A review by hobbithopeful
A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

I enjoyed this book by Malinda Lo, however I don't quite love it as much as Last Night at the Telegraph Club. (I am giving this book 4.5 stars so if that tells anything about how much I enjoyed it) 
This is a queer coming of age novel that follows teenage Aria during the years that gay marriage is legalized. Fantastic read, just didn't have the magic of the other book for me.
This is also touted as being a "companion novel" to Last Night at the Telegraph Club. In my opinion this is not really true, we get a brief mention of the characters but they never *actually* appear on page.
They are somewhat distant cousins once removed and Aria reads a newspaper article about them and her Mom talks about meeting Lily and her girlfriend at a birthday party. That is all you get, I was really disappointed especially considering how much it was a companion novel, the characters never even interact which is odd because they have similar career aspirations.
 
Malinda Lo has a beautiful way of writing, whenever I read anything by her I always feel drawn into the pages. If she is talking about sandy beaches I feel the heat on my face, and the sand in between my toes. If she talks about brush strokes on a canvas, the stiff fabric feels as real to me as the thick paint that glides across it. 
I also love the cover, it so perfectly encapsulates the feeling of the book and the title. The way it draws your eye across the page and is full of colors, the symbolism is very well done. 
If I had to nitpick I wish the toxic relationship between
Steph and Lisa was addressed more. It is quite obvious as the book goes on that Lisa is very controlling and toxic (no justification for the infidelity...but still) Also the relationship between Aria and her Mother is left very much unresolved. (Even at the end she isn't at her art show) Which really is sad, but I guess that is also the harsh reality of life. (We don't always get happy endings) 
 

A must read for sure.

And the ending, while bittersweet, I don't think it could have ended any other way. BUT there were several threads and unanswered questions I had about several characters that felt very open ended and just left me with more questions.  (Not always a bad occurrence, but still. I want to know who is engaged to who etc)


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