I don’t often read military sci-fi, but this was such an intriguing story, I’m glad I took a chance on it. I was immediately drawn into the story, eager to learn more about this world and these characters, whether human, alien, or AI. Even the ships have interesting personalities. The plot offers plenty of action and excitement, but mostly I just wanted to spend time with these characters. It was wonderful to see so many strong female and nonbinary characters, each principled, quirky, and amazing in their own way.

I love Stina Leicht’s writing. Her dialog is amusing yet feels realistic. She is so descriptive, it was easy for me to imagine myself in each scene. As an example, here’s the first part of her description of a pilot’s apartment: “The interior of Lou’s apartment was a cross between an explosion in a vintage clothing store for well-traveled music fans and a decommissioned military-equipment depot. It smelled of day-old pizza and heavy-duty axle grease.”

My only frustration with this book is that, after so much time spent in the big fight, the story wraps up too quickly without nearly as much detail about what happens to the characters as I would have liked. I am hoping the author will write more about this world and these characters.

Be aware that this book contains many scenes of violence and frequent swearing, as you would expect in a book featuring former military personnel in a combat situation. Animals, children, and characters you care about may die.

Thanks to Gallery Books and Saga Press for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley, which I volunteered to review.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Release date: 5 January 2021
Publisher: Saga/Gallery
# of Pages: 512
Do I recommend it: I don’t not?
Persephone Station is a standalone science fiction novel by Stina Leicht. The eponymous setting is a planet with a human settlement. However, there is an indigenous community of “aliens” called Emissaries that most humans don’t know about. An exception to this rule is the Serrao-Orlov corporation, who has been exploiting the planet and this particular population’s special technology for years. Corporations gotta corporation. Meanwhile, the humans aren’t exactly immune to corporation bullshit. The reader follows three main point of view characters: Angel de la Reza (a mercenary starship captain), Rosie (a crime boss), and Kennedy (an AI who lives in a human body). Sooner or later, they all get embroiled in this corporation’s bullshit, and decide to use their various skills to protect the indigenous population and make sure that the corporation can’t come back.

There were elements of this book I liked. I think there were about three named male characters who didn’t start off the story dead. One of the point of view characters (Rosie) is nonbinary, and the whole world treats being queer as if it’s no big deal. Additionally, books that treat corporations as essentially evil organizations are never wrong.

However, I found that the parts didn’t make for a satisfactory whole. Persephone Station was 512 pages long, but it wasn’t exactly jam-packed with plot or with character development. It also didn’t have a main point of view from any of the indigenous “aliens,” which could have improved the reader’s perspective on the crisis. I probably just didn’t vibe with it, but it feels so ephemeral, even though I just finished it like an hour ago (as of this writing).

Leicht technically leaves the door open for a sequel, but there are few novels that you can say don’t. However, expanding the universe found in Persephone Station may actually improve it.

I received this title from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If you want, you can buy Persephone Station from Bookshop or your local bookstore.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here for violence? This book will deliver. Here for transgender, female, power? This book has it. Here for a cast that is as varied as the real world we live in, both in race and sexuality or, in relationships and circumstances? You will get it here.

At first, yes it was a little hard to follow. There was crazy amount of information regarding each character and their background, and then too little information on the world around them or AI. The balance sometimes had be turning back a few pages to see if I misunderstood the information. The characters, and how hard they kick ass, is what drives the story though. Their relationship isn't that hard-to-believe-because-they're-BFF that some all-female cast stories are guilty of, but varied from a distrustful friendship, to lovers, to unbreakable friendships. They feel real, and I'll miss them all.

I think my main issue with this novel is that there is not enough time spent on worldbuilding. The novel started out with so much promise, but quickly had me feeling lost and confused. There is no real clue when exactly in the future this story takes place. Despite being set on an alien planet, there are far too many similarities to Earth, that I feel like you could just replace Persephone with Earth and nothing would feel too alien or out of place. There were no unique aspects to the world, other than one alien race and an alien species. This novel also needed a lot more character building. The only introduction we get to who these characters really are, is when one character does an informational background check, and this information is relayed to the reader. This style of character building just didn't give me enough to really care about these characters, and the one character I found myself interested in had the least amount of screen time. While this novel had so much promise before I started, I felt rather disappointed by the conclusion which is a shame because it has a strong storyline but could have just used more finesse in its construction.

Thanks to Gallery/Saga Press for an advance NetGalley of this title, which is coming out tomorrow--Jan 5, 2021--

I haven't been to a seedy dive in almost a year due to the pandemic, so I'm a bit nostalgic for a place like Monk's Bar. Monk's is run by Rosie--a confident crime boss and nonbinary badass--and is located on the nondescript planet Persephone Station. Then the Serrao-Orlov Corporation moves in, and more and more of the planet becomes a company town. Behind the scenes, Rosie runs a back bar at Monk's, where criminals can be hired out for less than legal contract jobs.

