Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found

372 pages (September 2021)
 
 
 
x
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 
 
Ryka Aoki interview at the Hugo awards 2022:


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith; The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang; The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune; Shakti by Rajorshi Chakraborti; August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White; Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen; Good Omens by Neil Gaiman; On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee; She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan; A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers; A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark; The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.

No comments:

Post a Comment