Starfire by Naomi Hughes is a science fantasy novel about a young man who wishes to see the real sky. On the planet he calls home, a large barrier fills the sky keeping the population safe from star dragons, large creatures who almost decimated human settlers when they arrived a thousand years ago. The barrier has kept the dragons out but kept the humans locked in beneath a white sky. Peregrine has wanted to see the sky beyond the barrier for as long as he can remember, and he would do anything to see beyond it.

When a star dragon breaks a hole in the barrier, Per’s wish comes true in the worst way possible. Star dragons have the devastating power of uncreation, anything hit by their starfire is unmade, and instantly removed from reality and memory. As star dragons leave destruction and death in their wake, places and people disappear from memory as if they never existed. As Per watches his world devolves into chaos, he can’t help finding himself drawn towards the star dragon when he should be running in the opposite direction.

Finding a place on a submarine along with the famed “Star Slayer”, Per believes that he can find answers to his questions. He’s started having vivid dreams of star dragons, which concern him. Every day is a daily struggle against intrusive thoughts that tell him he is going to harm someone, a condition known as harm OCD. Despite being completely out of his element, Per is finding some comfort in the charismatic captain, Z, and the more time he spends with Z, the more Per realises he’s falling for him.

This was always going to be a journey of self-discovery, Per knew that. He just never realised how big those discoveries were going to be.

Some books just knock the wind out of you, and Starfire is one of those. It is an incredible book that combines science fiction with elements of fantasy and features a lot of representation. There is an M/M relationship, a bisexual main character, a non-binary secondary character, BIOPC characters and disabled and mental health representation.

As mentioned, Per has harm OCD and a foreword by Hughes describes this as involving “intrusive thoughts (scary/ violent thoughts that seem to pop up out of the blue), along with a pervasive fear that the “bad thoughts” mean you are a bad person who is likely to carry out those violent actions in real life […].”

This was a type of OCD I was unfamiliar with, and the inclusion of its representation in this book is why I wanted to highlight it for repDISND. This book is a brilliant example of how featuring representation in fiction can help spread awareness about mental health. There is always the chance that the representation might not be correct, however, when the author includes a foreword about the condition with advice and links to more information that is a very positive sign that it is going to be a good portrayal. In Hughes’ case, her author bio also mentions that she “writes ownvoices mental health into everything she can”. For those who are not familiar with the term “ownvoices” it refers to authors writing from lived experience.

The scenes showing Per’s OCD and anxiety felt familiar to me as someone with mental health conditions of my own, even though harm OCD was new to me. Rather than feeling alienated by the difference between us, I was drawn further to Per as Hughes helped me understand how his intrusive thoughts made him feel. There are many types of intrusive thoughts, and while mine do not involve violence, I’ve certainly questioned whether I was a bad person many times.

In addition to mental health representation, another main character, Z the captain of the submarine, uses a hover-propelled wheelchair. Z is an ambulatory wheelchair user and is not paralysed, however, walking is very difficult due to intense pain. No details are given regarding his disability, so it is not clear whether he has a chronic illness or his pain is the result of an injury.

Hughes is an excellent storyteller who embodies her characters with so much life and energy. I loved the realism she infuses into them and their relationships, particularly between Per and his family members. His sister, Anthem, is a force of nature and very different to her brother, and the scenes between the two siblings are powerful and emotional. The dialogue throughout the book is on fire from start to finish, especially Anthem’s witty one-liners. If you love sassy bisexuals, she’s your girl.

I was impressed with the way Hughes handled character development, showing the way each character processes events and new information. The journey the younger characters are making on the submarine is juxtaposed by Per and Anthem’s parents, who unlike most parents in YA books don’t just sit ideally by as their children run off unsupervised in the middle of a global catastrophe! Let’s just say that Anthem inherited her sass from somewhere, and as an adult, I truly appreciated that the adult characters were well-written.

At the heart of Starfire are themes of identity, and the journey to finding where we belong in the world. Be warned though, Hughes turns the coming-of-age trope on its head in this book with some incredible twists and turns, so if you think you’ve been there, read this before, I can assure you that you have not. This is me telling you to go read this book right now. It’s also on Kindle Unlimited, so you have no excuse!