This book was so very weird and so very lovely. I very much enjoyed it. I've been dragging my feet on this review but it's pub day* so I need to buckle down. This is one of those cases where the description really doesn't do the book justice, and also it very much will not be everyone's cup of tea, because it resists classification, and takes three very good ideas for a story and smooshes them all into one story. The result is a very weird mix of genre and tone, and I seriously dug it. If this is what Aoki can do on her first try, I'm very much in for whatever she does next.

*I ended up buying a hard copy for myself this afternoon when I went out to buy C.S. Pacat's new book, Dark Rise. So that should tell you how much I liked it!

Really, I am not up for teasing the contents of this book. I don't know if anyone is. Probably the easiest way to do it is to give background on the three main characters and that will have to be enough to entice you. So, we have: Shizuka Satomi, a professional violinist turned international violin sensation who every violin student wants to be taught by, who secretly made a deal with the devil for fame and talent in exchange for luring seven more violinists into selling their souls; we have Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender girl who has run away from home, and whose only possession worth anything is a violin; and last we have Lan Tran, owner of a donut shop, but who is also an alien from outer space. Shizuka needs a soul who can play violin. Katrina has one and can do that. Lan is on the run from a galactic war, but develops feelings for Shizuka, who likes her in turn. They both care for Katrina, who has no one else to help her. Mix this all together and you get something that is pretty much the most unexpected thing you could imagine.

I'm not sure I would recommend this book for just anyone, but if that stew of particular ingredients sounds tasty to you at all, you should give this a go.

a gorgeous, soft book but brutally honest with the trauma, experiences and healing. so Asian, so queer, so sapphic, an ode to soulful violinists, perfect mix of contemporary/scifi/fantasy/romance and a lovely found family, I loved emotionally investing myself into this story so much

I used to work at a donut shop, but unfortunately I never fell in love with the Queen of Hell on the job.

Going into this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. This story has a lot going for it: violins, donuts, space aliens, deals with a demon. Two sapphic Asian MCs and a trans woman MC. There are many supernatural and sci-fi elements going on in this story, yet... it feels normal within the context of the book? The fantastical elements of the story are not at the forefront, but they play a huge part in the narrative and the characters' motivations. Lan is an extra terrestrial, yet she is so believably human; she's only trying to save her family. Shizuka is collecting souls to send to Hell, yet she's caring, curious, and so connected to nature.

The prose in this book is also remarkable. I'm not usually one to comment on the use of language in contemporary novels, I really just like a good story and unless the the writing is particularly bad, I don't pay much attention to it. However, Aoki is particularly gifted in her use of prose in supporting the narrative. I don't know much about violin, but I could practically hear the characters play.

This book has a lot of love woven into it. This is an OwnVoice narrative, and although there are some stereotypes portrayed by some characters, the work was done to subvert them as well and create full-fledged, multidimensional characters.

This book has a surprisingly wholesome tone considering some of the very dark subject material throughout. I really enjoyed the style of the book, and it felt unique in a lot of ways. I fully recommend this book, especially fans of sci-fi. I read an ebook version in conjunction with the audiobook. I liked the narrator of the audiobook fine, but I personally preferred reading the ebook for this novel.

As always, check content warnings.

Thank you, NetGalley, for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately hooked by Light from Uncommon Stars. By its magic, its captivating love of music, and its characters. You become instantly intrigued by these stories you don't see behind people's eyes. For the beginning of Light from Uncommon Stars, it felt like watching a flower unfurl. To see the ways their lives intersect full of missed connections and passing ships. Coincidences and opportunities we flounder that only speaks to the relatability of human experience.

But what truly lies at the core of Light from Uncommon Stars are the characters. Because the entirety of the book feels tender. Tender in the way that these characters not only form new relationships, but learn about themselves. Their limits, loves, and capacity for dreams. My love for this book stems from how precious Katrina, Lan, and Shizuka became to me. Moments where the characters melt my heart. Where their flaws pierce your heart with the pain and empathy.

