Distant Stars: Book 3

Life on Earth #3

by MariNaomi

In the final volume of the Life on Earth trilogy, celebrated cartoonist MariNaomi concludes her tale of growing up, falling in and out of love, and possible alien interventions. Shy, self-deprecating Paula Navarro is coming into her own―and it's making her new girlfriend, Johanna, a little nervous. Paula's former friend Emily Baker is learning to look inward. Brett Hathaway, Emily and Paula's mutual ex-hook-up, is torn about reconnecting with his estranged dad. And Nigel Jones is smitten with his tutor, Claudia―whose disappearance and reappearance remains a mystery to everyone around her. As Claudia and her guardians put the final plan in motion, they'll reveal the truth that links everyone's fate.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Fiction, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Comics

272 pages, Library Binding

First published March 3, 2020

About the author

MariNaomi (they/them) is the SPACE award-winning, Eisner-nominated author and illustrator of Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22 (Harper Perennial, 2011), Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories (2dcloud/Uncivilized Books, 2014), Turning Japanese (2dcloud, 2016, Oni Press 2023), I Thought YOU Hated ME (Retrofit Comics, 2016), the Life on Earth trilogy (Graphic Universe, 2018-2020), Dirty Produce (Workman Publishing, 2021), and the collage-comics memoir I Thought You Loved Me (Fieldmouse Press, 2023). Their work has appeared in over a hundred print publications and has been featured on websites such as The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts, The Washington Post, LA Times, The Rumpus, LA Review of Books, Midnight Breakfast and BuzzFeed. Their comics have been translated into French (Devenir Japonaise, Editions IMHO, 2021), German, and Russian.

MariNaomi’s comics and paintings have been featured in the Smithsonian, the de Young Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, and the Japanese American Museum.

In 2011 and 2018, Mari toured with the literary roadshow Sister Spit. They are the founder and administrator of the Cartoonists of Color Database, the Queer Cartoonists Database, and the Disabled Cartoonists Database. They have taught classes for the California College of the Arts Comics MFA program, and was guest editor for PEN Illustrated. They were cohost of the Ask Bi Grlz podcast with author Myriam Gurba, and the California Leader of Authors Against Book Bans.

MariNaomi lives in Northern California with their spouse and a menagerie of beloved rescue animals.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume of Mari Naomi’s YA trilogy of growing up, with a little outer space to spice things up. I see most people didn’t like the first volume on Goodreads so didn’t continue, but I am typically an obsessive completist, have read most of Mari Naomi’s graphic memoirs, so in my experience, keeping reading something she begins has paid off for me! To be honest, this is really different than her intimate, personal memoir work, which almost always has more of a sense of humor than this series. It also feels a little distant to me, overall, partly because of the spare art and mostly absent backgrounds, and has different chapters with different artistic styles for each character, but over all I really admire this series, and think it is this is the effort of a comics master.

This is the story of Paula Navarro, her girlfriend, Johanna, and her former friend Emily. Brett is a former ex of both Emily and Paula and he’s in the picture. Nigel likes his tutor, Claudia, who is missing. And all of it comes together rather nicely. Whether teens would actually like this one, I don’t know, but I did, even if I prefer her first-person, memoir comics more. I just like the ambition and illustration work in this.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made this!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mari wraps up her Life on Earth trilogy beautifully, without any disappointing rational explanations for some of the more uncanny aspects of the story, and with all of the characters reaching satisfying arcs. Everything comes together, it's all of a piece. And her artwork is as always playful and imaginative. I loved each of the three books and I'm only disappointed that there won't be any more. Final rating: 5 distant stars out of 5

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very fluid story of friends in high school, and relationships that were formed in the two earlier books. And since I haven't read the two earlier books, I was no as invested in their stories. However, what little I did read seemed very heartfelt.

Coming out, losing a parent, absent parents are all things that happen, and so it was revealing to hear the inner thoughts as each person went through these emotions.

