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Light Years from Home
Light Years from Home: a novel | Mike Chen
12 posts | 12 read | 11 to read
"With heart and insight...Chen crosses the stakes and imagination of a space opera with the emotional depth and intricacy of a family drama." Erika Swyler, bestselling author of Light from Other Stars Every family has issues. Most cant blame them on extraterrestrials. Evie Shao and her sister, Kass, arent on speaking terms. Fifteen years ago on a family camping trip, their father and brother vanished. Their dad turned up days later, dehydrated and confusedand convinced he'd been abducted by aliens. Their brother, Jakob, remained missing. The women dealt with it very differently. Kass, suspecting her college-dropout twin simply ran off, became the rock of the family. Evie traded academics to pursue alien conspiracy theories, always looking for Jakob. When Evie's UFO network uncovers a new event, she goes to investigate. And discovers Jakob is back. He's differentolder, stranger, and talking of an intergalactic warbut the tensions between the siblings haven't changed at all. If the family is going to come together to help Jakob, then Kass and Evie are going to have to fix their issues, and fast. Because the FBI is after Jakob, and if their brother is telling the truth, possibly an entire space armada, too. The perfect combination of action, imagination and heart, Light Years from Home is a touching drama about a challenge as difficult as saving the galaxy: making peace with your familyand yourself.
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shortsarahrose
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Pickpick

It took me almost 50% of the book for me to really get into it. The family dysfunction was annoying at first, but as the Shao sisters are forced to work together to figure out what‘s going on with their brother, the story really picks up. The sci-fi elements are both central to the story but also not. I already recc‘d this to someone looking for a space opera. Takes place on Earth, but has that genre‘s mix of epic action and personal drama.

shortsarahrose April giving some trademark #tortitude #CatsOfLitsy 3mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Sweet kitty 🐈‍⬛ 🐾 3mo
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TaraTLK
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This book was fascinating. So many stories, where say the hapless dude gets kidnapped by aliens who need his help to fight an intergalactic war, kinda hand wave what that means for their family. If they show up at all, their need for explanations are just roadblocks. This is a story about three siblings, fifteen years after one of them disappeared and it just lives in all the stuff that means.

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peanutnine
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#12BooksOf2022
This was a great sci-fi family drama that kept me on the edge of my seat.
@Andrew65

Andrew65 Hoping to get to more sci-fi this year. 1y
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Jakob and his father disappeared in a strange event from a camping trip, with Dad reappearing not long thereafter clutching…something. After 15 years, Jakob reappears. Sister Evie believes he was abducted by aliens but sister Kass is having none of it. This is a really lovely exploration of family, in particular adult siblings working to see each other as adults, set in a fun sci-fi storyline.

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AshleyC816
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Mehso-so

I really liked the idea of this book, but it fell a bit flat. I found all the characters a bit annoying and felt it left some things hanging.

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peanutnine
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Wow this month was very difficult to choose a favorite. There were three standouts: Light Years from Home, the Girl who Fell Beneath the Sea, and the Ladies of the Secret Circus. But I ultimately chose the tagged because it was just so wonderfully complex with the character dynamics and unreliable narrators and overall sci-fi goodness 🌌

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ReadingEnvy
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Pickpick

"The Shao family had become a textbook case study in trauma. But with aliens."

I first heard of Mike Chen on the Reading Glasses podcast, as he's a friend of their show. This book is a different sort of read because it really is more about this one family than it is a more traditional science fiction novel, and even the idea of whether it is a science fiction novel depends on which character you find most trustworthy. ↘️

ReadingEnvy It's been 15 years since Jakob disappeared on a family hike at a lake. Kass, the self proclaimed responsible one, is caring for her mother who has dementia, while Evie has become the host of a show about alien abductions. Evie and Jakob are twins and she's convinced he was abducted. Kass is pretty sure he is dead or being irresponsible, probably on drugs in some foreign country. Then Jakob returns, dot dot dot. 2y
vivastory This sounds really interesting. It sounds a bit ambiguous on the sf elements. (edited) 2y
ReadingEnvy @vivastory I know! It's hard to talk about because of this, even harder to categorize. But it would be an interesting discussion book 2y
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vivastory I'm definitely intrigued. I see my library has a copy. Think I'll sneak out during lunch and grab it! 2y
EvieBee Sold! Running to the library in 15 mins. 2y
ReadingEnvy @vivastory @EvieBee let me know what you think! 2y
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peanutnine
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Pickpick

Mike Chen has become an automatic read for me and his latest did not disappoint. It explores all the complexities of a family broken by tragedy, while mixing in a fantastical sci-fi alien world.
15 years ago, Jakob mysteriously disappeared. His father & sister are convinced he was taken by aliens. His twin sister thinks he's galavanting Europe like the slacker he's always been. Then he suddenly returns, supposedly with a mission to save the galaxy

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peanutnine
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I don't think I've seen such a succinct quote so accurately describe an entire book in one go 😅

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GerardtheBookworm
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Pickpick

Fifteen years ago, Jakob was abducted by aliens and trained as an intergalactic soldier. Now returned to Earth, he attempts to reconcile with his family while eluding the government and exterrestrial enemies in this sci-fi novel that combines speculative fiction with heart, family, and healing.

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TheBookStacker
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A little lunch time reading today.

Megabooks I really enjoyed this! 2y
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

This book explores family dynamics in a smart, unique way, and I adored it!

Jacob was abducted by alien rebels who recruited him in their war. Jacob finds purpose there away from his slacker identity. Meanwhile back on Earth, his younger sister is determined to find him and his twin sister is stuck being their responsible one as their mother slides deeper into dementia. When Jacob comes back on a mission, the whole family gets upended.

KarenUK This sounds great! 2y
Cortg Sounds like a fun read! 2y
Megabooks @KarenUK @Cortg I‘m generally not a sci-fi fan, but I love how this explores Chinese-American family dynamics in a creative way. 👍🏻👍🏻 really enjoyable read! (edited) 2y
82 likes2 stack adds4 comments