Angel is one of these criminals--an exiled former soldier in a horrifying unit, where deceased troops are "revivified," or brought back to life, to continue fighting. Now, she runs an all-female squad of outcasts, including the charismatic pilot Lou; the steely sniper Enid; and the dangerous mercenary Sukyi, who will take care of dirty work for good pay. But when Rosie hires the team for an important job, they end up getting way more than they bargained for: turns out, the Serrao-Orlov Corp has been lying about their reasons for investing in the planet, and many things Angel and her group believe about Persephone Station are complete lies. Throw in a powerful sentient AI occupying a vat-grown body, a shapeshifting nonviolent indigenous species that communicates through scent, a ruthless company head who will go to extreme lengths to get what she wants, and fight scenes between human-operated mechs and alien bears, and you have the fun adventure-and-action-packed read that is Stina Leicht's Persephone Station.

Leicht's book is not only a blast, but it takes a hard look at serious questions (How far would you go to save your child? How far would you go to lengthen your life span?) and themes (the consequences of the technological singularity and the ravages of colonialism). Besides some awkwardness managing dialogue/dialogue tags among so many characters, I really enjoyed this science fiction novel for its diverse inclusivity and smart storytelling. Plus, that Tomer Hanuka cover art is gorgeous.

3.5

This gay-friendly "gals with guns" space opera hangs on a fast-paced plot that is currently pretty popular in the SF field, the evil corporations masking their power grabs as AI entities explore various ways of being sentient. Add in mostly female characters, with non-binary ones present and up front, and jack up the pacing all the way to the poignant resolution.

The narrative, with its fast pace, also brings home how much the English language is lagging behind social evolution: specifically the use of "They" for non-binary characters. The problem isn't the pronoun so much as the verbs around it, specifically the plural. I found myself thrown out of the story frequently when I couldn't figure out who, or how many, given pronouns were modifying.

It's still a fun read, and I really enjoyed most of the action parts handed to females. Woo!

The thing about Stina Leicht's latest novel, Persephone Station, is that it's remarkable not for what it does but for what it is. The story itself is bog standard: a ragtag group of misfits is hired to defend an outpost of innocents against a group of corporate marauders whose vengeful leader has complicated reasons for the attack. In space! There are a few interesting twists and turns, but the pacing served to kill all suspense for me as we rocketed along to the ending. It's a perfectly serviceable, perfectly fine space Western/opera with several cool but hardly groundbreaking ideas about sentience and aliens and what the future might look like.

What sets PS apart from the rest of its sci-fi brethren tho is how the vast majority of characters are female or nonbinary. It's not merely a gender swapped sort of story, tho it certainly prompts the reader to consider how men are usually the default in, not just books like these, but most adventure stories. Each woman or nonbinary person is a whole character with an agenda, back story and motivations that make sense for them, and they're created with such a decisive female-centered gaze that you almost forget most books aren't like this. It's really weirdly refreshing. It's not that the gender roles are reversed, or that men are diminished or nonexistent: it's just a tale of female and nonbinary adventurers fighting and/or protecting each other, kicking ass and taking names. Men exist in this universe, but in this tale, they're supporting characters who are peripheral to the storylines, as Ms Leicht deliberately focuses on everyone else.

I'm not saying that this is the kind of book I want to read all the time, but I did enjoy how quietly subversive it is for a space Western/opera to remind readers that you don't need guys to make for an interesting story. It's okay to not have guys be a motivator or otherwise important part of a narrative, fictional or otherwise. It's okay for them to shush so that everyone else gets a turn to be the hero or bad guy or best friend or secretive boss. Even the male love interests are only on for a few pages so we can get back to the meat of the story. And it's all dealt with so matter-of-factly that you probably wouldn't even notice how few guys there are till the end, and you likely wouldn't care.

PS is a nice way to reset one's reading in this new year of 2021, to gently expand your frame of reference to include women and nonbinary people as capable of playing all roles in a story. Bonus for that story being a rollicking space opera, hardly the most female-dominated field.

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht will be published tomorrow January 5th, 2021 by Saga Press and is available for pre-order from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781534414587">Bookshop!</a> Want it now? For the Kindle version, <a href="https://amzn.to/3rEGHOK">click here</a>.

I haven't read as much of Leicht's work as I would like, but I made sure to read this pretty soon after getting the DRC. I'm glad I did - it's an imaginative take on space opera, featuring interesting and engaging characters and a cool SF setting. It did take me a little while to get situated and familiar with the setting, but a little perseverance pays off. The blurb compared it to The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop, which I can kind of see and agree with.

Persephone Station offers a new, interesting, and well-done take on the "backwater planet that-vs-voracious intergalactic corporation" tale. The main characters are well-drawn, readers will quickly come to care about them and their fates.

