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Luminous Hardcover – March 11, 2025

by Silvia Park (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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Prescient yet timeless, perfect for fans of Klara and the Sun and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, this highly anticipated, sweeping debut set in a unified Korea tells the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood.

“I once had a family. At least, the earliest version of me had a family.”

In a reunified Korea of the near future, the sun beats down on a junkyard filled with abandoned robots, broken down for parts. Eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through the scraps, searching for a piece that might support her failing body. There among the piles of trash, something catches her eye: a robot boy—so lifelike and strange, unlike anything she’s ever seen before.

Siblings Jun and Morgan haven’t spoken for years. When they were children, their brother Yoyo disappeared suddenly, leaving behind only distant memories of his laughter and near-human warmth. Yoyo—an early prototype of a humanoid robot designed by their father—was always bound for something darker and more complex. Now Morgan makes robots for a living and is on the verge of losing control of her most important creation. Jun is a detective with the Robot Crimes Unit whose investigation is digging up truths that want to stay buried. And whether they like it or not, Ruijie’s discovery will thrust their family back together in ways they could have never imagined.

At once a thrilling work of speculative fiction and a poignant exploration of what it really means to be human, Luminous is an unforgettably brilliant debut.
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  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  4. Publication date
    March 11, 2025
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1668021668
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1668021668
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From the Publisher

Luminous
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Editorial Reviews

Review

One of Debutiful's Most Anticipated Debuts of 2025
One of LitHub's 20 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Look Forward to in 2025

“Extraordinary…set in a not-too-distant future, debut novelist Silvia Park's Luminous gloriously explores the unpredictable, fading lines between man and machine.”—Shelf Awareness

"With Ishiguro-esque precision, Park dissects sentience and reality, as well as love and death...Lustrous."—Publishers Weekly

"It’s a cold stunner of a novel. Park masterfully balances complex characters in a very creative world. The family dynamics in this future-tinged novel are brilliantly written."—Debutiful

"A well-crafted take on the vagaries of memory and what it means to be human, with a satisfying investigative backbone."—Booklist

“Inventive, rollicking, and poetic, Luminous is a future classic novel about robots that reveals itself to be profoundly, beautifully human.”—Juhea Kim, author of Beasts of a Little Land and City of Night Birds

“Searching and masterful, Park’s Luminous engrossed me completely. Each broken robot, child, and warrior takes the elusive promise of family to a whole new level. I was honestly blown away.”—Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot

“Wildly and, yes, luminously emotional.”—Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

“Luminous is warm, expansive, and particular. Park renders the intersection between family and technology with wit and philosophical depth, but ultimately this is just incredibly exciting to read. It’s utterly beautiful.”—Raven Leilani, bestselling author of Luster

“Luminous is full of complex characters, damaged and broken and beautiful. It's a novel full of pleasures, big and small, gorgeous sentences from which Park weaves a rich, layered story of family and work, of history and speculation, of Korea, past, present and future. A bold exploration of what it means to have a mind, a body, a self, and even a soul. An impressive debut.”—Charles Yu, author of National Book Award winner Interior Chinatown

"[Luminous] is a spectacular debut, taking place in a thoroughly imagined, vividly written future. Harrowing but full of heart, a work of enormous ambition and brilliance with an ending that fully justifies the title and brought me to tears."—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

About the Author

Silvia Park’s stories have been published in Black Warrior Review, Tor, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, and elsewhere. They hold an MFA from NYU and attended the Clarion Science and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and Tin House Summer Workshop. They teach fiction at the University of Kansas and split their selves between Lawrence and Seoul. Luminous is their first novel.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (March 11, 2025)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668021668
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1668021668
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.36 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

About the author

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Silvia Park

Silvia Park

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Silvia Park’s stories have been published in Black Warrior Review, Tor, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, and elsewhere. They hold an MFA from NYU and attended the Clarion Science and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and Tin House Summer Workshop. They teach fiction at the University of Kansas and split their selves between Lawrence and Seoul. Luminous is their first novel.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
10 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • D.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant story about humans and AI
    Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2025
    Finished Reading

    "Which was more deadly, real or not real? The real knew no restraint." p14

    Pre-Read notes

    This is another arc that drew me right in with the cover. That gorgeous mosaic tiger and all the color really spoke to me. Having read the first third of the book now, I understand all the brightness and variation on the cover.

    Final Review

    Review summary and recommendations

    I'm a little surprised how much I liked this book, but I wrote the words "I love" so many times in this review. The story is about something that interests me. I think stories about robots and AI get at deep ethical questions that become more relevant every day. I like that this book neither sensationalizes the subject nor lets the reader off the hook, like the question of sentience and autonomy.

    I'm planning to read this book a second tim to grab all the details. I'll share a review for that read in this space as well!

