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  • Light from Uncommon Stars

  • By: Ryka Aoki
  • Narrated by: Cindy Kay
  • Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (52 ratings)

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Light from Uncommon Stars cover art

Light from Uncommon Stars

By: Ryka Aoki
Narrated by: Cindy Kay
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Publisher's Summary

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

©2021 Ryka Aoki (P)2021 Macmillan Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

Critic Reviews

2022, L.A. Times Book Prize - Finalist

2021, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year

2022, ALA Alex Awards Winner (Adult for Young Adults)

2021, NYPL Best Books of the Year

What listeners say about Light from Uncommon Stars

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely narrator and a story that is worth listening to

Beautifully narrated, the story is one well worth listening to. Without preaching, without invoking righteousness or anger on behalf of others, it offers a glimpse into an uncomfortable reality

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful!

Heart-warming, funny and beautiful story. Excellent narration. Looking forward to the next book by the author.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A masterpiece

This book stands as an extraordinary masterpiece, weaving together complex, beautiful, and profoundly human narratives into a magnificent tapestry. It is flawless in its execution, and my only regret is not having read it sooner.

The narration is exceptional, providing distinct and recognizable voices for each character, along with a palpable portrayal of their emotions. My sole critique of the audiobook is the narrator's love for whispering, often employed unnecessarily. However, this minor issue pales in comparison to the overall brilliance of the work.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

difficult

this book deal very heavily with trans trauma, one character is misgendered, and verbally or physically abused but almost everyone she meets making her parts of the story hard to get through. If this is something that is triggering or even just upsetting to you I'd say go read/ listen to something else.
Other than that, the story was fine. Narrator did a great job.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

2 story elements didn't mesh well enough

narration is almost whispered. not amazing range of character voice. overall OK but a little disappointing

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • PT
  • 24-02-2024

Unexpected

Came into this knowing nothing about it, the story was engaging and the relationships between Shizuka, Katrina and Astrid is beautiful.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • RFC
  • 01-05-2022

story is ideologically correct but poorly written

the author is tediously trying to incorporate current topics at the expense of having a well written story and characters with depth.

The main character Catrina constantly finds herself in a victim role. but fair enough, a lot of terrible things happened to her.
Confusingly, to me at least, being misgendered is more problematic for her than the fact that she had to (?) resort to (child) prostitution. she didn't even entertain the thought to earn money any other way (maybe busking?). just very briefly it is mentioned that this is the fastest way to earn a reasonable amount of money. her past is quite colorless and cartoonish: some mean kids at school, her parents are exclusively evil (her father) or just barely mentioned (her mother).

another recurring character also is cast as an unlikely victim. a female luthier (violin builder) who was told by her father and grandfather that this was not a girls job.
despite all these older male relatives being dead she still does not entertain the thought that SHE herself could possibly do this job and take over the family business. this is ludicrous in a story set in the 21st century in California - regardless how conservative your family is.

then there is an alien family that is so much like a human family that it is unintentionally funny and terribly contrived. despite having just arrived and not having grown up with any of Earth's conflicts and racial predjudices they are outraged when someone is called "gook" (who even uses that type of insult these days?). they are not even Asian! they are wearing human costumes! also someone gets called "dyke". but so what?! is homophobia even a concept for their species? The completely over-the-top reaction is that one of the aliens kills two people to... preserve honour?

but then, the book is very ruthless with any non-PC characters: someone else who insulted a violin and did a misgender gets struck with a supernatural heart attack.
while someone who literally dedicated their life to sell people out for their own benefit (but not for racist motives, phew!) gets a chance to redeem themselves.

The plot twist in the end is not terribly smart and a bit mediocre.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narration ruined it for me

Lots of reviews enjoyed the narration but it just ruined the story for me.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

An awful sexual politics polemic

thinly disguised as sci-fi. Character development is poor and the leap of faith that someone will say, 'BTW, I'm an alien', yeah, nah. Wasted both my money and the 13hours to listen to it...

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