4.5
Lately, I've been struggling to find a sci-fi audiobook that actually worked for me, and, thankfully, this one did! On the surface level, this is about an unlikely band coming together for an intergalactic heist, but below the surface it is so much more. What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be a person and what if not all people are human? What should be risked for the greater good and when should that be set aside to save a friend?

Maya doesn't fit in on Earth or in her graduate program, so when an opportunity to help out an old friend and partner in crime arrises, she takes it. Uncle might be an alien who is sometimes hard to understand, but they have a special bond and need an ancient artifact to keep their species from extinction. To Maya's annoyance, she finds out that Uncle has also hired a crew that she thinks will only get in the way. Can they get along and survive long enough to find the Stardust Grail even as the stakes continue to rise?

Katherine Chin's narration is gripping and a great way to experience this fast-paced yet philosophical novel. I'm sort of surprised that this is a standalone, because it seemed like there is the possibility for more and I'm not ready to leave this fascinating world! Truly one of the best explorations of aliens and alien planets that I've encountered! Will have to read more by Yume Kitasei.

An absolute delight of a sci-fi novel. Yes, it's a heist book, but it's also a lot more than that in ways that I'm just going to let you figure out as you read because it's such a fun ride to take.

The pacing in this book is great. I'm in the midst of a gnarly reading slump where it feels like I can barely focus on written words for more than 5 minutes at a time, and still this book managed to break through that and had me hooked very fast with the opening chapters and excited to keep going. The highs and lows and the action and the downtime and the discoveries are all just balanced out really well in this story. The core group of characters are fun and varied and feel real and believable (even the one with all the tentacles) and the way we integrate everyone together in the story is, to repeat myself, paced very well.

The action is good, the tension is well timed, there's humor and grief and loss and love and a taste of Found Family and more story than the synopsis preapres you for, which is a GREAT way to do a synopsis rather than revealing far too much in an attempt to hook people in. What can I say? I really enjoyed my time with this book.

Kitasei has a vision of the future in both of her novels now (The Deep Sky set in near future and now The Stardust Grail set in far future) that does so well at striking tones both pessimistic and optimistic, at finding the good in the bleak, and never leaves you too mired in one over the other. And the way she maintains humanity and culture in these stories - and particularly here in The Stardust Grail - is something I really wish we saw more of. So many sci-fi stories - once they escape the bounds of Earth and go interstellar with other planets and aliens and far flung adventures - tend to flatten humanity to one homogenous Human™ culture (often a white, western sense of culture) among the interstellar community, but Kitasei maintains her characters' individuality. Maya may be a spacefaring thief, but she's also a half-Japanese half-American struggling grad student living between two cultures just on the human side, not to mention her otherworldly travels. It's grand in its physical scale and yet still feels grounded and relatable and realistic and human.

I also really appreciate what this story has to say about colonialism and anthrocentrism and again Kitasei strikes a great balance of making the astronomical feel relatable and knowable to the 21st century earth-bound human reading the story.

In case it wasn't clear, I had a great time with this one.

LAST BIT, the audiobook for this one is great! The narrator does a great job with the voices and makes some really cool choices in the style for sections I won't get into here. do recommend if you're an audio reader.

[I read this book as an Advanced Reader Copy in two forms. The Audiobook, through NetGalley, provided by the publisher; and a physical copy, provided by the author.]

2024 API Month

You had me at anti-colonial space heist. I find the colonization of worlds fascinating, as surely humans aren't the only beings out there. Maya Hoshimoto didn't grow up on Earth, but a mostly Japanese populated colony world. She is infected, which is mentioned often, but not really in a wow sort of way.

Space operas are often hit or miss with me, but I enjoyed the cast of characters in this one. I think this was made better on audio, as the voices truly brought this story to life. I don't want to spoil anything, as many things happen, but I truly enjoyed the ride.

🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio

I have not read the debut novel by this author, but the synopsis of this intrigued me. Simply, this is a scifi space museum heist that gets increasingly complicated as the stakes creep higher and higher the farther from earth our "crew" travels. At the beginning I was getting Becky Chambers/Wayfarers feelings, but it quickly morphed into an intense space quest with deadly consequences, more along the lines of Firefly/Serenity.

While themes include friendship, found family, interspecies politics and colonization, I felt that the world, themes, and characters were a bit flat and was craving more details (or perhaps more time in the universe) to round out my understanding. Although it lost me a bit near the end, the writing is accessible and the conclusion is satisfying. This will appeal to readers who are eager for an intense space journey that is completed in around 300 pages.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio-ARC.

Yume Kitasei's second novel is a thoughtfully crafted sci-fi adventure novel that feels like a step up from her debut novel, The Deep Sky, which was already a solid book.

The writing is notably better, with more believable characters and dialogue. That is important because The Stardust Grail is a much more ambitious novel, spanning multiple worlds and life forms with conflicting interests. Kitasei handles it all very well, exploring complex ideas in thought provoking ways.

The novel evokes classic sci-fi elements: Maya, a grad student with experience in alien artifacts, gains a species’ ability to dream of the future, reminiscent of Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life (Arrival). Intergalactic gateways echo Carl Sagan's Contact, and part of the story’s setting on an unforgiving world gives Alien vibes. The entire story feels like Indiana Jones in space (though I haven't seen Indiana Jones).

These all come together to make a fairly successful novel. These components are woven into a larger narrative exploring cultural and social themes in a fun way.

