Firstly, Victories Greater Than Death has a stunning cover.

I enjoyed reading through Tina. I really felt as though I connected with her character, and I could sympathise with her struggles throughout the story. The worldbuilding aspect was great, I could literally see the magnificent world Charlie Jane Anders created though Tina’s eyes.

My favourite part of this story was meeting the diverse characters. I found their engagements unique and fascinating.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to joining up with Tina and her friends again when book two is out.

This book consistently surprised me. I was well seated within the protagonist's POV, and as events unfolded in ways she didn't expect or couldn't have predicted, I was caught off guard, too. This was great.

I also like very much that this book tells a complete story. It ends on a hell of a cliffhanger, but the problems this book centers on are satisfactorily resolved.

For a book about returning to an alien space fleet, the part of the book I wanted more of and didn't receive was personal relationships between Tina and the aliens. This is not to say that the characters were interchangeable or not well drawn, I just wanted more of them (and possibly a little less Tina introspection.)

*Trigger Warnings: Bully, mentions of abuse, mentions of transphobia, racism

The story follows a girl who has an interplanetary rescue beacon, which ativates one day and suddenly shes thrust into an intergalatic adventure. Turns out, Tina, our protagonist, is a cloen of a famous alien hero who was left on Earth and disguised as a human in order to give the universe another chance to defeat the evil. The worldbuilding was interesting but the plot itself fell flat for me. I loved how LGBTQ friendly this book was, but the characters just couldn’t hook me. Somehow I just couldn’t get invested in the story no matter how hard I tried. Hopefully this will be a better read for someone else, but it just didn’t work out for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

4/5 stars
I'm a sucker for space operas and found family, so it was obvious that I would enjoy this from the beginning. And I did enjoy it very much until the battle sequences started. To me, they felt somewhat confusing and it was hard to get a clear picture in my head of what was going on. About the relationships, it was clear that from the number of pages and the genre of the book, that they would not have space to develop properly, but even with that in mind, the main sapphic relationship (yay for the sapphic rep!) felt way too rushed. Especially when we know this book is supposed to be part of a trilogy, to me, insta love should not have been the choice here.

Keeping all of that in mind, this book is a joy to read. I was in a reading slump before I picked it up and managed to finish it in a couple of days. Charlie managed to build a whole universe that felt easy to understand yet intricately detailed and fun to get lost into. I honestly can't wait to read the next one.

<b>2.5 stars</b>

I wanted to love this book so badly! A YA Sci-fi Space Opera with a Queer romance in it? I couldn't ask for more. But unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book very much and it was a little bit of a chore to be honest. The only thing that managed to grab my attention was the relationship between Elza and Tina but that's it. It took me a while to get through it and it's probably because I didn't really care about the plot... so yeah. I'm disappointed but I'm sure you can enjoy it a lot more than me!

Victories Greater Than Death follows Tina, a young alien on Earth raised by a woman after being left to her care. Tina is actually the clone of a really important/famous heroine that died to save her people. The 'good' aliens are hoping to be able to put her memories back into Tina but things aren't going to go down like planned. There's also an evil alien called "Marrant" which means Funny in french... probably because he likes to laugh while killing people.


<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

I liked this book a lot! I thought the world building was a bit difficult to understand and took issue with some of the pacing. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and connected a lot with the characters.

I haven't read all that many science fiction novels (at least not compared to fantasy), but I'm liking the genre more and more, especially if it is queer! Victories Greater Than Death seemed like the perfect fit for me - thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me an ARC!

The story is about Tina, who was raised on earth as a human. But she knows that she is actually the clone of a famous general from an intergalactic fleet and that she will one day step into her legacy. When that happens, though, things do not work out as they were planned and Tina is suddenly in the middle of a war that threatens not only her life and the ones of those she loves, but also the peace of the entire galaxy.

I really liked the writing style! Tina is a funny teenager and doesn't even come off as arrogant (even though I think she's supposed to be entitled). I liked that even though the plot references the chosen one-trope, it has the twist that Tina knew about her destiny from the start. That's very refreshing and made the transition into space a lot easier.

