I have pretty mixed feelings on this one! overall I had an enjoyable time with it, but something about that sort of supremely cozy, TJ Klune-esque form of queer wish fulfillment lit just... doesn't really do it for me. compared to Klune's The House on the Cerulean Sea,1 I did appreciate that Light attempted to cover some grittier material in places (I think the critique of queer youth culture was particularly interesting and well-levied, and I would love a whole book digging into that!), but I would also criticize those areas for feeling atonal against the rest of the book (to me). this isn't to say that I want queer characters in fiction to suffer, by any means. I'm coming to this more from a narrative or perhaps genre critique— the low-stakes, plot-heavy nature of this type of fiction (by which I mean all romance, not just queer romance), just isn't usually as much to my taste, and I think that's just a me thing.
also, can't help but notice that this book does not like men, and has some pretty damning things to say about them. I don't necessarily disagree with that thesis, but... woof. it's pretty bleak. (to illustrate, I listed the men characters and their positions within the novel below the break— spoilers for Light, of course). I think this is best demonstrated in the case of Markus, which seemed like a weird thematic schism from the rest of the novel (given the heavy investment in the redemption of Lan and Satomi). idk, just something I noticed. in a similar way to how women are so often monolith-ized and/or marginalized in fiction, I'm not sure I love the way men are monolith-ized here. I understand it, I don't disagree with it, I just... listen, I'm not "defending men" here or whatever, but at a base level, I do think men have a capacity for growth, too, and we really don't see that here.
anyway! Light From Uncommon Stars! what did you think of it?
1 I'm putting Klune in conversation here since Klune literally has a praise quote on the front cover of my copy Light
VV SPOILERS BELOW VV
So, the prominent men characters are as follows:
- Katrina's dad: serial alcoholic and abusive father/husband
- Evan: Katrina's queer friend who sexually manipulates and assaults her
- Tremon Phillippe: a literal demon!
- Landon Fung: pretty squarely a side character, but maybe the only instance of a man being, like, okay, I guess? His deal is that he's just painted as a bit naiive and/or meek but also simultaneously conniving
- Helvar Grunfeld: a racist and transphobic violin craftsman, whom (it's implied) Shizuka kills
- Catalin & Franco Matia: misogynistic dynasty of violin crafters who gatekeep the art from their granddaughter/daughter, Lucia
- Mr. Zacatecas: a possibly alcoholic? slob
- The Classically Camellia emcee: who misgenders Katrina
- Mr. Tso: a rich bank executive who sexually assaults Katrina
And then we have the male children, which provide a very interesting counterpoint:
- Andrew, Lucia's son, who is characterized as kind and innocent due to the influence of his mother (breaking their family's generational trauma)
- Edwin, Lan's son, who is kind and innocent due to his young age and the influence of Aunty Floresta who helps him learn to bake
- Markus, Lan's older teenage son. Markus's deal is that he (or at least his human form) is going through puberty, he catches feelings for a girl who has a dumb bully as her boyfriend, and he gets so jealous and upset that he goes out and he shoots and kills both of them before getting put into stasis for the rest of the book. unlike Andrew and Edwin, Markus has lost some closeness with his maternal figure, Lan (which is also upsetting to him). to me, all of this in concert (excuse the pun) gives off the notion that Light conceptualizes masculinity as somehow unavoidably evil— when crossing the threshold into adulthood, Markus gets consumed by anger and the need to exert some kind of traditional male dominance.
I'm not sure what to do with all that (and yet again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with the thesis, because... well, I think there's a good bit of truth to it!) But the characterization does, perhaps, fall short of the complexity inherent within all sufficiently large-sized groups of people, and I wish we were able to get at some more of that complexity here.