Not the smoothest entry into a series, but a very good one. I'm looking forward to reading more by the author.

A different take on the space opera format of big corporations vs the backwater planet and the interests of its inhabitants. I was reminded of some of Cherryh's writings. It did take me some time to become centered.

A Gallery Books ARC via NetGalley

I'm a little sad to be giving this book only a forward-leaning 3.5 stars.
Mainly because there is so much awesome worldbuilding in it that it seems a shame to not celebrate it more, yet I just couldn't get past the fact that it sometimes suffers from a lack of exposition for the strange world the reader is suddenly thrust into. I get slowly revealing details about the world and characters, but I constantly felt like I was supposed to have knowledge I didn't have.
Ignoring the author's apparently too high expectations when it comes to me being able to figure out elements of this unknown world on my own, there is so much to explore and enjoy about the characters and the situation they find themselves in. Angel is a great character to guide a reader through the plot because she knows some things but is almost as ignorant as the reader of others. It works perfectly in setting up explanations and plot elements. Add in the quirkiness and uniqueness of the other characters that drive the plot, and you've got yourself an empathetic storyline.
There really is a lot to enjoy here. Just come into it with a very open mind and a willingness to ignore a desire to understand how things work in this unexplained world.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the early read!

It took me a while to get into this book. I had problems with the info-dumping and confusing who was who. Once you get the characters straight the book finds its groove about half-way through. I’ve seen people compare it to The Magnificent Seven and I agree with this. I would say stick with this book for the battle scenes and the female crew.

Shades of the Mandalorian in this space opera on a far off, vaguely “old west” set story where technology exists but the power structure that makes the rules is too far away. Angel and her crew of bad ass women are brought into a fight they didn’t know about but do all they can to help.

I received an ARC for an honest review but I loved this story and would like more in this universe.

3 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

For me, this science fiction book is a miss. I just couldn't get into it. It is well-written and packed with action, but it just didn't interest me.

Persephone Station is backwater planet that the Serrao-Orlov Corporation has taken an intense interest in. The people that run the corporation know the planet's secrets, and want to exploit them. Rosie owns a bar that criminals, and those that want to hire them, come to do business. Rosie hires a group of mercenaries led by Angel to do a job for her that pits them against Serrao-Orlov Corporation. The odds are not in Angel's favor, but she will do everything she can to win.

There is very little world building or character development, which is a shame because most of the characters are female (Girl Power, yay!), and there is gay, lesbian, bisexual and non-binary characters in the book. It would have been nice to delve more into these characters before all of the fighting started. Most of the focus is on describing the surroundings and the enormous amount of fighting that goes on in the book. There is nothing wrong with a lot of action, and I like reading it. But, without fleshing out more about why the conflict is happening, and making the characters more accessible so that I want to invest in them, I had a hard time wanting to finish the book. I may be in the minority. There may be a lot of people that will like this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for the digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

PERSEPHONE STATION is a stunning feminist, divergent, Science Fiction work capably coping with issues of corporate greed, institutionalized deception, denial of indigenous sentient species, and inextricably, one of my favorite SF exploratory themes: Sentient Artificial Intelligence. Lately it seems no matter what title I choose, A.I. is present, with all the questions, concerns, hopes, and dread that poses. Author Stina Leicht delivers superbly. This is my first 2021 read, and it's a champion. I predict an Award (s) winner here!

Published on Tales to Tide You Over

The description of Persephone Station intrigued me from the start. I enjoyed both television shows listed as comparable, while the line between space opera and military science fiction is a favorite of mine. It’s strange how something that falls tightly into so many tropes can be of them and something else entirely. In this case, though, the odd fit is just about perfect.

The story blends sociological science fiction and engaging combat scenes where strategies succeed or fail based on how well the defenders guess the planned attacks. It’s feminist in a focus on consent and choice. There are non-binary characters, gay couples, and a broader spectrum of possibilities than found in tradition space opera.

I think Rosie, one of the many leading characters, sums up an underlying theme well. They point out how humans are the aliens on this planet rather than those who were there before human colonization, the word itself incorrect. The Emissaries have a problematic history even before humans set down roots. I found them fascinating both in their past and how they accommodate humans so they can remain hidden.

The description, both in content and skill, enthralled me. At points, I laughed aloud while others brought me to tears. This is neither a romp nor a tragedy, but has elements of both. Life is complicated, and the right choices don’t necessarily mean health, happiness, or even survival. It’s how you stay true to yourself that matters. At least, that’s how I read the various choices made by those I sided with.

The narrative is twisted enough for me to experience momentary doubts about some of the other characters. Angel and her team are my main characters (there are enough to choose from), and so they set the bar for the rest. I didn’t always see the bigger picture, in part because of this choice, but I always had an opinion as to how I wanted things to go. The narrative is complex enough I had concerns about the rest of those I considered good guys, making for a few tense moments, or maybe more than a few.

