“… life’s short, but it’s the longest thing you’ll ever do, so give more than you take and be kind.”
The Earth is being colonised by other life-forms after an unfortunate misunderstanding between humans and them. How can a girl who runs an illegal library and a music-obsessed alien work together to save humanity from being terminated?
Dow’s freshly released debut, The Sound of Stars, takes place in an aftermath world where the aliens called Ilori are now in charge of Earth. A few remaining human survivors are now imprisoned under Ilori’s surveillance in an apartment complex with no access to arts, books, music, or any other creative media as they considered to be dangerous for triggering human emotions and aggression. Ilori is potentially at risk in this situation if they let these pieces go around, and with that, they have burned and destroyed them all. To top that, Ilori also has strict rules to control humans, where they aren’t allowed to think freely, talk after hours, or even get out of bed past the curfew in hopes it prevents the possibility of rebellion.
But that doesn’t stop Ellie from spreading hope for those around her. While she can’t rely on her parents now for they’re losing their spirits to not just live but being alive, she knows that can’t happen to more people. Believing in the magical power of stories and words, she runs an illegal library and lends books to her fellow neighbours.
“And I’ll do it, every time, if it means a story can change someone’s outlook….”
The library was supposedly safe and sound in a hidden basement, but when a book goes missing, she can’t help but panic for her name was written in that book. What she didn’t know was an alien named Morris, found her hidden library. Being a lab-made and not a pure Ilori, Morris is holding to a different principle about humanity. He can’t help but get invested in humans’ art and creativity, most specifically their music. When he was on his way to do some supervising, he accidentally found a hidden library. Being completely in awe, he browsed through the collection, but when he suddenly heard a sound coming, he panicked and accidentally took a book that he was holding at that moment.
The Sound of Stars was an utter delight and I was having a great time following Ellie and Morris’ journey. Combining the contemporary aspect of friendship and love with the science-fiction aspect of alien invasion and the end of humanity, it delivers a wonderful tale of two contrasted leads that won’t fail to entertain you. Though their relationship started fairly instant for my liking, it surprisingly developed pretty well. I can feel the chemistry and their dynamic was absolutely beautiful.
The other thing that I want to highlight about Dow’s debut is the fact that it’s a character-oriented story. There’s no denying that the plot was entertaining and the worldbuilding was out of the world, but the characters in this story were something else as they demanded your whole attention.
The Sound of Stars is a marvellous genre-bending debut which features not only a meaningful love story, but also the dynamics of family and friendship, the issues of internal racism, along with the incredibly diverse representations.
The Sound of Stars is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity?
Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.
Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.
Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.
