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Das Licht ungewöhnlicher Sterne
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2021)Einst war Shizuka Satomi ein Star, heute ist sie die gefragteste Geigenlehrerin der Welt. Wer bei ihr studiert, dem ist eine glänzende Karriere gewiss. Niemand ahnt, dass Shizuka einen Pakt mit dem Teufel geschlossen Sieben Musikerseelen muss sie ihm bringen. Sechs davon hat sie bereits der Hölle übergeben. Nur mit der siebten will es nicht klappen, und langsam läuft Shizuka die Zeit davon. Als sie eines Tages das Geigenspiel der jungen Katrina hört, ist Shizuka sich sicher, die letzte Seele gefunden zu haben. Doch dann begegnet Shizuka der geheimnisvollen Lan Tran, die von geradezu außerirdischer Schönheit ist, und mit einem Mal werden all ihre Pläne über den Haufen geworfen. Es ist der Beginn eines mitreißenden Abenteuers voll Magie und Hoffnung. Eines Abenteuers, das zeigt, dass man für die Liebe manchmal ganze Sternensysteme überwinden muss...
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First published September 28, 2021
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About the author
Ryka Aoki
15 books1,648 followersRyka Aoki is a writer, performer, judo black belt, and professor of English at Santa Monica College.
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September 18, 2022When was the last time I read a book this mind-blowingly original? Light from Uncommon Stars takes elements of different familiar story lines -- a deal with the Devil, aliens from outer space living among us, and the all-too-real struggles of a young trans woman trying to survive abuse and rejection -- and combines them into something completely new, jarring, unexpected and beautiful, much like the Bartók sonata around which the plot revolves.
Shizuka Satomi, once a brilliant violinist, now a feared and legendary violin teacher known as the Queen of Hell, has traded her soul to the Devil, but she has an escape clause: If she can deliver the souls of seven of her best students to her demon-in-charge Tremon Phillipe, Shizuka herself will be able to walk free. She has already delivered six souls. And now she thinks she has found the seventh . . .
Katrina Nguyen can no longer stand it at home. Her father gets drunk and hits her and her mother. Neither parent can accept the fact that Katrina is transgender. She scrapes together money for her hormonal treatments by doing porn chats online, putting up with 'clients' that call her a freak but also find her alluring, but what Katrina really wants is to play her violin to create beautiful music based on video game soundtracks. She's just afraid. If anyone sees her, will they accept her violin playing, or will they only see her appearance and hurl more hateful comments? Finally, Katrina takes her 'go bag' and escapes, riding the bus to L.A. to find someone she met once, who seemed supportive . . . She never dreams that she is about to find a teacher instead.
Lan Tran has brought her family to earth to escape the Endplague which is slowly destroying her home in the Galactic Empire. Disguised as human, the Tran family takes over Starrgate Donut and begins to find a place in their local community. Lan's mission is to build an actual star gate inside the giant donut sign on top of their shop, but when she meets an elegant woman who barges into the donut shop, desperate to use the restroom, the first glimmers of an impossible intergalactic romance begin to shine.
Can Shizuka and Lan find love amidst the twin threats of galactic plague and demonic contracts? Will Katrina really agree to trade her soul to realize her dreams? There are so many memorable characters in this novel. You will care about each and every one, beautifully rendered and fully human. It's a story about escaping your fate, making your place in a hostile world, and learning to find love among those who accept you. It's funny, heartfelt, haunting. It's also a quick read, because Aoki's chapters are real page turners! Highly recommended.
Shizuka Satomi, once a brilliant violinist, now a feared and legendary violin teacher known as the Queen of Hell, has traded her soul to the Devil, but she has an escape clause: If she can deliver the souls of seven of her best students to her demon-in-charge Tremon Phillipe, Shizuka herself will be able to walk free. She has already delivered six souls. And now she thinks she has found the seventh . . .
Katrina Nguyen can no longer stand it at home. Her father gets drunk and hits her and her mother. Neither parent can accept the fact that Katrina is transgender. She scrapes together money for her hormonal treatments by doing porn chats online, putting up with 'clients' that call her a freak but also find her alluring, but what Katrina really wants is to play her violin to create beautiful music based on video game soundtracks. She's just afraid. If anyone sees her, will they accept her violin playing, or will they only see her appearance and hurl more hateful comments? Finally, Katrina takes her 'go bag' and escapes, riding the bus to L.A. to find someone she met once, who seemed supportive . . . She never dreams that she is about to find a teacher instead.
Lan Tran has brought her family to earth to escape the Endplague which is slowly destroying her home in the Galactic Empire. Disguised as human, the Tran family takes over Starrgate Donut and begins to find a place in their local community. Lan's mission is to build an actual star gate inside the giant donut sign on top of their shop, but when she meets an elegant woman who barges into the donut shop, desperate to use the restroom, the first glimmers of an impossible intergalactic romance begin to shine.
Can Shizuka and Lan find love amidst the twin threats of galactic plague and demonic contracts? Will Katrina really agree to trade her soul to realize her dreams? There are so many memorable characters in this novel. You will care about each and every one, beautifully rendered and fully human. It's a story about escaping your fate, making your place in a hostile world, and learning to find love among those who accept you. It's funny, heartfelt, haunting. It's also a quick read, because Aoki's chapters are real page turners! Highly recommended.
October 5, 2021
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If only heart alone could make a novel great. If only positive themes of hope, transgender and queer identity, and acceptance were enough to lift a story to the skies.
Because if that were the case, Ryka Aoki’s sci-fi/fantasy novel, Light From Uncommon Stars, would soar to the universe and back. And my task as a book blogger would be considerably easier since I would not be writing this lukewarm review.
But other than making me hanker for donuts and regret giving up the violin in the fifth grade, the novel didn’t do much for me. Its heart and its hope simply weren’t enough to elevate it to excellence.
Katrina Nguyen, a queer trans woman, is a talented violinist who longs to be accepted by her family. After running away from home, she finds herself in a tough spot until she crosses paths with Shizuka Satomi, a famed (and cursed) violin teacher, and Lan Tran, a space alien donut-shop owner.
Sounds quirky, doesn’t it? It totally is – and the quirkiness is delightful. The novel is a joyous celebration of Asian Americans, queerness, space aliens, music, and yummy food.
But it has a lot going on. In addition to the aforementioned themes, Aoki tackles weightier topics like racism, transphobia, self-harm, rape, and abuse, and Light From Uncommon Stars suffers for the too-busy plot. Aoki is unable to devote adequate time and attention to these aspects of the story, resulting in a weak, thinly-stretched narrative and flat characters with minimal growth.
The biggest problem, though, is the novel’s unusual stylistic format. Aoki continually switches character perspective – and I don’t just mean from chapter to chapter. It’s more like, mid-scene and mid-conversation. Every five to ten paragraphs, the narrative is paused by a section break to allow for a perspective shift. It’s jarring, choppy, and distracting. And because I was constantly dropped in and out of the story, I was neither immersed in the narrative nor emotionally connected to the characters.
Light From Uncommon Stars is a novel I wish I would’ve loved. And while many of its elements are praiseworthy, more than anything, I found it tiring to read. I was relieved to be done with it.
Donut, anyone?
My sincerest appreciation to Ryka Aoki, Tor Books, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
Bantering Books
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If only heart alone could make a novel great. If only positive themes of hope, transgender and queer identity, and acceptance were enough to lift a story to the skies.
Because if that were the case, Ryka Aoki’s sci-fi/fantasy novel, Light From Uncommon Stars, would soar to the universe and back. And my task as a book blogger would be considerably easier since I would not be writing this lukewarm review.
But other than making me hanker for donuts and regret giving up the violin in the fifth grade, the novel didn’t do much for me. Its heart and its hope simply weren’t enough to elevate it to excellence.
Katrina Nguyen, a queer trans woman, is a talented violinist who longs to be accepted by her family. After running away from home, she finds herself in a tough spot until she crosses paths with Shizuka Satomi, a famed (and cursed) violin teacher, and Lan Tran, a space alien donut-shop owner.
Sounds quirky, doesn’t it? It totally is – and the quirkiness is delightful. The novel is a joyous celebration of Asian Americans, queerness, space aliens, music, and yummy food.
But it has a lot going on. In addition to the aforementioned themes, Aoki tackles weightier topics like racism, transphobia, self-harm, rape, and abuse, and Light From Uncommon Stars suffers for the too-busy plot. Aoki is unable to devote adequate time and attention to these aspects of the story, resulting in a weak, thinly-stretched narrative and flat characters with minimal growth.
The biggest problem, though, is the novel’s unusual stylistic format. Aoki continually switches character perspective – and I don’t just mean from chapter to chapter. It’s more like, mid-scene and mid-conversation. Every five to ten paragraphs, the narrative is paused by a section break to allow for a perspective shift. It’s jarring, choppy, and distracting. And because I was constantly dropped in and out of the story, I was neither immersed in the narrative nor emotionally connected to the characters.
Light From Uncommon Stars is a novel I wish I would’ve loved. And while many of its elements are praiseworthy, more than anything, I found it tiring to read. I was relieved to be done with it.
Donut, anyone?
My sincerest appreciation to Ryka Aoki, Tor Books, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.
Bantering Books
October 3, 2020
I've been a fan of Ryka Aoki forever, so I was beyond excited to hear she'd written a novel that combines science fiction and fantasy, featuring a young trans girl protagonist. But wow. Light from Uncommon Stars is so much wilder and more beautiful and sweeter than I could ever have expected.
No spoilers here, but this book really captured what it's like to be a trans girl, especially one who's new in her transition, in a way that I'd never quite seen on paper before. I've read a TON of trans novels and short stories and memoirs, way more than most people, and I've never seen a trans story like this before. So many tiny details rang true, in ways that made me happy and some ways that broke my heart.
The important thing to know is that this book is incredibly soothing and kind and sweet and delightful, despite being very honest about the horrible shit that trans people have to deal with. Including intense stuff like sex work, worrying about where you're going to get hormones and spiro, trying to find a bathroom you can use without getting assaulted. Aoki's characters are flawed and capable of terrible mistakes, but also generous and nuturing, especially toward Katrina, the young trans runaway at the center of the story.
And a lot of the life of this book comes from Aoki's lush, gorgeous writing about food and music. This book WILL make you crave various foods, from donuts to Hainan Chicken, and will also fill you with an insatiable desire to listen to Bartók and Paganini and video-game music. That's the other thing: there's a sly thread running through this book about video-game music, and how it's just as valid a musical genre as "proper" classical music. Playing video-game music is sort of Katrina's superpower. Again, no spoilers. The main word that comes to mind for this book is "sensuous." Specifically, Aoki's lovely descriptions really brought my tastebuds and my eardrums to life.
