An absolute delight. Give this one to fans of Becky Chambers. A recommended purchase for collections where quirky sci fi is popular.

Light From Uncommon Stars is an original book, that's for sure. It merges lots of different elements together, elements that should not work together, but somehow they actually do.

Shizuka Satomi is a violin teacher who's looking for her next student so that she can finally end her deal with the devil. But things get complicated when she decides to teach Katrina, a transgender girl who escaped her family home because of the abuse she was facing. Katrina's mesmerizing talent impresses Shizuka and that's why she decides to take her on as a student and support her every step of the way. In the meantime Shizuka is also dealing with the blossoming feelings she has for Lan, a woman who has a donut shop and who's actually an alien refugee who fled to earth with her whole family.

My favourite parts were definitely the ones about music, especially when Katrina shares her knowledge with Shizuka and shows her how she can play music from video games or anime. Their practice sessions were truly mesmerizing to read and they were written so beautifully.
Even though the space aspect sounded interesting at first, I must admit I lost interest pretty quickly, maybe because I felt like it didn't really add anything meaningful to the storyline.

Overall I felt like the book was progressing way too slowly for my taste which is something I did not enjoy.

This is definitely one of a kind book and if the plot sounds like something you might enjoy, I totally suggest you give this a try!

Beaten and bruised by her brutal father because she is trans, Katrina Nguyen, grabs her escape bag and takes off to LA. Arrangements to stay with a friend collapse leaving her wounded with her beloved violin stolen. Shizuka Satomi, is looking for a new violin student. She's trained six of the most gifted violin prodigies of the last several decades but her deal with the devil requires one more before February. After hearing Katrina who is mostly self taught, play her violin in a park, she later realizes she wants her to be her next pupil but she has no way to find her except for visiting the park over and over hoping she will return. Lan Tran, a single mom with four kids and the captain of a space ship from a distant galaxy, owns a doughnut shop where Shizuka visits one day when desperate for a bathroom. They become friends and more. This amazing tale is one of the best books of the year and will hopefully win awards and the recognition it deserves . Aoki, has synergistically combined extremely disparate characters and themes and created a masterpiece of kindness. It makes me want to eat doughnuts and take up the violin. I loved the Star Trek references in this joyful book that kept me on the edge of my seat trying to guess how things could ever possibly come out well.

I received an ARC from net galley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sure this book will connect really strongly with many readers due to the unique concept and emotional impacts. Unfortunately, the writing style didn't work for me, feeling distractingly disjointed.

A hugely impressive debut from Aoki, blending space opera and magic and donuts and music -- there's so much here that any synopsizing will make a reader raise an eyebrow and even the jacket copy is a bit "what? wait, how?" but to my great relief, it never *felt* like that in the reading. Aoki blends all of these things and then crisps them up like... well, like the perfect donut. Except the book is way deeper than any donut analogy could ever imply.

A riveting and vivid science fiction (and musical soul-fiction) story. I really enjoyed the multiple storylines and the way they converged on each other, though I will quibble with the description given by the publisher -- this novel is not as lighthearted as advertised. It's not without humor or kindness, but it reflects a world that is harsh and unrelenting. It deals with souls being consigned to hell and also dwells on identity and parenthood, finding unexpected love in later years, and the struggles of being queer and trans (and voiceless) in an inhospitable world (sadly, this inhospitable world is exactly like the one we currently live in). The events take place over the course of a summer and autumn and are beautifully supported by a colorful cast of characters: some alien, some human, and all of them outcasts.

The geographic setting is also supported by descriptions of the surrounding immigrant communities and their food. I really enjoyed these elements, because they gave shape and structure to a world that is constantly in flux. It was a great reflection of the events unfolding for the characters: violinists and luthiers, doughnut makers and rocket scientists, all of them finding their voices.

I will note that there are several brief scenes of sexual assault, as well as sex work performed both consensually and under duress. These scenes are non-explicit and sympathetic, and they do move the plot forward; they're also something I should have expected in a novel that has a young transwoman of color who flees an abusive home situation. Whenever these moments occured, I felt inescapably sad for the people who have grappled with these things in nonfictional settings. Aoki is gentle with depictions of gender dysphoria and euphoria, in case that's a content note readers would like to be aware of.

All in all, it's a compelling novel. My favorite moments were the ones that occurred outside of the main action but still moved the plot forward -- Aoki's writing felt the strongest when it was portraying these hidden, domestic moments that lay the groundwork of bigger events. I'm rating it four stars instead of 3 (really 3.5) because I look forward to seeing more stories like this in science fiction, and to hearing from more voices that might otherwise have been silenced.

