This book will open the minds of younger readers a bit more and blow up any millennial or older will love it. Cowboy Bepop indeed and dare I say, better!

In Persephone Station, Stina Leicht portrays a lawless and violent future world in a story that is led by female and non-binary characters throughout. The planet Brynner is inhospitable to humans, run by crime families and supported by mercenaries and the Serrao-Orlov corporation. Captain Angel de la Raza and her crew are mercs working for “Rosie” Rosencrantz, who owns a bar, manages a crime family, and has an agenda which is entirely unrelated to the humans on the planet. Angel and her crew get drawn into a larger battle between a representative from Serrao-Orlov and the original (and previously unknown to Angel) inhabitants of Brynner. The book includes elements of not only the Wild West, but also technological ethics and sentient AIs (I’m loving this trend in books right now), motherhood, the roles of mercenaries and proprietary technology. I’m sure I’ve missed some themes, but these stand out. The world was unique and the main characters were interesting. The three main characters show depth and development throughout, but there’s also room left at the end for a sequel.

4/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: sci-fi, crime rings, soft-hearted mercenaries, multiple POVs, kickass women, aliens, AI, space operas, LGBTQ+

This book has such a good premise and it does, by and large, deliver. You've got a hostile planet, mercenaries, honor, aliens (and the question of who is actually an alien), and the powerful antagonist. It does come across a bit differently than I'd been expecting, but I found myself enjoying it and was sucked into the world and the characters. The book isn't predictable, though there are a few moments where it is, but again, by and large, the twists were well projected without being predictable.

Somethings I will say is that the beginning is a bit messy, the ending was kind of 'eh,' and I would've liked a bit more of an explanation for some things. For the beginning, Leicht introduces a bunch of characters and narrators within the first few chapters and it was difficult to get a feel for who everyone was and which narrator was talking. It got better after the first 5-6 chapters, but that beginning did make it difficult to attach to any of the characters due to skipping heads. Also, on a related note, the book is kind of slow for the first 30% or so. The ending was decent enough, I do think that it was a little too easy to get one over on a certain AI, but my main problem with the ending is the deus ex machina bit we had with the ship at the end. Other than those things, I thought the book was pretty good. Like another reviewer, I did think there would be a sequel, which I think would be awesome, but it did wrap up in a way that doesn't really require one.

Angel de la Reza is the main character and the captain of the mercenary team. She has a bit of an interesting tug-and-pull between honor and duty, where she was raised with a rather strict sense of honor but also works as a mercenary for hire, which doesn't always align with those senses. Regardless, she does her job well and is loyal to her boss, Rosie, and to her friends, Lou and Enid. She's relatively no-nonsense while still being funny, which turned out to be a nice combination, particularly when paired with the rest of her crew and the general weirdness of their mission. I definitely liked her narrative chapters the most, which is probably good since she is the main narrator.

Rosie is one of the other narrators, though even seeing into their head it's hard to get a read on them. For the most part they seem to be going for the humane, 'right side' of things, though they are (potentially) a crime boss, so they do veer into questionable territory a couple of times. I also liked Rosie as a character, except for that one scene I already referenced in the second spoiler above, and was intrigued about their story. I also liked their cat, I thought that was a nice, cute touch. I think it could be interesting to get a prequel story focusing on Rosie (and, okay, fine, maybe also Vissinia, but I found her a good deal less interesting).

Kennedy is the last narrator and is another one I'd be happy to see a book about, prequel or sequel. Kennedy Liu is the daughter of the famed Dr. Liu, who worked in AI and xenobiology. Kennedy makes an interesting character because she's an AI in a lab-made human body (not a spoiler), and thus is constantly connected to the rest of the internet and her AI sisters (with whom I believe she trades body time with). She and her sisters are the first (?) AIs with emotion and so she has this interesting balance of straight analytical logic and deep-seated empathy. One of my favorite combinations of this is her running numbers in her head as a self-soothing technique; it's definitely something a computer would do, but the motivation behind it is so entirely human, I though Leicht did a fantastic job balancing the two.

Lou is a non-narrating main character and pilot with Angel's crew. She definitely acts as comedic relief while still being sensible and useful. I think Lou was definitely the funniest of the characters, she's got such a 'fuck-all' attitude about things, but is rather hard core about the things she does want to care about. She's supportive of her friends, but still willing to call them out on their BS.

