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Light from Uncommon Stars

Ryka Aoki

Tor Books (2021)

Light from Uncommon Stars follows Katrina Nguyen, a transgender runaway violin prodigy who becomes the final student of the Queen of Hell, Shizuka Satomi, a famous violin teacher who made a bargain to deliver seven damned souls to hell. As Katrina trains under Shizuka, their lives become intertwined with Lan Tran, a retired starship captain running a donut shop, and her family. The Queen of Hell falls in love with the donut-selling plum-coloured alien and, together with Katrina and a whole host of other characters, they work together to save Katrina and Shizuka from the devil's bargain. Lots of other things happen, too. 

Our group had mixed reactions to Light from Uncommon Stars. We enjoyed some of the characters and their relationships. Additionally, the descriptions of music and food were well done and gave the book a lot of warmth. At its best, the novel had touching moments about connection, care, and found family that kept some of us invested. It was definitely unlike anything any of us had read before.

At the same time, many of us felt the book was trying to do too many things at once. The mix of realism, fantasy, sci-fi, and social commentary often felt crowded and uneven, almost like three different books competing with each other. Instead of coming together smoothly, some plotlines pulled attention away from others and made the story feel unfocused and overstuffed. While the story had potential to be really interesting and powerful, it didn't come together in a way that allowed any of the characters or plotlines to shine. 

We also felt that many of the characters came across as one-dimensional, despite how emotional their stories were supposed to be. In particular, we had mixed and somewhat concerned feelings about Katrina鈥檚 characterization. While her experiences as a trans girl are central to the novel, we felt her transness, and especially her perpetual misery, was emphasized so often that it started to overshadow the rest of her personality and storyline. As a result, she ended up feeling repetitive and flat instead of layered or nuanced. Additionally, we felt that other characters made choices and emotional turns that also didn鈥檛 feel very believable, which made it harder to stay immersed in the story.

Our discussion also raised thoughtful points about representation and the importance of transgender main characters in fiction. We appreciated the visibility the novel offers, but we felt that meaningful representation also requires nuanced, fully developed characters who are allowed experiences beyond suffering, including joy, excellence, connection, and everyday life.

Overall, there were definitely ideas and moments in the book that could have shone if they had the space to do so, and we could see the potential in what Aoki was trying to do. But in the end, the disappointing parts stood out more to us than the successful ones. 

Rating: 2.6