Light From Uncommon Stars was a bizarre, beautiful, bewildering read. There were so many pieces that were not to my taste, so many elements in which I had zero interest, and yet, as a whole, I found it captivating. Above all else, even if the emotions it evoked were too often rage and sadness, Ryka Aoki had me emotionally invested in Katrina's fate, so much so that I had to keep reading.

There's a lot going on here, far too much to boil down into a simple synopsis, but let me touch on the high points. It's a story of queer identities and queer love, with the identity of Katrina Nguyen (transgender violin prodigy) taking precedence over the love affair between Shizuka Satomi (demonically cursed violin teacher) and Lan Tran (alien manager of a donut shop). It's a story about the difference between technical perfection and inspired imperfection, whether that be in music, cooking, or living. It's a story about the families we're born into versus those we choose (or which choose us). It's also a story about death and change versus mortality and stagnation, and those themes become increasingly important as we get closer to the end.

I'm not one for trigger warnings, but there's a TON of misgendering, deadnaming, transphobic slurs, and all-around transphobic hate within this story - and that's where my rage came in. I'd hoped it would get better, that Katrina's life would get better, but Aoki doubles down on allowing characters to spew hatred in the final arc of the book, forcing a make-or-break moment as we push towards resolution. It's a queer-positive story, and Aoki clearly has a lot of love and compassion for Katrina, but the ugliness of the world got too much for me on more than one occasion. I will say, however, I was relieved by the fact that Katrina's transgender identity was never magically resolved through demonic deals or alien technology, as there were times I feared the story was going there.

Narratively, Light From Uncommon Stars is told in brief snippets, leaping back-and-forth between POVs, and that was a major challenge for me. I find those hard stops and sudden shifts take me out of the story, keep me at arm's length, and if it weren't for being so invested in Katrina as a character, I likely would have DNF'd this early on. In terms of genre, I loved the urban fantasy and romance vibes, but I struggled with the sci-fi aspects. I get why they were there and what Aoki was doing with them thematically, but the whole starship/stargate donut shop idea was rather absurd and often tiresome.

So, hardly my favorite read of the year, but Light From Uncommon Stars overcame a lot of negatives to keep me reading through to the end. It lost me a bit there, as the tone, telling, and pacing suddenly jumped from impulse to warp drive, with too many twists and climaxes bogging down the narrative, but I came away satisfied with Katrina's arc, and that was really all that mattered.

When a book makes you cry three times, you know it's good. I wasn't sure what to expect out of this book, but it sure as hell wasn't mild emotional destruction and a need for hugs and donuts. This book is fantastical and beautiful and all things bright and beautiful and strange. I'm not sure how to verbalize my love for it, if I'm being completely honest. It balances multiple POVs and plotlines easily, and really captures a lot of emotion in the way it's written. This book has such a special place in my heart. Thank you to Ryka Aoki and NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Light From Uncommon Stars is wild and eccentric ride, tying together three women on a journey to find out what art, friendship, and family might mean. Shizuka Satomi has made a deal with a demon. She has forty-nine years to send seven souls to hell, which she does in the form of her famous, virtuosic violin students. She's delivered six, and is on the look out for her seventh and final student and soul. Katrina Nguyen is on the run from an abusive home situation because she is transgender. A talented musician, she catches the attention Shizuka. But can Shizuka go through with the deal? All the while, Shizuka must confront her own feelings for Lan Tran, a space captain hiding out from a galactic mess off planet with her own family behind the storefront of a popular roadside donut shop.

All the ingredients were here for a compelling read for me. Unique characters, vivid settings, deals with the Devil (haha). I really appreciate Aoki's work to introduce transgender and Asian voices into the sci-fi world when they are so underrepresented. She does this with grace and sensitivity, not shying away from difficult themes like sex work, miscarriage, and mental illness.

That being said, something about Aoki's writing just fell flat for me. I'm not sure if she really succeeds in tonally tying together the narratives of the three protagonists, and I felt like I was being told what was happening and how the characters were reacting instead of being immersed in the world of the story. The prose was a bit of a slog.

Three stars for a clever story and the important representation, but all in all, not my favorite book.

