Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I started reading this book on May of 2021. And it's September 2021 now.

It's been months and I started and finished a few books since then. I can't seem to resume reading this. The namings are quite hard for me to remember and I can only remember the gist of the world in this book.

I believe it has a diverse cast of characters. And I do remember one of the main character used they/them pronouns. That was a bit confusing while reading.

I haven't made decent progress in reading this and finally decided to dnf it for now. Maybe someday? Not sure.

Note: I left the rating blank on Goodreads since I dnf the book.

*** Thanks to the publisher for making this book available for review via Netgalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest thoughts and opinions of the book. ***

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
Some interesting ideas behind this story but it sadly failed to deliver as there was a lack of clarity and everything seemed overly complicated.
An OK read.

Honey Hawk
By Hava Zyidema
An interesting look into relationships of diverse cultures. How a new alien invasion would not change our division but enhance it. Looks into the nature if oppression and divergence.

The first thing that I want to mention about this book is that Alder, a main character, uses they/them pronouns, and it's so normalized, and everyone respects it, and I really love that!

The story was a little too predictable for my liking, but I still enjoyed the book overall, mostly because the characters were great. I really felt like I knew each character and their struggles, both external and internal, but it did take me a while to really get into it because the beginning had a little bit of info dumping.

I heard that there is a sequel, so I'm really looking forward to that!

I started this book reluctantly, expecting a run-of-the-mill post-apocalypse scenario (which I am really not much in the mood for, due to a certain pandemic that feels all too much like the plot of a novel) - and I read it through in one sitting, pushing my bed time to 1:30 am. Which has not happened in a long time!

This book has some sort of internal power that just pulls you forward, wanting to know more and not stop reading. It is the romance story between an extraterrestrial whose race lives on Earth as a minority (despite their superior strength and all they have done for the planet) and a non-binary human soldier (though reluctant) tasked with keeping order (read: suppressing the alien race). No, it is not the alien that is "weirdly" and "unhumanly" non-binary, it is the human. And it is never discussed, just taken for granted all the way around. Which I appreciated very much. It was a cute, enemies-to-lovers, star-crossed romance story with some very emotional scenes.

But it is also a story of two groups sharing space and fighting about it. One suppressing the other without real cause and policing their lives from denying access to certain areas to demanding permits for every business and licenses for building houses. Some other reviewers pointed out that this mirrors the Israeli-Palestinian conflict most, but I think it also holds true as a parable for other similar situation in which different groups (ethnicity, minorities, faiths) live so close to each other, yet separate and wary of the other.

If I had to critique something, it would be the lack of subplots beyond those two. So much more could have been explored in detail: the history, the details of vantarian culture, the details of the new human culture, their faith, even just the unusual wildlife. The side characters were interesting, but again: could have been more prominent. Aside from that, it was a delightful read that becomes more meaningful the longer you keep reading, and turns from a sweet romance into a warning tale for acceptance and tolerance of other lifestyles without prejudices and fear. I was glad to discover there would be a sequel.

In one sentence: it's not bad but I do not care enough to continue.
dnf at almost 30% I think?

I'm not sure what caught my attention about this enough to request on Netgalley, considering I don't like alien-themed things and if I'd rather read non-fiction about issues like those treated in this book, but maybe it was the fact one of the protagonists uses they/them pronouns or the very pretty cover.

In the beginning there's quite a lot of infodump on the appearances of characters, which was... really boring. The vantarians arrived after the climate apocalypse, they have feathers, and that's all I could remember to be honest. We start with Sefynne getting out of jail, then the point of view skips to a human soldier called Alder, who slowly learns the truth about his government, army and police and all that (so tw for police brutality, violence etc.)

The writing feels really awkward in the start, and until where I read it was getting a bit better - at least enough to not distract from the plot, unlike the first couple of characters. It has an interesting enough plot, and I believe the characters would slowly learn more about each other (and I guess fall in love somehow), but I couldn't force myself to keep going, when I don't feel anything for them or for the story.

I think the social issues are a bit too Obvious. It's like the author was taking us by the hand and guiding us, explaining bit by bit where the issues are; and I get it, Adler is just starting to see the problems, but for me, as a reader, it got a bit tiring. Though I do believe this is more of a Personal issue than a Book issue, so perhaps others will enjoy it more!

This book is great, I love its content, and the way it's written and this is something I would defenitely read again another day, and live in this fantasy, it's something I really enjoyed pretty much

plot: after the vantarians restored earth, they have to live along the remaining humans, which unfortunately does not happen peacefully. when alder, who's part of the military, meets sefynne, an alleged terrorist, they find out that they have more in common than they thought: reluctantly, even though they seem to be enemies on paper, they want to achieve a difference together. and maybe even some sparks will spark between them after all..?

3/5🌟: first of all, i absolutely loved that alder, one of the main characters, uses
they them pronouns! and everyone just goes along with it! that was amazing. we need more of that. nevertheles, i didn't quite so much enjoy how predictable the story was even though it was set in a futuristic world that i could have never imagined myself. unfortunately, a lot of the plot was based on the romantic story line, which evolved too quickly from enemies to lovers to me. i feel like the characters didn't have many important character traits other than being in love with each other.. there's supposed to be a sequel, but i'm not sure whether i will be patient enough to read it as well.

The basic premise of the book is that it's the story of two people, one human and one vantarian (and boy, did the not using capital letters for people but using it for the language adjective etc tick on my English teacher brain) who meet under the most unlikely of circumstances. Alder, the human of the two, is doing his mandated military service and in this case covering a protest by the vantarians, of which our other protagonist Sefynne is a member.

