Luminous
* A Guardian pick: Top 5 Science Fiction Book of 2025 *
Three siblings. Two human, one robot. The spectacular new debut about what it means to be alive.
'Wildly and, yes, luminously emotional.' Matt Haig, author of The Midnight Library
In a recently reunified Korea, robots have integrated seamlessly into society. They are our teachers, our bus drivers and policemen. They are our lovers. They are even our children.
Eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scrap metal in a Seoul junkyard, searching for anything that might repair her failing body. There amongst the piles of junk she happens across a robot boy: lifelike, strange and unlike anything she's seen before.
Across the city, estranged siblings Jun and Morgan Cho haven't spoken since the abrupt disappearance of their robot brother Yoyo, which shattered their childhoods and left a gaping hole in their lives. But Ruijie's discovery is about to bring the lives of brother and sister hurtling back together, forcing them to confront the reality of Yoyo's true nature, and the dark purpose their father never revealed.
At once a dazzling work of speculative fiction and a poignant family drama, Luminous is a timely, unforgettable story about what it really means to be human.
Silvia Park grew up in Seoul and has spent most of their life in Korea. They received their BA from Columbia and their MFA from NYU, in addition to completing the Clarion Workshop in 2018 on the George R.R. Martin “Sense of Wonder” Fellowship. Their short fiction has been published in Black Warrior Review, Joyland and Tor.com, nominated for a Pushcart and reprinted in the 2019 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. They teach fiction at the University of Kansas and split their selves between Lawrence and Seoul. Luminous is their first novel.