Reviews with content warning for Incest - Light from Uncommon Stars

I really enjoyed this book, but I’d primarily been excited to read it because I found it on a list of books with “trans joy,” and I seriously hesitate to classify this as a “trans joy” book. It’s a book where a trans character suffers immense amounts of abuse (in literally every aspect) and has to actively work through her trauma—and while there’s certainly a lot of joy that she feels throughout the book, it’s usually at the cost of a huge asterisk next to that brief moment of happiness where you know something bad is going to happen to her immediately after. She’s not quite “a woobie” in the trope sense, but she just borders on it enough throughout the book that it can be kind of exhausting. Even so, I still hesitate to say that her struggles are inaccurate to the lived experiences of trans women, especially trans women of color; Katrina suffers from a lot of mistreatment, and while it can be pretty overwhelming to read, it’s unfortunately pretty reflective of what it can be like to just… exist while trans. I personally just felt frustrated by it because it felt like her character arc never quite moves past the rampant transphobia she faces and how it makes her dysphoria worse; while other characters get to have sapphic love stories (and somehow still have subplots involving homophobic slurs) and family curses and all of these other things, Katrina’s main motivations are more-or-less to just survive and not get actively dunked on for, again, existing while being trans. She does find joy in her music and find a family of her own, but while listening to the audiobook I think I constantly felt like I was holding my breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Again, while this might be accurate to true trans experiences, I had perhaps hoped for a little bit more escapism from the hardships that trans people face. After all, this book includes a love story between a “Queen of Hell” and an intergalactic war general with the backdrop of a kitschy family-owned donut shop. If this can exist within the same book, I don’t think “trans girl experiences 0.5 seconds of unadulterated, non-dysphoria-inducing, no-strings-attached joy” would be a huge stretch.

This was a long rambling review to still say that I enjoyed the book very much. It touches on a lot of great themes, and the audiobook was fantastic. I just want to urge readers (especially other trans readers) to check out the warning tags for this one and to prepare themselves for some intense and heavier moments in an otherwise lighthearted and whimsical book.

Content Warnings

razzberry_pi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

excellent read but hard to describe.

weaves together fantasy and scifi elements with themes around found family, the power of music, and the meaning of a legacy

touches on both the amazing things that technology can do, but also how care and craft cannot be completely replicated

Content Warnings

analenegrace's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense 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

4.5

This was a beautiful book that melded so many genres in a way that I found very successful. All the characters are incredibly compelling and represent the many different ways womanhood happens and exists. Trans characters are more important than ever, especially by Trans authors. I was never entirely sure where the plot was going to go, which can often make a book frustrating, but instead, Aoki made me constantly drawn back in. It's a hard book to summarize, but things like found/chosen family, the importance of art to humanity, and queer joy made this book so powerful, I imagine I will be thinking about it for quite a while!

Content Warnings

lorriss's review

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adventurous hopeful

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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emzhay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

2.75

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apollinares's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.0

I thought I'd enjoy this book more based on recommendations from friends and other reviews, but a lot of what people praised about it felt a bit overstated/almost cheesy, to me. The sci-fi element (from the name of the book, to the promise of starship shenanigans in the blurb) felt kind of hastily done, and a lot less thoroughly world-built than Shizuka's origins/development (Faustian bargains, Hell, etc). It almost felt like a disservice to Lan as a tritagonist, to have so much less of her history, thought, and motivations explored and revealed.

There were many things I liked about the book, I'm just disappointed I didn't enjoy it more. Katrina's arc was well executed, albeit cliché at times; as a trans writer, I feel like Aoki can make her trans protagonist as universally relatable as she wants, she has that right (speaking as a trans person myself). Also, many trans people will pour their heart and soul into a hobby as a means of escape, to the point of obsession, and get so good at it that it feels mary-sue-ish - I'm guilty of this with art, and one of my trans roommates is making a phenomenal video game right now. I bring this up because cis friends who have read this book see Katrina's violin playing skills as "overpowered", for lack of a better term, and I completely disagree, trans people are just that cool.