I truly think one of the biggest compliments I can give to a book is when it is music heavy and yet I am not bored. So, there it is. This book is very musically oriented, and I still really enjoyed it! I mean, I won't pretend that I have gained some sort of great love of violins here or anything, but I appreciated the passion for music that the book showcased. And that's the thing: the author does an incredible job of making it about the love of music, and not just the technical aspects.

Anyway, that aside, this is pitched as "Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet", and I definitely get the Long Way comp. There are some incredibly lovable aliens in this book, which kind of made my day. (Incidentally, I know nothing about Good Omens, but I googled it, and it tracks.) But let's chat about the human characters first. Look, I was sure I was going to hate Shizuka, because who the heck sells their soul (and then the souls of others) to demons, right? Well, she's more complex than that. Every character is incredibly complex, really. The star character here, is by far, Katrina. Watching her grow and find herself is everything. (You will also get stabby angry at every single person she has encountered in her life, but that is for you to figure out while reading.)

This book tackles a lot of issues, but in a really great way. Not only does it delve deeply into Katrina's experiences as a trans woman (and her family's abysmal reaction to her), but we see into her life as a sex worker, and we see how living in a diaspora has affected all the characters, in so many ways. Then, enter the non-humans. They sell donuts, which is fun. And they have issues that ring all too familiar to the human reader, frankly. It goes to show that our experiences, while obviously varied by a myriad of things, shares some commonality at their core.

This is a slower paced book, and at times, perhaps a bit longer than necessary. But the story was lovely, and I was incredibly invested in the characters, so I wasn't too bothered by it. And, the plot is certainly full of questions I was eager to find the answers to. Will Shizuka sell Katrina's soul? Will the donut shop successfully hide the aliens? Will Shizuka let herself fall in love? Will Katrina be able to find her voice, even as the world tries to silence her?

Bottom Line: It's a gorgeous novel with brilliantly developed characters that mustn't be missed despite a slower pace.

This book... is basically an ode to Asian food and I'm not even mad about it. Of course, that made the book super wholesome along with the predominant themes about self-acceptance, the transgender experience, and love; somehow all mixed in with aliens, demons, and donuts - none of which should go together but fit surprisingly well with no seams. That being said, the story was surprisingly dark at times, which is weird because mentions of demons and soul collecting would seem to imply that it would be dark, but my brain went "oh, funny character relief", but no. There are mentions about sexual harassment, rape, abuse, and some other triggering topics, so viewer's discretion is advised. On a lighter note, there is also some humor thrown in there at the most unexpected times, and it doesn't conflict with the scene-setting, so it's a nice icebreaker for the tension. It's definitely not like anything I've read before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could find myself relating to at least one aspect with every character, more so with Shizuka Satomi. Also wanted to say that Lucia Matia - I don't know how I could root for a woman while also hating her a little bit at the same time.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

This novel's delightful premise of a woman trying to regain her soul by giving Hell the souls of seven other violin prodigies (one to go!) is what snagged me attention.  Well that and the awesome cover.  The writing style in this book was lovely.  It got me to care about violin concertos and food descriptions even though both of those things are not important in me everyday life.  Add in aliens, AIs, transgendered issues, curses, and donuts.  It makes for an odd mix that found enjoyable.

The three main characters are 1) Shizuka Satomi, the Queen of Hell, who needs her seventh violin student; 2) Katrina Nguyen, a transgendered violinist; and Lan Tran, a star ship captain on the run from the Empire.  While I enjoyed the main characters, I really loved the secondary characters.  In particular, I loved the housekeeper and the aunt at the donut shop.

The subject matter of the novel is extremely dark at times even though the book ends on a hopeful note.  I really enjoyed the set up for the novel though as the story progressed, I ended up less and less enamored of the plot.  I felt that the Katrina storyline stalled overall and too many side stories were involved.  It felt like a little too much with not enough character or plot development.  And while I loved some of the sci-fi elements, I wasn't sure if they ended up being necessary other than to make a happy ending.