Enid is sort of a member of Angel's crew as well. She has her own ship and the two of them work together on occasion, though she's not officially a member of Angel's team on Persephone. Enid is the kind of character who is largely grumpy, but in a way that comes across as light and humorous rather than annoying. Very much like the friend who is Not A Morning Person. Her main running plot is that she has a secret that she is, at first, unwilling to share but then the group keeps getting into situations where it's rather inconvenient to be doing any kind of non-topic-related sharing. I liked her a lot and though Leicht did a good job subtly showing her contamination-based OCD without falling into typical tropes.

The Emissaries were interesting, even if their tactics were sometimes frustrating. I, of course, am a sucker for hidden cities and people. Blame The City of Ember , it was a formative influence. While it seemed like they could've circumvented their problem re: Vissinia sooner by simply doing what they ended up doing at the end of the book, I also understand why they chose not to and think Leicht did an okay job integrating that 'but logic says...' with the Emissaries' reasoning. I will say, though, that this part of the plot did feel kind of messy, but perhaps since Angel and co. are mercenaries, it isn't meant to feel too personal/informative and that stuff was all supposed to come from Rosie, which it did for the most part.

Overall I think Persephone Station is a good book, particularly once you get past those first several head-hopping chapters. The characters were all well-rounded and there are a couple I'd like to see more of in Leicht ever decides to write another book in this universe.

With only one week I didn't have time to get through the whole book. The story seemed interesting and unique but I think it just may have attempted to include a bit too much. I connected with the characters but there was just so much going on in the beginning that I didn't see a lot of connections between certain scenes and the rest of what I read.

Did not finish. Too much simplistic exposition. Did not care for characters. Felt like hours of reading took me to 22% of total. Life is too short...move on.

Pretty good, some military/small unit action, diverse cast of characters, and some interesting aliens. It didn't seem to be set up for a sequel but I'd probably read one.

Oh my goodness was this dull and trite, and no amount of cute literary or pop culture jokes (like a character name Jeremy Brett and so many more) was going to help it. What we have here is a space opera that includes every trope and character type including the kitchen sink all packed into what I think the author wanted to be a fast and catchy romp. But it's dragged down by all of the extraneous references and stock characters, and there's not enough originality to get it off the ground.

Persephone Station is the upcoming science fiction novel by multi-award-nominated sci-fi and fantasy author Stina Leicht (The Fay and the Fallen, The Malorum Gates). The novel tells the story of a band of mercenaries hired by a friend to a protect an indigenous village from the greedy interplanetary Serrao-Orlov Corporation. Serrao-Orlov has just purchased the planet Persephone on the outskirts of the United Republic of Worlds and seeks to profit from a secret scientific development that could change human life forever with dire consequences for everyone except the richest humans. But the secret is known only to the indigenes, the Emissaries in Ogenth, Persephone’s perilous frontier. Serrao-Orlov will destroy everything to exploit this secret. Angel and her band of misfit mercenaries must stop them.

Persephone StationAngel’s friend Rosie is the owner of Monk’s Bar, a seedy hangout for mercenaries and other lowlifes in the corporate-run town of West Brynner on Persephone. Rosie has a special tie to the planet’s indigenous people—they saved her when she was a small child of Catholic missionaries who were trying to convert the indigenous population to their religion. When Rosie finds out that Serrao-Orlov is determined to exploit the Emissaries at any cost, she hires Angel and her band to protect Ogenth. Angel has fallen on hard times since her career as a space marine ended. And because she has just been framed for the assassination of a powerful corporate leader and needs to get out of town quick, she gathers her team of assassins and oddballs and heads out to Ogenth in her spaceship, Kurosawa.

Like many excellent novels, and like Stephen King recommends in his book On Writing, the fight to save Ogenth from Serrao-Orlov is smashed together with another main plot—the emergence of artificial intelligence in human bodies. Artificial intelligence of at least two kinds is already widely employed in the United Republic of World, including in the spaceship Kurosawa and in Angel’s combat assistant, a function of her battle suit that enhances her ability to produce adrenaline and whatnot. But transferring artificial intelligence to humans could present extraordinary challenges to human life. After she is framed for the assassination, Angel runs into mysterious off-world stranger, Kennedy Liu, who just might hold the key to stopping the proliferation of this dangerous technology. Ultimately, the two plots converge on Persephone Station, a floating space station above the planet.

