SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
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Light from Uncommon Stars
Group Reads Discussions 2022
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"Light from Uncommon Stars" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*
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1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?Katrina broke my heart throughout the book, too many times to count. I appreciated what the author did with her character, and I respect and understand the decision Katrina makes.
2. Could you empathise with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
My empathy was there only because of Shizuka's relationship with Katrina and Astrid, and her music. When it comes to romance and relationship with Lan Tran, it was flat and uninteresting. I thought that there was too much telling and too little showing.
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
In general, I love genre-benders, but it didn't work for me in this case. There was too much crammed in too little space. I thought that the donut-making aliens belonged in another book (also, Lucy Matía deserved a book of her own).
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
I am not a donut person ;) (Now, if only they had been making churros...) I did like the descriptions of Asian food, they were lovely.
5. Overall thoughts?
The story of Katrina, Shizuka, and Astrid is absolutely wonderful. I wish the author had focused on that story. I wanted more music, more violins, and better developed relationships. The potential was there.
The horrific crime that Marcus committed came out of nowhere (imo) and the characters seemed to take it in stride. I am still exasperated, wondering what that episode was doing in the book, why it was there in the first place. It did not contribute anything to the overall narrative.
The ending made me happy, though.
I really liked what the author tried to do, but I felt that the novel was half-baked.
2/3 done. Might not get to finish & review because I'm also packing for a trip.
So, I'm feeling: Kinda bored? We read the same stuff over & over. Yes, Katrina was abused and therefore forced into some shitty situations. Got it. Yes, Shizuka and Lan Tran are an odd couple and bound to have troubles communicating. Got it. Yes, either the author or her uncredited co-writer know a lot about violins. Got it.
1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?
Hard for me to judge; I just can't imagine being willing to undergo eternal torment for *anything*....
2. Could you empathise with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
Leading question, but fair. Yes, if Donut Lady wasn't attracted to her, I wouldn't be sympathetic to her.
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
I like that the author created this original experiment. I kinda wish the demons from Hell were actually a different kind of alien, but ok.
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
Nope. Not nearly so much as Legends & Lattes did.
5. Overall thoughts
If it had been shorter, with a focus on the progressions forward, I'd have liked it more.
Ok done. Creative, interesting, but, yeah, too long and too much time spent on the ugly bits. Good ending. A bit disappointing.
I'm going out of order on the questions. Overall, I liked the book. It was a good read and I'm glad I took the time for it. I thought it was a great twist on the Faustian bargain. This approach was different and original. Shizuka was an excellent character and, yes, I could empathize with her. She was caught in a web of her own making, but I thought her character arc through the story was very positive. Katrina's story had real depth and emotion. It hurt to read it in many places. The aliens-hiding-in-plain-sight by running a donut shop was a great, light-hearted piece. Also different and original. And the food - not just the donuts - the food descriptions were to die for. Loved every taste.So, what didn't work? I had trouble with the juxtaposition of the Katrina/Shizuka story with the aliens because of the angst and emotional pain on one side and the comic relief on the other. It was as though a MASH-like subplot had been dropped into Saving Private Ryan. Okay, maybe that's too extreme, but the transition from one to the other bounced me out of the story more than once. The other problem, as someone else has noted, is the number of copyedit misses. I don't expect that from a major publisher and, again, a couple of them bounced me out of the story.
Overall, to come back to the beginning, it was a good choice and a positive for me.
fyi fwiw, I did not notice copyedit issues in the hardcover... are you-all reading the ebook?
Mod
I did sympathize with Shizuka and it was not because of the donut lady, I think it was because of Katrina. I think she genuinely cared about her student and worked hard to help Katrina see her own value.
I did dream of baked goods, especially donuts, but then it’s not hard to make me do that.
Overall I enjoyed it. I think I would have lost patience with it if I had been eye reading, but I listened and the narrator did a good job.
My favorite storyline was actually the one about the Violin shop owner who was very talented but wasn’t really willing to take over where her father left off because she’d been told all her life it wasn’t meant for her. I enjoyed the way it unfolded so slowly over the course of the novel and even wish there’s been a little more of her. (Her name is escaping me at the moment, I read this over summer.)
I applaud the creativity of the author for delivering such a unique story, even if it wasn’t a perfect 10.
