Light from Uncommon Stars - Misplaced Pages

2021 novel by Ryka Aoki

Light from Uncommon Stars
First edition
Author	Ryka Aoki
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction Fantasy LGBTQ fiction
Set in	San Gabriel Valley
Publisher	Tor Books, St Martin's Press
Publication date	September 28, 2021
Publication place	United States of America
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	384
ISBN	978-1-250-78906-8 (Tor Books version)

Light from Uncommon Stars is a science fiction and fantasy novel by American author and poet Ryka Aoki. The novel won the 2021 Otherwise Award, 2022 Alex Award, and 2022 Stonewall Book Award, and was nominated for multiple other awards.

Plot

Shizuka Satomi is the world's best violin teacher, known for coaching virtuosos who meet tragic ends. Years ago, she struck a deal with a demon that she would deliver seven souls to hell. To do this, she coaches ambitious violin students, then offers them fame and renown in exchange for their souls. Satomi has delivered six souls already, and with a year left on her contract, she needs one more student. She finds that student in Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender prodigy with little formal training.

As Satomi teaches Nguyen, she also meets Lan Tran, a starship captain and refugee disguised as a doughnut shop owner, who has brought her family to Earth to escape war and a deadly plague. The two strike up a tenuous flirtation, but their budding romance is imperiled by Satomi's deal with the demon and Tran's tumultuous galactic past.

Reception

In a review for Tor, Maya Gittelman called Light from Uncommon Stars "one of the best speculative novels I’ve ever read" and that it "reminds me what genre is capable of."

In a review for Locus, Caren Gussoff praised the novel's portrayal of women and its use of speculative fiction tropes to explore the meaning of womanhood in the modern day. However, Gussoff criticized the male characters as "two-dimensional 'not-women'" and thought that the ending was "too sweet" given the stakes of the novel.

Light from Uncommon Stars won the 2021 Otherwise Award, as well as the 2022 Alex Award. In 2022, it was an honor book for the Barbara Gittings Literature Award; nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, and Ray Bradbury Prize. Booklist and Kirkus Reviews named the novel one of the best novels of 2021, and the New York Public Library included it on their list of the top ten books of the year.

References

Aquino, Gilcy (March 22, 2022). "Book Club Picks for March 2022". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
"Tor.com The Wild and Tender Magic of Ryka Aoki's Light from Uncommon Stars". tor.com. October 7, 2021. Archived from the original on September 21, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
Sumption, Caren Gussoff (October 29, 2021). "Caren Gussoff Sumption Reviews Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki". Locus. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
Lothian, Alexis (January 17, 2023). "Ryka Aoki and Rivers Solomon win 2021 Otherwise Award! Honor List announced". Otherwise Award. Archived from the original on March 20, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
"Alex Awards: 2022". Booklist. March 15, 2022. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
"2022 Barbara Gittings Literature Award and Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award of the Stonewall Book Awards announced". American Library Association. February 1, 2022. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
Hoffer, Christian (April 7, 2022). "WandaVision, Wheel of Time, Shang-Chi and More Lead 2022 Hugo Award Nominees". Comic Book. Archived from the original on March 20, 2024. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
"2022 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. June 25, 2022. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
"2022 Mythopoeic Awards Winners". Locus Online. August 1, 2022. Archived from the original on August 20, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
Templeton, Molly (February 23, 2022). "The Los Angeles Times Announces the Finalists for the Ray Bradbury Prize". Reactor. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
"2022 Ray Bradbury Prize Finalists". Locus Online. February 23, 2022. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
"Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books, 2021". Booklist. January 1, 2022. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
"Best Fiction of 2021: Ryka Aoki". Kirkus Reviews. November 17, 2021. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
"Light from Uncommon Stars". New York Public Library. Archived from the original on May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.

v t e Otherwise Award/James Tiptree Jr. Award Winners
Retrospective winners	Motherlines and Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin The Female Man and "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ
1991–2000	A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason (1991, tie) White Queen by Gwyneth Jones (1991, tie) China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992) Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993) "The Matter of Seggri" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1994, tie) Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer (1994, tie) Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1995, tie) The Memoirs Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (1995, tie) "Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996, tie) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996, tie) Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997, tie) "Travels With The Snow Queen" by Kelly Link (1997, tie) "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by Raphael Carter (1998) The Conqueror's Child by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999) Wild Life by Molly Gloss (2000)
2001–2010	The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (2001) Light by M. John Harrison (2002, tie) "Stories for Men" by John Kessel (2002, tie) Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff (2003) Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2004, tie) Not Before Sundown by Johanna Sinisalo (2004, tie) Air by Geoff Ryman (2005) The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (2006, tie) Half Life by Shelley Jackson (2006, tie) James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006, special recognition) The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007) The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008, tie) Filter House by Nisi Shawl (2008, tie) Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales by Greer Gilman (2009, tie) Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (2009, tie) Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (2010)
2011–2020	Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011) The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012, tie) Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam (2012, tie) Rupetta by N. A. Sulway (2013) The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (2014, tie) My Real Children by Jo Walton (2014, tie) "The New Mother" by Eugene Fischer (2015, tie) Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz (2015, tie) When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (2016) Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin (2017) "They Will Dream in the Garden" by Gabriela Damián Miravete (2018) Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2019) Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (2020)
2021–present	Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021, tie) Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (2021, tie)

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