Light from Uncommon Stars just swept me away with its beautiful story of friendship, love, and discovering the creative person you were meant to be. I fell in love with these characters, and I did not even realize how desperately I needed this offbeat trans coming-of-age story right now.
No spoilers here, but this book really captured what it's like to be a trans girl, especially one who's new in her transition, in a way that I'd never quite seen on paper before. I've read a TON of trans novels and short stories and memoirs, way more than most people, and I've never seen a trans story like this before. So many tiny details rang true, in ways that made me happy and some ways that broke my heart.
The important thing to know is that this book is incredibly soothing and kind and sweet and delightful, despite being very honest about the horrible shit that trans people have to deal with. Including intense stuff like sex work, worrying about where you're going to get hormones and spiro, trying to find a bathroom you can use without getting assaulted. Aoki's characters are flawed and capable of terrible mistakes, but also generous and nuturing, especially toward Katrina, the young trans runaway at the center of the story.
And a lot of the life of this book comes from Aoki's lush, gorgeous writing about food and music. This book WILL make you crave various foods, from donuts to Hainan Chicken, and will also fill you with an insatiable desire to listen to Bartók and Paganini and video-game music. That's the other thing: there's a sly thread running through this book about video-game music, and how it's just as valid a musical genre as "proper" classical music. Playing video-game music is sort of Katrina's superpower. Again, no spoilers. The main word that comes to mind for this book is "sensuous." Specifically, Aoki's lovely descriptions really brought my tastebuds and my eardrums to life.
Light from Uncommon Stars just swept me away with its beautiful story of friendship, love, and discovering the creative person you were meant to be. I fell in love with these characters, and I did not even realize how desperately I needed this offbeat trans coming-of-age story right now.
Want to read
September 25, 2021"Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts."
I have been most reliably informed that this book is gay and that it slaps, and I'm excited to read it!
I have been most reliably informed that this book is gay and that it slaps, and I'm excited to read it!
December 30, 2022
I really thought I was going to love this one. I really did. I mean, from the beginning I was lured into the expectation of quirky wonderfulness -- and once we learned that a spacefaring alien family took over an LA-area donut joint, I was quite excited.
And then that excitement petered out as adorable quirkiness gave way to perplexed irritation.
You see, this book is trying to go into several directions at once, and does not blend its disparate storylines well, resulting in quite a disjointed, scattered feel. It never integrates its fantasy storyline (a violin teacher selling the souls of her students to Hell to repay a debt) and science-fictional storyline (a space alien family in exile running a spaceship disguised as a donut shop), as well as its real-world storyline (a trans girl going through heaps of abuse and becoming a violinist). None of the stories get a good development, and all feel a bit too generic and superficial and, in case of science-fiction part, a bit too whimsily quirky, a la Becky Chambers tea-drinking aliens, but with donuts.
Not to mention that it would be helpful for me to care more about food or violins to enjoy this story.
I mean, food is great. I enjoy it when I eat it, sometimes more than I should (hey, its holidays, alright?) But here it seems like every page has mentions and descriptions of food, from donuts to steamed buns to a lyrical ode to Olive Garden eggplant parmigiana. It's as though a cookbook and a foodie blog had a baby, and that baby went to a buffet restaurant. And this is really distracting when I'm reading at midnight and my brain keeps being bombarded with thoughts of pork buns.
Not to mention constant viewpoint changes, sometimes almost in the middle of the sentence, that after a while got annoying. I like multiple POVs, but keep it consistent at least for a page to keep the readers immersed.
Becky Chambers books kept coming to mind when I read this, but not as much the Wayfarer series (which I liked) but the later ones, the ones that hit the wrong notes for me -- the ones that focus on alien domesticity in the way that to me cross the line from delightful to boringly bland territory. (Or maybe that Cerulean Sea book by T.J. Klune?) Maybe I'm just not domestic enough, I don't know -- but my eyes started glazing over more than the donuts in the story.
The characters also rarely deviated from a thin whimsical archetype. They lack in personality beyond one or two defining traits. Something is missing for all of them, something that would allow me to connect with them on anything more than a very superficial level. Not to mention that there was really no need to introduce SF elements — aliens that are 100% human refugee allegory, and you’ll be forgiven to forget these are even aliens. Demon that nobody even blinks at. Teenage murder blink-and-you-miss-it subplot (murder that’s mostly glossed over because it was rage-kill of bigoted teens, so I suppose it’s okay???) Nobody spending more than a second contemplating the evilness of selling souls to hell because the violinist who does it was nice to our protagonist and is forming a relationship with the alien mother. A guy who misgenders our protagonist is killed via a hellish heart attack, but alien murdering teenager is given a pass later. The book that in the first few dozen pages deals with rape, sex work and domestic abuse just kinda optimistically skips over any uncomfortable parts later, and never actually conveying any sense of tension or danger.
I think this would have been better if the science-fictional plot was removed and an editor would cut out about 80% of foodie stuff, leaving a lean novella that can hit hard. Focus on the trans experience and the violinist/demon soul trading and develop it deeper. Forgo the stargate donut science fiction that never feels real or anything besides unintentionally vaguely comical.
All in all, 2.5 stars, and my arteries will thank this book for putting me off donuts for a while.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
“Here at Starrgate Donut, Lan and her family would safely wait out the fall of the Galactic Empire, continue their work, and live undisturbed, as long as—as Mr. Thamavuong stressed—they gave donuts to the police officers for free.”
And then that excitement petered out as adorable quirkiness gave way to perplexed irritation.
You see, this book is trying to go into several directions at once, and does not blend its disparate storylines well, resulting in quite a disjointed, scattered feel. It never integrates its fantasy storyline (a violin teacher selling the souls of her students to Hell to repay a debt) and science-fictional storyline (a space alien family in exile running a spaceship disguised as a donut shop), as well as its real-world storyline (a trans girl going through heaps of abuse and becoming a violinist). None of the stories get a good development, and all feel a bit too generic and superficial and, in case of science-fiction part, a bit too whimsily quirky, a la Becky Chambers tea-drinking aliens, but with donuts.
Not to mention that it would be helpful for me to care more about food or violins to enjoy this story.
I mean, food is great. I enjoy it when I eat it, sometimes more than I should (hey, its holidays, alright?) But here it seems like every page has mentions and descriptions of food, from donuts to steamed buns to a lyrical ode to Olive Garden eggplant parmigiana. It's as though a cookbook and a foodie blog had a baby, and that baby went to a buffet restaurant. And this is really distracting when I'm reading at midnight and my brain keeps being bombarded with thoughts of pork buns.
"It was breakfast. Astrid served cold cuts, crusty breads, semisoft cheeses, and a soft-boiled egg in an eggcup. She had never seen an eggcup."
Not to mention constant viewpoint changes, sometimes almost in the middle of the sentence, that after a while got annoying. I like multiple POVs, but keep it consistent at least for a page to keep the readers immersed.
Becky Chambers books kept coming to mind when I read this, but not as much the Wayfarer series (which I liked) but the later ones, the ones that hit the wrong notes for me -- the ones that focus on alien domesticity in the way that to me cross the line from delightful to boringly bland territory. (Or maybe that Cerulean Sea book by T.J. Klune?) Maybe I'm just not domestic enough, I don't know -- but my eyes started glazing over more than the donuts in the story.
The characters also rarely deviated from a thin whimsical archetype. They lack in personality beyond one or two defining traits. Something is missing for all of them, something that would allow me to connect with them on anything more than a very superficial level. Not to mention that there was really no need to introduce SF elements — aliens that are 100% human refugee allegory, and you’ll be forgiven to forget these are even aliens. Demon that nobody even blinks at. Teenage murder blink-and-you-miss-it subplot (murder that’s mostly glossed over because it was rage-kill of bigoted teens, so I suppose it’s okay???) Nobody spending more than a second contemplating the evilness of selling souls to hell because the violinist who does it was nice to our protagonist and is forming a relationship with the alien mother. A guy who misgenders our protagonist is killed via a hellish heart attack, but alien murdering teenager is given a pass later. The book that in the first few dozen pages deals with rape, sex work and domestic abuse just kinda optimistically skips over any uncomfortable parts later, and never actually conveying any sense of tension or danger.
“No, you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to make donuts—but that didn’t mean being a rocket scientist didn’t help.”
I think this would have been better if the science-fictional plot was removed and an editor would cut out about 80% of foodie stuff, leaving a lean novella that can hit hard. Focus on the trans experience and the violinist/demon soul trading and develop it deeper. Forgo the stargate donut science fiction that never feels real or anything besides unintentionally vaguely comical.
All in all, 2.5 stars, and my arteries will thank this book for putting me off donuts for a while.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
July 25, 2023
I had to stop reading this at 80% because I just couldn't take it anymore. This is one of the most painful and unbearable reading experiences I've ever had and the thought of sticking with it for another hour just to finish honestly makes my head hurt.
Things I liked: the cover is beautiful, and I cared about Katrina for maybe five or ten minutes at the beginning... yeah that's it.
The rest:
I honestly don't know where to start, so this is a rant review now I guess.
First, it was mindnumbingly boring, which is a feat considering how buckwild the premise is. You'd think a book about a trans teen finding confidence through music, with the help of a teacher who sold her soul to a demon and the daughter of an alien running a donut shop, would at least be interesting in a "what the fuck am I reading??" kind of way, but somehow it's just unbearably dull.
This book takes the "show, don't tell" rule (which can be beautifully broken in lots of ways!) and throws it out the window and into the sewers.
I don't know what's special about Katrina, or what Lan sees in Shizuka, or why any of them care about anything or anyone. I'm being told constantly that Katrina is amazing, somehow, in some vague way, and Lan and Shizuka are totally in love, I promise, but nothing on the page every backs any of it up and I can't actually see or feel any of it at all. This book is filled with long, detailed descriptions of food (smells, tastes, textures, ingredients, origins, all of it) and so much violin and music talk that it borders on incomprehensible for someone who isn't a musician/violinist. I wish at least some of that space had been spent developing the characters or their relationships at all.
So all that that, combined with the fact that the POV changes several times per page, randomly and without warning, made me feel very, very removed from every single character and event. Just completely disconnected. Show me why I should care.
Another problem is the characters and how they interact. They all just accept things way too easily and never process or react to what's happening.
