Light from Uncommon Stars

Light from Uncommon Stars (2021) is a science fiction/urban fantasy novel by Ryka Aoki. Aoki, a transgender Japanese American woman, draws on her own life experiences to craft a story about three women whose lives become intertwined in unexpected ways. While the novel incorporates numerous fantastical elements, including demons, curses, and space aliens, it is grounded in the real struggles of LGBTQ+ people and refugee families. Its whimsical premise serves as a platform to explore themes of self-acceptance, transformation, empathy, and legacy. The novel was nominated for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2022 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and the 2022 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. It won the 2021 Otherwise Award for science fiction/fantasy works that explore the topic of gender, the 2022 Alex Award for young adult literature, and the 2022 Stonewall Book Award for American novels that focus on LGBTQ+ experiences.

This guide uses the 2021 Tor edition.

Content Warning: This book contains references to and depictions of sexual assault and rape, verbal and physical abuse, suicidal ideation, drug use, and violence. It explores themes surrounding LGBTQ+ identities and features verbal abuse and slurs directed toward trans women and lesbians. It also depicts prejudice toward immigrants and people of color, particularly those of Asian descent.

Plot Summary

Katrina Nguyen, a transgender teen girl, flees her abusive home to seek a new life in Los Angeles. Arriving in Los Angeles at the same time is the legendary violin teacher, Shizuka Satomi, also known as the “Queen of Hell.” Forty-eight years ago, Shizuka made a deal with a demon called Tremon Philippe that she would deliver him the souls of seven violin students. Thus far, she has delivered six. With only a year left on her contract, she’s in search of the seventh. After hearing Katrina play her violin in a park, Shizuka realizes Katrina is the one. Shizuka offers Katrina lessons, but Katrina turns her down for fear of not being able to pay. Later, Katrina tries to look Shizuka up online; mysteriously, there are no video recordings of her performing.

Meanwhile, an old donut shop in Los Angeles called Starrgate Donut has been bought by the newly immigrated Tran family. Although the Trans appear human, they are actually alien refugees from a collapsing Galactic Empire. They chose the shop as their base because of the giant donut on top of the building, which they plan to transform into a stargate. The mother/captain of the family, Lan Tran, is a self-sacrificing leader determined to protect her family at all costs—despite her nature, though, she is somewhat emotionally closed-off with her children. The eldest daughter, Shirley, is not an organic being but a sophisticated hologram projected from a sentient computer program. The teenage son, Markus, is a brilliant engineer who is resentful about the family’s refugee situation. The family also includes two precocious young twins, Windee and Edwin, and a kindly older relative named Aunty Floresta.

The stories of these three women—Katrina, Shizuka, and Lan—become intertwined when Shizuka one day stops at Starrgate Donut, desperate to use the bathroom. She and Lan become smitten with one another and begin a romantic relationship—the pair unite shortly after to help Katrina get her violin back after her roommates sell it to a pawn shop. Seeing Katrina’s injured and distressed state, Shizuka takes her home and insists that Katrina will live with her as they commence their lessons. Katrina initially fears that the situation is too good to be true; she is timid and apologetic, afraid to speak up about her own needs.

Shizuka takes Katrina’s damaged violin to a shop owned by Lucy Matía, a descendant of famous violin luthiers; although Lucy has great talent, she was overlooked by her father because of her gender. While the violin is being repaired, Shizuka allows Katrina to practice on her own violin. At first, Shizuka struggles to teach Katrina, but eventually, Katrina begins to find her own voice and style. Lan Tran and her family provide Katrina with a high-tech recording studio, which she uses to post videos of her performances on the internet. Lan, meanwhile, is having frequent nightmares that prompt her daughter, Shirley, to seek a way to help; in searching, Shirley stumbles on the truth about Shizuka’s deal with the devil. Shirley goes to Shizuka’s home to rescue Katrina, but Katrina insists that she’s there of her own free will. Lan, however, confronts Shizuka about sacrificing children, which leads to them briefly breaking up.

