From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] I don't normally read a lot of science fiction, but the premise of Light Years From Home intrigued me enough to check it out. Now I think that this is a perfect novel crossover for anyone who loves a good family drama.

At its core, and noted in the author's acknowledgments, the book is about what happens when a family faces a traumatic supernatural event. Who chooses whose reality to believe? What's the fallout for those left behind? How do you move forward from the unexplainable?

Yes, there are aliens, but we don't meet them as fully fledged characters because the book isn't about aliens. The aliens are just a device, but one that devastates a multicultural family who now has to navigate where they place their blame, what they choose to hold on to, and whether or not they can let go of old habits.

For die hard sci-fi fans, there's some peripheral world building and plenty of fascinating science into the study of alien life and technology. Such advanced tools make for some entertaining scenes. What I most resonated with, though, was the Shao family and how each of them, in their own way, lived with blinders on to the other members of their family. They refused to see one another fully until it became paramount they had to. And that made for a climactic ending worth finishing.

A solid read, surprising and enjoyable.

~Jess