Katrina's character ended up bothering me the most, I think. Maybe she has a last-minute realization that she's not a freak and a burden somewhere in the last few pages, I wouldn't know, but every single thought she has over the course of the whole story is about how miserable she is and how much she hates herself. It may be a realistic depiction of trauma, things take time and recovery isn't linear, but from a book I just want something to happen, and as a trans person it was legitimately triggering to try and empathise with her character. She doesn't change one way or the other or develop in any direction, she's completely and utterly stagnant and it was just frustrating to read. Almost 300 pages in she was the exact same person as on page 1.
I don't even know how to describe my next issue, but the writing just dissolved into borderline nonsense at times. I had to reread entire pages because I had difficulty processing what the text was trying to say. It got worse the further I got into the book but at some point my brain started leaking out of my ears so maybe random paragraph breaks and double spaces (don't even get me started on this honestly, I could write another paragraph on the formatting of the text alone, it's baffling), frequent mid-paragraph POV shifts, contextless flashbacks and dream sequences jumping out at you without warning and reading about the perfect chewiness of noodles AGAIN for several sentences just feels normal and okay to other people.
I honestly hated this book. There are others I hate more, nothing in this was personally offensive to me or anything so it's got that going for it at least, but I really can't remember the last time I felt so fucking miserable reading something. When I was a few chapters in I told people that it probably would have been better if this was three different books, or a storyline had been cut, or whatever, but at this point I'm not sure anything could have saved this for me anymore. Every single thing, from the tone to the structure to the formatting to the characters, is just terrible.
I can't recommend this to anyone. It clearly worked for a lot of people but I really don't understand why. The comparisons to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Good Omens (which I didn't even like very much) are honestly insulting to those works.
What an utterly miserable way to start off my reading year.........
Things I liked: the cover is beautiful, and I cared about Katrina for maybe five or ten minutes at the beginning... yeah that's it.
The rest:
I honestly don't know where to start, so this is a rant review now I guess.
First, it was mindnumbingly boring, which is a feat considering how buckwild the premise is. You'd think a book about a trans teen finding confidence through music, with the help of a teacher who sold her soul to a demon and the daughter of an alien running a donut shop, would at least be interesting in a "what the fuck am I reading??" kind of way, but somehow it's just unbearably dull.
This book takes the "show, don't tell" rule (which can be beautifully broken in lots of ways!) and throws it out the window and into the sewers.
I don't know what's special about Katrina, or what Lan sees in Shizuka, or why any of them care about anything or anyone. I'm being told constantly that Katrina is amazing, somehow, in some vague way, and Lan and Shizuka are totally in love, I promise, but nothing on the page every backs any of it up and I can't actually see or feel any of it at all. This book is filled with long, detailed descriptions of food (smells, tastes, textures, ingredients, origins, all of it) and so much violin and music talk that it borders on incomprehensible for someone who isn't a musician/violinist. I wish at least some of that space had been spent developing the characters or their relationships at all.
So all that that, combined with the fact that the POV changes several times per page, randomly and without warning, made me feel very, very removed from every single character and event. Just completely disconnected. Show me why I should care.
Another problem is the characters and how they interact. They all just accept things way too easily and never process or react to what's happening.
Katrina's character ended up bothering me the most, I think. Maybe she has a last-minute realization that she's not a freak and a burden somewhere in the last few pages, I wouldn't know, but every single thought she has over the course of the whole story is about how miserable she is and how much she hates herself. It may be a realistic depiction of trauma, things take time and recovery isn't linear, but from a book I just want something to happen, and as a trans person it was legitimately triggering to try and empathise with her character. She doesn't change one way or the other or develop in any direction, she's completely and utterly stagnant and it was just frustrating to read. Almost 300 pages in she was the exact same person as on page 1.
I don't even know how to describe my next issue, but the writing just dissolved into borderline nonsense at times. I had to reread entire pages because I had difficulty processing what the text was trying to say. It got worse the further I got into the book but at some point my brain started leaking out of my ears so maybe random paragraph breaks and double spaces (don't even get me started on this honestly, I could write another paragraph on the formatting of the text alone, it's baffling), frequent mid-paragraph POV shifts, contextless flashbacks and dream sequences jumping out at you without warning and reading about the perfect chewiness of noodles AGAIN for several sentences just feels normal and okay to other people.
I honestly hated this book. There are others I hate more, nothing in this was personally offensive to me or anything so it's got that going for it at least, but I really can't remember the last time I felt so fucking miserable reading something. When I was a few chapters in I told people that it probably would have been better if this was three different books, or a storyline had been cut, or whatever, but at this point I'm not sure anything could have saved this for me anymore. Every single thing, from the tone to the structure to the formatting to the characters, is just terrible.
I can't recommend this to anyone. It clearly worked for a lot of people but I really don't understand why. The comparisons to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and Good Omens (which I didn't even like very much) are honestly insulting to those works.
What an utterly miserable way to start off my reading year.........
April 30, 2022
(3.25) I decided to pick up this book because I kept hearing it had similar vibes to Becky Chambers who I love.
While it did in the beginning, I wouldn't really compare them. I liked the focus on music, the trope of making a deal with a demon... but the whole alien portion felt pointless.
The ending kinda ruined it for me.
While it did in the beginning, I wouldn't really compare them. I liked the focus on music, the trope of making a deal with a demon... but the whole alien portion felt pointless.
The ending kinda ruined it for me.
October 17, 2021
This book was an unexpected treasure. I never expected a book about a soul-stealing violin teacher, a transgender violinist, and aliens running a donut shop to be so perfect, but it is. Everything in this book just works. The writing is gorgeous, the story is heartbreaking and hilarious, the characters are well-drawn and sneak into your heart, and the descriptions of food are divine. Seriously, this book is a love letter to transgender youth, violin music, and food.
Definitely a contender for my very favorite book of the year.
Definitely a contender for my very favorite book of the year.
October 11, 2021
This book was weird as hell, but not in a bad way.
January 10, 2022
Trigger Warnings: racism, racial slurs, homophobia, transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, outing, dysphoria, bullying, sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment, child abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, self-harm, suicidal ideation, xenophobia, murder, war
I saw someone describe this book as Science Fantasy and that is so accurate.
We mainly follow three women, Shizuka Satomi who made a deal with the devil. She must deliver the souls of seven violin prodigies who are willing to trade their souls for success in exchange for her escaping damnation. At the start of the story, she has delivered six. We also follow Katrina, a young queer, Asian, transgender runaway who catches the ear of Shizuka with her wild talent. Shizuka feels that she might have found her last soul to sell. And lastly, Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four, AND she runs a donut shop. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, but Lan's kind smile and eyes just might redefine a soul's worth.
This book is so heartfelt and unique and quirky and humorous but also heartbreaking. I'm truly impressed with how much the author was able to pack into under 400 pages and do so with such grace and harmony.
The writing of this book was so raw and beautiful. It's simple, but that really allows the themes and characters to pack a punch. It's easy to read. The pacing is also great. I never felt bored or lost in the story. It was constantly moving forward and was never confusing, despite being an even mix of fantasy and science fiction.
I absolutely fell in love with the characters. I felt them. Katrina is growing up in a world that refused to see her as a woman. Lan is trying to navigate life on earth. Shizuka is learning the value of a soul. And there is another woman we're introduced to, Lucy, who is trying to find her place as a woman in her family's violin repair shop. Every single character in this is so distinct and well fleshed out and really comes to life in this story which makes for a very emotional read when the reader can be so well connected to the characters. And despite the fact that there are so many non-human characters, this book is deeply human.
I also really enjoyed how this book felt like a love letter. A love letter to Asian American culture, a love letter to the queer and trans communities, a love letter to the violin and music. Overall, this book was just beautiful and I cannot wait to read more from the author!
I saw someone describe this book as Science Fantasy and that is so accurate.
We mainly follow three women, Shizuka Satomi who made a deal with the devil. She must deliver the souls of seven violin prodigies who are willing to trade their souls for success in exchange for her escaping damnation. At the start of the story, she has delivered six. We also follow Katrina, a young queer, Asian, transgender runaway who catches the ear of Shizuka with her wild talent. Shizuka feels that she might have found her last soul to sell. And lastly, Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four, AND she runs a donut shop. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, but Lan's kind smile and eyes just might redefine a soul's worth.
This book is so heartfelt and unique and quirky and humorous but also heartbreaking. I'm truly impressed with how much the author was able to pack into under 400 pages and do so with such grace and harmony.
The writing of this book was so raw and beautiful. It's simple, but that really allows the themes and characters to pack a punch. It's easy to read. The pacing is also great. I never felt bored or lost in the story. It was constantly moving forward and was never confusing, despite being an even mix of fantasy and science fiction.
I absolutely fell in love with the characters. I felt them. Katrina is growing up in a world that refused to see her as a woman. Lan is trying to navigate life on earth. Shizuka is learning the value of a soul. And there is another woman we're introduced to, Lucy, who is trying to find her place as a woman in her family's violin repair shop. Every single character in this is so distinct and well fleshed out and really comes to life in this story which makes for a very emotional read when the reader can be so well connected to the characters. And despite the fact that there are so many non-human characters, this book is deeply human.
I also really enjoyed how this book felt like a love letter. A love letter to Asian American culture, a love letter to the queer and trans communities, a love letter to the violin and music. Overall, this book was just beautiful and I cannot wait to read more from the author!
