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anyaemilie 's review for:
The Sound of Stars
by Alechia Dow
4.5 Stars
I was not expecting to be left feeling hopeful at the end of a book about a dystopian Earth after an alien invasion, but I am pleasantly surprised!
Alechia Dow’s debut is a sci-fi adventure where a human girl (Ellie) and an alien boy (Morris) team up to try to save the world from being taken over by Morris’ alien race, the Ilori. But as much as this is a dystopian adventure story, it’s also a story about love, art, and hope in humanity. Sprinkled in throughout the chase scenes and the moments of panic are quiet, contemplative scenes that dissect what it means to be human and that despite our differences, there is much that unites us.
While hope in humanity is an overarching theme in this book, Dow doesn’t pull punches when addressing the fact that Ellie is a Black girl who has dealt with her fair share of racism. While the Ilori see all humans as the same (read: inferior), Ellie, a queer, chubby, mentally and chronically ill Black girl, never lets her identify be erased. She is proud of who she is, and knows that even though the world is ending, some people still do not see her as deserving.
One paragraph in particular stuck with me; it’s a little over halfway through the book:
"Politics became shameful. Soon it was like everyone felt free to do something about all the irrational hate they had inside of them. I went to the grocery store one day after school and this man pushed me out of line and called me an animal, said I didn't belong where I was. All of these people started at me. But no one said or did a thing. And it happened again and again. Not just to me...to everyone who was different."
Even with the end of humanity as they knew it on the horizon, people still found time to be racist to Ellie. And this struck me especially because these things are happening in our world NOW. I'm sure that was an intentional inclusion by the author, but it's eerie to see a paragraph in a sci-fi novel so perfectly reflecting the real world.
Despite the racism that Ellie experienced throughout her life, and throughout the invasion, she still had hope in humanity. She still wanted to save people, even if they didn’t particularly like her. There were times when she was surprised by the kindness of strangers and times when she was moved to care for people she didn’t know. And those experiences led her to understand that, as a whole, humanity was worth saving.
"Even though I'm far away, this rebellious part of me still lingers. It demands I fight back against those who would take our humanity, our bodies, our land, our art, without caring or knowing who and what we were. What we are."
I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait to see what else Alechia Dow writes. She is a compelling new voice in YA fiction, and I look forward to reading more of her books.
(Also, unrelated to the quality of the book, but this is by far one of my favorite book covers! It’s so pretty and dreamy, and I think it perfectly captures the mood of the book)
I was not expecting to be left feeling hopeful at the end of a book about a dystopian Earth after an alien invasion, but I am pleasantly surprised!
Alechia Dow’s debut is a sci-fi adventure where a human girl (Ellie) and an alien boy (Morris) team up to try to save the world from being taken over by Morris’ alien race, the Ilori. But as much as this is a dystopian adventure story, it’s also a story about love, art, and hope in humanity. Sprinkled in throughout the chase scenes and the moments of panic are quiet, contemplative scenes that dissect what it means to be human and that despite our differences, there is much that unites us.
While hope in humanity is an overarching theme in this book, Dow doesn’t pull punches when addressing the fact that Ellie is a Black girl who has dealt with her fair share of racism. While the Ilori see all humans as the same (read: inferior), Ellie, a queer, chubby, mentally and chronically ill Black girl, never lets her identify be erased. She is proud of who she is, and knows that even though the world is ending, some people still do not see her as deserving.
One paragraph in particular stuck with me; it’s a little over halfway through the book:
"Politics became shameful. Soon it was like everyone felt free to do something about all the irrational hate they had inside of them. I went to the grocery store one day after school and this man pushed me out of line and called me an animal, said I didn't belong where I was. All of these people started at me. But no one said or did a thing. And it happened again and again. Not just to me...to everyone who was different."
Even with the end of humanity as they knew it on the horizon, people still found time to be racist to Ellie. And this struck me especially because these things are happening in our world NOW. I'm sure that was an intentional inclusion by the author, but it's eerie to see a paragraph in a sci-fi novel so perfectly reflecting the real world.
Despite the racism that Ellie experienced throughout her life, and throughout the invasion, she still had hope in humanity. She still wanted to save people, even if they didn’t particularly like her. There were times when she was surprised by the kindness of strangers and times when she was moved to care for people she didn’t know. And those experiences led her to understand that, as a whole, humanity was worth saving.
"Even though I'm far away, this rebellious part of me still lingers. It demands I fight back against those who would take our humanity, our bodies, our land, our art, without caring or knowing who and what we were. What we are."
I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait to see what else Alechia Dow writes. She is a compelling new voice in YA fiction, and I look forward to reading more of her books.
(Also, unrelated to the quality of the book, but this is by far one of my favorite book covers! It’s so pretty and dreamy, and I think it perfectly captures the mood of the book)