An odd book for sure.  I am going to be interested in seeing other reviews for this one.  Arrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Light from Uncommon Starts is a lot of things at once - a coming of age story for trans runaway Katrina, a story about ambition and damnation through Shizuka Satomi, an alien adventure story with Lan, a story about found family, the Asian immigrant experience, and a story about love. Ryka Aoki is such a skilled writer that she combines all of this into one hopeful, emotional novel. Shizuka Satomi is the world's best violin teacher, coaching only a select few students who achieve great fame and success, only to be sold to the devil when they have it in order to pay off Satomi's own debts. She needs one more student to be free, and chooses to teach Katrina, who shows much promise but has never been trained. Meanwhile, Lan arrived on Earth with her family, her spaceship, and nothing else, fleeing an interstellar war. Now she and her crew sell donuts and try to adjust to humanity. When Lan meets Satomi, she begins to rethink her plans. At times cozy, at times harsh, but always a beautiful read.

This book is pitched as Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I definitely agree with the Good Omens comparison. It's a little quirky with a Queen of Hell teaching star violinists in exchange for their soul and an alien family turning their spaceship into a donut shop in LA. I think The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (TLWSAP) comparison is maybe due to the Aliens? But I don't quite get those vibes. TLWSAP is very warm and fuzzy while this one is a harder read. Our virtuoso, Katrina Nguyen, that the Queen of Hell, Shizuka Satomi. ends up choosing to teach is transgender and disowned by her family. She's on the run with no money and just the violin on her back with hopes of a friend she knew from two years ago may take her in. Her life is difficult and full of challenges that she had to overcome. Shizuka is there to support Katrina and help her see that being a person isn't a big deal. That warm fuzzy acceptance is there, but it's still not without external conflicts. Also, in regards to the alien family, the aliens are an allegory for United States immigration, so there's definitely some commentary there that also isn't warm and fuzzy. I enjoyed this book a lot more because of the conflicts that the characters have to face and overcome, but I just want to temper those looking for warm fuzzy feels. Again, it does still have an overarching message of acceptance, but TLWTAP doesn't acknowledge the dark path to get there.

Hm, can I say anything more about the book without comparing it to it's pitch? That honestly wraps it up pretty nicely. It covers the main reason why I liked it-- it was quirky and I learned about some of the experiences transgenders and immigrants might face. It's definitely more character driven than plot, and the quirkiness is a large draw. At it's core, it has a lot of heart, and you'll find yourself rooting for Katrina Nguyen to overcome it all and succeed in her music.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I always find reviews for books that I adored difficult so I’m going to list the top five reasons why you should read Light from Uncommon Stars:

1) An amazing found family!
2) One of the most intriguing Faustian bargains I’ve read about in a long time
3) Light from Uncommon Stars perfectly balances its darker aspects with the brighter ones, and somehow ends up feeling like a warm hug. But if you need content warnings, I would 100% suggest looking them up!
4) The love for music, which shows through on every page. You’ll also end up really wanting to listen to video game soundtracks after reading this.
5) The food. Do not read this book while hungry, because Aoki’s food descriptions are out of this world. You’re also really going to want a donut afterward.

Overall, Light From Uncommon Stars is an ambitious debut that hits every note. I loved this one so much that I immediately preordered it after turning the final page.

4.5 stars. A strange, wonderful story. I am still a bit in awe of a book that blends aliens with deals with the devil. It mostly works and the characters are all very well done. Katrina is perfection and her growth is the best part of the book but gets lost sometimes in everything else going on. This book is serious, funny, quirky, heartbreaking, and wonderful.

I’m so sad, but I could not get into the writing of this one. It had all of the elements I love of fantasy and sci-fi but the whiplash POV changes kept throwing me out of the moment. Maybe at a different time I might be able to follow it better, but I felt manic trying to keep up.

