Luminous is a solid robots-in-the-future sci-fi read. It deals with the usual moral/practical questions around this kind of technological advancement, but only seems to scratch at the implications. It’s like a meandering river with not many depths or rapids. Usually I enjoy such slower reads but it somehow didn’t fit the theme of the novel. I wish the author would have gotten more into the philosophical/moral parts of the robot thematic. How it is now it’s more of a family story despite the members of it interacting way too little with each other and a general reflection on how to cope with loss (even here the idea of using robots to cope with it is only dealt with very briefly). In the end I had the feeling the book should have started around 3/4 in and should have evolved from there way over its end. I also wished Yoyo would have been explored as a character more. We see his actions but rarely get to know anything about his motivations or opinions.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the earc!

gorgeous prose and fantastic story on this one, would definitely recommend and am hoping does very well. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

The future, robots, and family. This book somehow makes it all work together. An impressive debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the DRC.

This novel combines three of my favorite things: stories from Asian authors, science fiction, and robots. In the end, the story did not disappoint. The author gave an ultimately engrossing story about the relationships between humans and robots. The world building of a future where Korea is now unified and robots live amongst humans and humans also have robotic parts if needed was well done. I will say the beginning of the novel was slow and a bit of a slog but once you meet everyone and the story starts to take shape, it becomes a much more rewarding read.

A trio of unusual siblings are trying to navigate their separate lives which are surprisingly similar and start to overlap. This is a sci-fi mystery, set in the future, which revolves around AI and robots. I know this is a popular trend lately, but this one is definitely worth reading. Each of the siblings brings something different to the story and I appreciate the fact that I was interested in all 3 of the storylines (or the individual narrators where there is overlap). I don't want to get into the details too much because there are characteristics about the siblings that you're meant to discover as the story unfolds.

If you're into sci-fi or you have an interest in AI or robots, I definitely recommend this.

I enjoyed this book more than I though that I would. The characters were pretty authentic, even the AI ones. It was a strange experience to read about humans that had robotic parts and robotic characters that seemed as authentic as the humans. In some cases, I liked the AI characters more than the humans - I practically cried for Eli. I am not sure what the final message of the book was to be, but I felt that it was about the bonds within a family, the dysfunction of ... well, everyone. It touched on the savage nature of people as well as the side that ties us to others for our own personal reasons. Yoyo's remembrance of the past while moving forward with his current life was a message of fortitude. A glimpse into the possible future of technology and how it can change our world and us for better and worse.

this book has everything: speculative aspects, childhood trauma, murder, estrangement, forbidden romance, a robot sibling. North versus South, male versus female, robots versus human– all of these prior divisions collapse into a commingled mess. THE PROSE OMG sooo good!

This was really interesting and I liked how the topic was covered. Quite emotional in places and read very well.

I loved the premise of this book but had a very hard time getting into it. I wasn't able to connect with the characters and the pacing made it too easy to step away and I ended up skimming quite a bit. Sorry!

A future where robots live side by side with humans? Yes, please! I loved the concept and desperately wanted to love this book but I struggled with comprehension in the early chapters. Slowly the story came into focus for me and there was a significant shift in the second half of the book. By 70% I knew I was going to love it. At 95% I was obsessed and vowed to read it for a second time. If you struggle in the beginning don’t give up. This read is worth it!

I really wanted to like this book, but reading it felt too much like work. I stepped away from the book several times and struggled to return to it. But the premise of having robots as family seemed so promising. I think I just never connected with any of the characters and the plot moved too slowly for me. This is a fine book for someone, but just not me.

Wow!! This book was fantastic. In this novel, we see a future society where there are humans, robots, and humans with robotic features. We meet different human people who have faced specific traumas and rely on their robots, and then we see the challenges the humans and robots face about emotions, feelings, etc.

If you’re a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro, specifically Never Let Me Go or Klara and the Sun, I think you’ll love this.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I normally finish a book in 1-3 days, so the fact that this took me an entire month to read is kind of wild to me—especially considering it was one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. I even preordered the hardcover. I’ve been recommending it to anyone who will listen, showing off the cover to coworkers in an attempt to entice them into preordering alongside me, trying to coax others into signing up for Netgalley so that we can talk about the book…Hell, I even got my therapist to preorder it.

There’s something about Luminous that is utter crack for trans men. Every trans guy I’ve explained the premise to (including myself) has been instantly rabid for the plot. There are multiple protagonists in Luminous, one of which being a queer trans man named Jun. Jun? He’s great. I loved him. You’ll love him too, especially if you’re transmasc.

The writing in this book is gorgeous. The pacing is tight, the characters are multifaceted and have very distinct voices, and the critique on capitalism and consumerism? Stunning. Perfection. I could go on and on about the author’s exploration into consumerism, but I’ll save that for my best friend once they finish the book.

