Faustian bargains, found family, and the sublime power of a really good doughnut. I love this book so much. I want another hug from it, because that's what reading this is, a hug. There's this very real, difficult line that authors writing trans experiences have to walk. So many people have and continue to suffer really horrible prejudice and trauma for simply existing as themselves. But also, focusing solely on that trauma, never letting the characters have love and joy is also problematic. In this book, we see Katrina just as she escapes the worst of her trauma, as she finds safety and acceptance. It's the perfect tightrope. As you read this, you find yourself cheering for basically every character. Find love! Make music! Eat delicious things!

I requested this one because it might be a 2021 title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book is not my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one rather than push myself to finish it only to give it a poor review.

Deals with devils, intergalactic refuges, the power of music, and… donuts?
There is so much going on in the SF/Dark Fantasy mash up, but it’s so wonderfully done. It is the story of Katrina a transwoman runaway violinist looking to make it as a YouTube entertainer. There’s Shizuka Satomi who Is looking for that last violin student to fulfill her deal with the devil. Captain Lan Tran has smuggled her family to earth to escape the Endplague and now runs Starrgate Donut (while constructing a stargate). It’s about food, family (found and born), being true to yourself regardless of what the world says or believes, and stopping to feed the ducks. I highly recommend.
CW: Transphobia

I have so many emotions reading this. Where do I even begin? Light From Uncommon Stars is so many things. An ode to the LA/SoCal food scene and the immigrants, refugees, and diaspora communities that make it flourish. A love story to those who feel in love with a violin, with music, and felt their lives changed. The honest and unflinching experiences of a young trans woman escaping the trauma a horrible family environment without a positive support group, slowly learning to love herself again. The gentle tender new love of two broken women, mothers in their own ways, finding solace in each other. A slice-of-life story of three women’s intertwined lives, slowly discovering happiness and acceptance as they live their lives.

As an Asian woman, as a queer woman, as a young girl who played the violin for nine years, I felt every part of me resonate as I read.

I googled for every donut shop within a 10 mile radius

I made plans to visit restaurants serving all the delicious foods described

I cried with the characters, for the racism, the sexism, the homophobia and transphobia they were forced to endure

I smiled at the soft, quiet moments of feeding ducks in a park and sharing meals of home-cooked dishes with loved ones

I wanted to pick my violin up again

I went in knowing little beyond a violin and a deal with the devil and came out crying on my cough, soft Bartók playing in the background. Light from Uncommon Stars hits so closely to my own experiences and I cannot beg readers enough. Please read this book.

Five fucking stars.

Review will be posted to my blog 20 September 2021

I truly, honestly do not know what to make of this book.

Did I like it? Yes? I think so?

Was it a good book? Yes? I think so?

Would it have been a better book if it had done 3-4 things instead of a dozen? Definitely. There was so much going on, and at several points interesting threads and aspects of the worldbuilding were just kind of dropped without reason.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and found it to be compelling. The characters were complex and interesting, and I loved the twist of the "deal with a devil" trope. The ideas Aoki explored about music and identity and sacrifice were fascinating. It also featured one of my favorite tropes of found family. I will look forward to picking up more of Aoki's work, and I will be recommending this to people who enjoy fast-paced and complex science fantasy.

CW: transphobia

This book has a LOT going on. There's the Queen of Hell, Shizuka Satomi, who has promised to teach and then deliver seven violin prodigies to Hell. She's on her last soul and has returned to southern California to find that soul. There's Katrina Nguyen, a young trans girl who has just run away from home and who just happens to be a natural talent at the violin. There's Starrgate Donut and its proprietors, who just happen to be space aliens on the run from intergalactic war.

The author, who I believe is trans herself, opens a heartbreaking window into what it's like to grow up trans in a conservative family. The first thing out of Katrina's mouth for most of the book is "I'm sorry!" because that reflexive apology is how she's survived while living with people that see her very self as something to be sorry about. Katrina has almost been broken all the way down, but she has managed to hang on to a bit of joy somehow, and her violin is key to that. There's a bit about the sort of work that young women like Katrina often must do to survive. It's not too graphic but it definitely gives the reader an understanding of how sexuality is commodified and desired and used.

