3.75 stars. It started out slow, I wasn’t sure I liked the main character, but then the pace picked up and there were some truly beautiful lines. I’m not sure I understand what went wrong with Kalo and Triz or what the problem was or then how they fixed it, but it was obvious they would. The intrigue was good and the conflict surrounding the CeeBees and body mods in general was interesting and given just enough depth.

3.5 stars - rounded up for casual queernormativity AND the normalization of polyamory in a functional, practical, and totally believable way.I feel like we didn't get quite enough of the events surrounding our main plot. It felt kind of like a bigger problem appeared out of nowhere that just happened to align with what our characters were already doing. I also wanted quite a bit more of Triz confronting her anti-mod prejudice - it comes up like twice with Triz getting shot down for it but not re...

Massive thank you to Interstellar Flight Press and Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.Local star is a polyamorous space opera which follows Triz, a guttergirl (spaceship handywoman), her friend Casne and her ex Kalo. When Casne is accused of war crimes, Triz with the help of her ex, Kalo, must do everything she can in an attempt to save her, whilst also saving their Hab which comes under attack from the notorious Cyberbionautic Alliance (ceebees).I picked...

This book is a fantastic, fast-paced, space romp with wonderfully written queer characters. As a polyamorous person, this is the first time I've really seen that kind of representation anywhere and I felt so seen! A fun, quick read.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway by the publisher.Probably more like 3.5 stars? Rounded up.Local Star is a fun sci fi action/romance novella that I just generally enjoyed reading. The action and plot is fast-paced and entertaining and the world-building is impressively vast and interesting. I feel that the middle part got to be a bit rough to get through - not a lot happening, lots of repetition of how (understandably, but still redundantly) upset Triz is about her partner, Casne, being a...

I liked the concept of this novella and I enjoyed all the characters. I loved how practically every character is queer and polyamory is completely normalized in this world. Unfortunately, this novella kind of dragged for me because it’s so jargon-heavy without much in-story explanation, and I was constantly confused about what things were (though that might just be me, as I don’t read much sci-fi). While there is a glossary at the end of the book, I think that my rating would have been higher if...

Thanks to Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for gifting me an eARC of this book!I wish I liked this book more than I did. The beginning was quite slow and at some points, it did start to pick up but overall this book wasn't really for me.Before going into this book, I read the synopsis and was promised a polyamorous space opera and I sort of got that? Sure there were mentions here and there but not nearly as much as I expected from a book marketed as polyamorous. I just wanted more of it.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.I loved this little space opera novella so much!! Triz is a guttergirl who lives in the wrenchworks. When her partner, Casne, comes back from a victorious battle, she thinks things are looking up. Then invaders attack the hub and Casne is framed for committing treason. Triz doesn't know what to do and the only person willing to help her is Kalo, her ex. This was so much freaking fun! I enjoyed every secon...

Disclaimer: This review is based on a review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.The Confederated Fleet has returned victorious from war, and all Triz wants is to join in the celebration—and especially to spend time with her war hero girlfriend, Casne. What Triz definitely does not want is to be stuck working late in the wrenchworks repairing her ex-boyfriend’s fighter craft—her ex-boyfriend Kalo, who is also a war hero and cocky as hell. But when Triz finally does...

Using the phrase “polyamorous space opera” and hinting at cyborg-adjacent stuff in the synopsis may as well be a magic phrase to summon me instantly. Local Star by Aimee Ogden gives us a familiar plot with a few fresh takes, particularly the diversity, and as a fan of queer space opera, it was like a well-done comfort meal: not particularly surprising, but still incredibly delicious.This novella follows mechanic Triz, whose partner Casne comes back from the space battlefront as a war hero; almos...

3.5⭐️ – This was a fun and quick read. The plot is pretty basic. On a three-day leave after a huge victory in the war against the Cyberbionautic Alliance, Casne is planning to celebrate with her best friend and partner Triz. Yet, instead of being honoured as the hero she is, Casne is accused of war crimes, with evidence Triz and Kalo – another Fleet pilot, Triz’s ex and Casne’s sometimes – are convinced is fake.Even though Local Star is a novella, the worldbuilding is rather extensive and it onl...