Persephone Station has everything a grimdark fan could want in a science fiction novel. The characters are outcasts, heavily armed and highly flawed. They face a powerful force on a suicide mission against all odds. Though the main characters are undoubtedly on the side of good in this novel, they are assassins and mercenaries who take the job for the money and for their friend. They fight with spaceships and mech suits and rail guns and pulse rifles and bombs and all kinds of good stuff. People get injured and killed. The settings are grim and perilous. The action is tense and fast, extremely interesting, logical, and vivid.

The one thing Persephone Station doesn’t have, though, is men. Similar to Kameron Hurley’s fantastic Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, all the main characters in Persephone Station are women, and the novel is billed as feminist science fiction. Hold on, dudes, don’t go anywhere. For me, an old man (and a feminist—women should be treated as equals), this did not lessen my enjoyment of the novel at all. These women kick ass. And unlike Hurley’s excellent novels in which there is a clear reason why there are no men around—they are conscripted to battle for life essentially—there is no such clear explanation here. These are just some tough assassins and mercs. Angel is an ex-marine who has purchased Kurosawa with money she made as a merc. Her would-be lover best friend, Sukyi, is from Earth, Nigeria specifically, which has fallen victim to a plague that Sukyi carries around with her, knowing she does not have long to live. She likes to blow things up. Lou is the adrenalin-addicted pilot of the Kurosawa. She cannot get enough of the fight, and surprisingly, she has a boyfriend. Enid is a dry, taciturn, top-notch assassin. All these characters have secrets that will out, and Leicht handles them and their relationships beautifully, creating an emotionally gripping backdrop to the furiously fast-paced adventure.

Persephone Station is a bit of mashup of grimdark fighting fiction, space opera, and cyberpunk. It has just enough science to bring it to life without distracting from the characters and their relationships and is loaded with many interesting subplots that come together to create a very entertaining story with depth and complexity even if it is not mind-blowingly original. Leicht’s prose is crystal clear and unpretentious. And although the pace of the novel is almost recklessly fast, the book is long enough at 512 pages to be truly immersive. Fans of gritty, grimdark space opera and science fiction should enjoy it. Fans of female-centred (feminist, if you insist) SFF should definitely give it a read. Though there are many, many more female protagonists and antagonists in SFF now (as you can see from Grimdark Magazine’s top fantasy novels of 2019 list) than there were when I started reading the genre, it is still male-dominated, especially on the sci-fi side. Give this one a go for a fun read.

Persephone Station is scheduled to be released by Saga Press on 5 January 2021.

A really tremendously good book. All the best parts of Leverage, Firefly, and the Mandalorian, but more queer than all of them combined. I also really appreciate a book confident enough to be a standalone. Series can be great, trilogies can be great, but not every story needs to be ongoing (and too many authors use it as an excuse to tell half a story). This book is *whole,* and that's rare enough to be worth commenting on. I'll definitely read a follow up if one arrives, but barring that, I'm adding this author directly to my "sight unseen" reading list. Whatever she writes next, I'm there for it.

This was a fun science-fiction read. From the creative alien races, the western/noir-esque intrigue, and the mech and spaceship battles, this book has it all for anyone who enjoys a classic-feeling science fiction adventure!
Persephone Station was a fantastic read. Described as a space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Beebop, Stina Leicht does a great job in creating characters who are so different mentally and physically from each other but each have their strengths, their fears, their traits that make them who they are as people/beings.

This is such a cool book. I’m so glad I picked it up off of Netgalley. I’d really been in the mood for a space epic and this book totally delivered. The plot was interesting and intense, the worldbuilding was complex and intriguing, and the characters were well created. It’s also a super queer story. There are lots of queer characters—gay, lesbian, bisexual, non-binary rep. Rosie was my favorite because they were so badass and cool. The alien characters were well thought out and had a believable culture. This book just ticked a lot of boxes for me and I’d highly suggest it.

A little bit about me: my cat is named Persephone. That probably tells you enough to guess why I picked up this book. I have always enjoyed Greek mythology, and fairy tale/mythological retellings are one of my absolute favorite sub genres. This book isn’t what I expected from the title (should have read the blurb!) but that is ok! Because, you know what? It is amazing all on its own.

If you like space operas (I do), this book is for you.

If you like stories that feature diverse characters of all gene sets and sexualities (I do), this book is for you.