This book offers awesome friendships and relationships and action packed scenes full of heroism (that Tina desperately strives to replicate) and suspense. I just sometimes had problems with the pacing, because a lot of the build-up for intense scenes is skipped for the favor of throwing the reader in-medias-res multiple times. This threw me off while I was reading, even though I appreciate that there are no parts that were boring to read as a consequence.

The story looks at deeper themes of belonging and choosing a future for yourself, while also considering the intricate systems of good and evil, right and wrong. I loved how Tina defends her side, which is supposed to be the good one, but is then confronted with knowledge that they are not in fact perfect.

The resolution is great, even if the last chapter opens up a new threat as preparation for a sequel, which is technically a cliffhanger. I don't mind, though, and am very curious to see what else is in store for the characters.

I would recommend this novel to any science fiction fans (especially those of Becky Chambers and the Aurora Rising trilogy) and anyone who likes to read about found family and epic space battles!

Delightfully strange and lovely. Anders is great. I enjoyed this book immensely. Their other books are great too.

Really astonishing work, revitalising the genre. I dislike the phrase ‘unputdownable’, but I found myself entirely unable to put it down.

Tina is the reincarnation of one of the greatest military commanders ever, she’s been cloned and left of Earth because no one would think to check on the world of such a backwards civilisation. From a young age she has been told that she is destined for great things, being raised to be aware of those around her but also be ready to leave at short notice. When she is finally summoned to fulfill her destiny, she knows things are going to change for her drastically. If only she could remember her past.

First things first. This novel normalises introduction with pronouns! As in ‘my name is Tash. My pronoun is she/her’ and I am ALL FOR THIS MOVEMENT. In a word where gender is being more fluid and people are becoming more aware, this would be a massive step forward. Do you identify as the gender you were assigned at birth? Yes? Well then this wouldn’t be a thing for you. For those who don’t, this book is part of the revolution and even if you hate fantasy novels, you should love this one. But I digress. It normalises the discussion of gender and I love it.

Next up, there are aliens. Some are nice, some are not. Some are what I can only interpret as a speaking 3 legged spider thing that can’t comprehend binary choices. Also, there’s some dude with weird tubes coming off him and while I was confused, I am also intrigued. For the most part everyone kind of gets along because what’s the point of fighting about nothing, am I right? What I’m getting at is that’s it super imaginative but also has that basis in that aliens aren’t necessary evil, its about choices and politics.

Now I mentioned politics. And this is a very political book. But also, not at the same time. It kind of depends on if you are the type of reader to ‘read into things’ or if you are a ‘oooh aliens and strange things happening. Wow something exploded!’ type person. At its heart, it discusses racism, the debate around gender identity and stigmatisation that occurs within our society. But it also has explosions, strange creatures, and some epic space fantasy elements – it will float most people’s boats.

I will say here though that at places it was hard to follow. I found myself phasing out because it didn’t catch my attention like it should have. I also had issues following the actual plot; I don’t know if I missed things in my read through, if there is actually plot holes or if stuff has changed since the advance copy, I received was sent but it felt super slow in parts.

I also really wish that the ‘big conflict’ scenes had have been drawn out rather than only taking a few pages to happen. This book has a lot of floating through space learning things and not as much action as one would expect from this sort of publication. To be fair though, I am reading so many books lately, that a super high amount of action has become my norm (this is a me problem, not necessarily a book problem.

So ill wind up here. It’s a punchy, relatively fast paced novel about teens and all the trouble they can get into in space when they are ‘the chosen one’. The villain in this was a little full of himself and honestly, I just wanted to shove a sock in his mouth so he would stop talking. Character development was fairly steady with the novel finishing up as Tina becomes more herself. There’s a cute romance that comes in near the end that I am all here for. Also, many many political discussions that you will notice if you are paying attention, if not its just a kind of kickarse fantasy.

I love Charlie Jane Anders work generally, so I was really happy to get a chance to read this. However, it ended up being not so much for me. I think it's a good story and very fun, but everything felt very easy as it is. Like, nothing was worked for. A lot of the transitions were jarring and I just didn't quite vibe with style. I'm really glad that kids get something like this to read, but it wasn't quite the right fit for me.