I cried multiple times throughout reading, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it. I’ve read almost a hundred books this year, but Luminous may in fact be my favorite of them all.

Perfectly average book that could have gone up a notch with some careful editing. Still, pretty excellent for a debut novel from a short fiction author.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. This was a solid speculative fiction. I liked the way that technology was portrayed, and the dynamic of the siblings was interesting. I liked reading it, and I found that it was a really solid sci-fi. I can't wait to hopefully read more of Ms. Park's works! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads for release.

Luminous by Silvia Park is a beautiful work of speculative fiction. The book is set in a reunified Korea that has many aspects of the present but also a large robot population as well as human characters with robotic modifications. A blended family of siblings is at the center of the story. Two of them human: Jun who works with the national police force in the robot crimes division and Morgan who works for a famous robot design company, Imagine Friends. The third sibling of the group is Yoyo who was created by Jun and Morgan's father. He was the eldest when he was introduced to the family but has never aged, though his wisdom has increased immensely in his years on the planet. Interestingly, Yoyo's chapters of the book are told from the perspective of those around him, most often centering on the character Ruijjie who has medical issues and thus robotic components to help her survive. Yoyo is estranged from the rest of the group though the memories and bonds remain strong for all siblings.

As a reader these three characters bring us into Park's futuristic Korea in a very complete way and it is a fascinating place to be. Through Jun's investigations,"frustrations were painted all over her body, and she made a troubled face when Jun asked to see her arm where a client had used his switchblade to carve his initials into her wrist." Through Morgan's corporate life, "Christina was like an eco-flush toilet, well-intentioned and ineffective." And Yoyo, who remains a bit of an enigma throughout the whole book, a child, an angel, a trickster broken in many ways but enduring.

Luminous is part mystery, part morality tale with gorgeous writing and imagery. Anyone who enjoys Science Fiction is going to appreciate this clever and moving novel.

I'm not sure how I feel about this story but it definitely was interesting! There were moments where I was really engaged and loved where the story was going, and there were moments that it fell flat for me. The main thing that pulled me out of the story was the choppiness of the writing and story. However, the overall story is beautiful in the way that it weaves together family, grief, and humanity.

What a great rhythm and development for this novel. If there is a future where we have robots serving us, this is how I imagine it and the pros and cons that come with it. It's a very smart novel because it questions, challenges, and tests our emotions and expectations of having a machine as a companion or lover.
It has so many levels, layers, and themes, exploring family, relationships, progress, loss, coming of age, sexuality, and religion... It's simple because it's focused on a few characters and seems to be a mystery, but its complexity resolves around the fact that all themes seem to be connected to a family. At the the same time, we feel that this dystopian unified Korea is a larger world where the robots serve the humans and replace love, children, sons, daughters, and pets, exploring loneliness, and many other emotions. I love its complexity, and I couldn't be away from it for long, wanting to go back to that family story and to the real meaning of having a robot fulfill its purpose (robot's way of committing suicide.)

It’s hard to stand out in a crowded field of humanoid robot/human relationship fiction but this is a truly unique novel in a stunning way. Park made a lot of brilliant choices in the plot and developing the culture/rules of society built around the technological advancements that really work and create a truly engaging read. The prose is diverse, reflecting the pure talent of this author.

The character development didn’t work for me as much as I wanted it to as the novel went on. While it was impressive how Park navigated what it truly means to be an individual, artificial or human, and there were some really strong moments, overall this novel failed to get me to care about individual characters for more than a couple scenes. The themes each character was trying to represent overshadowed too much the realism of each character. It might work for some readers as the thought process and intersection of the plot is really excellent but I just couldn’t get into it until the last 5-10% of the book.

Luminous is set in Seoul, in a unified Korea. Humans and bionic humans reign over bots that serve them, become “children “ in their families or even become their lovers. The city is littered with robot junkyards, gangs and people who use robots for sport. Ruije, along with school friends, scour the junkyards to find new legs to replace bad bionic ones. It is there she finds Yo-yo, a complete bot she connects with.

Jun, a human fitted with bionic parts, is a detective on the hunt for a missing child bot, the daughter of a famous artist. A few doors down from the artist lives Morgan, Jun’s estranged sister and chief bot designer. Their father was one of the masterminds behind the bots, first created for the military. Jun and Morgan had a bot brother that disappeared along time ago.

Silvia Park tackles the question of what it means to be human with all its messiness and its ability to feel/experience pain, grief and love and to create true memories. This is juxtaposed against the inhuman bots. At times it seems the bots display their humanity and you have to wonder whether they are imbued with human frailties. With the leaps and bounds AI has taken recently, is this a cautionary tale? Putting that aside, it is a wonderful tale of friendship, family, love and vulnerability.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC. All opinions are my own.