Beautiful writing and concept, just not for me.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. This book is being billed as Good Omens meets A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and that's not quite accurate. While there are both demons and interstellar travelers, it is significantly darker than either of those books. This piece is searingly beautiful, abrupt, unflinching, and somehow still about the different kinds of love and family people have.
The main character is a violinist who sold her soul for the sake of music, and has to deliver seven other souls to save herself. She has delivered six. Her seventh in training is a runaway trans teen who has encountered almost every danger that can occur to a trans, queer kid. I would add in trigger warnings for pretty much every early scene with Katrina, because her journey is rough, and the author is very clear about the perils Katrina faces for just existing. These characters have some massive growth arcs. Shizuka Satomi is complex and complicated, but her love affair with her starship Captain, and her mentorship with Katrina forces her to do assume major development as a person. These characters are flawed, difficult, very human, and I could not stop reading about them.
While this book was not what I was expecting, it was beautiful. It was at times hard to read, but I had to keep going no matter what. On a lighter note, do not read this book while hungry, or you will eat the entire contents of your kitchen. I look forward to seeing where this author goes next.

I've been having trouble putting my thoughts together to write a review for this heartbreaking book. It follows three Asian women through a deftly woven story about hope, pain, destiny, immigration, creativity, and a dash of romance. While it has absolutely charming and fantastical elements (present in the aliens making donuts), it also brutally examines the trauma and experiences of trans people. However, the overall tone is one of healing and affirmation.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was the descriptions of food. I constantly wanted to eat while reading this book. Donuts, noodles, boba... basically you name it and I wanted to eat it. Basically, don't read this on an empty stomach... or something fun could be to read it on an empty stomach and just order all the food in the book as you read along.

Anyways, I would recommend this for music lovers and hopeful hearts, donut-lovers, and those who like a little bit of wonder dashed in with their tales of woe.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ryka Aoki, and Tor for providing me with an eARC of this novel. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

* Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Netgalley for an advance copy for review purpose *

I think this is the book I've enjoyed the most so far this year. Katrina, a transgender runaway and violin player, encounters a once in a lifetime opportunity when she runs into the renowned Shizuka Satomi, the music teacher that brought the top violinists of the last few generations to the spotlight. Shizuka's method is a little unorthodox, as it involves a contract with a demon. And things take an unexpected turn when a family of intergalactic refugees gets involved with them.

It is hard to describe the plot of "Light from Uncommon Stars", as not much really happens - the book focuses on the interactions between the characters and how they come to terms with who they are and what they need to do to reach for happiness. Katrina is so precious. Her father is not OK with her gender identity, and is used to never being accepted and suffering physical and psychological abuse. Her reactions to receiving kindness are gut wrenching. And then we see Shizuka, who has a demonic contract to fulfill, but is actually a very decent human being. The characters are beautifully constructed and give us hope that there is good and love in the world. I would highly recommend listening to Bartok's violin sonata during the last chapter.

If you enjoy Becky Chambers' feel good sci fi, this will be right up your alley. While there are some rough sections (the author does not mince any words, and just factually states what Katrina experiences with people that do not approve of her), it is a book filled with hope and love. There can never be too much of that.

This Los-Angeles based sci-fi fantasy offers up in a heart-warming mishmash that somehow works amid its divergent plots.

There’s an alien family, the Trans (who apparently look identical to us), who’s escaped Galaxy warfare, landed on Earth which they selected as there’s a huge close up viewing of a comet in a few years, and bought a donut store they renamed Starrgate Donuts under which they’ve parked their ship. The Mom, the caring Aunt and the three teens of the family are all struggling both to adjust to a new planet, balance running a store with deep mathematical equations that will enable them to open a Stargate for other world travelers to visit Earth and see the Comet, and recreate donuts that humans will want to eat. Oh, did I mention that one of the teens is a virtual AI, with intense very human feelings and sensitivities?

There’s a runaway trans girl, Katrina Nguyen, escaping from an immigrant family and violent dad who simply will not accept her gender choices. All she has with her is her computer, her hormones and her violin. She’s crashed with an unreliable queer friend, and the situation is not working out. When playing her violin on a park bench, she gets swept into the orbit of a gorgeous and former superstar Japanese violinist, Shizuka Satomi, who’s been on the hunt for years to find her next student.

Shizuka, recognized as the world’s foremost violin teacher for whom students swoon at the chance of being selected as a student, has secretly cut a deal with the Devil (yes, you read that right) to recruit amazing 7 violinists who achieve fame in exchange for their soul – she has 49 years to do it. If successfully the world will recall her amazing music which the Devil has purged from Earth’s memory. Shizuka takes Katrina in, giving her both a home and violin lessons, but does she have the heart to corrupt and betray her?

