Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Light from Uncommon Stars

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Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

219 reviews

secretofmusing's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Overall... I liked the story but this read more lit fic than sci-fi and once I realized that it was easier to continue.

Rating the book:
1. Characters? - Characters except for Shizuoka Satomi made sense to me ... in that I could understand/justify their motivation, wants, and needs etc. BUT

I don't think I ever really heard why or how Shizuoka was okay with collecting souls. (I understand it was to save her own soul) I could maybe have justified her having collected one or two souls already, but six? You'd think that after seeing what happened to the first person, she would have been like nah, I can't do this but she kept going. That says a lot about who she is as a person and that no one was able to reach her, and in my mind she's probably just as bad as Tremon.

1.
2. World-building/setting? - yes. 1.
3. Plot? It was ...okay? .25
4. Originality? - I have never read anything else like this. 1
5. Writing? Great. The writing was brilliant. I have a few quotes that will stick with me. When it came to some dialogue I did not like the occasional swear word, or racial slur, none of them felt genuine or necessary. Instead they felt very jarring and almost in the story for shock value. I don't really know. I loved the language used when Akoi described music and art and what it means to create. Especially Lucy's POV chapters. 1
6. Pacing? Nope, this was kind of a slog to get through. Especially with all the POV switching. 0
7. Themes? quite expected, and they kinda fell flat for me. 0
8. DID I CRY/WILL IT STICK - I did not cry, but it may stick just for being so weird. .5
9. Enjoyment? eh, I loved specific story lines, Lucy Matía. .5
10. THE end. It was okay, I saw it coming a mile away.

I loved how Aoki described the musical piece Katrina plays at the competition.

1

math - 6.25/10 = 3.125/5 = 3.25/5 - the rating might change as I let this story settle.

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virgilsinferno's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved this and it might even be a favorite of the year. I adored this fun read.

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sgrunwald96's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A sweet book and an odd book. A mixed up love letter to the food of the San Gabriel Valley, immigrant families, violin performance, and runaways finding a home. There is some absurdity in the number of directions this involved (see: aliens, a doughnut shop, a cursed violin bow, a cybernetic daughter, a real demon, etc etc), but the characters are sweet and full of depth. It’s an entirely unbelievable story, but that’s kind of the point. Music and the human experience are the relatable parts. Writing wise, I had a bit of trouble with how quickly it jumped viewpoints and that it never comes back to the Marcus character.

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readwithria's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book was a TRIP, but not the kind I was looking for.

I read this blurb and comp titles, and went into the book with expectations of a cozy sci-fi that dealt with morality. I was wrong.

Light From Uncommon Stars is a very literary book with some mild elements of science fiction and magical realism. Because of the heavy emphasis on the violin music throughout the book it reads more like a piece of literary fiction than a SFF book. The language surrounding music and food is very descriptive and flowery, and while that isn’t a bad thing it also isn’t what I was looking for.

The characters are really what saved this book for me. I loved Shirley and Astrid, and grew to like Shizuka and Katrina more as the book progressed. The themes of personhood and identity were really well done, and it was in those themes that I saw why The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was chosen as a comp title.

The story, however, was not my cup of tea. I found that the mid-chapter POV switches were hard to keep track of (I listened to the audiobook, so maybe this would be better in print?) and that made it hard for me to connect with what was happening sometimes. I also think there were too many storylines that didn’t get fleshed out enough for me to care about them.

I don’t regret finishing the book, but it definitely wasn’t my cup of tea. I’d recommend this for people who typically read contemporary fiction and are looking to get into sci-fi. 2.75 stars

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mklmy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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adalinemccormick's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jrbenson95's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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alyssadorn's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

3.75 ⭐️

This book was bizarre and cerebral and also so fun?? It has HEART. There’s so much pain and hope, despair and healing— some parts had me grinning and others had me crying. The genre mashup of fantasy (demon deals and violins that may or may not be magical) and sci fi (intergalactic war refugee and starship captain who relocates her family to a donut shop in the valley) was a really fun concept, but the worldbuilding was a bit messy, confusing, and unclear until just before halfway through — or maybe that’s when I just decided to suspend disbelief to the degree the characters did in accepting each other, alien or deals with a demon or what have you— and from there it was a fun and poignant read!

There are subtle, intelligent moments of humor (I mean, an alien being so impressed by an Olive Garden in Cerritos or karmic acts befalling people who are transphobic to Katrina being subtly and casually mentioned??? So good); the head-hopping was really well done; and the queer experience was depicted with vulnerability and authenticity. I really enjoyed not just seeing Katrina’s growth/healing and Shizuka’s (the Queen of Hell’s) surprisingly nurturing nature, but also Astrid’s motherly tendency to feed as a way to heal and Lucia’s experience with imposter syndrome and her father’s/grandfather’s careless misogyny and the magic she brought to repairing violins.

The personification of both instrument and music in a world depicted with magic and demons makes it hard to tell if the instrument is truly alive in this book, if the music truly transports players and listeners into a memory or state of feeling together. But after a while I found myself letting go and just enjoying as Shizuka and Katrina started to affect each other’s music and memories— as Katrina tries to protect her teacher from those memories and as her teacher learns how to support Katrina in her healing and growth and creative expansion. As even an AI person finds herself diving into memory or her own truth, drawn by Katrina’s music.

I was cheering Katrina on this entire book, and the integral hope and slight absurdity of some of the situations brought refreshing lightness to the dark themes explored and ensured the book never felt heavy. It’s a story of home, found family, familial love, legacy, food that feels like home, and healing. The characters a flawed and make mistakes but still clearly care for each other deeply.

Definitely check the CWs (sexual assault and rape— not graphic—, physical abuse by a parent, racism, transphobia, homophobia, misgendering, dead-naming)

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brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I couldn’t tell if the perspective switches in the middle of a conversation was brilliant or lazy. The mysterious way the author inserted little bits of information you need to fill the time and meaning gaps was exciting and had me guessing what the end would be. Because of that the ending fell short, although it involved many expected twists. Great characters!

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narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-paced

2.75

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