Sarah wrote: "... My favorite storyline was actually the one about the Violin shop owner who was very talented but wasn’t really willing to take over..."That was my favorite as well. She (Lucy Matia) didn't have much time in the book, but the short segments on her working to overcome family expectations and the descriptions of what she could do to repair or improve a violin when she accepted her abilities were fascinating. Plus there was the whole keeping cursed instruments in line thing...
Lucy is indeed a master craftsperson and I'm glad that her story got plenty of page time.Good point; anyone who cares so much for Katrina is at least kind of a good person.
I’ll start with overall thoughts, which are that I liked this a lot! Very fresh and different. I thought Katrina was very justified, but that was heartbreaking to accept (for me as a reader, so I’m super glad how it turned out). Being tortured was her normal, so eternal Hell probably didn’t seem any worse.
Shizuka totally won me over, which made me very uncomfortable given her contract. Lan Tran was delightful. Once they found each other, I was pretty sure they’d end up together. I just wasn’t sure that would be enough to keep Shizuka safe from Tremon.
All the food was depicted terrifically. Most I didn’t know much about, but the way it was described and used, really worked.
I loved the mix of aliens and demons. Why not!? The Starrgate shop/crew were each complete characters for me, maybe the kids less so than Lan and Shirley. That said, I had no clear sense of what anyone looked like so at the end when Shizuka apparently ages or reveals her true look, I wasn’t sure what was happening. There was a lot left out and that can be good—we readers can fill in—but sometimes is confusing.
Weaknesses: there are some that I just couldn’t get used to. The occasional stuttering. In one character, OK, I can deal, maybe a few times, but it was everyone. I’m very word oriented, so T-Thanks, to me reads as a hard T sound but it would probably come out more as Th-Thanks! Then, maybe it’s because she’s a poet, but the dialogue continuing on a new line stopped me often. Is this someone new speaking? No, look back, no closing quote there. I can see doing that for very long speech, but not in this case.
I often got confused as to who was speaking—what Kate Clinton calls the “problem of pronoun reference,” when you have all females in a scene, who is “she” referring to?
Line spaces, to me, signal a new scene, but here they were a shift in POV and that was jarring, especially when they happened in the middle of a conversation and with such frequency.
The typos were shocking. Words repeated, words left out, a character named who wasn’t in the scene. Just mystifying for a mainstream publisher. I read a first edition from the library. Not sure if that makes a difference. Uncorrected proof published by mistake?
Anything that makes a reader stop and have to reread—unless it’s because the prose is so beautiful you want to relive it—takes away from the experience. Haven’t decided yet if any of this is enough to lose a star for my rating. Balancing this was the ease with which I was able to enter the story. A lot of spec fic takes getting used to, what with all the world building needed to orient the reader.
Back to the good stuff: The Star Trek references were both fun and kind of weird. I’m surprised Paramount didn’t sue.
I loved the humor throughout, as well as the seriousness. A well-done mix. Katrina’s life was quite horrifying, so to be able to bring in levity and keep it from becoming too dark was a gift.
Books about music fascinate me. I’m not the least bit musical and marvel at how writers are able to convey music with words and keep it interesting. There were lots of references I didn’t get, but I enjoyed the feeling. Made me Google various violins and their anatomy.
I loved how all the threads wove together so neatly by the end.
And I, too, loved Lucy. Would have loved more of her.
I agree with Alexandra that Marcus’s crime came out of nowhere (and also kind of vanished with him in stasis). Maybe it was to balance Shizuka’s soul-selling, also pretty evil.
And why did the koi get on the cover?
Elaine wrote: "... And why did the koi get on the cover?..."There is a section at the end of chapter 28 where Shizuka is contemplating the koi pond that her father dug and thinking about all of the generations of koi that have lived there. Where did they all go? The chapter ends with the line "For the older ones, the graceful ones... the chosen ones, the brilliant ones, the ones gilded with darkness, with flame ... were also the ones who ate their young." The koi come up again in the next chapter where she's decided not to turn Katrina over to Tremon.
I think that it works well for the cover given that.
I listened to the audiobook and missed all of the issues both with typos and with "pronoun reference." Yay? On the other hand, some of the sections on Katrina's abuse were very hard to get through as audio. The narrator was quite convincing.
Elaine wrote: "..Being tortured was her normal, so eternal Hell probably didn’t seem any worse....."Ouch, but good point.