Local Star by Aimee Ogden is a wonderful space opera Sci-Fi novel published by Interstellar Flight Press (thank you to them and NetGalley for the ARC!) with gallons of intrigue, sci-fi antics and queerness. The representation is just as fantastic as the fast-paced and joyfully convoluted narrative.The story primarily follows Triz who is a guttergirl (read: a space-mechanic, of sorts) as she is swept into a scandalous and highly volatile plot. She has a girlfriend named Casne and rekindles her re...

Thank you Netgalley and Interstellar Flight Press for an ARC of this book!Local star is a fast-paced space opera / romantic comedy with a lot of action and a strong worldbuilding.In this book we are very quickly introduced to a complex universe with its own history, rules and traditions. In my opinion, the worldbuildingis too fast and aggressive. We are so quickly introduced to so many unknown words and concepts that it is easy to get lost in them in the first few pages. In my case, it took me a...

Local Star was a decent read, but one that takes too long to get going and tries to do too much for such a short novella. I loved what Aimee Ogden did with queer, polyamorous relationships, even if the focal romance is hetero. The characters never have time to develop, though, making it hard to care about their struggles.The sci-fi aspects, however, are where the story suffered most for me. There's a lot of introductory world-building that's never really explored, and the space opera potential i...

This is my first book by Aimee Ogden and it certainly won't be my last! Local Star follows Triz who, at the start of the novella, is witness to her partner being dragged off by justice officials to stand trial for war crimes, but her partner is adamant that she didn't commit these crimes. What intrigued me about this book was the fact that it's sci-fi that focusses around a polyamorous triad and, although I don't read a lot of sci-fi, I was definitely not disappointed! Triz grew up having nothin...

There is the start of a fun story here, but I think the length was too short to fully capture all of the elements the author was trying to include - family relationships, romantic relationships, an investigation, and some action sequences, plus all the world building. There was so much going on that no single aspect got the attention it needed, so it was hard to feel as connected or deeply invested as I would have liked. I also felt that many aspects were uneven or inconsistent over the course o...

Three of my favorite sentences in this book were:"Good almost-morning. Good I-survived-flight-academy-and-I-still-don't-think-people-should-be-up-this-early-o'clock.""He was half man and half precarious quantum state teetering on the edge of collapse."And:"There would be time to work over the engine of that relationship. And to consign it to the recycler if necessary, too."I liked the polyamory relationships even if they weren't as fleshed out as I wished, but then multi-partner relationships is...

That’s in exchange of an honest review that I received an ARC of "Local Star" by Aimee Ogden from Interstellar Flight Press (via NetGalley). So, here it is !!! My rating : 1⭐️Despite me not being into YA, I chose to give a try to "Local Star" because, from time to time, I like a good space opera story (I'm quite found of Star Trek and other series like that) … I also love to discover new(-to-me) authors and I love diversity in the rainbow spectrum... Since "Local Star" has been tagged on Netgall...

I wish I would have liked this one much more than I did. In the end, it didn't work for me. I found that either the scope or the tone wasn't attuned to my liking. The first chapters envisioned a novel in which there was a lot to unravel (extended family relationships anxiety in polyamory partnerships, space opera setting, a breakup and the echoes of the earthquake it provided, a great cast of diverse characters, some class struggles), but Aimee Ogden decided to tunnel vision to a love triangle,

Thank you NetGalley and Interstellar Flight Press for the ARC!This was a super fun read! It felt like watching a movie but in a book - while I'm honestly not usually a movie person, this time I appreciated that. In the beginning of the book I couldn't quite figure out who was who (and what everyone's relationships to each other were) or what the structure of the society and the Hab looked like, but as I kept going I eventually figured it out (which is similar to my experience watching movies). T...