Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2022
352 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
Every family has issues. Most can't blame them on extraterrestrials.
Evie Shao and her sister, Kass, aren't on speaking terms. Fifteen years ago on a family camping trip, their father and brother vanished. Their dad turned up days later, dehydrated and confused—and 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 different—older, stranger, and talking of an intergalactic war—but 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 family…and yourself.
"Three siblings torn apart by their brother's disappearance, father's death, and mother's dementia team up to save an alien world...A rich backstory...and a highly satisfying ending add welcome texture. All the stars for Chen's warmhearted space-travel story." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[A]n emotional blend of space opera and family drama...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." - Publishers Weekly
"A vivid, strong novel that will enchant SF fans who enjoy concentrated, touching stories that narrow in on relationships and emotional consequences." - Booklist
"A heartfelt novel of family dysfunction wrapped in an intergalactic cloak…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." - Library Journal
"Mike Chen delivers another perfect blend of sci-fi and heart, turning sweeping space opera inside out to examine real, intricate human emotions and complicated family dynamics. Honest, warm and insightful, with wry humor and gut-punch emotion by turns, Light Years from Home was a joy to read." - Rowenna Miller, author of the Unraveled Kingdom series
"Fast-paced, funny, and strung with as much love as there are stars in the sky, Mike Chen's Light Years from Home re-invents the alien abduction story, recast here as an adrenaline-filled adventure about persevering and belonging. His heart-filled characters shine as they search for their place in the galaxy—and with each other, finding hope, new beginnings, and above all else, family." - Alison Stine, Philip K Dick Award-winning author of Trashlands
"A beautifully realized deep dive on the meaning of family told within an alien abduction framework…The Shao family feels real and lived in, so I can only assume Mike Chen has insider knowledge on intergalactic warfare as well." – Sarah Pinsker, Nebula Award-winning author of A Song for a New Day and We Are Satellites
This information about Light Years from Home was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Mike Chen is a lifelong writer, from crafting fan fiction as a child to somehow getting paid for words as an adult. He has contributed to major geek websites (The Mary Sue, The Portalist, Tor) and covered the NHL for mainstream media outlets. A member of SFWA and Codex Writers, Mike lives in the Bay Area, where he can be found playing video games and watching Doctor Who with his wife, daughter, and rescue animals.
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