Also:
short version:
The son wanted to be like his father.
longer;
I, personally, am glad that they acknowledged that boys are not the same as girls. I'm the mother of two sons and one who was born male but now identifies as non-binary, all gentle & sweet and also different from one another, but definitely they'd feel out of place in this story that is so very female-dominated. Marcus felt out of place with no father, no role model, no real role in the family, no 'tribe,' no goals, nothing that made sense to him.
There were clues that he was going to do something... I just didn't know what. I thought maybe just run away back 'home' somehow. But I don't think his behavior was extreme.
Still, I'd like a sequel or companion novel that lets us know more about him, and explores what happens when he comes out of stasis. I'd write it so that he tries out being a soldier but sees the awfulness of war and becomes a powerful advocate for peace.
1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?Katrina broke my heart. I understood her decision but am so happy she found a way to give herself and everyone she cared about their happy endings.
2. Could you empathize with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
To some extent. I understood her desire to have her talent back after feeling like the universe wrenched away her only thing in life. I did enjoy her growing relationship with Lan, they both had to admit their faults and learn to let people in again, but even without it I understood Shizuka's motives and character arc.
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
Yeah, but I'm already a fan of the mix, played a bit of the TTRPGs Starfinder and Spelljammer in my day, haha.
Also, going along with the typo comments, my print copy didn't have many mistakes, maybe a comma with one too many spaces.
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
Yes, 100%. I bought donuts the morning after finishing the book.
5. Overall thoughts?
This is a delightful book with a thoughtfully crafted main cast. Parts of this book are going to stick with me for a long long, long time. This is a book that will leave you thinking and feeling about how you live your own life and how you impact the lives of others, which can be a difficult book to read as we don't always make positive marks on the world.
I do feel that another handful of chapters on Markus and his story, or a bit on him in the epilogue would have helped flesh out the character. I'd love a novella or something following on on Lucia, she and her son have a lot of potential!
I enjoyed this, but had mixed feelings.I thought the transgender issues in this book were very well done and I can totally see why Katrina did what she did. I also honestly surprised that the author managed to make reading about violins interesting.
That being said, like Alexandra above, while I usually like genre-benders, in this case it didn't work for me. Each side seemed to have no problem accepting the other. And while I was sympathetic to Shizuka, a friend of mine pointed out to me that the book seems a bit too quick to gloss over the moral implications of having condemned multiple souls to eternal damnation.
Cheryl wrote: "4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
Nope. Not nearly so much as Legends & Lattes did.."
Same!
Benjamin, I'm sending you a friend request. Mainly so I can follow your reviews more readily, but I do like plenty of reading friends. :)
Benjamin wrote: "...the book seems a bit too quick to gloss over the moral implications of having condemned multiple souls to eternal damnation..."I agree! Every time I found myself really liking Shizuka, I remembered six people died because of her and are going to eternal Hell. I found it hard to square that round peg.
Elaine wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "...the book seems a bit too quick to gloss over the moral implications of having condemned multiple souls to eternal damnation..."I agree! Every time I found myself really liking..."
I thought the metaphysical nature of hell in this book was highly unclear, and so I was never quite sure how bad I should feel about this, nor how worried I should be for Katrina. Although I do think that Shizuka's actions were tempered somewhat by how eager her previous students were to trade their souls. In fact, that was basically the basis on which they were chosen: young musicians for whom ambition overrode all other considerations. They damned themselves.
I think one of the things the book is running up against here is the fact that the classic Faust story, about trading your soul for knowledge and power, is basically a story about the enlightenment and the arrival, in Europe, of powerful alternatives to Christian theology as a way of making sense of life. In the modern day, we have essentially rejected Christian morality for Faustian morality: we value knowledge far more than faith. And so the bargain doesn't quite make sense any more. Why would these violinists be damned for eternity for choosing the very thing their society most values? The metaphysics don't work, but it's not really Aoki's fault.
I did appreciate the moment where Shizuka is like, wait a second, do classical violin contests make any sense as a way of harvesting souls in the 21st century? This isn't a fame that has any real currency? They should be selling their souls for youtube, duh!
I did not notice typos in the hardback version but I thought Katrina was mentioned one place by mistake. Not distracting for me. I thought the depiction of Katrina’s life was hard to read although real life can be harsh. Seemed to be more of an LGTBQ book than science fiction although it had space aliens which I like. My attention dragged a little in the middle but it had an exciting ending.
1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? The character of Katrina felt most real to me.
Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?
