Light Years from Home

August 1, 2021

On a family camping trip 15 years ago, Evie and Kass Shao's father and brother suddenly vanished like smoke. Their father returned disoriented, claiming alien abduction, but brother Jakob never returned at all. While Kass has plunged forward with her life, Evie follows up on alien conspiracy theories in hopes of finding Jakob--who finally reappears, possibly trailing intergalactic warfare in his wake. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 18, 2021
Chen (We Could Be Heroes) delivers an emotional blend of space opera and family drama. Fifteen years ago, Jakob Shao joined the war efforts of the alien coalition that abducted him from Earth. Now, dire circumstances force him to return home and face the family left behind. Jakob’s disappearance devastated the Shao family, sending sisters Evie and Kassie on divergent paths: Evie spent those 15 years researching possible alien sightings, while Kassie has always believed that Jakob simply ran away—and that Evie has abandoned her responsibilities to chase a delusion. Chen captures both the love and the friction of their sibling relationship when Jakob returns with a cover story about backpacking through Europe, confirming Kassie’s theory. An element of doubt creeps in, however, when the FBI shows up wanting to question Jakob as part of a domestic terrorism investigation. Kassie and Evie agree to help, but Evie breaks her promise when given the opportunity to prove that Jakob was abducted. Chen adroitly explores the contradictory emotions typical of sibling dynamics and the holding pattern of familial roles against the distant backdrop of UFO investigation and intergalactic battle. The result is sure to keep readers turning pages. Agent: Eric Smith, P.S. Literary.

December 15, 2021
Years ago, Jakob Shao disappeared on the shores of Lake Kinbote with his father--who reappeared days later, convinced that his son had been abducted by aliens and needed to be rescued. Jakob's two sisters dealt with the incident in very different ways. Kass became the responsible rock, while Evie dove into alien conspiracy groups, trying to find proof of what happened to Jakob. The two haven't spoken in years when Jakob reappears, sending a shock wave through their lives. As always, Chen has written a science fiction novel rooted in a deeply emotional core: the focus is on this family and their tensions and pain, and whether they can find a way to trust one another moving forward. This soft sf story is strongest when digging into the complicated dynamics between big and little sister: Kass and Evie struggle to understand each other and accept the other's mistakes. It's a vivid, strong novel that will enchant sf fans who enjoy concentrated, touching stories that narrow in on relationships and emotional consequences.

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Starred review from December 15, 2021
Three siblings torn apart by their brother's disappearance, father's death, and mother's dementia team up to save an alien world. Jakob Shao returns to Earth after years away to retrieve a device that's key to saving his alien friend Henry's home world from a species of ravaging marauders. After a stop in Reno, Nevada, Jakob makes his way to the family home in Mountain View, California, where he's reunited with his sisters. Twin Kassie is a divorced, cigarette-smoking psychologist, online role-playing gamer, and caregiver for the siblings' mother, Sofia Aguilar-Shao, who has dementia. Younger sister Evie is a selfie-taking veterinarian tech in Buffalo, New York, whose side hustle involves proving the existence of extraterrestrial life in an effort to locate her missing brother. Shattered by the death of their father, Arnold Shao, as an indirect result of Jakob's disappearance 15 years earlier, the siblings must overcome past hurts and misunderstandings and learn to appreciate one another and work together to determine whether Jakob is suffering from psychotic delusions, is a terrorist on the run from the FBI, or is actually a space soldier on a desperate mission. A rich backstory that explores the Shao family's disparate memories of the night Jakob and Arnold disappeared and a highly satisfying ending add welcome texture. All the stars for Chen's warmhearted space-travel story.

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Starred review from November 1, 2021

Chen (A Beginning at the End) has written a heartfelt novel of family dysfunction wrapped in an intergalactic cloak. Brazilian Chinese sisters Evie and Kass Chao have been estranged since the family camping trip 15 years ago where their father and brother disappeared. Their father returned after three days--dehydrated, confused, and talking about aliens--but Kass's twin brother Jakob didn't. For years afterward, Kass suspected that her brother had actually run away and left her to hold the family together and take care of their mother. Meanwhile Evie, the youngest, took up her father's cause and got involved in alien conspiracy theories, dividing the sisters even more. Now, after years, Jakob is back--older, harder, and talking about alien wars across the galaxy. Other facts begin to emerge, along with the FBI, making the sisters lose faith in their own beliefs. Kass and Evie will have to resolve their differences and settle their past, before they lose their brother again. VERDICT Chen's strength in writing poignant character arcs, especially within family dynamics, shines here, as does his ability to craft intriguing blends of literary and speculative fiction with compelling, character-driven plots.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.