTQ

Another societal problem that Rishi touched upon in I Hope You Get This Message is that of the acceptance of those within the LGBTQ community. So many who identify as LGBTQ are ostracized, bullied, threatened, harmed, and/or killed in their communities simply for being who they are. While Rishi does not go too deep into the darkness surrounding this issue, she does show how crucial it is for the family of origin to accept any family member who does identify as LGBTQ and how painful it can be if it is perceived as unacceptable.

6. Children Taking On Responsibility

Through the 3 main characters, Rishi shows the negative outcomes that may arise in children who end up having to take care of their parents while they are still children. The best example in I Hope You Get This Message is of course Cate who is seen trying to convince her mother to take her pills, explaining her mother’s bizarre behavior to neighbors, and lying to the police to cover up how ill her mother actually is. This of course causes Cate to feel guilt and shame when she isn’t at her mother’s side all the time, selfish if she wants to do something for herself separate from her mother, and overall anxiety about life and the future. Not at all healthy.

7. Connected

One of my favorite things about I Hope You Get This Message is that the 3 main characters were connected in the end. While it appeared that the only connection was going to be them crossing paths in Roswell, their connections to each other went deeper than that.

8. Hope

Thankfully each character got their own version of “happily ever after.” While it may not have been what they set out to find, it is what they needed in the end. Having the book end without showing the outcome of the Almaens decision allows the book to end positively with the reader hoping that the light remains and their world continues.

As always, thank you for reading. I would love to hear from you so feel free to contact me or comment below. If you would like to support this blog and/or my paintings please become my patron.

Be Authentic. Be Unique. Be You.

Book Review: 7 Intriguing Things about IMPULSE by Ellen Hopkins

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“Impulse“

Impulse # 1

by Ellen Hopkins

Nikki’s Rating: 7 out of 10

Summary: Tony, Conner, and Vanessa, three teenagers with one thing in common: they attempted suicide. All three are now in a psychiatric ward together and somehow become friends. As they come to grow and love each other, they explore the events that led them there. But most importantly, they need to help each other find a way to keep going, to be able to survive on the other side of the psychiatric ward walls.

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7 Intriguing Things about IMPULSE by Ellen Hopkins

(May Contain Spoilers)

1. Free Verse

Ellen Hopkins always writes in a unique style of free verse poetry, which makes for a quick, powerful, and fun read!

2. LGBTQ+

Inclusiveness and support of the LGBTQ+ community through having a character who identified as LGBTQ+. Also appreciated that Ellen Hopkins normalized the idea that sexuality for some individuals can be fluid and that the teenage years are filled with exploring and learning about ourselves.

3. Author with Guts

One of the most fantastic things about author Ellen Hopkins is that she writes about tough subjects, drugs, mental illness, abuse, addiction, suicide, etc. She is a badass who brings up the stigmatized and darker human aspects.

4. Mental Illness

Ellen Hopkins really captures the distorted, irrational thinking that can take place amongst those with mental illness. But most importantly she leaves you with the concept that just because someone looks “all-together” or that they come from a wealthy “good” family doesn’t mean that they are not suffering inside or that they couldn’t have mental illness.

5. Defining Sexual Assault

Another important point that Ellen Hopkins makes is that an older woman having sexual relations with a little boy is sexual assault. It is disgusting and wrong to portray such an event as anything other than sexual assault but often these situations get turned into “Oh she was just ‘teaching’ him” or “I lost my virginity to my nanny. I’m the man!”

6. Bipolar Disorder

Having bipolar disorder, I feel that Ellen Hopkins in “Impulse” really captured how bipolar disorder can express itself in people. How they may behave and may think. Total truth in regards to those with bipolar disorder often enjoying the manic episodes.

7. Medications

While many people with mental illness take medications to manage their symptoms and improve their lives, there is a piece of very important information to take into consideration when it comes to medication. That is that the situation is most dangerous and potentially life-threatening to the person and those around them when they are either first beginning or coming off of medications. In potentially all situations involving a mentally ill individual committing a heinous crime, it is not the mental illness to blame but rather the effects of psychiatric medications on the brain. And of course, the chances of suicide are extremely high during this time and Hopkins really captures that reality.

As always, thank you for reading. I would love to hear from you so feel free to contact me or comment below. If you would like to support this blog and/or my paintings please become my patron.

Be Authentic. Be Unique. Be You.