A review by pan_dulce08
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

I felt the book started out really strong with the main protagonist, Kristina, really intriguing me as I found her relatable but also somewhat mysterious with how she acted, and I wanted to see her develop and come into better circumstances. I also liked the setting of Southern California and how it is picked apart and commented on by the character of Shizuka. However, I feel with everything that was added as the story progressed and how long the cast-list came to be the book fails a bit with balancing the diverse set of themes present in it. It also fails in some ways to really think critically about what is portrayed in it, which makes the characters feel less... human.
(Yes, I know some of the characters are literally in-human, but even so, actions like murder of multiple innocent people should still be treated with the gravity that action deserves by the alien characters as well, as that act is still wrong where they come from!)


For example,
Shizuka offhandedly mentions how she had done sexual favors for people in exchange for nice things like the car she drives, and later on Katrina begins the same practice... as a seventeen year old minor. Katrina was involved with sex work before, however it was clear the abuse she suffered while on the job was simply endured by her because she needed the money from it to stay alive, and the harsh nature of the clients she had to see and what they would make her do was given the narrative weight it required, but that theming and narrative standard does not carry through with what Katrina does later on in the story.
I feel like this carelessness about the acts of sexual exploitation of young women in a male-dominated industry is very confusing with what a lot of the book's focus seems to be, which is that on two women, one younger and one older, who both have scratched and clawed their ways to succeed in what they are passionate about. If anything, those acts should be treated with far more heaviness than they are by the book so as to not confuse the reader so much! 

Sorry this is so long... I enjoyed a lot of aspects and characters from the book when I read it, but a lot of things about it bothered me as well and I wanted to talk about those things...
Expand filter menu Content Warnings