fay

a somewhat decent introduction to the queer sphere (yeah that's what i'm calling it lol), though it does show it's age in some aspects (the usage of the term "transsexual" is a huge signifier of when this book was first written). it is, however, by no means a comprehensive guide to all things LGBT+ (if it were this book would probably be the size of tolstoy's war and peace LMAO)

i do have quite a few nitpicks i have with the book. one is that asexuality / the ace spectrum is pretty much brushed off to the side after chapter 2, which kinda bummed me out since i feel like delving a little deeper into it wouldn't have hurt. i also wish polyamory could've been brought up in the section about dating and relationships (and no, open relationships and polyamory are not the same thing).

some of (and by some, i mean 90%) of the slang the author uses throughout the book honestly makes me roll my eyes (which is another signifier of when this book was first written). i get the point of the whole tome is to make learning about LGBT+ things engaging and entertaining, but "cray"? "shiz"? i have literally not used these words since 2013, couldn't the slang have been updated for the 2020s? i can imagine other people my age (or today's teens) having the same reactions as i did when reading this.

there are some other qualms i have with the book that i can't articulate well enough right now, so i might come back to edit this review when i have the mental energy to. it does do a good job explaining the basics in a way a cishet person would most likely understand, i'll give it that.

bottom line, it's an okay introduction to the spectrum of things LGBT+, though it's certainly not a definite guide. i strongly recommend doing further reading (a good additional starting point would be A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer and Trans Identities by Mady G and Jules Zuckerberg [which i feel does a lot more with a lot less]) hopefully as the years pass, this gay book is updated to reflect the concepts and terminology (and slang!) of today.

the manga has an interesting premise, however the fast pacing squanders it. i wish the progression of niko and fynn's relationship was given more time to develop (they have their first kiss about 70 pages in, ffs!) i would have loved to see some chapters of niko teaching fynn about astronomy, different constellations, and whatnot. maybe have fynn actually take an interest in stargazing, and not just use it as a reason to go see niko. i think their relationship would be more intriguing if the authors had gone for a slow burn a la sasaki and miyano.

speaking of which, it feels like fynn doesn't really take his bond with niko seriously? he constantly mispronounces perseids and makes no effort to correct it, despite niko telling him the proper pronunciation multiple times. he also interrupts niko's infodumping about stars and science, subjects he's clearly passionate about, and idk, shouldn't a good friend respect their buddy's interests and be willing to listen to their ramblings? fynn is also shown to kinda want to isolate niko from his friends, which is lowkey a red flag for me. a good friend wouldn't want to keep their buddy all to themselves, right?

fynn's thought process is also confusing at times (on page 82 he claims to be worried about niko but on the very same page he rhetorically asks why "a guy like him even [has] friends", and even mentions not wanting his other friends to have fun with him on the previous page). might be the translation, but the writing kinda falls flat here and there.

chapter 3 and the conflict it introduces feels lowkey shoehorned in, like it was written just for the third act breakup that's common in sooo many romance stories. i rolled my eyes soooo hard when fynn told niko "i thought we understood each other just fine! i thought you liked it when i stuck my tongue in your mouth!" as if he hadn't been rudely dismissive of niko's hobby and called him a freak shortly before this. i know he's a teen and still doesn't have a grasp on what a good relationship is (if zoe breaking up with him is anything to go by), but this line was just ridiculous.

i couldn't make heads or tails of what fynn was ranting about either. as i mentioned before, it read like fodder for a third act breakup which honestly should have happened later on in the story, which could've been a good cliffhanger to lead into the next volume if the authors had gone through a slow burn route as i suggested previously.

zoe... i like her, and i feel she kinda gets the short end of the stick in the story. i know it's a common thing for people to say "women characters get in the way of my yaoi which is why i don't like them!!1" (which i have yet to actually see), but i think the reverse is true here. her relationship/friendship with fynn takes a backseat to his attraction to niko, which, when combined with the fact she's deeply distressed about breaking up with fynn, makes me feel so bad for her. i'm hoping she receives better treatment by both the characters and the narrative in volume 2.

as for the art, i liked it! the authors have great attention to detail in terms of environments and clothing. not fond of how the faces are drawn sometimes though. it kinda reminds me of early 2010s deviantart anime-esque artists? not that it's a bad thing at all, just a personal artstyle nitpick. i also really like the two watercolor pieces in the first two pages. i love zoe's character design the most tbh.

the manga is printed on this weird semi-waxy white paper that makes the toning of the pages look weird? idk why the publisher went with it, but for me it somewhat hampers the gorgeous illustrations.

star collector isn't the worst BL manga i've read, but much could be improved by giving more time to niko and fynn's relationship and characterization. i would say it wouldn't be a bad pick for baby's first foray into BL, but even then i feel like they would deserve a better title.

perhaps volume 2 will be better. we'll see. i can't say i have high hopes though.

