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Light Years From Home

A Novel

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Brotherhood
A Best Of pick and Most Anticipated Sci Fi and Fantasy novel, as selected by Goodreads
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    "A rich backstory... a highly satisfying ending... All the stars for Chen's warmhearted space-travel story." –
    Kirkus, starred review
    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.
    "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
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      • Library Journal

        Starred review from April 1, 2022

        Chen (We Could Be Heroes) returns with an endearing alien contact space opera that mixes dysfunctional family drama with UFO abduction conspiracies and makes for an excellent audiobook. Fifteen years ago, the Shao family was ripped apart when two of its members disappeared from a family camping trip: Arnold Shao, the family patriarch, who eventually returned, and his son Jakob, who did not. Arnold swore until his dying day that he and Jakob were abducted by aliens. Now Arnold's twin daughters Kass and Evie barely speak and live on opposite sides of the country. Kass takes care of their mother, who has dementia, while Evie has dropped out of college to dive into the conspiracy theory--riddled world of UFO hunters. Soon Jakob returns, but is he really the brother Evie and Kass remember? Chen has written supremely thoughtful science fiction intertwined with a deeply relatable family drama, narrated here with gusto and empathy by the incomparable Emily Woo Zeller. VERDICT Chen's novel is sure to please fans of literary fiction as well as staples of sci-fi TV like The X-Files and Fringe. A worthy addition to any contemporary science fiction audio collection.--Chelsea Lytal

        Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • AudioFile Magazine
        Narrator Emily Woo Zeller gives an emotionally attuned performance of this family-driven science-fiction audiobook. A family is torn apart by son Jakob's disappearance and the ensuing years of bitter recriminations and grief that followed. Then Jakob returns to Earth as an intergalactic soldier who protects an important code from a merciless enemy. His unexpected arrival forces his sisters, Evie and Kass, to confront long-held grievances and reassess their priorities. Zeller deftly shifts between the siblings' perspectives as they are increasingly drawn into their brother's enigmatic mission. Her tone and cadence reflect the shifting weight of Kass's determination to hold it together and Evie's singular search for truth as they make their cathartic journeys toward healing and closure. Smart pacing and thoughtful characterizations combine for a memorable experience. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

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    • English

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