All that said, I did not love the book (but I liked it). It has all these redeeming qualities, but at its core, I really dislike the premise: an alien species is dying out and only the holy "star" grail can save them. It is a literal deus ex machina that sets up a neat goal for us to aim for, and it just feels like a really lazy foundation to an otherwise really thoughtful story.

How can this intergalactic species only reproduce with some advanced technology that they have no knowledge how to recreate? How is it that this technology is suddenly accessible after being lost for all this time? How is it that our protagonist is the only one who can retrieve it?

Some questions are addressed but often underwhelmingly. Despite moments that upend expectations, the holy "star" grail remains central. The dynamic that is set up feels believable, but the set up to achieve it does not.

Ultimately, the book is exactly what it sells itself as (and more). Kitasei could have just done a standard space adventure, but she elevates it with a wonderfully crafted world and set of characters. I think it is unfair of me to get overly annoyed at the book when really it did everything right. I made the mistake of doing little to no research into the premise of the book when I requested it, and I don't want to discourage people who find the premise interesting. In fact, I'd encourage you to give it a read.

A space heist? Sign me up! This is a fast-paced novel that never seems to slow down, constantly pulling you along as the stakes continue to rise. The audiobook is so easy to binge; I realized I was 50% of the way through without even thinking about how much time had passed. This follows Maya, a retired art thief, who gets pulled back for one more mission. Of course, nothing goes right. This is so fun to read, and the world is interesting and unique while also feeling familiar and homely. My one sort of gripe with this is that I found I didn't connect with the characters as much as I expected to. If you're a fan of sci-fi adventures, you'll love this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

The narrator was fine for the most part, but her fake Irish? accent was horrendous and really distracting.

This was a perfectly serviceable space opera. And that was what was disappointing about it - the Indiana Jones-esque space archeology and museum heist premise sounded AMAZING and just what I was looking for at the moment, but it all fell a bit flat for me. First off, the main character of Maya Hoshimoto was supposed to be a former thief who stole items from museums to return them back to their rightful cultures (awesome idea), but none of that gumption and bad-girl attitude was present in her character, at least not for me. She was honestly a bit of a boring POV to read from. I really liked the creativity with the alien culture and worldbuilding however, especially Maya's migraines and telepathy.

The main gripe I had with this book was the lack of good characterization and an attention-grabbing voice. I read my books for the characters, but if you are a more plot-driven reader, this would probably be a great read for you! I still had fun with it and I loved the sci-fi ideas.

This story seemingly lacked a sense of self. Unlike Kitasei’s debut, there wasn’t a clear and unique voice, the characters didn’t particularly stand out in the greater landscape of space opera stories, and it didn’t have a whole lot of tension. This felt like a commercially acceptable space opera. And after The Deep Sky, I found that kind of disappointing.

Where this story shines is in Maya’s sense of self, her attachment to and academic interest in “alien” cultures, and the way she views humans from earth. I would have loved to see a bit more of her pre-grad school days, particularly the time when she was gallivanting around with Uncle and getting up to criminal mischief.

We also don’t have particularly immersive language, which was something that really set The Deep Sky apart; a passage or moment would completely suck me in with its imagery and the immersiveness of it all. Here we spent too much time on dialogue that didn’t necessarily get us anywhere or merely traveling from one place to another.

3.75

I was impressed with Yume Kitasei's debut space thriller, The Deep Sky, so I was excited to get an audio review copy of her sophomore release.

Billed as an anti-colonial space heist, The Stardust Grail is like Indiana Jones meets Becky Chambers. I found the far future world and alien species of Kitasei's world really interesting. There are a variety of alien species and I liked seeing how they interacted and adapted to communicate with one another. I also appreciate how this book interrogates history and how its made. The commentary on colonialism and nationalism was top tier in my opinion.

This book has a slow start, especially as it's being marketed as a thriller; however, I do think the payoff is worth it. The ending pulls it all together and I found that I could not stop listening to the last ~40%.

I really enjoyed Katharine Chin's narration. She was able to create distinct voices for each of the characters and I liked her accent choices. I don't think I've listened to any other audiobooks she's narrated but I will absolutely be keeping an eye out for more of her work.

Katharine Chin did a great job of bringing this story to life. I loved the themes in this book, especially ethical heists, and I thought she definitely did it justice. Yume takes a pretty serious topic and makes it approachable all wrapped up in a fun space opera. I look forward to reading future works!

Who has the right to artifacts? In this Indiana Jones-esque space heist, GRAIL raises intriguing questions of friendship, loyalty, and atonement following a struggling PhD student through the edge of space. I loved the cross-species friendship arc, reminiscent of stories by Becky Chambers and Andy Weir. The theme of "ethical heists" is another standout, prompting the readers to consider the ownership of cultural artifacts and how societies should deal with their past mistakes. The pacing isn't perfect. The jumps in the narrative between chapters sometimes seem unnatural, and the ending feels rushed—I wonder if it's a setup for sequels? I recommend GRAIL to readers who love topics of heists and friendships.

This was a fun read!

I love a good space opera, found family, stand alone, adventure tale, and this one ticked all the boxes. The characters were well written, though I could have done with a little more depth. The plot and world building were really fantastic, though. I enjoyed the inter-species politics and misunderstandings based on communication modalities that didn't translate well from one to another. It was a realistic interpretation of what contact between alien species probably would look like. The stakes were high, and the plot was well paced. I felt like I was hooked pretty early on. This was an enjoyable read, not perfect, but I enjoyed it all the same!