This book is full of so many wonderful characters, storylines, music, and food that it's almost dizzying. Somehow, Aoki beautifully pulls together a bizarre and busy plot into an engrossing, heartwarming read. Shizuka Satomi, known as the "Queen of Hell", made a deal with a demon to deliver seven souls of great violinists to him in order to save her own soul and recover her music, which has been lost to her. She's done her duty with six previous musicians, but when she encounters runaway Katrina, a transgender girl, something in Katrina's music draws her in despite Katrina's lack of training. Throw in a family of space aliens running a donut shop, a single mother trying to run her family's violin shop, and many scenes that take place in vibrant restaurant settings, and somehow it all comes together into what is one of my favorite books of the year so far. Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Ryka Aoki for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a book about a transgender girl escaping an abusive home. This is a story about a woman who made a bad deal with a demon. This is a story about aliens, crossing space and time to protect their family. This story is all these things, and somehow more. It is an ode to compassion, both innate and learned. It is a journey of ridding oneself of what others say you cannot be. It is a tale of love and family, and how music might just save us all. Both beautiful and painful in parts (tw for physical and emotional abuse, as well as rape), Aoki has managed to weave together these lives in a way that touched me far more than I had anticipated. Highly recommended.

Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet” is SUCH a good way to describe this book. I loved it. It’s absolutely wild: so creative, so heart filling, so beautifully written.

Ryka Aoki has written a beautiful portrait of a young trans women finding her way in a harsh world. Despite the horrors she so brutally details, this is overwhelmingly a story of hope.

It feels like YA but because it’s deeply truthful about the common horrors of being a trans youth in America (physical violence from “friends” and family, sex work to survive, prejudice from strangers, online bullying) this one belongs squarely in upper YA.

At first glance, this book sounds like too much: refugee aliens, damned violinists, greedy demons and tragic teens. But it’s exactly enough. It tackles anti-Asian hate but puts a celebration of Asian cultures, peoples and foods to the front. It gazes unflinchingly (although, reader, you’re going to flinch) at the struggles of trans teens but the liberation of being loved for who you are, as you are is what sticks with you. It allows parents to be their imperfect selves, while showing what it means to love your family just as they are, whether that family is born, made or chosen. It doesn’t shy away from the either cruelty or the joy of life

It’s a beautiful story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor books and Ryka Aoki for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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.

Content warnings: Transphobia; parental and familial abuse, including mental, physical, and sexual; rape and sexual assault; depiction of consensual and non-consensual sex work; racism; mentions of self-harm and suicide.

When I saw this being compared to Good Omens and Becky Chambers, I was definitely intrigued. I’ve been burned by comp titles so many times, but I think Light from Uncommon Stars does have a kinship with them; not in style or subject, exactly, but in a sense of optimism and care for humanity. I’m actually not sure how to write this review, as there seem to be several layers to this book: on the one hand, you have the story as described, of Shizuka Satomi taking in a young violin prodigy with the aim of exchanging her soul for freedom, but on the other hand, you have a dreamy, choppy narrative that looks at everything from the journey of self-belief for a young trans girl, to refugee aliens running a doughnut shop, to the power of music to move people’s emotions and memories, to the dangers of trusting too much in family legacies. There’s quite a stonking list of content warnings up there, but the book handles each issue sensitively and uses them in ways that make each character feel very human.

The story is told in snatches rather than in one long narrative, with line breaks and point-of-view switches every few paragraphs. I don’t know how this would appear on the printed page, but in my ebook copy it was easy enough to get used to, and gave an almost dream-like quality to the story. It made me turn the pages very quickly, and blurred the passing of time – the book takes place over a year, but that year slips away from you just as it does the characters, which is clever. The narrative seems to simultaneously be very personal and have a level of objective detachment, which reminded me a bit of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, another book that sits between the surreal and the mundane, and has a similar bittersweet view of humanity. That isn’t to say that the detachment stops this from being a very emotional and heartfelt read, though; it’s a style that allows for some deep dives into the personal histories of the characters in a way a more straightforward narrative might not. There’s also plenty of humour to lighten things up, particularly around the alien characters and their understanding of humanity, and Shizuka’s love of Star Trek – I wish we’d had even more of this, as those were my favourite bits!

There are dozens of characters in this book, and part of the power of it is that each obviously has their own rich inner life; we get to know several well, but the story centres on Katrina, the violin prodigy, Shizuka, famous violin teacher and secret soul-seller, and Lan, the mother of an alien family. All three women are queer, but while that’s important to their stories, it’s by no means the only thing about them, which is something that’s really well handled and makes them feel very believable. That being said, this is a story with strong, powerful trans rep, and it doesn’t shy away from the dark or the light aspects of Katrina’s experience. It can be hard reading at times, as Katrina faces a lot of transphobia on-page and in her backstory, but ultimately this is an optimistic story, and the acceptance she finds both from others and herself is lovely. I really liked Charlie Jane Anders’s review, if you’re looking for an own voices take on the rep.