TL;DR don't pick this up if you're looking for a substantial read. pacing is way too fast, characterization is muddy, however the art is beautiful

I picked up this book from my local library because it had an interesting premise. I'll be breaking down my review into segments, focusing on different aspects of the graphic novel.

Starting off with the worldbuilding, I enjoyed what I got to see. The society on Mars gave off major solarpunk vibes, which I'm always up for in sci-fi stories. I like the details of stairs in the university being able to convert to wheelchair ramps when needed, and the library having robotic owls as assistants is soooo cute :3. I just wish we got to see more of the universe, like how humans came to colonize Mars and what life back on Earth is like. There was a tidbit with the museum timeline that mentioned capitalism was overthrown which piqued my interest. The element of human cloning being prominent is an interesting one as well.

The characters are more or less okay, I didn't mind the protagonist. I do feel like her story was under-explored in some aspects as was Kye's (who'll I'll get to in a bit). Like what happened to her mom that made her want a clone of herself to live vicariously through? What was her mom like before Clem's conception? Does Clem have friends or relatives back on Earth that she keeps in touch with?

I also feel like Clem and Kye's relationship felt rushed (even shoehorned in, dare i say, even though it's the focal point of the story). It progressed too fast for me to feel natural, which is something I always look for when it comes to M/F relationships. I get this is a romance novel but why not show more moments of their friendship before their feelings blossom? Honestly, I wasn't feeling the more intimate moments between them (especially the scenes in Dr. Han's house).

Kye is also painfully underwritten. I wish we got to see things from his POV more often, and not just moments between him and Clem and/or Dr. Lin. His personality is a bit flat to me, which is a given considering Dr. Ada raised him to be a lab/personal assistant and nothing more. She probably didn't let him cultivate his own interests besides plants, but c'mon! At least give him something that doesn't involve his mom or love interest.

Speaking of Kye, the backdoor glitch being caused by him thinking about Clem is somewhat confusing to me. I can kiiiinda get the link between the photos she shared to him being of plant matter and nature on Earth and the fact his past/human self had a special interest in plants, but why is Clem the cause? Is it solely because she was the one to share the photos with him? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to think about Earth? Idk i hate how vague certain elements of the plot are.

Additionally, how was Dr Lin able to program her late son's consciousness into Kye? Did she develop an AI based off her son's memories or did she somehow extract a physical component from him and implement it into Kye's code? Does Kye even know the boy he sees whenever he glitches is Dr. Lin's son/his past self? Yet another aspect of the story I felt didn't get enough time to develop.

Overall, I enjoyed the art and the world of the novel, but the characters and the relationship between Clem and Kye left much to be desired. I feel like if the story was longer and more aspects expanded upon I would have enjoyed this graphic novel a lot more.

SENA best boi though i will not deny his cuteness >w<

a short but devastating read. what amiko lacks in common sense and intelligence, she makes up for in vivacity. although there were moments where i felt other characters' irritation towards her absurd behavior (namely nori's and the unnamed boy's), it didn't make her any less endearing. kinda gutted i'll never be able to read this for the first time ever again tbh

as some of the other reviews mentioned, the astrology aspect didn't do much for me, as someone who was never really big on it to begin with. however i do appreciate that the author did their best to explain it in layman's terms. the concept/premise is an interesting one, and i would be more into it had it been explored just a little further. the writing was actually kinda solid until about the latter half of chapter 3, where i feel like the author was somewhat rushing to wrap everything up. all nitpicks aside though, i wouldn't mind visiting the full moon coffee shop myself. god knows we could use a nice celestial refreshment and some advice that's just as refreshing.

also, cats! (=^-ω-^=)

edit 09/21/2025: okay after a reread of the book, i realize some parts are pretty messed up, such as the whole infidelity situation and how the women are treated by the narrative compared to the men in regard to that, and the bit with akari's hairdresser crush (later boyfriend) being queer coded (he even recounts a story from his youth where he was disowned by his father for wearing dresses as a way to rebel against his family, ffs!) buuuuuut he's straight bc the plot demands so. siiiigh. these and a few other nitpicks (the astrology aspects feeling somewhat shallow, not really connecting with the characters aside from mizuki, the pacing falling apart in the third chapter) unfortunately take my initial rating down a notch.

i ended up giving this away to my local little free library bc i feel like this title isn't worth keeping on my already overflowing bookshelf. i am aware there is a sequel but i will not be picking that up. -_-