Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie

5 reviews

trussell12's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense 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

4.0

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sarahsbookstacks's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars and wow what a read! I borrowed this from the library for book club and based on the cover and title, I thought it was sci-fi… it is decidedly not. 

The storytelling felt like I was sitting in a cozy place having a conversation with Skye. The casualness of the prose helped balance the heavy subject matter, and added a layer of humor that was very needed. I’m so glad I read this book! 

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eviecheesepuff's review against another edition

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emotional medium-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? Yes
 
This one is a complicated one. 
I really wanted to love this book. The premise was interesting, the diverse list of characters was inspiring and the cover is gorgeous (which is always a plus). 
However the way these topics were executed really put me off reading and I struggled to finish the book. I really wanted it to turn around on the second half and so I pushed myself till the end. I regret that now and I wish that I would have dnfed it. 
I feel like diversity in a book is a necessity. Everyone is mixed together in this goldfish bowl that is earth. However, this book felt to me like it was trying harder to check every diversity box more than actually invest time and depth on the characters and their struggles. For some reason the few times the author started to do so, her main character (who is a grown adult with her own business) would make terrible decisions and crack jokes about them. I think this was an attempt to lighten the mood, but it actually prevented the few good points made throughout the novel to hit home. It was just like when you’re watching Pirates of the Caribbean and the scene is extremely dramatic but you’re distracted by Jack Sparrow being a fool in the background. I love that on my Disney movies, but not on a novel that advertises itself as social commentary dealing with struggles of queerness and racism. 
For example, this book has a Latina trans woman. As a Hispanic woman who emigrated to USA myself, I was expecting to really bond with that character, however shes such a stereotypical Hispanic person that I felt I was being made fun off most of the time. There is not a single sentence she speaks that does not include a Spanish word. I can not talk like that. Hell, not even Gloria from Modern Family does that so often! It was disappointing that I couldn’t see myself in the character targeted to me in a book so full of minorities. 
Writing a book is really hard, so before leaving a bad review, I like to research and ask for other people’s opinions before actually making my mind completely, as sometimes it’s hard to see out of one’s bubble. I read passages of this book to my friends. All of them (Hispanic, Black and White) agreed that this book has a really bad habit of villainizing white characters. I understand that there are very real and serious racist issues in the world regarding the mistreatment at the hand of white people and the privilege they have in comparison to others sometimes (I’ve seen instances of this throughout my life), but this book (which was presented to me as a media that was trying to bring light into this issues) is actually, if anything, adding to them. Which sucks because I was really hoping to be able to list this book as a staple of modern social awareness regarding mistreatment of POC. 
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mbedrosian's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • 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

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Thanks to Random House for the free copy of this book.

 - Let's have some queer screaming about SKYE FALLING! This book is real queer and messy in the best way! Lesbian, bisexual, and trans rep among the main characters, and everyone is out and feels at home with their identities! Love it!
- This book can be pretty heavy, especially when Skye is looking back at her childhood. But it's also super funny, keeping it from becoming a plodding recitation of traumas, as books about messy adults often are.
- It's wonderful to see a book full of queer adults. So often in books - especially non-genre fiction adult novels - you get a queer person surrounded by straight people, or maybe one or two other queer minor characters. But Skye's life is deeply queer, and her community (as small as it is at the start) feels real. 
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