The story takes place some years in the aftermath of a war that ended with a reunited Korea, in a future where robots are ubiquitous. Ruijie is a disabled young girl who walks with the aid of automated braces. While exploring a scrap yard she finds a damaged but charming robot in the shape of a boy. Jun and Morgan are estranged brother and sister, each with emotional scars from the disappearance of their older brother, a lifelike robot created by their visionary roboticist father. Jun, now a cop, is investigating the disappearance of an older model child robot, and Morgan, now a roboticist herself, is preparing for the rollout of her company's new line of advanced child robots. The story has a lot going on, with a number of interesting characters, both human and robot. There's a little too much coincidence in the circumstances that reconnect the siblings for my tastes, but the story is otherwise interesting, with a lot of exploration of how we're shaped by memories and what it means to be human.

Thanks for the review! Added this to my tbr, somewhat recently, when I stumbled across it in the bookstore. As such it's great to see your take :).

Awesome - would be good to hear what you think of it when you get to it.

Oh yeah, happy to share when I get to it. Soon... 😅

This book sounds really interesting! I love robot stories and child robots seems like a unique focus and a new way to explore the questions of humanity in artificially created beings. I’m a little intrigued by the title, “Luminous”, what is the element in the story that refers to?

It isn't really highlighted, but I believe it refers to the status lights and some other lights that robots have. Not positive.