If, like most of Book Twitter, you enjoy descriptive food writing, you’ll adore the huge attention to detail paid to the variety of meals here; if, like me, you really don’t particularly care for it, you might find it a bit tedious. I know, I know, I’m the weird one for not revelling in pages of dish descriptions. It did make me want doughnuts, but pretty much just seeing the word will! I’m also going to say that I ran into a little bit of the same trouble I had with A Song for a New Day, which is that I don’t find myself transported by descriptions of music being played (more details here), so I felt like I was missing something in those scenes. Again, if you do love that kind of thing, then there is plenty of it here and it’s clearly been written with a huge amount of love and care. I have next to no knowledge of the violin world, and I followed everything, so it’s not that you need prior in-depth knowledge, it’s just whether it touches you, I suppose. If it doesn’t, there’s still plenty to love!

Something about this book reminded me a little of Matt Haig’s early fiction; his books The Radleys and The Humans have a similar kind of outsiders-looking-at-humanity feel. I’m not saying this is derivative, at all – it’s not – but it has that same quality of feeling literary even though it’s deeply SFF. Ultimately for me, this philosophical bent kept me at arm’s length from connecting with it whole-heartedly. I just couldn’t quite get swept away in the characters because I felt like I was expected to feel emotional about it – it’s so obviously written to be contemplative and heartwarming, and that has the desired effect, but I couldn’t help but feel a little manipulated, rather than coming by the feelings organically. It’s hard to express exactly what I mean, but even with my failure to get completely emotionally invested, I still think this is a powerful, hopeful piece of literature that will have great impact.

There’s no doubt this is going to be a huge hit with Becky Chambers fans, or anyone looking for a really thoughtful piece of speculative fiction that falls on the more quirky, literary end of things. It’s sweet and lovely – but make sure you have doughnuts on hand! Four out of five cats.

Light From Uncommon Stars is a poetic science fiction novel that focuses on identity, music, and finding your home.

Shizuka Satomi is known as the Queen of Hell in the violin world, and with a Faustian deal to trade 7 souls in exchange for her own, the moniker isn't wrong. Katrina Nguyen just wants to find a safe place. She escapes from home (& her father), Katrina catches the attention of the Queen of Hell, who just needs one more soul. Meanwhile Lan Tran is running Starrgate Donuts with her 4 kids. As an intergalactic refugee and former starship captain, Lan just wants to ensure her family's safety. However, when Shizuka enters Starrgate Donut, Lan and Shizuka find something unexpected: each other.

I really enjoyed this novel. The way music is described in Light from Uncommon Stars is beautiful - I had to look up the mentioned violin pieces. Light from Uncommon Stars is also heartbreaking, especially when it came to Katrina's experiences as a transgender teenager.

The relationships in this novel are really great! I loved watching the characters interact with each other. Honestly, the side cast is just as great as the main trio.

All in all, this was a poignant novel that captured music, (found) family, and finding yourself. Light from Uncommon Stars contains some of the best descriptions of music that I have ever read, as well as an engaging story. Ryka Aoki is a novelist to watch, and I am really looking forward to seeing what she writes next!

Many thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for this eARC! I am really grateful for the opportunity to read Light from Uncommon Stars before the release date!

CW: transphobia, deadnaming, homophobia, sexual harassment

I REALLY wanted to like this but alas, that was not the case. I think my biggest problem with this novel was that it very much read like a debut novel. I found the writing very plain and simplistic, often to the point that it made these adult characters' thoughts and emotions sound very juvenile. I would've liked to see more complexity, especially since writing is, in the end, what lends characters their personality and substance. It wasn't simply a matter of the writing being not flowery or beautiful enough, but rather that the writing was actively hindering the story, making it feel very plain, despite the not-at-all-plain subject matter. There was a lot of potential here, and I'd be interested in checking out another novel from Ryka Aoki, but this one just wasn't the one for me, unfortunately.

This is a wonderful sci fi story of a trans girl. The book is like a balm on the hurt that trans people have to face daily. It was a thrilling read.

4.5 stars

CW: transphobia, misgendering, dead-naming

I really enjoyed this book! It has a unique premise, and it’s not often (ever?) that I read a sci-fi book with aliens in it that doesn’t take place in space.
The characters were lovely and even though I know nothing about violins, I didn’t have to in order to understand what was happening in the story. I even YouTubed Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin!