Sefynne has recently come out of prison after beign suspected of shooting a soldier, so their tense first encounter doesn't bode well for future relationships. However, Alder is also a journalism student and needs a vantarian to look over his most recent article, so the two form an unlikely alliance to try and get people to see just what is going on. To be honest, I struggled a bit with this as it seemed more likely that Alder would be more entrenched in the views of the regime he's defending, instead of which he seems very willing to throw his lot in with the vantarians with a minimal amount of encouragement. There is eventually a sexual relationship between the two of them, though it's not written about in graphic detail, for those who care about this kind of thing.

Where the book fell down for me was a couple of things, one about the overall world-building and one about the use of infodumps. Even by the end of the book, I still wasn't completely sure how things were set up or why, maybe because my brain just juddered to a halt when I hit the occasional paragraph of exposition that just appeared. This was particularly an issue early on, when suddenly there was a big chunk of explanatory text - more needed to be done to try and make this fit a little more organically into the story line as I just went 'huh?' and probably would have bailed had I not been reviewing this. This is also the first of a series (duology?) and that wasn't something I was aware of before starting, so if you like one-and-done, this may not be the book for you either.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting novel, Hava Zuidema uses their story as a vehicle to discuss the politics of revolutionary anti-oppression movements, including propaganda, violent protest, and police brutality. The author obviously has a lot of potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they achieve in the future

After the Earth had become unliveable due to climate change, the Vantarians restored the atmosphere to liveable levels. Humans, desperate to return to their home planet, reacted with violence to the aliens that now resided there. Fragile apartheid was created. Alder is a naive, kindhearted human soldier carrying out mandated service when he meets Sefynne, a vantarian who is recently out of jail. The two form an uneasy alliance as they realise they both want an end to the oppressive regime.

Despite starting a little slow, this book brought me in with its in-depth analysis of political action that's discussed in an accessible, engaging way. One of the characters, Alder, goes from a well-meaning person who is unaware of the gravity of the situation, to someone willing to throw themselves into the cause. Not only was reading this progression a delight of character development, but it also allowed Alder to become a vehicle to discuss the political themes among readers without prior knowledge.

You can draw parallels between this book and the reality of apartheid. The main link that comes to mind is the Israel-Palestine situation, as even the background to the novel seems to connect heavily. Humans had left Earth due to reasons outside of their control, returning to violently remove the people who were now living there as it was the human's historical home. Hava Zuidema isn't afraid to discuss their viewpoints on the situation as the novel discusses propaganda, historical revisionism, power imbalances, oppression, war, and even how our words are used to subscribe blame on to certain groups of people. As someone who loves sci-fi and fantasy that brings up real-life problems, this was my favourite aspect of the book.

I have to say, the writing style is slightly clunky and awkward at parts, especially towards the start. This book could do with another round of editing, or maybe just more experience. There were so many brilliant ideas, but the writing didn't always do it justice. I remember reading an info-dump of how the characters looked and worrying that I wouldn't like the book, as much as it proved me wrong, first opinions do matter. I could see people being turned away and that's a shame because there's so much potential here.

On a more positive note, I also absolutely loved the relationship between Sefynne and Alder. They were interesting characters that I was unsure of at first, but they grew on me slowly and surely. Their relationship was naturally forming and a pleasure to read. There was a lot of positive communication regarding their power imbalances and what it would mean for Sefynne to date a human soldier. I'm looking forward to how their relationship further develops in the next book. Also, it's so rare to read about a non-binary person and a man dating, so the representation was refreshing and lovely. I especially enjoy conceptions of future worlds where queerness is wholly accepted; it allows us to focus on the more relevant difficulties of their relationship.

Overall, the ideas in this book were amazing. The downside is the writing style was clunky and stiff in parts, which could put off some readers. The political analysis was in-depth and excellent, and the characters were developed and engaging. I believe this author's going to create some fantastic work as their writing ability progresses, so this is someone to keep an eye on!

Recommend for: People who want their sci-fi with real-world politics mixed in, people who want that sweet, sweet non-binary human x alien man goodness, people who don't mind a slightly awkward writing style as long as the ideas are good.

(Thanks to NetGallery for providing an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review)

There were parts of this I really liked and parts I wasn't as sure about. The lack of lengthy exposition was great, with Zuidema expecting the reader to be able to pick up the setting themselves. I thought that Ander's development was decent but their naivety was very frustrating at times. However, I liked Sefyenne a lot, although I wasn't a big fan of the romance between him and Ander. The conflict between the humans and Vantarians was interesting and I think written as a comparison between the Palestine - Israel conflict. The author did a decent job here although I think this could have been fleshed out a lot better. This is the first book in a series so maybe the sequel will delve more deeply into that. Interested to see where this goes next.

“I feel like there’s no such thing as a war with a happy ending. There’s no such thing as, as a soldier with a happy ending.”


Honey Hawk is a story about humans and vantarians trying to cohabitate on earth, after the vantarians revitalized the planet from its apocalyptic end. Our main characters are Alder, who works for the human military and Sefynne who is relatively active in the vantarian liberation movement. When Alder and Sefynne cross paths, Alder realizes that humans might not be as innocent as they seem, which means it may be time for Alder to reconsider just who they want to fight for.

This book took a while to warm up, but once it did I was hooked. One of the main characters is nonbinary, and both are queer. The romance of the story was so sweet, despite the difficulties involved. The world building was really interesting, and the struggles seemed very realistic even though this book is so heavily rooted in sci-fi. My only complaint is that sometimes the writing felt a little too story focused, so it lost out on some potential beauty. Honey Hawk gets 3.5 stars from me, and I’m looking forward to continuing Alder and Sefynne’s journey in the sequel!