A review by miss_vonnegut
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers

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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