May 23, 2022
i'm torn over this book because there are some genuinely beautiful moments in here - but it was also an extremely frustrating reading experience.
what i loved: the concept is pretty creative and bold so kudos to the author for that. i also appreciated how the story felt like a love letter to asian american culture. my favorite character by far was katrina - i loved seeing her arc, how she painfully but surely grew into herself, how her journey to fully accept herself paralleled with her learning the violin, how she realized she's more than trans and queer but that being trans and queer are also what make her beautiful.
unfortunately, i have some major gripes with the story - mainly its strange narrative structure and writing choices that didn't work for me at all. i don't mind multi-POV stories and POV changes but this was a little absurd - we had constant and relentless POV changes that would come every few paragraphs. POVs would switch so abruptly mid-scene that i would have to go back and check to see what the hell i'm reading. because of this, most of the scenes and character interactions felt incomplete. every time i started settling into a scene and getting the feel for a character, i'd be cut off and shoved into a new scene. so even though this is a fairly short book, it took me forever to get through.
also because of the structure, pretty much all the characters felt underdeveloped (except for katrina and shizuka). i wish this story was just about katrina and her journey with shizuka - i didn't care for the other storylines and i hated that they interrupted katrina's scenes.
lan and her family, for instance, felt so disconnected from the rest of the book. they had so many complicated things going on, like the struggle of being immigrants (from space) and trying to be a real family but thanks to the story structure, we were only given bits and pieces instead of the real depth their issues deserved.
overall, while i'm disappointed i didn't like this book as much as i wanted to, i'd still recommend it for katrina alone - and i think this author definitely has a lot of potential.
cws: racism, transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, homophobic slurs, mentions of rape, on page sexual assault
rep: chinese/vietnamese/mexican trans queer mc, japanese sapphic mc, vietnamese sapphic mc
what i loved: the concept is pretty creative and bold so kudos to the author for that. i also appreciated how the story felt like a love letter to asian american culture. my favorite character by far was katrina - i loved seeing her arc, how she painfully but surely grew into herself, how her journey to fully accept herself paralleled with her learning the violin, how she realized she's more than trans and queer but that being trans and queer are also what make her beautiful.
unfortunately, i have some major gripes with the story - mainly its strange narrative structure and writing choices that didn't work for me at all. i don't mind multi-POV stories and POV changes but this was a little absurd - we had constant and relentless POV changes that would come every few paragraphs. POVs would switch so abruptly mid-scene that i would have to go back and check to see what the hell i'm reading. because of this, most of the scenes and character interactions felt incomplete. every time i started settling into a scene and getting the feel for a character, i'd be cut off and shoved into a new scene. so even though this is a fairly short book, it took me forever to get through.
also because of the structure, pretty much all the characters felt underdeveloped (except for katrina and shizuka). i wish this story was just about katrina and her journey with shizuka - i didn't care for the other storylines and i hated that they interrupted katrina's scenes.
lan and her family, for instance, felt so disconnected from the rest of the book. they had so many complicated things going on, like the struggle of being immigrants (from space) and trying to be a real family but thanks to the story structure, we were only given bits and pieces instead of the real depth their issues deserved.
overall, while i'm disappointed i didn't like this book as much as i wanted to, i'd still recommend it for katrina alone - and i think this author definitely has a lot of potential.
cws: racism, transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, homophobic slurs, mentions of rape, on page sexual assault
rep: chinese/vietnamese/mexican trans queer mc, japanese sapphic mc, vietnamese sapphic mc
Read
June 26, 2022u know it’s gay when she compares another woman’s eyes to stars
3.5 stars, rtc
3.5 stars, rtc
Want to read
June 4, 2021"cursed violins", "Faustian bargains", "donuts", "trans girl protagonist", "sapphic"
[absolutely smashes 'want to read' button repeatedly]
[absolutely smashes 'want to read' button repeatedly]
August 15, 2021
Defiant, affirming, and so tender. Light from Uncommon Stars is a soft and brutally honest SFF about three broken women, whose destinies collide and find belonging and connection with one another.
- Follows three women: Katrina, a trans runaway violinist; Shizuka, a Japanese violin teacher who made a deal with the demon to sacrifice seven violin souls to Hell, and is now looking for her final soul; and Lan, a retired space captain and interstellar refugee who opens a donut shop.
- This was a gorgeous and genuine tribute to violin and music. How this story portrays and depicts playing the violin and the wider violin community - and all its flaws - is probably one of the best depictions I've ever, ever read.
- Though the story is incredibly hopeful and soft, it's also brutally honest about trauma and pain. It explores anti-trans experiences, fetishism of trans people, sex work as a trans woman, and parental abuse.
- But from that trauma and hurt springs healing and affirmation... which is absolutely what this story is.
- I loved the blend of contemporary elements, romantic elements (a sapphic romance!), science-fiction elements and even fabulism. It's absolutely stunning and intertwines so well with one another.
- I loved this with my whole heart. This book made me crave donuts.
Content warning: anti-trans experience and sentiment, racism, parental physical abuse, deadnaming, war themes.
I received a digital advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
- Follows three women: Katrina, a trans runaway violinist; Shizuka, a Japanese violin teacher who made a deal with the demon to sacrifice seven violin souls to Hell, and is now looking for her final soul; and Lan, a retired space captain and interstellar refugee who opens a donut shop.
- This was a gorgeous and genuine tribute to violin and music. How this story portrays and depicts playing the violin and the wider violin community - and all its flaws - is probably one of the best depictions I've ever, ever read.
- Though the story is incredibly hopeful and soft, it's also brutally honest about trauma and pain. It explores anti-trans experiences, fetishism of trans people, sex work as a trans woman, and parental abuse.
- But from that trauma and hurt springs healing and affirmation... which is absolutely what this story is.
- I loved the blend of contemporary elements, romantic elements (a sapphic romance!), science-fiction elements and even fabulism. It's absolutely stunning and intertwines so well with one another.
- I loved this with my whole heart. This book made me crave donuts.
Content warning: anti-trans experience and sentiment, racism, parental physical abuse, deadnaming, war themes.
I received a digital advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 2, 2022
A lesbian alien space captain who runs a donut shop on earth whilst her and her family build a stargate disguised as a huge donut.
A violin teacher who has made a deal with the devil in which she will deliver him seven delicious souls whose tortured despair he can feed on for all eternity. She only needs one more.
A transgender girl who feels like she doesn't deserve to be seen but can make her cheap violin sing so beautifully it stops people in their tracks.
I expected quite a crazy ride but instead got a tender and hopeful exploration of finding meaning, joy and a sense of belonging. I felt a lot of emotions as our main characters struggled on their separate journeys. Katrina never felt like she belonged with the family who purported to love her but wouldn't accept her. Shizuka is fixated on her goal to play the violin again and be idolised at prestigious concerts despite the dark deeds she will have to do on the road to achieving this goal. Lan is so preoccupied with preparing for the future that she forgets to feel the joy and love around her in the present. When their journeys intertwined music spilled off the pages and I became quite starry eyed.
A lot of people will find this book long and boring with changes of narration that will make your head spin. I get it.
I, however, found it to be a gloriously gentle and lyrical study of love and sacrifice with descriptions of violin music and food that had me transfixed. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
CW:
A violin teacher who has made a deal with the devil in which she will deliver him seven delicious souls whose tortured despair he can feed on for all eternity. She only needs one more.
A transgender girl who feels like she doesn't deserve to be seen but can make her cheap violin sing so beautifully it stops people in their tracks.
I expected quite a crazy ride but instead got a tender and hopeful exploration of finding meaning, joy and a sense of belonging. I felt a lot of emotions as our main characters struggled on their separate journeys. Katrina never felt like she belonged with the family who purported to love her but wouldn't accept her. Shizuka is fixated on her goal to play the violin again and be idolised at prestigious concerts despite the dark deeds she will have to do on the road to achieving this goal. Lan is so preoccupied with preparing for the future that she forgets to feel the joy and love around her in the present. When their journeys intertwined music spilled off the pages and I became quite starry eyed.
A lot of people will find this book long and boring with changes of narration that will make your head spin. I get it.
I, however, found it to be a gloriously gentle and lyrical study of love and sacrifice with descriptions of violin music and food that had me transfixed. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
CW:
January 3, 2023
Fantasy and Science Fiction don’t mix. I don’t know why people keep trying to force it. Stop trying to make “fetch” happen.
This is the most bonkers mashup of sci-fi and supernatural I’ve encountered outside of comic books. On the one hand we have a cursed violinist who is charged with delivering seven souls to Hell. On the other we have extraterrestrials masquerading as humans on the run from an evil empire and an encroaching existential catastrophe who are, get this, running a donut shop. The blurb calls this “Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet”, but that’s inaccurate. It’s actually closer to the Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads cross-bred with the secret aliens of Men In Black. (Although all those books and movies are better than this.) Musicians selling their souls to the devil and aliens like Gary Seven from Star Trek.
I got the impression Aoki is mocking all of these things rather than having fun with them, but who knows. The only thing that doesn’t come across as jejune is the treatment of the trans character Christina. I guess all of the goofy sci-fi demon stuff is meant to be metaphor for something, but it doesn’t hold together, because the actual story devolves into a “have your cake and eat it too” situation.
I did this one in audiobook because that’s what came up in the library first, and I wish I hadn’t. The narrator is borderline monotone, basically doing ASMR, which I can’t stand. I know some people find it soothing but to me it’s aggravating.
Spoilers:
Edit: updated spoiler section.
This is the most bonkers mashup of sci-fi and supernatural I’ve encountered outside of comic books. On the one hand we have a cursed violinist who is charged with delivering seven souls to Hell. On the other we have extraterrestrials masquerading as humans on the run from an evil empire and an encroaching existential catastrophe who are, get this, running a donut shop. The blurb calls this “Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet”, but that’s inaccurate. It’s actually closer to the Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads cross-bred with the secret aliens of Men In Black. (Although all those books and movies are better than this.) Musicians selling their souls to the devil and aliens like Gary Seven from Star Trek.
I got the impression Aoki is mocking all of these things rather than having fun with them, but who knows. The only thing that doesn’t come across as jejune is the treatment of the trans character Christina. I guess all of the goofy sci-fi demon stuff is meant to be metaphor for something, but it doesn’t hold together, because the actual story devolves into a “have your cake and eat it too” situation.
I did this one in audiobook because that’s what came up in the library first, and I wish I hadn’t. The narrator is borderline monotone, basically doing ASMR, which I can’t stand. I know some people find it soothing but to me it’s aggravating.
Spoilers:
Edit: updated spoiler section.
April 5, 2025
This took me ages to finish. I feel like this was a disappointing read mostly because it had great potential to be amazing, but it was just trying to do so many unrelated things to its own detriment. It’s a book about making deals with the devil to train young violinists and take their souls, as well as a book about a violin repair person trying to feel worthy of her profession after growing up in a severely misogynistic family, and also about a young trans girl who runs away from home to escape abuse, and, don’t forget, a family of aliens who run a donut shop on earth after fleeing war and a plague across the galaxy. There were too many characters to focus on, too many speculative elements competing for our attention, and insufficient time spent deepening the characters and relationships. I pushed through because I kept hoping something would click into a place and it would become a new favourite, but that never happened. Each storyline moved forward at a snail's pace with many interruptions, and most of the characters didn’t grow or change at all. Sadly, this didn’t work for me, but it seems like there are people who love it, so I hope it continues to find its audience!