    “I don’t know if that’s the right word.” Her gaze roved across the tiles. “Crush. That’s weird, right? English is so weird. Like your heart has already broken.” p257

    Reading Notes

    Five things I loved:

    1. This passage makes an important statement about disabled people and their advocates and care providers. "Affixed to her legs were battery-powered titanium braces; the latest model, customized circuitry to aid her ability to walk. For she was beloved." p10

    2. "She decided to be perfect and still. Like a robot. Except a robot wouldn’t need mechanic braces to walk. A robot would be thrown away for needing anything at all." p14 A brilliant statement about both disability and non-humann creatures and their assumed value in a hypercapitalist society.

    3. "The thirteenth floor, ominous now, but the older apartments were likelier to strike off the number four as unlucky." p21 I love that the narrator points out cultural anomolies. for me it created a setting that was both accessible and mysterious.

    4. I love that the main character's cat is named Smaug!

    5. "Cristina was like an eco-flush toilet, well-intentioned and ineffective." p52 I love when books about serious topics still work in humor.

    Two things I didn't love:

    This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

    1. This book gets at the heart of AI ethics from both sides of the issue. I think this is a critical question to ask about developing AI. “Doesn’t David make you happy?” Morgan said, hating the plea in her voice. “Of course he makes me happy. He was designed to bring me joy. I only ask, Why make him mirror us when he’s capable of being more? How do we know of the long-term impact this will have on us, especially our children?” p201

    2. The writing is at times peculiar. For example, a relatively short sentence can be a handful because of how Park arranges the pieces of it. "The autumn skies are void and vast, high and cloudless, the bright moon undivided in truth as our heart." p226 This is part of an anthem. Maybe that's why it strikes as difficult to interpret.

    Rating: ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️ /5 bright lights
    Recommend? definitely
    Finished: Mar 15 '25
    Format: accessible digital arc, NetGalley
    Read this book if you like:
    🧪 science-fiction stories
    📆 near-future stories
    🤖 stories about robots and AI
    🧗‍♀️ strong, brave fmc

    Thank you to the author Silvia Park, publishers Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an accessible advance digital copy of LUMINOUS. All views are mine.
    ---------------
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  • Autumn Danner
    4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2025
    I enjoyed this book more than I though that I would. The characters were pretty authentic, even the AI ones. It was a strange experience to read about humans that had robotic parts and robotic characters that seemed as authentic as the humans. In some cases, I liked the AI characters more than the humans - I practically cried for Eli. I am not sure what the final message of the book was to be, but I felt that it was about the bonds within a family, the dysfunction of ... well, everyone. It touched on the savage nature of people as well as the side that ties us to others for our own personal reasons. Yoyo's remembrance of the past while moving forward with his current life was a message of fortitude. A glimpse into the possible future of technology and how it can change our world and us for better and worse.
    One person found this helpful
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  • mehva
    4.0 out of 5 stars mixed feelings
    Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2025
    the premise of this book was very interesting and at times had to stop to think about our values and what makes us human. At times it felt too slow and disjointed so it wasn't as enjoyable a reading experience as I wanted but it had a lot of other redeeming qualities so would recommend to others.
    One person found this helpful
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  • AV_Therearenobadbooks
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very creative and awesome
    Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2025
    The media could not be loaded.
    What a great rhythm and development for this novel. If there is a future where we have robots serving us, this is how I imagine it and the pros and cons that come with it. It's a very smart novel because it questions, challenges, and tests our emotions and expectations of having a machine as a companion or lover.
    It has so many levels, layers, and themes, exploring family, relationships, progress, loss, coming of age, sexuality, and religion... It's simple because it's focused on a few characters and seems to be a mystery, but its complexity resolves around the fact that all themes seem to be connected to a family. At the the same time, we feel that this dystopian unified Korea is a larger world where the robots serve the humans and replace love, children, sons, daughters, and pets, exploring loneliness, and many other emotions. I love its complexity, and I couldn't be away from it for long, wanting to go back to that family story and to the real meaning of having a robot fulfill its purpose (robot's way of committing suicide.)
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  • SIMATSU
    4.0 out of 5 stars Futuristic
    Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2025
    "Luminous" by Silvia Park offers a captivating glimpse into a futuristic world that is both vibrant and thought-provoking. The novel masterfully blends elements of science fiction with deep philosophical questions about identity and technology. Park's writing is rich and immersive, drawing readers into a world where human and digital existences intertwine seamlessly.

    One of the standout aspects of "Luminous" is its world-building. Park has crafted a setting that feels both innovative and hauntingly relevant, making it easy to become fully absorbed in the narrative. The characters are well-developed, each with their unique motivations and struggles, which add depth to the story.
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