Her low self-esteem in all areas except that of loving her violin and music, her feeling that life and caring was transactional which her family would have beaten into her, made her decision logical for her.
2. Could you empathise with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
Shizuka was an accessary to murder, so empathising with her would be a hard NO for me. However, she murdered musicians she felt were murdering and debasing music, so I can see how she’d feel justified. I think the author was sort of agreeing with Shizuka’s point of view, or was using her character as a satirical cat’s paw about musicians who use their talent for becoming rich and famous instead of creating beauty and emotion. It goes along with a lot of cultural ideas that making Art for crass motives, like money, power, fame, is evil. So I think it was a clue to the story being overall tongue-in-cheek, similar to the books by Pratchett and Douglas Adams.
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
I found it jarring initially. And now I am wondering if the author ever wanted to extrapolate that concept out more, like did the space aliens believe in the Devil, was the whole thing about Hell and selling one’s soul only apply to Earth and why not the Universe, etc. The fact that it all was mashed up in this book is why I think it was a madcap comedy of social media memes of Earth rather than a book meant to be taken literal or realistic, you know, just for fun.
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
I hate donuts - I can’t stand the cake-like ones. I’ve always either hated the texture or did not really like much the taste. I found these sections very boring.
5. Overall thoughts?
I enjoyed the book, but that is only because it turned out to be a happy ending for almost everyone, especially Katrina, and because I think it was a romcom satire.
...I think it was a madcap comedy of social media memes of Earth rather than a book meant to be taken literal or realistic, you know, just for fun.I think you are on to something. I probably took it too seriously. For me it did not seem like a fully developed sci-fy or fantasy book, and so I defaulted to social commentary. But it really wasn't that because what was its point? It wasn't exactly a comedy because it wasn't very funny (people being abused, going to hell). But maybe it was just an attempt to stimulate a response from the readers without having any higher goal. I thought the description of the food was fun. The description of people going to hell and sexual abuse provoked revulsion. The romance and family dynamics had its typical response in me.
Wow. I guess that I can see what you two mean, but I took it seriously, except for the bits of leavening, and am glad I did. I, personally, got a lot of real things to think about, a lot of Truths etc. from it.But it would be interesting to read it from a different pov, like you two did.
I read this book after reading the dark, mind bending, other selection this month. This book felt like a bit of syfy/fanty bubble gum. Mostly light and curious. Then suddenly twisted into a few painful parts. The time with Evan, then again with Markus. But as life shattering as those dark moments were the author brushes them off and moves on back to light story telling. Katrina prostrating herself, no big deal. Markus killing people, whitewashed. Back to the light tricky romance. My heart is breaking here for them, but no big deal.Benjamin wrote: "...the book seems a bit too quick to gloss over the moral implications of having condemned multiple souls to eternal damnation..."
I thought a lot about this as the story progressed. We are set up to be sympathetic to her, but how can we be? As we learn a little more about her former students this became less of an issue to me. Shizuka didn't force anything on any of them. They were all hungry for fame and power. Willing to do anything to feed their Egos. Shizuka was more of less just a messenger. As the story went on, I fully expected for the other mean girl to steal the bow or something and become the seventh soul. But we were in for a very strange twist. I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that an all-powerful God and Satan are limited to only this world. I did quite enjoy the "Lucifer" idea that bad or cruel people were punished by Shizuka's demonic powers.
Nice.
Chris wrote: "..the idea that an all-powerful God and Satan are limited to only this world...."I quite liked that actually. :)
If you enjoyed the author's descriptions of food in this book, this piece on comfort foods paired with comfort books might be appealing as well:https://www.tor.com/2022/12/28/comfor...
It certainly helped me see instant ramen in a new light.
And I also got a new book rec. Thanks, that was fun!
I can confirm that eating Samyang Spicy Hot Chicken Flavor "... will not be without pain—sometimes agonizing beyond compare."It is not a comfort food.
You have been warned.
Mod
Coincidentally just read this book and this discussion thread made me join the group! I really loved this book and a lot of your comments here have got me rethinking about a couple of things in the book (but it doesn't change how much I enjoyed it of course!). I really connected with Katrina and her story and understand that in the end she decided to sell her soul to the devil. I think the ending where they all get Skizuka out of the situation was brilliant, although a bit cheesy.
Chris wrote: "I'm not sure how I feel about the idea that an all-powerful God and Satan are limited to only this world."
