The Actual Star: A Novel

Written by Monica Byrne

Narrated by Carolina Hoyos, Kareem Ferguson and Gisela Chipe

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) crafts an unforgettable piece of speculative fiction about where humanity came from, where we are now, and where we’re going—and how, in every age, the same forces that drive us apart also bind us together.

""A stone-cold masterpiece.""—New Scientist

The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents—telling three powerful tales a thousand years apart, all of them converging in the same cave in the Belizean jungle.

Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne of a Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion, racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.

In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate—until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Sep 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063002920

Monica Byrne

Monica Byrne studied biochemistry at Wellesley, NASA, and MIT before pivoting to fiction and theater. She is the author of the novel The Girl in the Road, winner of the 2014 Otherwise Award, and loves a good thunderstorm.

Reviews for The Actual Star

[Elise Mark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! What a great book! I don’t know how Byrne came up with this concept but it is so original and intriguing. If you have an open mind and curious instinct about humanity, the afterlife, and the reason behind life itself, read this!

[markm2315 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cleverly constructed tripartite novel with three parallel plots occurring 1000 years apart - all based on the culture of the Mayan civilization. It is well-written with extensive direct and indirect relationships among the characters in the storylines.

I did think that the changes described in the society of the year 3012 were conceivable, but the biological changes described were not.

[Jinho Choi · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Like the others have said the whole story, especially the future is quite contrived. Unlikable and self-righteous characters don't help either. Also, the voice actor's insistence on constantly switching accents for non-English words and phrases really took me out of the flow.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I will always be grateful to John Scalzi and his blog "Whatever" and especially for his turning the blog over to other writers frequently so that they can talk about the Big Idea that caused them to write a book. That's how I learned about this book. Monica Byrne's explanation of how a trip to Belize which included visiting a cave that had been used by ancient Mayans affected her was so vibrant that I knew I had to read the book. Fortunately my library got a copy.There are three timelines in the book: 1012 AD which involves a royal Mayan household, 2012 AD which features a half-Maya, half-American young woman, and 3012 AD in which a near-Utopian global culture based on that 2012 timeline is facing a clash of ideologies. The cave in Belize that Byrne entered is central to all three story arcs. In the first two sisters and a brother seek to rule their state after their parents disappear. Part of the Mayan religion is to have human sacrifices and the plan is to have the royals play a ball game against captives who, of course, are the intended sacrifices. Except things don't quite work out as intended. In 2012 Leah leaves her home in Minnesota to visit Belize where she was conceived. She meets fraternal twins Javier and Xander who both work as guides to the cave. After her first visit Leah is convinced she must return to the cave and visit the area beyond where the tours stop. She has a sexual relationship with both brothers which binds them to her and when she disappears they are profoundly affected. They set up the lifestyle of that the people of 3012 follow (called Laviaja) which involves continuously moving from place to place and meeting new people. Niloux DeCayo is in Persia when she has an epiphany that the Laviaja lifestyle was nearing its end. This heretical notion is opposed, quite strongly, by Tanaaj DeCayo and an encounter between the two is set up to occur at a grand celebration near the Belizean cave. As the author says in her Big Idea piece "It’s a novel about the cave, yes. But it’s also the story about the origins and destiny of humanity, as told by three brave, vulnerable, fallible people making their way through history, from the collapse of the ancient Maya elites to a far-future utopia. I could never have guessed the full dimensions of what was pushing to come through me, at the time; just that I had to serve it. That feeling became my characters’ feelings: repeatedly, they are overwhelmed by a physical, noetic certainty that they must act upon." Have you ever had that feeling that you just had to do something even though it was outisde your comfort zone and, perhaps, not something you could afford to do? Did you act on it? If there's a takeaway message to this book it is that we should pay more attention to what our body and feelings are telling us and then act on that.

[citizenjoyce · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book has some very interesting gender ideas, in the future people are born with both sets of sexual organs. Most go through life using both at different times, some choose to lean more one way than the other. All are referred to as she. There, I've said every good thing about it, except that it has some interesting information about Mayan culture. The book has three time lines: 1012, 2012 and 3012 - all dominated by religious delusions. I can forgive the 12th-century folk, the rest of it is just ridiculous. We have the usual stupid teenage girl, you know the type - the tour guide says you can go anywhere you want, but whatever you do, don't go to x.

[shrike58 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes you really need to pay attention to the elevator pitch. While I allowed myself to be sold on the book by the blurbs, when I saw the word "reincarnation" used in regards to this novel I probably should not have picked it up. Therefore, while I can respect the ambition that went into this work, Byrne's concerns with the metaphysics of meaning are not my concerns, and I really didn't get much out of it. Possibly because I couldn't see Byrne's characters as being much more than mouthpieces for assorted philosophical positions. As always, your mileage may vary and, if you really liked Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt," there's a good chance you'll enjoy this work. For all that, I will say that I did like the note upon which Byrne wrapped up this novel.

[gwendydd · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really wish I hadn't bothered to finish this.This book has three storylines, set in 1012, 2012, and 3012. In each timeline, there is an obsession with the end of the world, and with twins. The first story is set in ancient Maya and focuses on royal twins as they come of age and take over the throne. In the second timeline, a woman from the US with Mayan heritage goes to Belize tour ancient Mayan sites, and gets caught in a conflict between twin tour guides. In 3012, the world and humanity have changed drastically - gender has been abolished, money and government don't exist, people are all nomadic and join small communities temporarily, and there is a big debate over the meaning of Xibalbá, the Mayan afterlife.I don't shy away from dense books, so the giant glossary didn't intimidate me, but I also didn't find that I needed to refer to it because the terminology is explained pretty well. The book moves very slowly, and not much happens. At first it seems like there's no connection between the three timelines, but by the end of the book it is clear that they are connected, although you can argue that the connection (aside from the suggestion that the twins are reincarnations of earlier twins) is just that people from each timeline grossly misinterpreted the events of the previous timeline.I didn't find the future world to be even remotely believable, and everything about the conflict there felt very contrived. The 2012 story was annoying because the characters were one-dimensional and not very likeable. The 1012 story was perhaps the most interesting one, but again, the main characters were totally unlikeable. Then I got to the end and felt like there hadn't really been much point to the whole book.

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A 1012 Mayan historical/magical, a 2012 Mayan magical realism, and a 3012 pseudo Mayan failing utopia magical, are interleaved and connected by reincarnations centering on the Hero Twins. The author isn't Mayan or indigenous American. Strange, fanciful, and concerned much more with the other world Xibalba than anything, other than sexual, most modern fantasy novels, address. It is a warm stew of a novel that fascinates but isn't best at tidy resolution.

[richardderus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Real Rating: 4.5* of five, rounded up because the economy of presentation packs the punch of Dune into the space of Cloud Atlas.Three timelines, three souls, three moments in Humanity's journey. Author Byrne has made all of them into one beautiful braid, glossy and dark and heavy...crackling with energy...predicting a path that We-the-People must walk to fulfill our personal and communal purpose. I've seen the comparisons to Cloud Atlas but to be frank, a better comparison is, to my own mind anyway, what would happen if one gave A Canticle for Leibowitz to David Lynch and said, "...but make everyone queer."There is a Glossary; use it. Xibalbá will no longer just be a weird-looking word to you when you're done with this read, and you'll be much the richer for it. I salute you, Monica Byrne, for risking so much in showing us this beautiful tale and not telling us every last thing. Trusting your readers pays off as they morph into fans, the way I have.