Fantastic fresh voice in space opera - and even better, it's a standalone that's not a doorstopper! Surprisingly twisty in a way that felt organic.

This is really more like 4.5 stars, it was so close to amazing for me. There were just a few areas where I wanted more and the book didn't quite have the impact it could have had. I can see why this won the Hugo for sure, I kept picking it up to find out what would happen.

Some Desperate Glory is Emily Tesh’s debut and I’m so excited for it. A book that promises found family, timely and skillful storytelling and a diverse cast is one I am definitely eager to read.

In "Some Desperate Glory," Emily Tesh crafts a richly layered and deeply compelling narrative that challenges and subverts the tropes of classic space opera and military science fiction. Set in a future where humanity has been nearly annihilated by an alien race known as the majo, the story follows Kyr, a young woman raised in a militant society on the isolated station Gaea. This society is dedicated to avenging a destroyed Earth and reclaiming its former glory.

Kyr is a fascinating protagonist, shaped by her upbringing to be a soldier and a leader. Tesh deftly explores themes of indoctrination, identity, and rebellion through Kyr's eyes. Her journey from a loyal warrior to someone questioning the very foundations of her society is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. She isn't a very likable character for a large portion of the book, as someone who has been conditioned to believe a particular narrative and world view. We watch as she grapples with how she has impacted those around her and how she will become her own person.

The world-building is another standout aspect of "Some Desperate Glory." The grim setting of Gaea Station is vividly realized, its claustrophobic environment mirroring the oppressive nature of its society. Tesh balances detailed descriptions with a brisk pace, ensuring the reader is always engaged without being overwhelmed by exposition. The lore of the majo and humanity's history is gradually revealed, maintaining a sense of mystery and tension throughout the novel.

The novel's plot is tightly woven, with each twist and revelation feeling both surprising and inevitable. Tesh skillfully uses action sequences to advance character development and thematic exploration rather than merely for spectacle. The climax is both thrilling and thought-provoking, raising questions about revenge, redemption, and what it truly means to be human.

"Some Desperate Glory" is not just a tale of interstellar conflict; it's a profound meditation on the cycles of violence and the possibility of breaking free from them. The prose is elegant and evocative, with moments of stark beauty amidst the bleakness. The emotional resonance of the story lingers long after the final page, making it a memorable and impactful read.

After a devastating alien attack destroys Earth, a handful of survivors cling to the hope of revenge on Gaea Station, a satellite cobbled from the few remaining warships. A generation later, young people have been genetically modified and rigorously trained to be “warbreed” fighters, huge, strong, and…obedient. Normal human teens are assigned to other tasks churning out babies to keep humankind going. Warbreed Kyr (Valkyrie) has spent her entire life training to face “the Wisdom,” the reality-shaping alien weapon that doomed Earth. She excels in every physical test, she drives her lesser mess-mates mercilessly, and she has no emotional ties to anyone except her brother. She fully expects to be given a prized post…but Command has other ideas. Instead, her brother is sent on a death mission and she is consigned to the Nursery to bear sons for Gaea Station until she dies an early death.

At first, I found Kyr a highly unsympathetic character. She’s arrogant, entitled, and generally a self-centered bully. She’s unthinkingly cruel to the helpless young alien whose ship is captured. In short, I didn’t like her at all. But I kept reading on the strength of the prose and the hope that she would eventually get her comeuppance. And then the plot spins around in another direction…and yet another…
Refusing her Nursery assignment, Kyr ends up on the run with her brother, the alien, and her brother’s unrequited crush, a brilliant but psychopathic computer whiz (who is also a boy, but queer relationships are forbidden on Gaea Station because of the crushing need to increase the human population.)

Their flight takes them to a planet inhabited by both humans and aliens, where lush green, fresh air, blue skies, and joyful play contrast with the bleak sterility of her previous life. Not only that, she encounters her older sister, who was supposed to be dead, and her nephew, fathered by the autocratic Commander whom Kyr had once worshipped. Faced with the undeniable reality that the universe is vaster and more wonderful than she imagined, Kyr begins to question everything she has been taught, even her own memories. She starts asking who she would be if Earth had not been destroyed or if the Commander had not been a power-hungry tyrant bent on retaliation. If she’d grown up in an enriched, natural environment. If she’d been allowed to love anyone—starting with herself.

By this time, I was thoroughly hooked. With each deviation from the opening scenario, the entire universe changes—and Kyr with it. The author brilliantly takes us inside each iteration of Kyr, the good and the bad, the memories and the blindnesses. It’s a tour-de-force that kept me turning pages and falling in love with a true heroine.

This is such a wonderful book. I love the plot, the characters, and the setting. A great addition to the genre.

This queer space opera was okay.

I didn't necessarily not enjoy or enjoy the book. It was just okay.
The plot could've been more complicated and intricate but in the end it became too simple for my liking. I had hoped for it push the envelope even more.
Also I didn't expect it to contain some triggering stuff about r*pe, suicide, torture, and many more. It would be great if the book included those trigger warnings.

Pick up with caution.

Was feeling the need for a good sci fi book, so I picked this up on a whim, and I was immediately sucked in. The protagonist is SO unlikeable, which usually makes books hard to get through for me, but I was really impressed with how well the author demonstrated why she was unlikeable and gave her character growth. That combined with “wait, are we the bad guys?!”, and some fun timey wimey business made this one of my favorite books of the year.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I'm a huge fan of this author's Greenhollow Duology and was so excited for her first full length sci-fi novel. Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. I don't mind an unlikeable character but I couldn't get past Kyr's brand of unlikeable and the hand waving about how things worked. I ended up DNFing this one around the 40% mark.

