Light From Uncommon Stars
Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.
When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.
But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.
As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
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Community Reviews
What I liked: I feel like the book handled the weightier topics (racism, transphobia, abuse) appropriately. It was definitely interesting to delve into Katrina's issues and see things from a transgender viewpoint (as a cisgender reader). The writing style was beautiful - at times hard to follow, but mostly very entertaining. It made me want to pick up my dusty old violin and learn to play again. I especially loved the Tran family story as well.
What I disliked: This is book is in NO way like Good Omens in my opinion. I was looking for a light-hearted, funny read and what I got was a rather serious book that covered WAY too many deep topics at once. Yes, the weightier topics were handled appropriately, but with a description like "Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet," you expect something silly. Yes, I do realize that Good Omens was literally about the end of the world, but Gaiman and Pratchett wrote dark humor in such a way that it was still hilarious. They were able to write social commentary on religion, the human race, death, whatever, and it had me actually laugh out loud. AND think critically about the commentary. This book failed to make me laugh. Maybe a smile or chuckle here or there. If I had known it was more serious, I think I would like it more. Alas, I didn't go into it with the right mindset, and it severely disappointed.
This book has so much going on. The closest thing I can think of to the tone is maybe the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once? The plots are not related, but there is a similar layer of chaos and humor along with grounded conversations about life and meaning. The text jumps around perspectives very frequently, which can be disorienting, but also usually pays off. The closer you pay attention the more humor you will find. As someone who reads for fun and teeters on the ledge of depression so often, I was worried this book would be too dark and cynical for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how positive it was. The hardest passages for me to read were about Katrina's experience both as a trans girl and as a sex worker, but those passages are not lingering or gratuitous. The audiobook narrator seemed like she was whispering the whole time, which I didn't love, but I thought her comedic timing was pretty good.
Content Warnings:
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Cursing
Minor: Self harm, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Rape, and War
Tastes like warm donuts and Cinnabons, plum colored eggplants, and tea. Sounds like sharp applause and sorrowful silence. Feels like sticky icing and stuck zippers in an upscale dressing room.
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