How do you begin to review a book that reawakens your long-dormant memories, bittersweet regret and love for the violin? How do you even review a book that lays bare trauma and never once lies about the pain whilst also being one of the most affirming and heartening stories you have read in recent memory? How do you review a book that doesn’t just tell you that life is worth living, but shows you with gentle scenes about two broken queer women who feed ducks at a park and a trans girl who, despite all the trauma she’s endured, learns how to love herself? How do I even begin to review Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki?

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki follows three women: a trans girl runaway and violinist who plays video game music; a violin teacher who has made a deal with a devil and is looking for her seventh and final soul to sacrifice to Hell; and a retired spaceship captain and mother of four who has escaped an impending calamity light-years away and now runs a donut shop. The story follows these three women as their lives become intertwined, revealing a wondrous story about identity, music, belonging, and hope.

Despite the promise of Faustian bargains that seemingly makes the book a dark science-fiction thriller (it is not and is far from it), Light from Uncommon Stars is wonderfully tender. It is beautifully told, lyrical and emotional and personal at times, all while also depicting the honest and confronting prejudice and challenges that trans people, especially trans people who have recently transitioned, endure. Though there are three main characters in Light from Uncommon Stars, at the very heart of the story is Katrina, a trans girl who runs away from her abusive household.

Katrina is a violinist, but she’s also, what most people in the violin community would call, an unconventional violinist. Rather than playing classical pieces, she plays video game music and is mostly self-taught. I adored Katrina; she was such a gentle soul who has endured too much. Though the story portrays the prejudice and trauma that she goes through as a trans woman and portrays candidly her experiences of doing sex work and how that, in itself, is rooted and intertwined with anti-trans sentiment, Light from Uncommon Stars isn’t about her pain. Rather, the story is about how she finds belonging and love in the most unlikeliest of places – in the open and nurturing arms of a violin teacher and a retired spaceship captain and intergalactic refugee, two queer women who have complex pasts but too find comfort in each other.

What makes Light from Uncommon Stars such a gorgeous read is that it doesn’t hide the fact that sometimes the world is ugly – that there’s racism and sexism and anti-trans sentiment and bigotry and cruelty – but it shows that there is goodness and healing and hope. That sometimes family is found, and that, despite all the trauma and hurt, there is also softness and love and beauty in the possibility of being alive. That despite all of our mistakes that we have made and all of our regrets, love and care is forgiving and can make us feel like we are more again. Furthermore, Light from Uncommon Stars is incredibly affirming of queer identity and our harsh edges in a way that is gentle but staunch.

Light from Uncommon Stars is a love letter to many things – to found family, to being queer, to donuts, to food, to immigrants, to refugees, to diaspora. But what really connected with me in a deep and resonant level was its love letter to music. I played violin for ten years, and reading Light from Uncommon Stars reminded me of my profound love of music – and after finishing this book, I rushed to relisten to music from Shostakovich and Saint-Saëns and Arturo Márquez and Rossini, basking in my nostalgia of the music I made with others. But it wasn’t just the profound and palpable love of music overflowing in Light from Uncommon Stars that I loved; it was also how Aoki captured the classism, eurocentrism, and hypercritical tendencies inherent in violin communities with startling accuracy. So the fact that Katrina plays video game music, in a world and community where video game music isn’t considered ‘real music’? I loved it and loved that it was delightfully subversive.

With Ryka Aoki’s enchanting and beautifully emotive writing, Light from Uncommon Stars is a profound and affirming story that will win the hearts of its readers. I adored Light from Uncommon Stars; loved that it felt like a hug, a house that feels safe and yours, and a soft bed that you can just sink into. This is science-fiction in its sweetest and finest, and I cannot wait to read whatever Ryka Aoki gifts us in the future. Read this book. (And now, to find some donuts.)

I have really been looking forward to reading this book. The description calls out two books I love and the brief synopsis made me think this might be a good book for me. And it totally is! Like a Stefon nightclub from Saturday Night Live, this book has everything! A trans violin prodigy, a fabulous diva, a deal with a devil, interstellar refugees running a donut shop, and look! What's that over there? It's some real emotion and a lyrical explanation of what it feels like to repair and craft a violin!

There are a lot of layers to this book. It talks about many serious topics (and some not so serious topics) and showcases some really interesting personal interactions. My favorite theme running through the book speaks to the power of creation and how it enriches our lives. Whether it's playing the violin, making donuts, or spending hours focused on how best to transform an instrument through subtle changes, examples of the power of creativity in our lives abound.

The characters are beautifully drawn and all have complexities to them. The story is fun. The writing is assured. I really loved every minute I spent reading this book!

It comes out in September. Get yourself a copy and enjoy!