Trigger/Content Warnings: Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse. Transphobia (and slurs), Racism (and slurs), Sexual Assault, Sex Work, Misgendering, Murder, Misogyny, Suicide, Self-Harm, Ableist Slurs, Child Abuse, Deadnaming
Representation: trans mc, sapphic slow burn romance
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Trigger/Content Warnings: Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse. Transphobia (and slurs), Racism (and slurs), Sexual Assault, Sex Work, Misgendering, Murder, Misogyny, Suicide, Self-Harm, Ableist Slurs, Child Abuse, Deadnaming
Representation: trans mc, sapphic slow burn romance
You can find me on...
Youtube | Instagram | TikTok
You can join our book club over on Patreon...
PBB Book Club
November 18, 2022
A book with great heart even though the execution did not wow me. I loved the representation of a young Asian trans girl, Katrina Nguyen, who runs away from her biological family and finds acceptance, support, and love from her chosen family. Seeing an older person unconditionally accept Katrina felt powerful, and the overall happy ending of this novel is a welcome change from LGBTQ+ stories that often end in tragedy.
I unfortunately just didn’t love the writing style of this book. The perspective/narrator often changed in the middle of scenes and conversations and left me wanting a more consistent throughline. The science fiction elements felt both confusing and too convenient for my tastes. I found it difficult to feel invested in these characters beyond my appreciation of how they represented trans and queer liberation and joy. While I didn’t love Light from Uncommon Stars I hope it helps usher in more trans POC narratives.
I unfortunately just didn’t love the writing style of this book. The perspective/narrator often changed in the middle of scenes and conversations and left me wanting a more consistent throughline. The science fiction elements felt both confusing and too convenient for my tastes. I found it difficult to feel invested in these characters beyond my appreciation of how they represented trans and queer liberation and joy. While I didn’t love Light from Uncommon Stars I hope it helps usher in more trans POC narratives.
December 13, 2022
I knew this novel wouldn't really be my thing from the get go. If the jacket copy makes you want to read this, I highly doubt you will be disappointed. I, on the other hand, read “maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline" and threw up in my mouth a little. Alas, I have still not found the queer hard science fiction of my heart's desire: radical, trans (a queer novel, not a novel with queer characters!)—but with no “gee whiz, space aliens!” winking star trek references, or intergalactic donut shops in sight. (Please, I am accepting recommendations!). In any event, here I am, and Light from Uncommon Stars exceeded my expectations. The things I thought would annoy me annoyed me, but there were rich pleasures I was not expecting, too. First and foremost a heartfelt and lived-in ode to Los Angeles and its foodways, and then, too, an earnest celebration of the violin, modernist classical music, quartertone composition, and the classic repertoire writ large—of the idea that artistic and spiritual greatness comes from the meeting of inspiration and countless hours of highly regimented training within the context of long tradition, whether you’re talking about music or donuts.
Aoki hits damn close to the mark she's aiming for. But I can’t help but feel that the characterization falters a little. It's subtle, but also a far more legitimate complaint than "I don’t generally like whimsical scifi-fantasy crossovers and don't really know what compelled me to read this". Even Katrina—even when my heart was breaking for her—doesn't have all the personality she deserves, if that makes sense. A bundle of perfectly real trauma and fear counterbalanced by a whole lot of love, beauty, brilliance, and more than a little preternatural talent, but there is a missing ingredient—not unlike the molecularly-replicated donuts that can't quite stand in for the real thing at that intergalactic donut shop. It's hard for me to imagine her existence outside the story.
Still, I very much enjoyed reading this, and don’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to those of you who like this kind of book!
Aoki hits damn close to the mark she's aiming for. But I can’t help but feel that the characterization falters a little. It's subtle, but also a far more legitimate complaint than "I don’t generally like whimsical scifi-fantasy crossovers and don't really know what compelled me to read this". Even Katrina—even when my heart was breaking for her—doesn't have all the personality she deserves, if that makes sense. A bundle of perfectly real trauma and fear counterbalanced by a whole lot of love, beauty, brilliance, and more than a little preternatural talent, but there is a missing ingredient—not unlike the molecularly-replicated donuts that can't quite stand in for the real thing at that intergalactic donut shop. It's hard for me to imagine her existence outside the story.
Still, I very much enjoyed reading this, and don’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to those of you who like this kind of book!
October 18, 2021
This book has a lot of heart but almost no tension, the food descriptions are lush and decadent and there's probably no way to read it and not have an intense craving for a donut and that's nice, but there are several bursts of intense violence that sort of come out of nowhere and there's also way too much going on. My interest waned when the focus was on the space alien family who'd escaped an intergalactic war and ran a donut shop while also building a star gate or the violin repairing woman who came from a long line of sexist violin repairing men and suffered from feelings of inadequacy as a result, because I was much more interested in the trans violin prodigy who was maybe going to sell her soul to a demon and her cursed teacher, and I wish Aoki had chosen one path to tread rather than combining multiple story lines.
January 27, 2022
I loved this book, but it’s such a tricky, contradictory one to recommend. It’s about aliens and demons and curses, but it’s also a grounded, realistic character study. It’s hopeful and comforting, but it also contains abuse, bigotry, and a lot of brutal descriptions of transmisogyny. This disparate parts combine into a heartachingly affective story, but do be prepared to be reading about both the kindness and the cruelty of humanity.
Despite the high concepts and fantastical elements, this isn’t an action-packed story. It’s character driven. It’s about Katrina finding her place in the world and deciding what she wants to do. It’s about her processing living in a world that is hostile to her, and forming her own sense of identity despite that. She finds meaning in her art, even when that’s recording video game soundtracks and posting them anonymously online. She learns from Shizuka how to find just one friendly face in a crowd while performing. And eventually, she finds her anger and is able to channel it into her art. Then there’s Shizuka, grappling with what she’s done and whether she’s willing to do it again or be pulled into hell in a matter of months. And Lan, who can’t quite convince herself she’s safe, and so is always working, preparing, and keeping ready for the other shoe to drop.
This is gorgeous, multifaceted story that I bounced between wanting to read cover to cover in one sitting and setting aside for weeks because I wasn’t emotionally prepared to dive back into it. While it took me a bit to finish, I’m glad I started the year off with this one. It’s exactly the kind of challenging, hopeful, and unexpected story I want to read a lot more of, and it’s a definite 5 stars.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
Despite the high concepts and fantastical elements, this isn’t an action-packed story. It’s character driven. It’s about Katrina finding her place in the world and deciding what she wants to do. It’s about her processing living in a world that is hostile to her, and forming her own sense of identity despite that. She finds meaning in her art, even when that’s recording video game soundtracks and posting them anonymously online. She learns from Shizuka how to find just one friendly face in a crowd while performing. And eventually, she finds her anger and is able to channel it into her art. Then there’s Shizuka, grappling with what she’s done and whether she’s willing to do it again or be pulled into hell in a matter of months. And Lan, who can’t quite convince herself she’s safe, and so is always working, preparing, and keeping ready for the other shoe to drop.
This is gorgeous, multifaceted story that I bounced between wanting to read cover to cover in one sitting and setting aside for weeks because I wasn’t emotionally prepared to dive back into it. While it took me a bit to finish, I’m glad I started the year off with this one. It’s exactly the kind of challenging, hopeful, and unexpected story I want to read a lot more of, and it’s a definite 5 stars.
Full review at the Lesbrary.
December 4, 2021
This was surprisingly good. I wouldn't really call it a Good Omens replacement or a cookie-cutter Chambers, but here's something about it that was uncommonly good: it takes three wildly different genre scenarios and successfully blends them together in a way that REALLY shouldn't work but DOES.
Three characters, three wildly different situations. Katrina Nguyen is a transgender violin prodigy that takes a ton of hits in the tale, really describing a ton of prejudice and hate while also being picked out of a crowd for her talent, and then is groomed for the same.
Shizuka Satomi is the brilliant violin teacher who helps her, but she is cursed by a demon. She is forced to allow a demon to take the souls of her students.
And then there is Lan Tran, a donut shop owner who also happens to be a refugee from a vast alien galactic war with her ship and crew hiding out on Earth. She happens to fall in love with Shizuka.
I personally loved all the plot points surrounding the violins, from playing to fixing them up to everything.
But I also thought Katrina's plot arc was kinda cringe. I know it's supposed to make us feel loads of pity but it just went on and on, a total victim mindset which was even more cringe when we see how Shizuka just capitalized on it, luring her in with all the nice stuff and support while Katrina's past just predicted her future.
Fortunately, the writing was interesting enough that it didn't ruin the novel for me. The rest dovetailed nicely together, especially the almost out-of-nowhere inclusion of a true outsider (alien) being absurdly grateful for and learning to recapture the joy of living (with donuts) without fear.
All three characters were pretty great counterpoints to each other.
This is a book that happens to be greater than the sum of its parts. I had some smaller issues here and there and there wasn't nearly as much humor in this as I could have expected from the comps in the blurb, but on its own, the whole novel did add up to a lot more than its smaller pieces.
I was more than satisfied.
Three characters, three wildly different situations. Katrina Nguyen is a transgender violin prodigy that takes a ton of hits in the tale, really describing a ton of prejudice and hate while also being picked out of a crowd for her talent, and then is groomed for the same.
Shizuka Satomi is the brilliant violin teacher who helps her, but she is cursed by a demon. She is forced to allow a demon to take the souls of her students.
And then there is Lan Tran, a donut shop owner who also happens to be a refugee from a vast alien galactic war with her ship and crew hiding out on Earth. She happens to fall in love with Shizuka.
I personally loved all the plot points surrounding the violins, from playing to fixing them up to everything.
But I also thought Katrina's plot arc was kinda cringe. I know it's supposed to make us feel loads of pity but it just went on and on, a total victim mindset which was even more cringe when we see how Shizuka just capitalized on it, luring her in with all the nice stuff and support while Katrina's past just predicted her future.
Fortunately, the writing was interesting enough that it didn't ruin the novel for me. The rest dovetailed nicely together, especially the almost out-of-nowhere inclusion of a true outsider (alien) being absurdly grateful for and learning to recapture the joy of living (with donuts) without fear.
All three characters were pretty great counterpoints to each other.
This is a book that happens to be greater than the sum of its parts. I had some smaller issues here and there and there wasn't nearly as much humor in this as I could have expected from the comps in the blurb, but on its own, the whole novel did add up to a lot more than its smaller pieces.
I was more than satisfied.
Read
February 9, 2022DNF of the "it's not you, it's me" variety. This deals with some pretty hard topics (especially the isolation and pain of trans girls in a shitty unaccepting world) not to mention the whole "selling souls to hell" aspect, but it's basically a very whimsical story in feel and much of the tone, and whimsy is really not my thing. I can see why others adore it, just not for me. Read as part of the "randos rec me 12 books" challenge.