I read my notes once I finished, and my engagement is clear. I’m hoping the characters are playing a deep game rather than betraying my favorites. Then I am enjoying a complex conversation full of double-speak, even though I don’t trust one character as far as I can throw her. The story unfolds in the unspoken as much as the events we see. This makes it a little harder to read sometimes, but also more interesting.

The book starts at a run with a powerful scene that grounds us in the bigger situation, introduces the aliens, and gives us a villain if not the full details. It’s funny to say that because such an introduction would seem to eliminate the possibility of a complex narrative. And yet, there’s much more going on, and the reasons behind what we learn aren’t exactly what they appear to be.

I’m talking around the book because even the smallest reveal offers too much detail outside of context. What I can tell you is the characters are full fleshed. You will care about them and their concerns. The story has both philosophical passages, and detailed action scenes with neat tech and team bonding. It is a fun read on many levels.

The world is a fascinating mix between the Wild West and an almost religious philosophy. The people are equally complex, coming into this moment with histories, secrets, and connections that offer strength and weakness both. I was thoroughly engaged to the point that my notes start listing things I enjoyed and then taper off into nothing as I couldn’t step back enough to comment.

This isn’t a book for everyone. I had a little trouble following Rosie’s point of view at first because of their choice of pronouns, and the feminist philosophies are very dominant at times. The human cast is almost all female as well, which might throw some readers. If, however, you embrace the book’s reality, Persephone Station offers an energetic, fast-paced story that asks you to examine your own beliefs about personhood and limits. You’re asked to choose a side in a conflict where emotions run deep and the risks are real.

P.S. I received this Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Persephone Station is an action/adventure sci-fi tale, with enough political intrigue thrown in to lead the story down multiple paths and keep the plot interesting. Angel leads her crew of mercenaries from job to job, and everything is okay until they are accused of a murder they did not commit.

While I found the story enjoyable, I kept looking for the small bits of information that contributed scifi elements, which author Stina Leicht obligingly inserted throughout. When it came to the characters, Kennedy Liu was my favorite. Kennedy is leading a secret life as an artificial intelligence trying to pass as human. She has other secrets, ones that I found unique to the genre. Angel’s crew all have their own specialties and their personalities are distinct.

There was only one aspect that became an issue, and that was having a non-binary person (Rosie) as a supporting character who preferred the pronouns they/them. Unfortunately, jumping from a group of characters to Rosie and using the pronouns for both in the same scene (sometimes one sentence after another) without some sort of notice interrupted the story, requiring the reader to stop and determine who is being referenced. This character’s gender was not crucial to the story and if the author felt the need for this character to be non-binary, I have read other authors who have handled this same challenge without disrupting the reader.

Overall, this is a well-written story contains many inventive sci-fi elements. Readers will find the characters interesting and their interactions keep the book progressing at a good pace. Four stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love sci fi and especially love Sci fi populated with Bad ass women. This book has been described as a space opera, and that it is. Persephone Station is one part Moss Eisley’s Cantina and one part Blade Runner compete with cyborg enhancements. Dark gritty and full of characters with murderous intent. So many characters - most of the female, most non-white, but I had a hard time keeping them straight. There are also two different plot lines running though the story to make things even more confusing. I had a hard following who was talking and had to keep flipping back to see who wha who. One plot involves rights of indigenous people and their fight for self determination against a massive mining company (a la Pandora) and the other is around the rights of AI. Both are interesting concepts but just too much for one book- would rather it be split into two stories.
That said, book is well written and populated with really intriguing characters, so even though I didn’t enjoy it much -I think some readers will love it.

No one cares about Persephone Station. Only one part of the vast planet is hospitable to human life -- barely. Outside the protective walls of the city run by Serrao-Orlov Corporation is a world filled with poison, horrible creatures, and a secret that Serrao-Orlov will go to the ends of the galaxy to keep.

With characters like that truly come to life off the page and have you cheering for them (and hating them), Persephone Station is a sci-fi read you can't miss in 2021. From Angel -- ex-marine and current mercenary -- to Rosie -- bar owner and local crime boss -- to Kennedy -- a woman with her own secret to keep, you won't want to stop reading even after the last page.

It's Six of Crows meets Mando meets space Pocahontas. If that's not enough to get you headed to your local bookstore to order Persephone Station, IDK what will. That said, Persephone Station is a sci-fi read. While I think it's perfect for people new to the genre, some of the tech and history gets confusing.. However, it doesn't take away from the great world building and the very real story of protecting indigenous people and cultures; and doing the right thing.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

This took awhile to get the structure straight for me. Too many crime gangs, unfamiliar species, too much history among the players, it was overwhelming. Once I had everything in place, I loved this book. Great characters, interesting story, so much fun. I'm so hoping that this will continue. Can't wait to read more.