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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.BUY THE BOOK
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Community Reviews
4.5
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
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
I just loved this book - music, sci fi, queer (and middle age!) joy and love. I’ve recommended it to people who never read sci fi and they love it, and to people who love sci fi (like me) and they also love it! **CW sexual assault **
It made me wish I could play music.
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.
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.
I loved all of the characters in this book. The combination of SciFi and Fantasy was so refreshing. This story addresses some big themes like what is “real”, being authentic and expressions of love.
Trans and queer joy amidst the heartbreak and grind, about music and food, embodying music and food, transportative
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