If you like creative, in-depth worldbuilding (I do), this book is for you.

This was a fun science-fiction read. From the creative alien races, the western/noir-esque intrigue, and the mech and spaceship battles, this book has it all for anyone who enjoys a classic-feeling science fiction adventure! The story was good, the pacing and character depth was adequate, but overall I am glad I read this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was damn cool, you guys. My eye was initially drawn to its cover, and then my heart was stolen by the description, and then my brain and body were stolen by the words inside of it. The worldbuilding was INSANE AND DOPE AS HELL. The representation and diversity of the characters was brilliant! I had *so many feelings the whole time.*
If anything, I wished at times that it could’ve been a bit shorter, and I’m really honestly sad that it’s a stand-alone novel, but as far as everything else goes, this is a completely badass space opera that makes you care about EVERYONE. And that’s that on that.

I had a good time with this book! It was decently paced for the most part, though there were some slower sections in the beginning. Of course, there were also some action packed, exciting ship/mecha battles, so we do get more intense moments. I enjoyed the overall plot and can definitely see the comparison to The Mandalorian in that people are (perhaps reluctantly) trying to do the honorable thing and protect others. There were some fantastic plot threats with AI that I really liked. I could have used even more time spent on this! I do feel pretty satisfied overall with this story being a standalone.

The characters are great here! We have lots of badass women and non-binary characters. Everyone felt pretty distinct to me. I loved learning more about Rosie's background! Angel and her crew are fabulous. Some, if not all, are former marines, so we do learn about some (essentially) resurrection technology that exists. I thought the presumable strain of going through this process was reflected in our characters. I also liked that even though there's not necessarily a guarantee of coming back, they still fight for what's right.

We have some very intriguing alien races here that communicate through scent. I thought this was awesome, and I really liked some of the animals we get to see on the planet! As I mentioned above, we also have AI. This AI has feelings, so there was some fabulous plot threads here. I feel like these elements make you think about what it really means to be "human."

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 20:53-23:56 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AsFLmyEgmo

If you love science fiction, Persephone Station is for you! The writing and the world building were exactly what I needed without knowing it! I really enjoyed the characters and their group through the book. Eagerly awaiting for from Stina Leicht

This book was definitely very interesting. The writing was good and I loved reading about the characters, the setting itself was interesting to read about as well. It's a book that I wish there was more of.

I quite enjoyed this! Overall, thought it could be a bit shorter but enjoyed it nonetheless. Really appreciated a future that had a lot of gender diversity as well. Plus, that cover! *heart eyes* A riveting standalone sci-fi adventure with a feminist bent. Excited to see what Leicht does next.

Thank you to Saga Press for an advanced copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start? This book has everything my heart desires: LGBT+ representation, non-binary characters, badass females in leadership roles, space, Artificial Intelligence, found family, political intrigue, underdogs in a seemingly futile battle, rebellion against avarice and greed, morally grey characters and redemption! It’s a WINNER!!

Billed as a space opera for lovers of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop it lives up to those. I would also add anyone who likes Firefly, fans of Imperator Furiosa of Mad Max: Fury Road fame and Ripley of the Alien moves.

Our main character, Angel, is an ex-marine and captain of the ship Kurosawa. She leads a small band of misfit pilots, assassins, snipers and washed up con-artists. Together they are for hire to the more exclusive criminal elements of the town of West Brynner, a lawless outpost that runs mainly on organized crime. Angel’s main employer is Rosie, the classy owner of Monk’s bar. Monk’s is the front for Rosie’s underworld empire. Involved in a job gone bad, Angel and her crew find themselves at the mercy of Rosie to get them safely out of town. Where they end up is not only mysterious and shocking to the crew, but also puts them in even more hot water. The outcome is a do or die mission that changes everything for our merry band of misfits and has planetary wide consequences.

In all, this story is beautifully written. Leicht has immense talent setting a tone and describing non-existent worlds and people. You feel immersed in this new, foreign world and can identify with the flawed nature of its characters.

The story was a wild ride, it had me hooked from the beginning and it emotionally invested me in the outcome. I would definitely recommend this book to science fiction fans and also anyone who likes a good underdog story.

Wow I couldn’t put this down. World building and character development was amazing. Plot was action packed and I never felt bored or distracted while reading it. I can’t wait to get a hard copy of this book when it comes out!