Book Description
An adventure set in California’s San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.
Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.
When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.
But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.
As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.
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An Editor’s Book Review
Character Development
This book has multiple interesting characters to follow. Each has a unique point of view. I preferred Shizuka’s POV to the others, possibly because she had the most obvious mission (to break her curse). Her mix of emotions about her mission drew me back into the book time and time again.
Pacing
This book is more of an experience than a linear build to a climax. If you are drawn to music and alien technology, it’s quite entertaining. However, if you expect a linear move from start to finish, you will likely be disappointed.
Ryka Aoki’s writing style was compared to Douglas Adam’s (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) for a reason. The reader never knows exactly what will happen next, and that can be fun or frustrating, depending on what you enjoy.
Writing Style
The prose may also remind readers of Douglas Adams. Some parts of the book are just goofy and oddball. Of course, the aliens run a donut shop. However, Aoki is excellent at interspersing this goofiness with some deep, dark scenes. Readers may get whiplash from jolting from hilarious to disturbing. It happens in a paragraph.
Basically, the writing style requires a bit more patience than an author that runs through action scenes at high speed.
If you liked this book, check out The Galaxy and Ground Within by Becky Chambers.