Light from Other Stars

👍🏼Pick It: if you're looking for the softer, genre cousin to science fiction.
👎🏼Skip It: If you want the zip! and zing! of space and time travel.

I came for the sci-fi, I stayed for the writing. Swyler has the ability to scale a desaturated wisp to a blinding stadium of color.

The problem is, ALFOS is a mosh pit of the realistic (Challenger crash) and the fantastical.
Trying to guide readers through the “fi” of sci-fi, while maintaining the standard of prose was too daunting.

Swyler took 300 pages for the character narrative, slogging a 100-page plot through like a consequence.

I really hope Swyler's next work is grounded (literally) in what she does best: a feelings-forward, character-focused story.

I really liked the science parts of this book. Swyler always does such a lovely job creating an atmospheric feel with her writing, and this book is no exception. My only critique would be that this book, up until the last 20 or so pages, is just SAD. Nothing but bad things happen and it was hard to read sometimes, although the story was ultimately a rewarding one.

This is science fiction, with much emphasis on the science, so be prepared to engage your brain muscles as you read. It's also a story of loss, and loneliness, and the lies we tell in hopes of saving others, so don't be surprised when it tugs on your heart muscles as well. Thoughtful, sometimes painful. One I could read again.

Erika Swyler is a talented writer and has a poetic take in “Light From Other Stars” on loss and grief, searching for a sense of belonging, friendship, and exploration. And it's partially set in 1986, which is a year I remember well and fondly. Yet, I found the book difficult to get through (and I've been on a reading kick the past 2 months). Not because the aforementioned topics are weighty and tough, but because the action seemed to move through sand, although much of it mixed a lot faster.

Nice shout out to Peaches ‘n Cream Barbie, one of my favorites in 1986.