August 1, 2021
Light From Uncommon Stars
by Ryka Aoki
Well, this was one peculiar book and I like peculiar! It had space people, a demon, cursed objects, a trans on the run, a pair of women who fall in love, and donuts! But there was also violent abuse, sexual assault, rape, racism, aggression towards LGBTQ groups, and more. This is a bold book that takes on abuse, sexual assault, Trans and gay issues, and racism against Asians. I think maybe it just had too much in it or needed editing.
Katrina is a trans that left her abusive home with her violin. She meets a teacher that is famous for her violin. (And all her previous students dying!) She agrees to teach her. That teacher meets a space woman that runs a donut shop. That donut shop's daughter is really a hologram that is made from the essence of a miscarriage and a computer program. These are some of the strange characters in the story!
The story is okay but dwells way to much on Katrina's feeling of inadequacy. The book TELLS us repeatedly! I felt like it was covered extensively on each page! It doesn't show us! This is the way of the whole book.
I don't regret reading the book but I feel someone READ me a folktale. I didn't feel like I was immersed in a book. I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. I had no emotions throughout except disgust at times. To me, this was not a normal TOR book. TOR has always been my go-to Publisher for great books!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this strange book.
by Ryka Aoki
Well, this was one peculiar book and I like peculiar! It had space people, a demon, cursed objects, a trans on the run, a pair of women who fall in love, and donuts! But there was also violent abuse, sexual assault, rape, racism, aggression towards LGBTQ groups, and more. This is a bold book that takes on abuse, sexual assault, Trans and gay issues, and racism against Asians. I think maybe it just had too much in it or needed editing.
Katrina is a trans that left her abusive home with her violin. She meets a teacher that is famous for her violin. (And all her previous students dying!) She agrees to teach her. That teacher meets a space woman that runs a donut shop. That donut shop's daughter is really a hologram that is made from the essence of a miscarriage and a computer program. These are some of the strange characters in the story!
The story is okay but dwells way to much on Katrina's feeling of inadequacy. The book TELLS us repeatedly! I felt like it was covered extensively on each page! It doesn't show us! This is the way of the whole book.
I don't regret reading the book but I feel someone READ me a folktale. I didn't feel like I was immersed in a book. I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. I had no emotions throughout except disgust at times. To me, this was not a normal TOR book. TOR has always been my go-to Publisher for great books!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this strange book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2022
so delicate. so raw. brutally honest and so soft. a brilliant story about three women navigating through their identity and life <3
thank you tor and netgalley for the arc!
original: "made a deal with the devil" smashes to read button
thank you tor and netgalley for the arc!
original: "made a deal with the devil" smashes to read button
June 13, 2025
Who would have thought that the Queen of Hell, a Spaceship commander, and a trans violinist could make for one of the best stories I have read all year? Ryka Aoki is a literary genius.
This is a love story and a heartbreaking tale of all that encompasses the violin, from the wood it is made of to how it is played. It is a love story and a heartbroken tale of Asian American women. It is a love story slashed with much heartbreak for transgender souls. It is a love story and a heartbroken tale of women who are diminished worldwide. It is also a love story to baking, and specifically, Donuts. And also a love story to video game scores.
Shizuka Satomi is the Queen of Hell, a reaper of souls that will satisfy the appetite of the demons. Souls that are extraordinary in their talent will sign over anything to be the best at the violin. Shizuka will then make them the best violinist in the world.
Katrina Nguyen is a runaway trans violinist that has known much violence and hate in her short life. She is not well trained in the classical way of playing the violin but has found solace in following and learning video game scores. She has a reverence for her instrument, which is beautiful.
Lan Tran is a spaceship commander who has come to Earth and purchased a Donut shop to keep her family safe from a galactic war and plague. She is the loopiest of the central trio.
Astrid is the caretaker of all in the home, and I would LOVE to eat her food.
Shirley is the most realistic of all of the children. She also cares more than any of them. I loved the sections that she was a part of with Katrina.
This is beautiful, and it is painful. I had tears many times. I wanted to hug all of these women many times.
Sooo many beautiful and painful scenes
“Katrina thought of all the nights she felt certain she would die alone. With no one to care and a million things left unsaid. Even Ms. Satomi didn't know how difficult it was when you didn't feel real. Even Ms. Satomi didn't know how it felt when the only real thing genuine about you was the hurt your existence caused.”
"Shizuka had thought she knew all about being damned. Still, she had always assumed that damnation required some sort of exchange. Yet, this student, this human being, had been forsaken not for ambition, nor revenge, nor even love, but for merely existing? Who needs the Devil when people can create a hell like this themselves?"
“Maybe the universe is filled with introverts?”
This book is beyond words. It has impacted my life and will stay with me forever.
All of the stars for this perfectly orchestrated masterpiece.
This is a love story and a heartbreaking tale of all that encompasses the violin, from the wood it is made of to how it is played. It is a love story and a heartbroken tale of Asian American women. It is a love story slashed with much heartbreak for transgender souls. It is a love story and a heartbroken tale of women who are diminished worldwide. It is also a love story to baking, and specifically, Donuts. And also a love story to video game scores.
Shizuka Satomi is the Queen of Hell, a reaper of souls that will satisfy the appetite of the demons. Souls that are extraordinary in their talent will sign over anything to be the best at the violin. Shizuka will then make them the best violinist in the world.
Katrina Nguyen is a runaway trans violinist that has known much violence and hate in her short life. She is not well trained in the classical way of playing the violin but has found solace in following and learning video game scores. She has a reverence for her instrument, which is beautiful.
Lan Tran is a spaceship commander who has come to Earth and purchased a Donut shop to keep her family safe from a galactic war and plague. She is the loopiest of the central trio.
Astrid is the caretaker of all in the home, and I would LOVE to eat her food.
Shirley is the most realistic of all of the children. She also cares more than any of them. I loved the sections that she was a part of with Katrina.
This is beautiful, and it is painful. I had tears many times. I wanted to hug all of these women many times.
Sooo many beautiful and painful scenes
“Katrina thought of all the nights she felt certain she would die alone. With no one to care and a million things left unsaid. Even Ms. Satomi didn't know how difficult it was when you didn't feel real. Even Ms. Satomi didn't know how it felt when the only real thing genuine about you was the hurt your existence caused.”
"Shizuka had thought she knew all about being damned. Still, she had always assumed that damnation required some sort of exchange. Yet, this student, this human being, had been forsaken not for ambition, nor revenge, nor even love, but for merely existing? Who needs the Devil when people can create a hell like this themselves?"
“Maybe the universe is filled with introverts?”
This book is beyond words. It has impacted my life and will stay with me forever.
All of the stars for this perfectly orchestrated masterpiece.
May 3, 2022
This is an incredible story, with meticulously weaved threads of multiple plotlines, endearing and complex characters, a unique mix of genres, fun world-building, and sensory prose that delights equally in food and music. It's part trans girl musician runaway tale, part alien escape and adventure in disguise on earth, part older Asian women sapphic love story, and part Faustian epic about selling your soul for musical success. Its tone is overall joyful and hopeful, despite being very upfront about the transmisogyny Katrina (the young runaway musician) faces. The twists and turns of the plot consistently surprised and delighted me.
Essentially, it is the story of Katrina Nguyen running away from home to LA. There, she happens to meet Shizuka Satomi, a renowned violin teacher, in a city park. Shizuka has made a deal with the devil long ago to deliver seven souls to Hell. Her six previous students all sold their souls. But time is running out on her contract to deliver the last soul. Enter Katrina. But also: enter Lan Tran, who appears to be a mere "donut lady" at a family-run donut shop but is actually an alien and captain of a ship that escaped her galaxy's pending doom with her family. Lan and Shizuka have an instant spark. Is it possible for Shizuka and Katrina to escape damnation and for these two lovebirds to live happily ever after?
In addition to these three fascinating ladies, there are a lot of wonderful secondary characters, including Shizuka's delightfully unflappable Swiss housekeeper Astrid; a master violin repairwoman Lucia Matea, who has inherited her family's gift with violins despite not being a son; a demon that pops in and out to hurry Shizuka along while gobbling up earth food; and Shirley, Lan's loyal and all too human AI daughter.
I loved this! Recommended in audiobook format narrated by Cindy Kay.
Essentially, it is the story of Katrina Nguyen running away from home to LA. There, she happens to meet Shizuka Satomi, a renowned violin teacher, in a city park. Shizuka has made a deal with the devil long ago to deliver seven souls to Hell. Her six previous students all sold their souls. But time is running out on her contract to deliver the last soul. Enter Katrina. But also: enter Lan Tran, who appears to be a mere "donut lady" at a family-run donut shop but is actually an alien and captain of a ship that escaped her galaxy's pending doom with her family. Lan and Shizuka have an instant spark. Is it possible for Shizuka and Katrina to escape damnation and for these two lovebirds to live happily ever after?
In addition to these three fascinating ladies, there are a lot of wonderful secondary characters, including Shizuka's delightfully unflappable Swiss housekeeper Astrid; a master violin repairwoman Lucia Matea, who has inherited her family's gift with violins despite not being a son; a demon that pops in and out to hurry Shizuka along while gobbling up earth food; and Shirley, Lan's loyal and all too human AI daughter.
I loved this! Recommended in audiobook format narrated by Cindy Kay.
April 28, 2025
I didn't want to do this. I thought I could put this book behind me. But then I saw the Hugo nominations, and I realized I had to get this out.
Light from Uncommon Stars may be the worst book I have ever read. On every single level, there is a staggering amount wrong with it. It's enough to make me think it may secretly be a work of genius, like that scene from Into the Spider-Verse where Miles's teacher gives him an A+ for getting every question wrong. The characters, the plot, the setting, the structure, the prose, the themes...name any aspect of this novel, and I guarantee you that nothing about it works.
The Plot
Of course, there's a killer pitch. We all know it: a violin teacher makes a deal with a demon to deliver seven souls to Hell, and has only one year to find the last one! Then she falls in love with a space captain! Awesome!
The problem is that you now know everything there is to know about the story. It's a cool premise, and nothing else. Nothing is done with it. The only way this novel knows how to develop its plot is to cram in additional subplots, which also go undeveloped -- like the Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin adds a new piece of gum every time another piece loses its flavor.
The first time I threw the book across the room was when we got our first POV from Lucy, the violin restoration expert. "You don't NEED another protagonist!" I shouted, startling my poor fiancee and cat. "You need to DO SOMETHING with the ones you've already got!"