Immersive, propulsive, and original. This is a recommended purchase for collections where sci-fi is popular.

See my review in Nov/Dec 2023 issue of Analog Science Fiction:

https://www.analogsf.com/current-issue/the-reference-library/

I adored this book and all of its' characters. The AI angle is always something that I am interested in but just to see a character who is so militant and rigid become this completely different person? Amazing, fantastic. I loved every second of it. Perfectly paced and the character development left nothing to be desired for. Five out of five stars!

In full disclosure, I am not normally a fan of alternate universes and “resetting” during a narrative. As a result, I feel it fair to warn anyone getting into this book that you are re-reading the same character’s life in 3 different universes total. This is also a book that starts with the worst possible outcome and then works to get “better.” That said, getting through the first of the three universes was hard, both due to the content (militarizing children, abuse, homophobia, genocide) and the flatness of the primary character, Kyr.

However, once you get past that first universe, it’s a fun read. Everything is set up, built upon, and tied together well, including the deepening of Kyr and related characters. Heavy issues are brought up but dripped throughout the three universes, allowing for different points of view and not getting too overwhelmed at once. Some issues are glossed over more than I’d like (such as racial issues), but overall I found them handled pretty well.

For queerness, both Kyr and her brother are queer, though Kyr doesn’t realize it until Universe #2. There is an alien species with many genders, generally referred to as “them.” There could have been more trans and non-binary representation in humanity, as well as ace representation, for this to be an even queerer space opera. I still enjoyed what was offered.

Kyr, raised in self sustaining Gaia Station with what remains of humanity, and trained as a warrior, refuses her assignment to Nursery, leaves, and discovers that nothing is what she was brought up to believe.

Having grown up in a cult after Earth was destroyed, Kyr changes from a devoted believer to an insurgent who fights back against Gaea and all it stands for.

Early on this book took a turn o wasn't expecting, but that really grabbed me! A great space opera sci-fi! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

A great story. Loved the writing and the characters. What a well done story. Highly recommend if you love space books.

Eh. The main character took some getting used to. I love a good unlikable MC, but this one was a bit more unlikable than I would have liked. However, the storyline and twists are really fun, and I do think I'd read a sequel to this if there was one, as I started to like the MC more towards the end, so I think Id enjoy a followup book even more!

Really Enjoyed It, 4 stars

This book was a hard book to rate. I don't know that there was a lot that I truly enjoyed about it, but it was extremely compelling and was really interesting in terms of the ideas and themes that were explored and how it went about doing that, so I finally landed on 4 stars.

Before we get into the meat of my review, I want to say that there are a lot of content warnings for this book and I highly recommend checking them out. It is a very dark world and as a result, we have lots of CWs.

In this book we follow Valkyr "Kyr" who is a cadet on a space station harboring the last of humanity. She has spent her life training and becoming her absolute best to make it into a Combat wing where she will devote her life to fighting the aliens that destroyed Earth. However, through a series of events, she ends up leaving the station and discovers that perhaps the alien race that she has been raised to hate so much are actually more like people than she ever realized, and perhaps her life on Gaea station was not all that she was led to believe it was.

I think that one of the biggest things about this book is that Kyr is an unlikable character. We start out the book despising her, and by the end of it, even though I still didn't like her that much, I was proud of her for how much growth she had undergone throughout the course of the novel. A lot of this story was sort of her deconstruction from her fascist and supremacist cult upbringing. This book explores themes of power and corruption, justice and vengeance, and the courage and pain in changing your beliefs.

While Kyr was not likable, she was certainly compelling, and is a big reason that I ultimately came away with positive feelings towards this book. Her journey was a very interesting one, and I wanted to know how it all would end, and how she would develop as a character. I also felt like the pacing was done well. I was engaged and interested in the world. I feel like being in only Kyr's perspective did limit some of the worldbuilding because a lot of elements were introduced that I wanted to learn more about, but Kyr wasn't necessarily interested so we didn't get as deep as I would have liked into some of those elements. Overall though, in my opinion it was well-paced and well-written. 

I thought an interesting thing that this book made use of was time slips and alternate/parallel universes. Usually time travel is not something that I have a lot of patience for in my print media, but it really worked for me in this context. I felt like it made sense for the story and it was sort of explained in an *oooh magic* sort of way, which made it much more palatable for me. 

I do think that in addition to being just sort of unlikable, Kyr is very naive to the ways of the world, so this is sort of like a coming of age story for her. As a result, she makes some really terrible decisions. She is still young and when considered with her characterization, a lot of these make sense for the story that was being told, but I can see that becoming frustrating for some readers. 
Overall, while I had an overall positive experience with this book, I do feel like it is somewhat difficult to recommend widely. I think that if you are interested you should definitely give it a go and form your own opinions though. I have had Emily Tesh's novellas on my TBR for a very long time, and I would definitely like to go back and give those a try as well. 
Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for an eARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed some aspects of this book like the world building and the plot twists, but I had a difficult time keeping interest. Kyr is not a likable character at all, and I found it hard to follow such a bigoted character. She does make personal growth, and there are defenses as to why she is the way she is, but it still made it drag somewhat to reach that character growth.