Weight of the Stars

2/5 ⭐️ My first book by this author and my first sci-fi book too. I didn’t know what was coming or what to expect. Well, sci-fi isn’t what I would call this. Soft sci-fi if I made a far stretch, YA with the tiniest grain of sci-fi, yes. Sadly this did not meet up to my expectations. The characters fall flat, the story is patchy and feels rushed, the language is not really eloquent either, the author tried to give it a deeper meaning but I just could not find it. It is a quick read, it is queer YA, but that is all to it for me.

DNF @ 50% I'm sad about all the books I already had to DNF this year. I'm sure this one can do a lot of things for a lot of people but I just can't do YA anymore. I was 175 pages in and nothing had happened yet. It was just about the daily lives of some teenagers and that's just not for me anymore.

"We are all together in this incomprehensible wait." (First I just want to say that even if you are not interested in this story you should at least read K. Ancrum's Authors Note.) The Weight of the Stars is about Ryann, about her brother and her found family. It's just been a few minutes since I finished this book but the story is still in the process of finishing me. My heart hurts and I am full of hope. When I bought this book and even when I started reading I honestly had no idea what this book would be about. I just had this feeling that I would love it and that it would mean a lot to me once I finished it. I feel like from no one this book will be one of those on the shelf for "bad times". The book close to Radio Silence, Heartstopper, The Starless Sea, Elizabeth Acevedo's books. A book I pick up when I have a bad day and need to be reminded of love and hope and what is possible. What really made this book special to me were the characters and the atmosphere. I honestly weren't much invested in the plot until the very very end.. but the characters got my attention. I was interested in understanding them, in getting to know them and in the end I really just wanted to spend time with them.. and it hurt when I turned the last pages and had to say goodbye. The atmosphere was amazing. The stargazing and talking on the rooftop.. I want to be there. I really just want to be there with all of them. The writing felt very to the point but at the same time is was poetical and at times very metaphoric. I have to say that I was sometimes confused and there were parts I didn't really get, people said or did stuff that just came out of nowhere and I had trouble connecting it to the bigger picture but somehow I feel like this was part of what made this book so special and honestly so beautiful. We don't get to fully understand the characters or the world or the story and thats ok. We definitely get to love all of it. I also want to mentioned the great representation of people from different backgrounds, religions, identities. It amazed me how sincere it came across, how natural it was and it made me feel very safe. I guess that's what I want to end this review with, actually: K. Ancrum makes you feel safe. K. Ancrum gifts us all a safe space with her book.