Every page of this book consists of either stalling for time or unnecessary complication. Case in point: the first 70 or so pages of the book are about Shizuka (the violin teacher) and Katrina (her final student) circling around each other before they finally meet. We know they're going to meet. The dust jacket told us. There's literally no reason for it to take so long, and yet it does, with page after page of wheel-spinning before we get to the story we paid for.
You may have heard that this book fuses different genres, but "fuses" is a very generous word. It's more like smashing dolls together. The sci-fi elements have no bearing on the fantasy elements, which have next to no bearing on the contemporary elements. It's a stewpot full of ingredients, but nobody turned on the stove.
The climax, which depends on finally smashing the space and Hell plotlines together according to arbitrary and unsatisfying rules, is the most egregious, but the hallmarks of overstuffedness are everywhere. In speculative fiction, the speculative elements should be inextricable: you can't remove them without changing the story fundamentally. Reading Light from Uncommon Stars, all I could think of was how much better it would be without any sci-fi or fantasy elements at all. This is, to say the least, not deserving of a Hugo.
The Writing
Here is how the legendary poet Sappho of Lesbos describes the feeling of being in love:
"I
for one
would rather see her warm supple step
and the sparkle in her face than watch all
the chariots in Lydia and foot soldiers armored
in glittering bronze."
Here is how the Song Dynasty writer Li Qingzhao describes the feeling of being in love:
"It's like a crystalline dream, that year
we wandered a thousand miles and more
along the stream north of the city,
meandering beside those icy ripples
where you'll find my eyes still lingering for you."
Here is how Light from Uncommon Stars describes the feeling of being in love:
"Shizuka liked this donut lady. She really liked this donut lady."
The language of Light from Uncommon Stars ranges from boring at best to incomprehensible at worst. It has less grasp of metaphor and imagery than a Rupi Kaur poem -- I literally can't remember any solitary attempt to make the language itself beautiful, rather than just having it talk about beautiful things.
That may sound like snobbery, but it's really disappointment. I wanted to feel this book in my bones. Instead, I felt like someone was telling me a story about a great meal they had once. There's nothing visceral, nothing that invites the reader in. It's like being trapped on an airplane with an Inspirational Quotes Instagram account.
And that's just the parts I can understand. There are whole pages I read several times and failed to grasp what was going on. One scene with Shizuka and Lan at a duck pond is so choppy and hacked-up that I still can't interpret it, even today.
Perhaps aware of its shortcomings, the book tries to distract attention by switching POVs and tossing in line breaks at random intervals. These techniques add nothing to the story. In literature, a line break or POV switch is generally agreed to mark a significant turning point or the appearance of new information. In Light from Uncommon Stars, they mark nothing whatsoever. I got a lot of laughs by imaging dramatic musical stings after each one, imposing soap-opera melodrama into a casual conversation about donuts.
Ah, yes, the donuts. This book is obsessed with donuts, isn't it? Yet for all the ink spilled about donuts, I never came away wanting one. It's not hard to make me want a donut.
The Characters
Light from Uncommon Stars has a large cast of characters, most of whom do nothing. For this review, I'll focus on the main three.
Shizuka Satomi, easily the worst, is a violin teacher famous for taking on gifted students who flame out in their prime. This is because she has made a deal with a demon to send seven souls to Hell in exchange for her own, and Hell apparently loves music. Shizuka has not aged for 48 years, a fact nobody seems to think is weird.
The novel is clearly of two minds about Shizuka. It wants her to be an evil, sinister villain, the Queen of Hell, who has no compunctions about sending innocents to eternal damnation. It also wants her to be the greatest person ever, full of funny asides about life in LA, and so accepting of alternate ways of life that she doesn't bat an eye when she learns her new girlfriend is from space.
Both versions of her fail. The novel never acknowledges Shizuka as a person who has done irredeemable things -- she has sent six people to literal eternal damnation, people she explicitly targeted because they suffered from trauma, dysphoria, or discrimination. She exploited their flaws for personal gain and left them to a fate infinitely worse than death. You could make this character a boss in Persona 5 without changing anything about her.
It's not that characters can't be irredeemable, but their irredeemability should be engaged with somehow. The book presents Shizuka's arc as being about how even the worst people are worthy of a second chance, but it never actually lets us view Shizuka as a bad person; she's too busy practicing radical trans acceptance (in ways that suit her own purposes). The only real crime in the book is misgendering Katrina, which earns you summary execution with no chance of appeal.
Meanwhile in her page-to-page actions, Shizuka doesn't come off as nice, but affectless. There's a fine line between "nothing phases her" and "devoid of feelings," and Shizuka comes down hard on the latter.
Katrina Nguyen was probably my favorite character, which is why I was disgusted by her squandered potential. She's on a classic hero's journey, starting from abuse and uncertainty and growing into a heroine who can save the whole universe with her music.
Unfortunately, a hero's journey requires the character to develop, and Light from Uncommon Stars doesn't bother with such things. Katrina has precisely two aspects to her inner life: being excited about violins, and being a trans girl who is sorry for existing. 90% of her thoughts concern one of these two things.
Yes, trans women suffer intense hardship and alienation, especially in conservative societies. But if I'm reading a book about that, I want the experience to be illuminated in new ways. Sadly, this is Light from Uncommon Stars, which is allergic to letting the reader experience anything authentically.
Lan Tran bothered the crap out of me, though not quite as much as Shizuka. She and her family are aliens from a distant world taking refuge on Earth, disguised as a Vietnamese family running a donut shop. Now, I'm not Vietnamese, but if I was, I can imagine taking offence at a book claiming it was "representation" to have a family of space-alien imperialists pretending to be of my race and ethnicity.
Lan has two roles in the story: to fall in love with Shizuka for no apparent reason, and to create plot holes. For example, despite owning a Star Trek-quality replicator, she is concerned that her donut shop is financially struggling. Why does she even need to charge for the donuts? Just use the replicator to print money!
None of these characters ever rises above their dust-jacket subscriptions. Katrina is a transgender runaway violinist -- that's all she ever is. This book never deepens, never explores, never complicates. It's a 300-page adaptation of its own back cover.
The only thing I can say about the effort put into developing side characters: the villain's name is Tremon. Tremon the Demon. I guess Antagonisto McBadguy was taken.
Conclusion
Imagine you want to bake a donut. You mix flour, sugar, and water, put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and then take it out. Of course, you wouldn't get a donut. You'd get an inedible mess.
That's the best way I can think of to describe Light from Uncommon Stars. It's got all the ingredients of a book, but it doesn't put them together in the ways that actually form a book. It's all ideas, no substance. It's so much less than the sum of its parts. All it has to offer is a list of elements that might have formed a good book, but have instead formed a sad pile of failed donut.
Look: LGBT women deserve representation. Asian-Americans deserve representation. But they also deserve good representation. Instead of wasting money on this, go watch Everything Everywhere All At Once, a work that flawlessly achieves every goal Light from Uncommon Stars tries and fails to accomplish.
Light from Uncommon Stars may be the worst book I have ever read. On every single level, there is a staggering amount wrong with it. It's enough to make me think it may secretly be a work of genius, like that scene from Into the Spider-Verse where Miles's teacher gives him an A+ for getting every question wrong. The characters, the plot, the setting, the structure, the prose, the themes...name any aspect of this novel, and I guarantee you that nothing about it works.
The Plot
Of course, there's a killer pitch. We all know it: a violin teacher makes a deal with a demon to deliver seven souls to Hell, and has only one year to find the last one! Then she falls in love with a space captain! Awesome!
The problem is that you now know everything there is to know about the story. It's a cool premise, and nothing else. Nothing is done with it. The only way this novel knows how to develop its plot is to cram in additional subplots, which also go undeveloped -- like the Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin adds a new piece of gum every time another piece loses its flavor.
The first time I threw the book across the room was when we got our first POV from Lucy, the violin restoration expert. "You don't NEED another protagonist!" I shouted, startling my poor fiancee and cat. "You need to DO SOMETHING with the ones you've already got!"
Every page of this book consists of either stalling for time or unnecessary complication. Case in point: the first 70 or so pages of the book are about Shizuka (the violin teacher) and Katrina (her final student) circling around each other before they finally meet. We know they're going to meet. The dust jacket told us. There's literally no reason for it to take so long, and yet it does, with page after page of wheel-spinning before we get to the story we paid for.
You may have heard that this book fuses different genres, but "fuses" is a very generous word. It's more like smashing dolls together. The sci-fi elements have no bearing on the fantasy elements, which have next to no bearing on the contemporary elements. It's a stewpot full of ingredients, but nobody turned on the stove.
The climax, which depends on finally smashing the space and Hell plotlines together according to arbitrary and unsatisfying rules, is the most egregious, but the hallmarks of overstuffedness are everywhere. In speculative fiction, the speculative elements should be inextricable: you can't remove them without changing the story fundamentally. Reading Light from Uncommon Stars, all I could think of was how much better it would be without any sci-fi or fantasy elements at all. This is, to say the least, not deserving of a Hugo.
The Writing
Here is how the legendary poet Sappho of Lesbos describes the feeling of being in love:
"I
for one
would rather see her warm supple step
and the sparkle in her face than watch all
the chariots in Lydia and foot soldiers armored
in glittering bronze."
Here is how the Song Dynasty writer Li Qingzhao describes the feeling of being in love:
"It's like a crystalline dream, that year
we wandered a thousand miles and more
along the stream north of the city,
meandering beside those icy ripples
where you'll find my eyes still lingering for you."
Here is how Light from Uncommon Stars describes the feeling of being in love:
"Shizuka liked this donut lady. She really liked this donut lady."
The language of Light from Uncommon Stars ranges from boring at best to incomprehensible at worst. It has less grasp of metaphor and imagery than a Rupi Kaur poem -- I literally can't remember any solitary attempt to make the language itself beautiful, rather than just having it talk about beautiful things.
That may sound like snobbery, but it's really disappointment. I wanted to feel this book in my bones. Instead, I felt like someone was telling me a story about a great meal they had once. There's nothing visceral, nothing that invites the reader in. It's like being trapped on an airplane with an Inspirational Quotes Instagram account.
And that's just the parts I can understand. There are whole pages I read several times and failed to grasp what was going on. One scene with Shizuka and Lan at a duck pond is so choppy and hacked-up that I still can't interpret it, even today.