At the donut shop, Markus grows increasingly angry, and Lan starts to worry that he might be infected by something called the “Endplague.” Business at the shop is dwindling, despite the family using their ship’s replicator to make perfect copies of donuts. Aunty Floresta suspects that there is a secret to human food that the rest of the family hasn’t grasped. After rekindling their relationship, Lan explains to Shizuka that the Endplague is a terminal hopelessness that infects advanced civilizations and can manifest as violent self-destruction. This disease is what forced Lan to leave behind her children’s father and flee their Galactic Empire.

News gets out in the music world that Shizuka has a new student, and a rival student’s teacher invites Katrina to play at a music showcase. At the showcase, Katrina performs a powerful piece that touches everyone in the audience. Afterward, Shizuka tells Tremon that she’s not ready to give him Katrina’s soul; Tremon correctly suspects that Shizuka has grown attached to Katrina. Meanwhile, Markus’s anger and despair finally lead him to murder two humans who had been antagonizing him. Lan and Floresta put him in stasis. Deciding he is too dangerous to keep on Earth, Lan instructs Shirley to duplicate herself in order to fly him off the planet. Shirley refuses and runs away to Shizuka’s when Lan threatens to destroy her code. Shirley starts to question her own personhood, but Katrina—who relates to Shirley’s struggle with her identity—plays music to remind her that she’s more than just a program, and the two form a deep sisterly bond. Shizuka criticizes Lan for not respecting Shirley’s personhood.

Shizuka returns to Lucy Matía’s shop and tells Lucy a legend of a cursed violin bow made from the dogwood tree, then asks Lucy to repair a dogwood bow for her. The next morning, Shizuka summons Katrina to her room and tells her the story of how she originally made her deal with Tremon. As a young violin prodigy, Shizuka developed a condition that left her unable to play. Tremon promised she could play again in exchange for her soul. But on the night that would have sealed the deal, she left the stage mid-performance, leaving her soul in limbo. So they negotiated a new deal: Shizuka would provide Tremon seven more souls in exchange for her freedom, and until then, she would be unable to perform for anyone. Shizuka shows Katrina the dogwood bow; once Katrina uses it, her soul will be damned. However, Shizuka has decided not to give it to her. Katrina decides to learn the piece by Béla Bartók that Shizuka was meant to play on the night of her last performance. She struggles with it, until Shirley is able to retrieve a recording of young Shizuka playing it from television signals broadcast from Earth into space.

Under Tremon’s influence, the CEO of a large Asian bank announces that he’s sponsoring a global violin competition. Tremon publicizes that Katrina will be performing, referring to her as a “transgender icon”; Katrina receives numerous hateful comments online as a result. Shizuka and Katrina agree that the only way to beat Tremon is for Katrina to win the competition. Shizuka composes a piece based on music from the game NetherTale, but Katrina insists she’s going to play the Bartók piece. After hearing Katrina play it, Shizuka realizes that somehow Katrina found a recording of herself. Shirley also plays the recording of Shizuka for Lan, and after further digging, Lan realizes that Shizuka only has three months left to live. Devastated, Lan begins working harder on the stargate.

The night before the competition, Tremon tempts Katrina to take the dogwood bow, first by appealing to her desire for acceptance, and then by revealing that Shizuka will be damned once the competition is over. Katrina decides to steal the cursed bow in order to save Shizuka. At the competition, Katrina performs the Bartók piece perfectly, pouring all of herself into it. After the performance, Shizuka reveals that the dogwood bow Katrina used was not actually the cursed bow but a duplicate made by Lan’s replicator. Her fate now sealed, Shizuka’s true age rapidly catches up to her. They return home, and as a final farewell, Shizuka performs her NetherTale piece. At midnight, Tremon comes to collect Shizuka’s soul, but Shizuka is suddenly beamed into Lan’s starship. After Shirley found the recordings of Shizuka in space, Lan realized that Tremon’s power does not extend beyond the planet. Using the now completed donut stargate, Lan and Shizuka flee from Earth, escaping Tremon’s clutches. Lan tells Shizuka that she believes her music could cure the Endplague, and they set off to play music among the stars, leaving Starrgate Donut in the hands of Aunty Floresta, Shirley, and the twins. Katrina wishes Shizuka a loving goodbye over the ship’s communicators and goes on to have an illustrious music career on Earth.