Lan and Shizuka's relationship was everything I loved in a meet cute - two older wlw (When do you see that??? I love that!!! They're giving owl house Eda levels of pining) struggling to flirt and falling flat on their faces. And the misunderstandings! Ugh, when Shizuka

got a call from Astrid about making dinner and Lan assumed a "housekeeper" was a romantic partner, and got really sad about it, it was so cute.

Or when

Shizuka saw Lan in uniform and had a gay little freakout, I may have squealed in delight despite being way too old for that myself.

Older wlw absolutely carried this book for me,

age gap be damned. They're both consenting adults, and yes, one's in her mid 40s while the other's almost 80, but has Shizuka really lived these past 46 years, suspended in a weird violin-murderhobo stasis? I don't think so. Let her kiss a hot starship captain I beg of you.

So, what didn't I like? I've already mentioned the story's treatment of Lan - her voice and inner world just feels much emptier than that of Katrina or Shizuka, and she deserved more as a tritagonist. Also, regarding Marcus:

the treatment of Marcus was... not great. He killed some people and never really got a resolution. The other loose ends were all tied up, and Marcus was just sort of left with nothing. For a book that is all about community and healing and support, this kid, who was clearly hurting, never got the support and rehabilitation he clearly needed. He was just forgotten about by his own family, who seemed to move on from his absence far too quickly.

Similarly, nothing ever came of

Katrina's friend Evan. I would have liked to see something occur there - like, there were all these threads that got converged at the end, there was even an undocumented immigrant Floresta hires in the epilogue - a random new character shoved in there - and you're telling me Aoki didn't have time for a petty moment with Katrina and Evan's friends, except with the power dynamic now flipped? Come on.

Some of the more cringe-worthy moments like

Astrid walking in on Katrina

gave me the worst second hand embarassment. And Lucy's character felt just a bit cliché with her inferiority complex and the way she spoke about/dealt with it.

All in all, a fun read with excellent representation that unfortunately fell short in many places. My library doesn't stock the Wayfarers series, so I continue in my fruitless search for good queer sci-fi that doesn't "masquerade as sci-fi" through a contrived title and cover.

Content Warnings

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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

Content Warnings

beforeviolets's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

TWs:
non-consensual sexual content (two instances: onscreen, not graphic, easily skippable [p. 49-50]; incestuous, offscreen, easily skippable [p. 181]), sexual harassment/assault (onscreen, brief, [p.333]), consensual sexual content (onscreen, brief), sex work, fetishization of Asian women and trans women, violence, domestic abuse (parental, physical and emotional /spousal, mention), injury from abuse, child abuse, trauma, transphobia (internalized, external, t-slur, misgendering, deadnaming), severe dysphoria, homophobia/lesbophobia (f-slur, d-slur), racism (specifically towards East Asian individuals, g-slur, c-slur [indirectly used]), self harm (offscreen, graphic mention [p. 177-179]), blood, abusive living environment, religious bigotry, use of the r-slur, sexism, death (mention), war, gaslighting (external and internal), outing, cancer (mention), fire (brief), anxiety, vomit (mention)

This book was GOING to be a 4.5 until I read the spent the 50 pages in absolute tears.

Light From Uncommon Stars is a gorgeous tale about learning to believe in your own worth in the face of a world that tells you that you’re worthless. It’s about the importance of a life, no matter how “damaged.” It’s about fame, motherhood, and the necessity of having a voice.

Aoki showcases resiliency through her protagonists, all reminiscent of phoenixes rising from the ashes and being reborn into a new life, into a new home, or even into a new family. She sends a beautiful message to readers that no matter how hard your past or how lost or isolated one might feel, there is always hope in a friendly smile, a kind word, or a helping hand. All of the characters have a history of so much pain and fear and despite all of that, they are able to save themselves, often with the help of others, and stand up for their own happiness or the happiness of their loved ones.

But I think my favorite part of this book is how it constantly and beautifully illustrates the the transportive and the transformative magic of something loved, whether it be a piece of music, a video game, or even a donut. The way something, when made with care and passion, can feel like home. Though the story itself is ouchie, the message and the overall tone is one of comfort, like someone is sitting you down with a nice cup of tea and giving you a warm hug, one you didn’t even know you needed.

Gorgeous melodic writing, powerful and brilliant characters, the incredible ability to seamlessly switch POVs mid chapter or even mid paragraph, this story is one to be cherished and celebrated.

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