DNF at 48%
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the e-ARC

Unfortunately I went into this book with high expectations because I've heard how great the author's other work is and how beautiful prose is but this ain't it. I feel like the writing was extremely dumbed down. And honestly I've been reading YA for YEARS and for something with a 17 year old main character I felt like I was reading a book written for middle grade even.

I also just feel like everything was too convenient and kind of lazy writing. The main character conveniently has all the knowledge of a super awesome captain and knows how to work a spaceship and etc because she was cloned from her just "unlocked".

I'm in the minority so far it feels and with science fiction as my favorite genre I'm apparently a bit hard on it. But try it for yourself maybe you'll like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates for the ebook ARC of Victories Greater than Death

When I first started this book I was so excited and I even thought that it would be a 5 star read for me. At about the halfway point I think is when I started feeling meh about it. Maybe if the plot moved faster or if there were more real-life encounters with the villain, it would have punched it up a bit more. There were so many side characters to be honest that it was hard to keep track of everyone and everything about each one. I would have liked less side characters and more information about them and their alien race. Towards the end, it got better again and it ended with a cliffhanger so of course, I'll read the next one to find out what happens. Just hoping the next one is more exciting or explains more about the various alien races.

4/5 Stars. Thank you to Macmillan and netgalley for sending me this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I quite enjoyed this book the aliens and humanoids working against each other was a very interesting concept I don’t see much in books. I loved the diversity of the characters and how lots of them were from different worlds and planets. The battle scenes were well written and made this book very interesting and engaging for the audience. I think most sci fi readers would enjoy.

DNF @ 52%. This was one of my most anticipated YA releases of 2021 and perhaps those expectations contributed, but I just couldn’t gel with this novel. I did appreciate the diversity and I sincerely think this might still be a great read for a younger teen audience (13-15ish). However, between a disbelief in the initial premise and setup, a lack of characterization in favor of myriad descriptions of random alien races, and taking away the action and space oriented parts of sci-fi I typically enjoy, this wasn’t the novel for me.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Tor/Forge for getting me an e-book ARC of "Victories Greater Than Death". This have in no way or form effected my review

"Victories Greater Than Death" by Charlie Jane Anders is a book I desperately wanted to love, but didn't.

Don't get me wrong, it was a fun and wild ride, and I don't regret reading it at all. I think the problem lies in me having very high hopes going in, and that unfortunately resulted in me finishing the book with a feeling of wanting a lot more than I got.

Because I love the premise of the story, I love the world(universe?)building and the motifs of found family.
This book is also deliciously queernormative, and I was here for every second of it.
I mean, the translation device that let the earthlings understand each other and everyone else makes sure to include the person's pronouns (or lack thereof) when they introduce themselves, for example - and yes, this included the story's antagonist as well.

I genuinely think that a lot of the problems I had with the book boils down to it feeling crammed. It felt like the text had started out as the double amount of pages, and it could definitely have used that. The narrative choices of what to prioritize also confused me. It felt like a lot of characters were used in giving the reader information of various aliens and their homeworlds - which was cool, but did nothing to move the plot forward. At the same time, a lot of plot points was rushed through or skipped over, to a degree where it became frustrating. When reading a YA scifi I want to read about the action, not having a chapter end in "I'm going on a mission", only for the next chapter to begin at the end of said mission (or even after it)
Because of this, it felt like there were no real build up to the story's main events, which in turn made the pacing seem slow.
It was almost surreal in feeling that it was slow, considering that a lot of things were constantly going on, but that was unfortunately the consequence of so much being skipped over.

I would still recommend this book to anyone enjoying YA scifi, and, based on the opinions expressed in the narration, Charlie Jane Anders seems like a lovely person.
Unfortunately I just wished for more.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of a review. All opinions my own.

Long story short: this is an amazing book. There. I’ve said it. It has everything I've wanted and more and I cannot wait for it to come out, go back to work, and throw it one into everyone’s hands because its what it deserves.