Perhaps aware of its shortcomings, the book tries to distract attention by switching POVs and tossing in line breaks at random intervals. These techniques add nothing to the story. In literature, a line break or POV switch is generally agreed to mark a significant turning point or the appearance of new information. In Light from Uncommon Stars, they mark nothing whatsoever. I got a lot of laughs by imaging dramatic musical stings after each one, imposing soap-opera melodrama into a casual conversation about donuts.
Ah, yes, the donuts. This book is obsessed with donuts, isn't it? Yet for all the ink spilled about donuts, I never came away wanting one. It's not hard to make me want a donut.
The Characters
Light from Uncommon Stars has a large cast of characters, most of whom do nothing. For this review, I'll focus on the main three.
Shizuka Satomi, easily the worst, is a violin teacher famous for taking on gifted students who flame out in their prime. This is because she has made a deal with a demon to send seven souls to Hell in exchange for her own, and Hell apparently loves music. Shizuka has not aged for 48 years, a fact nobody seems to think is weird.
The novel is clearly of two minds about Shizuka. It wants her to be an evil, sinister villain, the Queen of Hell, who has no compunctions about sending innocents to eternal damnation. It also wants her to be the greatest person ever, full of funny asides about life in LA, and so accepting of alternate ways of life that she doesn't bat an eye when she learns her new girlfriend is from space.
Both versions of her fail. The novel never acknowledges Shizuka as a person who has done irredeemable things -- she has sent six people to literal eternal damnation, people she explicitly targeted because they suffered from trauma, dysphoria, or discrimination. She exploited their flaws for personal gain and left them to a fate infinitely worse than death. You could make this character a boss in Persona 5 without changing anything about her.
It's not that characters can't be irredeemable, but their irredeemability should be engaged with somehow. The book presents Shizuka's arc as being about how even the worst people are worthy of a second chance, but it never actually lets us view Shizuka as a bad person; she's too busy practicing radical trans acceptance (in ways that suit her own purposes). The only real crime in the book is misgendering Katrina, which earns you summary execution with no chance of appeal.
Meanwhile in her page-to-page actions, Shizuka doesn't come off as nice, but affectless. There's a fine line between "nothing phases her" and "devoid of feelings," and Shizuka comes down hard on the latter.
Katrina Nguyen was probably my favorite character, which is why I was disgusted by her squandered potential. She's on a classic hero's journey, starting from abuse and uncertainty and growing into a heroine who can save the whole universe with her music.
Unfortunately, a hero's journey requires the character to develop, and Light from Uncommon Stars doesn't bother with such things. Katrina has precisely two aspects to her inner life: being excited about violins, and being a trans girl who is sorry for existing. 90% of her thoughts concern one of these two things.
Yes, trans women suffer intense hardship and alienation, especially in conservative societies. But if I'm reading a book about that, I want the experience to be illuminated in new ways. Sadly, this is Light from Uncommon Stars, which is allergic to letting the reader experience anything authentically.
Lan Tran bothered the crap out of me, though not quite as much as Shizuka. She and her family are aliens from a distant world taking refuge on Earth, disguised as a Vietnamese family running a donut shop. Now, I'm not Vietnamese, but if I was, I can imagine taking offence at a book claiming it was "representation" to have a family of space-alien imperialists pretending to be of my race and ethnicity.
Lan has two roles in the story: to fall in love with Shizuka for no apparent reason, and to create plot holes. For example, despite owning a Star Trek-quality replicator, she is concerned that her donut shop is financially struggling. Why does she even need to charge for the donuts? Just use the replicator to print money!
None of these characters ever rises above their dust-jacket subscriptions. Katrina is a transgender runaway violinist -- that's all she ever is. This book never deepens, never explores, never complicates. It's a 300-page adaptation of its own back cover.
The only thing I can say about the effort put into developing side characters: the villain's name is Tremon. Tremon the Demon. I guess Antagonisto McBadguy was taken.
Conclusion
Imagine you want to bake a donut. You mix flour, sugar, and water, put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and then take it out. Of course, you wouldn't get a donut. You'd get an inedible mess.
That's the best way I can think of to describe Light from Uncommon Stars. It's got all the ingredients of a book, but it doesn't put them together in the ways that actually form a book. It's all ideas, no substance. It's so much less than the sum of its parts. All it has to offer is a list of elements that might have formed a good book, but have instead formed a sad pile of failed donut.
Look: LGBT women deserve representation. Asian-Americans deserve representation. But they also deserve good representation. Instead of wasting money on this, go watch Everything Everywhere All At Once, a work that flawlessly achieves every goal Light from Uncommon Stars tries and fails to accomplish.
March 3, 2022
I mostly loved it. The San Gabriel Valley setting is inspired, and the identity politics were nuanced and thoughtful, driven by little living details. I had the stomach flu while reading this and I STILL wanted to eat so many of the foods! The violin focus was lovely too.
There were a few nitpicky little things I didn't like, such as a constant underpinning of mindless meaningless consumerism and a section that's bizarrely pro-Olive Garden. Also the sci fi elements stay really generic and never quite worked for me.
But the overall book is wonderful.
There were a few nitpicky little things I didn't like, such as a constant underpinning of mindless meaningless consumerism and a section that's bizarrely pro-Olive Garden. Also the sci fi elements stay really generic and never quite worked for me.
But the overall book is wonderful.
May 15, 2022
I kind of hated this book.
Mostly, because it's a book I was truly excited about. I let other books push their way to the fore of my TBR list, not because they were necessarily better, but because I was hoarding this one. And maybe because I feared being disappointed. As I turned out to be.
Not only is this book highly rated and recommended by people whose opinions I respect and rely on, it's a book I should at least like. It's trans, it's sci-fi, it's by and about women of color... It should've been an easy win.
But although I think the basic concept is original and interesting (not so much the various parts of it, which have all been done (food is magic, music is magic, deals with the devil can be overcome by love, aliens come to Earth and don't really get us, we don't realize how primitive we are compared to the rest of the galaxy, which we don't know is populated...), but the combination, done in the context of default Asian characters, which is pretty great), there is too much I really didn't like.
The worst part is that I hated (hated as in it made me spitting mad) the politics of the book. Examples include "it doesn't matter if you are the worst person in the world, that you've killed and damned other souls, if you are nice to a single trans person you are redeemed." I don't believe that, though I can totally see why an author who is trans might. This was not the only sticking point. There is also the "Vegans are really rapists, users, abusers, liars, posers and thieves", whereas the truly good people take equally true pleasure in torturing animals. And other people. Which is totally fine as long as they aren't trans! Really gotta know who the good ones are, Aoki!
Normally I give books that piss me off one star. But here, because trans voices of color are also political, and I liked some parts enough, I'm upping that score a smidge.
But even without the political aspect, I was also not happy from the perspectives of the writing, plot, and characters. Some of the characters were cute. Others were completely inexplicable, and they didn't mesh. It seemed like there were at least two different books entwined in here. The writing goes from cutesy YA tropey stuff (middle aged women reduced to giggling 12-year-olds at the mere prospect of liking someone, and yes, I'm using liking someone the way teenagers do), juxtaposed with rape, abusive sex work, and emotional angst. The angst was exhausting. Not because trans women, especially women of color, don't really go through the horrific things the MC went through, but in the telling of a novel, there is no need to repeat the same things the same fraught way, over and over again. It's almost like Aoki is so in love with how she conceptualized the music as representing the inner pain, that she simply repeats her inner dialogs way too many times, and so instead of there being an apex point of drama, where you hear the music swelling, and it means everything, it's just the same thing you've already read a dozen times before. And then it turns out it didn't really mean that much anyway, so why did we go through all that?
I couldn't take how unceasingly self-debasing all the women are in this book (except for, well, the queen of hell and the aliens). Yes, patriarchy beats us down. But it isn't like we don't and haven't always created our own moments of power, beauty and grace. We aren't only our trauma.
And the book desperately needs a copy editor (and a content editor), which would be a very minor irritation but became magnified as I was already quite irritated.
Mostly, because it's a book I was truly excited about. I let other books push their way to the fore of my TBR list, not because they were necessarily better, but because I was hoarding this one. And maybe because I feared being disappointed. As I turned out to be.
Not only is this book highly rated and recommended by people whose opinions I respect and rely on, it's a book I should at least like. It's trans, it's sci-fi, it's by and about women of color... It should've been an easy win.
But although I think the basic concept is original and interesting (not so much the various parts of it, which have all been done (food is magic, music is magic, deals with the devil can be overcome by love, aliens come to Earth and don't really get us, we don't realize how primitive we are compared to the rest of the galaxy, which we don't know is populated...), but the combination, done in the context of default Asian characters, which is pretty great), there is too much I really didn't like.
The worst part is that I hated (hated as in it made me spitting mad) the politics of the book. Examples include "it doesn't matter if you are the worst person in the world, that you've killed and damned other souls, if you are nice to a single trans person you are redeemed." I don't believe that, though I can totally see why an author who is trans might. This was not the only sticking point. There is also the "Vegans are really rapists, users, abusers, liars, posers and thieves", whereas the truly good people take equally true pleasure in torturing animals. And other people. Which is totally fine as long as they aren't trans! Really gotta know who the good ones are, Aoki!
Normally I give books that piss me off one star. But here, because trans voices of color are also political, and I liked some parts enough, I'm upping that score a smidge.
But even without the political aspect, I was also not happy from the perspectives of the writing, plot, and characters. Some of the characters were cute. Others were completely inexplicable, and they didn't mesh. It seemed like there were at least two different books entwined in here. The writing goes from cutesy YA tropey stuff (middle aged women reduced to giggling 12-year-olds at the mere prospect of liking someone, and yes, I'm using liking someone the way teenagers do), juxtaposed with rape, abusive sex work, and emotional angst. The angst was exhausting. Not because trans women, especially women of color, don't really go through the horrific things the MC went through, but in the telling of a novel, there is no need to repeat the same things the same fraught way, over and over again. It's almost like Aoki is so in love with how she conceptualized the music as representing the inner pain, that she simply repeats her inner dialogs way too many times, and so instead of there being an apex point of drama, where you hear the music swelling, and it means everything, it's just the same thing you've already read a dozen times before. And then it turns out it didn't really mean that much anyway, so why did we go through all that?
I couldn't take how unceasingly self-debasing all the women are in this book (except for, well, the queen of hell and the aliens). Yes, patriarchy beats us down. But it isn't like we don't and haven't always created our own moments of power, beauty and grace. We aren't only our trauma.
And the book desperately needs a copy editor (and a content editor), which would be a very minor irritation but became magnified as I was already quite irritated.
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