Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers

2 reviews

pm_me_book_recs's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

A gothic globe-trotting urban fantasy with elements of horror and mystery. 

Parts somehow both whimsical and horrifying? Think Pan's Labyrinth vibes, but also completely different. The whole book is a vibe, moody and dark and pushing for answers. Violet struggles, realistically so, after spending a life sheltered and safe. She bumbles stubbornly through her deceptions, navigating secret society, unknown magic, and a family curse on the brink of fruition. This tale is saturated with betrayal, haunted with Violet's childhood memories, but also so full of hope and determination. The world is just a key-turn away. The romance is pretty good too, right person wrong time with a dash of enemies to lovers. I can't really say more without spoilers!

I listened to this via Libro.fm and immediately looked up what other books this narrator has done- this was the first. I'm so excited to hear what projects Kitty Parker does next, her different intonations for each character were SO GOOD. Sexy evil for the big bad, brooding and cautious as Aleksander, challenging and strong willed as Violet, and the poor exasperated and exhausted brothers. 
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miss_vonnegut's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.5

You know, I'm not sure exactly how to rate this. On one hand, I flew through it and finished it in just a couple of days. On the other hand, it's really dark (definitely check the content warnings) and I'm not sure if it was homophobic or if the queer representation was done very poorly. I'll give a bit more detail on that here, trying to keep it as spoiler-free as possible:
One of the characters is found kissing someone of the same gender and feels shame, and bad things happen to the other person shortly after.  I had hoped that the character would get the chance to unlearn that lesson later in the book, to feel pride, or at least be told there's nothing to be ashamed of, but that never happens. Plus, the character ends up with someone who's not the same gender as them.  And when they're kissing that new person, they actually mention wanting without shame. Now, they could be bi/pan/etc, but the fact that it was never touched on makes it feel homophobic to me. Or at least really poorly done.


Thank you to Hachette for the ARC!
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