Definitely agree, and that was one of my least favorite things in the book. Seemed a bit interesting, definitely breaks the fourth wall a bit for me since that's the exact opposite of how Christians believe them to exist, but definitely interesting!
I personally liked the mix of aliens and a devil, and didn't really realize that those two elements are something that could draw a line between scifi and fantasy. I really group the two genres in my head anyways since my overarching category for books is "adventure" so I am excited to read some of the books in this group over the next year and beyond.
BJ wrote: "I thought the metaphysical nature of hell in this book was highly unclear, and so I was never quite sure how bad I should feel about this, nor how worried I should be for Katrina"
On this topic of Hell, I didn't really consider how concerned I should be for her either. It always seemed to me that people didn't talk too much about her former students in a way that they missed them, and everyone who knew about them still wanted to be taught by Shizuka. And since Shizuka sold her soul and was still doing fine I was interpreting it more as a rather stingy job, like the devil just wants musician souls so the rulers of Hell can listen to really nice violin music for all of eternity.
Ktop wrote: "...And since Shizuka sold her soul and was still doing fine I was interpreting it more as a rather stingy job, like the devil just wants musician souls so the rulers of Hell can listen to really nice violin music for all of eternity..."I like this! Especially because we've already learned, as you note, that this Hell is apparently solely for Terrans, and so Satan has limited powers.
I agree that there has been not enough punishment for sending six souls to hell, so I envisioned another ending: Tran takes Satomi's body 49 years back (before the deal) and this young and beautiful body that already has a muscle memory of violin playing merges with mind/soul of Katrina - so Katrina gets what she wanted (note how Satomi described as beautiful and masterful is the book). Then Satomi (maybe in Katrine's body) goes around the galaxy playing because the violin gives the will to live and stop the plague.
Mod
Oleksandr wrote: "I agree that there has been not enough punishment for sending six souls to hell, so I envisioned another ending: Tran takes Satomi's body 49 years back (before the deal) and this young and beautifu..."Great new ending! I like it!
aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Great new ending! I like it!"Allison wrote: "Aw, that last part would have been so moving! I could totally see this ending."
Thanks!
1. "Wait. Does that mean Katrina wants to conduct?"
Heh.
2. I take it Tremon Philippe has infiltrated Starrgate Donuts in the guise of Ynez Beltran. What is he up to, tracking Miss Shizuka?
1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?- Katrina was the most interesting character in this book. I feel like there was so much left or brushed away when it comes to her. The trauma definitely caused her to choose this path but I didn't understand her decision, especially because we never saw her having any thought of 'dying', she definitely had many complexities and I wish more was explored with her.
I think seeing how smart she was and how early on she had discovered the truth( somewhat), I don't see why she decided to do it. Maybe her insecurities got the best of her but I still feel something was missing to justify it.
2. Could you empathise with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
I did empathise with her but only to some extent, she made her own decisions and although not all of it was her fault as all her students did what they did on their own terms( they had the choice, just like she gave that choice to Katrina). I didn't see much guilt for her past actions and I am glad she had grown after meeting Katherine( No Lan tan was not the reason, Katrina was) and decided to make the right decision.
Her relationship with Lan tan was- weird. The most natural dynamic was that of Shizuka, Astrid and Katrina. Lan tan was another character that was hugely underdeveloped, so the dynamic between those do just didn't work for me. It started sweet but just didn't go any further.
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
Yes yes!!! I think scifi was not utilised to its full potential but I loved it and want more.
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
Yes, It reminded me of my friend's Beignets( she is in France now I miss her cooking). The feeling described by Aunt while eating different foods is something I enjoy too.
5. Overall thoughts?
Liked the concepts, but the characters were not utilised fully, so much more. I also didn't like how morally grey areas were brushed away. Murder, abuse, and SA were just... left behind. Also, I wish more sci fi elements were there, by the end I felt like the only reason we had an alien is so that we have a loophole in the plot for Shizuka to survive.
Ooh, I like your insights. Esp. how it was Katrina that really helped S. grow, and the reason for the alien.
A few questions to get us started:
1. What did you think of how Katrina's situation was represented? Did it justify her decision to sell her soul?
2. Could you empathise with Shizuka? If so, how much of that would you say was because of her relationship with the donut shop owner, Lan Tran?
3. Did the mix of aliens (Scifi) and a devil (fantasy) work for you?
4. Did the book make you dream of baked goods?
5. Overall thoughts?
Non-spoiler thread here: First impressions