How does this all fit together? Somehow it does, in sometime elegant, sometimes zany, and sometimes awkward ways. But what stays with you is the compassion and the friendships and loves that can grow so unexpectedly with such tenderness.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reader’s copy.

I’ve been waiting to find the right words for this review, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to adequately describe it. This is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read, in a number of ways. The description made me expect a funny, light-hearted adventure, but instead, it’s a thought-provoking look at the idiosyncrasies that make being a human special and unique. I am a very big grudge holder, but Aoki’s talent to make an unlikeable character grow and transform is astonishing. I imagine this book will be hugely special for trans women — the representation and details are handled with such care and love. And I think the theme of becoming who you were meant to be is what will stick with me the most from this beautiful story.

While it was the cover that initially drew my interest, it was the premise of Light from Uncommon Stars that secured the novel a spot on my TBR. This novel weaves together the fates of three individuals: Shizuka Satomi, a woman who has made a deal with the devil where she must trade the souls of seven violin prodigies to escape damnation; Katrina Nguyen, a transgender runaway who catches Shizuka’s attention with her violin skills; and Lan Tran, a retired starship captain and interstellar refugee who now runs a donut shop in the San Gabriel Valley.

Light from Uncommon Stars is so unlike anything I've ever read before. Luckily, Aoki's writing style is really immersive and incorporates just the right amount of recognizable tropes and elements. While the brief synopsis (or more like character descriptions) I shared in the previous paragraph make it feel like this book has too many disjointed working parts to make any sense, Aoki weaves it all together in a clever way. I often thought I would be able to predict how things would play out (and I did guess some things right), but I was still surprised a time or two.

I might not have fallen in love with the characters, but still, I felt deeply moved by their stories and their struggles. It could get hard to read at times, especially when it came to hard emotional experiences (especially for Katrina's part of the story). But Aoki successfully manages to evoke the sense that there are safe spaces on the page (for the characters) and within the pages (for the reader). Despite the difficulties that play out on the page, there is a counterbalance in the moments of hope, joy, belonging and love that are a part of the narrative as well. It felt a little bit like a reminder that there are terrible people, circumstances and things in the world but there are also good, wonderful ones too.

Honestly, Light from Uncommon Stars ended up being a compelling, easy to read novel that I flew through. I really appreciated the slice-of-life vibes with a slight sci-fi and fantasy twist, which fit a narrative craving I didn't realize I had until recently. Aoki masterfully reeled me in with this story, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

That said, just as Katrina’s big heart and tremendous talent run up against the limitations of her novice technique, so too does the construction of this book. Dizzyingly frequent shifts in point of view — sometimes every few sentences — make the writing seem as though it’s always interrupting itself; there’s such a cavalcade of characters and concerns that several of them get short shrift, with some plots and dynamics feeling rushed while others feel strained and repetitive. These issues of tempo and technique are frustrating — but the book brought me to tears despite them, and bursts with love and insights on food, music, inheritance and transformation.

There's plenty in this book that I really liked. The representation is fantastic, with a mostly-asian cast of different varieties, queer characters everywhere (both in terms of gender and attraction), and more. It's full of concepts I like, too -- aliens running donut shops! A violinist looking for the last soul to take to hell! A trans girl finding freedom through music!

There was something about the execution that didn't fully work for me, though. Two of the characters have an insta-love scenario where they're revealing their truly deep secrets to each other on one of their first real conversations with each other, only 14% of the way through the book (by which I mean the 'delivering souls to demons' and 'we're secretly aliens' secrets). The overall tone of the book seemed to shift drastically depending on whose character POV we were in in a way that made the sections feel disjointed to me. And the narrative style was very simplistic -- I don't want to say juvenile as in inexperienced, but more as if it was aimed at a younger audience: very straight forward simple sentences and word choices.

A nice read, though, and I have no real complaint with it otherwise, those were just the sort of things that kept taking me out of the flow while reading it.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.