Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Light from Uncommon Stars

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

189 reviews

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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dominosmum444's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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koiolee's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Not a bad book, but hard to recommend. I feel like this book has too many things going on. They all make sense by the end, but I think it's doing too much. I guess I don't like the combination of the fantasy and scifi elements without going too in depth about the fantasy elements.

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