To be honest, there wasn’t anything in the book that I disliked, nor any weak points. I fell in love with the characters. They are diverse, charismatic and relatable. It’s easy to see yourself reflected in them, or at least, in some of them due to their struggles and personalities being fundamentally human. Even the more alien characters are relatable! It made me so happy that the introductions included names and pronouns. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, CONSENT IS IMPORTANT. I absolutely loved how characters discussed this, because it’s something I don’t get to see often but it's so damn important that I’m delighted it’s getting more representation. A big thumbs up for the author.

I enjoyed this adventure so much mainly because I specially enjoy when authors use science fiction to dig deep into human ethics, responsibilities and perspectives. The writing is amazing and you can feel the passion on it. It’s fast paced but that does not dilute the plot, as a matter of fact, I found it very easy to read, as I was absolutely looking forward to the way it was going to develop. It felt like those kind of books where you’re not so much invested on the ending itself but everything that happens towards the road that’s gonna lead you there. For me, it has the perfect balance between action packed, rich background, dreadful villains and real characters.

If you have read any of her other books, marketed towards a more adult public, you may notice, as I have, how this one was more marketed towards YA as a genre. By no means I’m saying this as a negative thing about the book, as I have thoroughly enjoyed it as it is, but if you dive into this book expecting the same as in her adult marketed books, you will find some style differences. I adored her adult characters as much as her more teenage ones, but they have different approaches from the fiction.

After reading this book, Anders has now a consolidated permanent seat in my “I will read absolutely everything” shelf. And let me tell you, so should you. I cannot wait for the rest of the series to come out!

I appreciated the diverse characters, the use of pronouns, and the friendship between the girls. I have read scenes of forced kisses or touches in YA novels, so it was refreshing that Anders' characters had a habit of asking for consent. Overall, this was a solid book and I'm looking forward to more YA novels by this author.

Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders is full of exciting, galaxy-hopping action, fantastic diversity, and honest characters. It starts off a little slow, but once Tina hits space, the book explodes with interesting aliens, technology, and an intergalactic war with Tina and her friends caught in the thick of it.

It’s obvious that Anders spent a lot of time developing this universe. All of the alien species had unique traits and I particularly enjoyed the various greetings that characters would exchange and how those greetings changed depending on the situation. I LOVED that the universal translator introduced characters by their name and preferred pronoun. The human teenagers came from a variety of backgrounds and were diverse, smart, and flawed; and Anders didn’t shy away from serious issues like anxiety, depression, and abuse. These characters felt like real teenagers to me and I was rooting for them the whole time.

One of the highlights of the book for me was how Tina struggles with the weight of her destiny, being a clone of an intergalactic hero, especially when recalling the memories of her former life fails. I love that Tina must work to discover who she is as a person, not a clone, and how she fits into this war and universe.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book and look forward to joining Tina and her friends on their next adventure! I would recommend this for anyone who loves a good space adventure, found family, and fantastic character diversity.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tom Doherty Associates for a copy of the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I loved absolutely everything about Victories Greater Than Death. I'll even admit that I geeked out once I got the actual book from NetGalley. It also doesn't hurt that each and every character was so god damn lovable either. I mean, even the ones I met for like two seconds some how wormed their way into my heart.

In it you will meet Tina and find out that she's a clone of some amazing Captain that sacrificed herself to save a bunch of people. So just to have that much weight on the top of her shoulders.. well she just doesn't know what to do with her life. Then again, she knew that she was not from Earth and that some day she would have to leave the planet she grew up on.

Other than that, you will meet a bunch of different characters. The diversity was insane and the one thing that made me so damn proud/happy was that they would state their name AND then their pronoun. This just made the book unique in my eyes because we don't always get that and it's kind of like a huge guessing game (that everyone will fail).

After meeting everyone, they were on a wild ass ride/adventure. Honestly, so much happened and it was a lot of fun to read all about it. Besides the adventure, this book dives into so many topics that are real and make you pay attention to every little thing that is happening. Again, I loved it all and I'm so happy that I got the chance to dive into this.

In the end, that cliffhanger just about killed me. Waiting will be the death of me but I seriously need the next book STAT!