I'm sure it would have been more striking if I'd followed their story from the start, as the little that is revealed is heartbreaking at times.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually a solid ending, 3.5ish

[Katlyn Minard · Rating 4 out of 5]

MariNaomi's beautiful and big-hearted "Distant Stars" concludes her Life on Earth trilogy in spectacular fashion, delivering a final chapter that pays off in unexpected ways, but still leaves some loose ends untied and some character questions unanswered -- which only serve to make the series more haunting, and all the more satisfying.

[CYIReadBooks (Claire) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for having this book available to read. In brutal honesty, I didn't like it at all. It could possibly be that I didn't get to read the prior two volumes so my rating might have been different.

However, I got lost in the storyline, whatever it was; and the recap of the previous books were of no help.

[Lindsey Lawntea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the wrap-up to the Life on Earth series. For those who haven't read it, the series is about a teenage girl who goes missing and details how her classmates and the town are impacted. There are supernatural elements to the story. Mari Naomi wraps the series up neatly with each of the characters kind of coming full circle and reaching satisfying endings, but it still leaves much unanswered.

The series as a whole is not my favorite in the world, but it does have some interesting art styles at times and addresses many difficult topics such as interpersonal and dating violence, teenage pregnancy and abortion, coming out, substance abuse, and mental health issues without coming across as judgmental or pushy.

I personally would have enjoyed more substance, but it was nice to have a "happy ending" because I don't get those in my reading very often. If you are looking for a fast, feel-good story, pick up all three books and read them in one sitting.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

[LaShana Claude · Rating 5 out of 5]

After an unexplained disappearance and a reappearance that was just as odd- Claudia Jones is back at Blithedale High School. She's even started to tutor Nigel, who feels the power of Claudia's presence line no one else

The days are extra strange for Nigel's friends. Shy, self-deprecating Paula is coming into her own- and it's making her new girlfriend, Johanna, a little nervous. Paula's former friend Emily is learning to look inward. And Brett Hathaway, Emily and Paula's mutual ex-hook up, is torn about reconnecting with his estranged dad. As Claudia and her guardians put their plans in motion, they'll reveal a truth that links everyone's fate.

In Distant Stars, the final book in the Life on Earth trilogy, Eisner nominated cartoonist MariNaomi concludes her tale of growing up, falling in and out of love, and possible alien interventions

[Nicole Bannister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I Like the setting,the writing style was great ,the plot was good, the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing. I would gladly reread it again. I also like the concept of the book.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should nnnnooooootttt have been published as three books. It is far too easy to dismiss the simplicity of the art and characters in the first book, even when the content gets more, well, complicated. The end is SO satisfying, though. I'm glad I stuck with it.

[Kelly Teen Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The different styles of art work are phenomenal. A lovely graphic novel even if the story is simple and sad. (And I'm not sure how sad since it's the third book in a trilogy and it's the only volume I've read.)

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved these characters and the story but the conclusion wasn't satisfying for me.

[Molly Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this line of teen poetry: "Give me a chance, I'll make it worth you while. Teach me how to make puppy love turn into doggy style." *chef's kiss*

[Shana Bird · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[HoneyBakedAmbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are cute. Nothing wrong with them. I wasn’t blown away but they are fine.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait, there were aliens in this series?

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read June 2023

[Basil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird as hell but I loved it

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

And again--why are endings so hard! I kind of dig how Claudia was this lurking presence across these three books. But you wouldn't lose much at all by simply excising her completely.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is still great- story ended a little abruptly for a trilogy.

[Hello Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone needs to explain to me what this ending was because I still have no idea.

[Karli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't exactly understand it but I love the illustrations

[Amit Verma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read past editions of this series.
So I had difficulty in getting on with characters in story. I could have missed subtle angles of story.

What I can say that I liked the style of the artist. It was freehand , ever-changing, malleable art style which had easy metamorphosis in each section.
Drawings were clean and non congested.
It was easy to turn pages quickly while reading the book.
250 pages didn't appear too heavy or long.
I will try to read other parts to make full sense of the circumstances of the characters.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.