Shizuka Satomi really doesn't give a fig about Katrina's gender because she's focused on Katrina's talent. Her matter-of-course acceptance keeps Katrina with her even though Katrina has been through enough to know that there's always a price for offered kindness. However, Katrina does heal while studying with Shizuka, and Shizuka finds herself attaching to her young protege more than she'd meant to.

Shizuka also starts a romance with the donut lady, also known as Captain Lan Tran of Starrgate Donut. Lan has moved her family and crew to Earth to escape the fall of her home civilization, and she and her family are dealing with many of the same issues that any immigrants have in a new and strange "home".

In addition to all this, the author pays great attention to the Asian side of southern California. She writes lovingly about the neighborhoods, the stores, the ball games, the restaurants. Oh, the restaurants. This book will definitely make you crave things! I'm not from CA but I recognized a few of the restaurants named like Lee's Sandwiches and Sam Woo BBQ. When I was in Anaheim for a hockey tournament over Tet, my husband and I grabbed some Lee's Sandwiches at a Tet celebration, and I've wished we could have better banh mi here in Colorado ever since. This book gives you enough to do a whole food tour and that sounds like a great idea to me.

This book is about community, about rejection and acceptance of others and yourself, about music, about what it's like to be young, Asian and trans. It's a hopeful book. It's also a bit all over the place, which is why I didn't give it five stars. There are a lot of different balls in the air and they are sometimes barely kept up there. But nothing is dropped. If you are looking for a book that sees the darkness but shows the light, here's a great one.

Excellent SF/Fantasy combo, with great characters. Deal with the devil, intergalactic visitors, dive into the world of the violin and its players, great food descriptions, fully human trans protagonist. Heartily enjoyed.

"Katrina is a queer trans girl escaping a terrible home life, only to encounter an infamous woman best known as the Queen of Hell. Shizuka Satomi, a legendary violin teacher, has sent the last six students to Hell, and only needs one more virtuoso's soul to ensure her own freedom.

But there's also Lan Tran, an alien captain who has brought her family to shelter on Earth (beneath a giant donut), away from war and the devastation of their home galaxy. She meets Shizuka and both see stars.

This is more fantasy than science fiction, in spite of the Starrgate. There are many tantalizing descriptions of beautiful music and delicious, soul-affirming food. The dynamics between the main three characters are compelling and kept my attention. The minor characters were less effective, except for Lucy, the woman who repairs violins. Be ready for depictions of racism, transphobia, and assault, including sexual.

Overall, this is a book that will stick in my mind. And I have a long list of violin music to look up and meals to try.

Be sure to check out <a href=""https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3578663208"">Charlie Jane Anders's review</a>, too, for her insight on the deft handling of a trans girl's coming of age.

Received a free copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review."

This book... Wow. I really needed to read something like this right now. Imagine a cross between the first Johannes Cabal book, and Good Omens, but written in the offbeat way of Christopher Moore. Now take that and add heart times a hundred and you may have an idea what to expect. Seriously, this book gave me all the feels! A story about love and friendship that will make you feel warm inside and make you want to curl up next to your lover and call your best friend (not necessarily in that order). The main character is a young trans woman. Though there are ignorant people out there that may be turned off by that, I hope that they give this book a chance. They may recognize something of themselves in between the pages. Great art has the power to do that, to connect, to make people feel empathy. This book, is great art. 5 out of 5.

This book describes how art (music or donuts, in this case) can make you feel things. This book is as much a symphony as any played by its characters.

It never sugarcoats the bad—the characters have suffered from their own choices and the bigotry of others—but it transcends it. It says fuck the haters, you are yourself and you are beautiful and that is enough. I went in expecting wacky shenanigans and make no mistake, a lot of the plot hinges on a character being stuck on the highway and needing to pee. I wasn’t expecting to be so utterly emotionally wrecked and healed all at once as well. I haven’t felt this way on finishing a book since Cat Valente’s Space Opera.

Also, now I’m craving donuts.