DNF at 175 pages. I tried to come back to this a few times throughout the course of a month but just could not get into it. It had a hard time keeping my interest and lacked characters that I really connected with or even liked.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023, and it did NOT disappoint. I saw Shelley Parker-Chan describe this book as being for "people who loved Ender's Game, but Ender's Game didn't love them back." That is totally true.

This book is very unique in that it focuses on humanity not as the conquerers or the builders of a utopian space empire, as so many other sci-fi books do - it has Earth be wiped out by an alien force and the surviving members of humanity scattered around the galaxy as refugees. The inner workings and worldbuilding of Gaea station were fascinating and well-developed. I loved the politics that Emily Tesh built into the worldbuilding as well.

Kyr was a fascinating protagonist to follow - she starts out very difficult to love (although I love books with unlikeable female main characters) but her character development was so satisfying to see, and you end up really rooting for and feeling for her at the end.

The twist in the plot around halfway through the book was completely unexpected and SO fun and cool, I actually gasped. No spoilers, but I wish every sci-fi book could manage to shock me like that. It added another layer to the story that really made it feel meaty and unique.

This isn't a perfect book. I've seen other reviewers say that its "social justice agenda" could have been done more subtly and with more finesse, which I do agree with, but I know this is Emily Tesh's first full-length novel, and these kind of hiccups are understandable. I also wish that it were MORE queer, although I appreciate that Kyr was specifically stated to be on page. All in all, this was incredibly enjoyable and a wonderful space adventure story with real stakes, wonderful characters, suspenseful plot, and a unique premise that I will remember for a long time.

Are we the baddies? is one of my favourite tropes in fiction. Emily Tesh plays this trope straight to great effect in Some Desperate Glory. This is a story of deradicalization, and it’s one that in this day and age needs to be told. If we as a society are going to continue making progress on issues of social justice in an age where misinformation online abounds and assists in radicalizing our friends and family, we need to learn how to have difficult, nuanced conversations with people who have succumbed to such causes. This book explores that while also delivering action and no small amount of tears. Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the eARC.

Kyr is a warrior dedicated to a cause. She is one of a handful of true humans—Gaians—left in a galaxy where aliens have destroyed Earth and dominated the remainder of humanity. Or at least, that’s the story she was told. As she approaches graduation into the ranks of Gaia’s elite warriors, the facade built around Kyr for her entire life begins to crumble, and she begins to question everything she knows. The resulting doubt will catapult her on a journey across space and time in search of what justice actually means.

I didn’t like Kyr at first. We aren’t supposed to—she is a product of a world that this bio-essentialist, rigidly gendered, homophobic, and racist. Tesh warns us of this up front with an author’s note, and I get it after reading the book. In order to truly show us the experience of deradicalizing and leaving a cult or hate group, Tesh has to show us where Kyr starts from: as someone who has internalized all these ideas because that is how she was raised, and even when she starts to question these ideas, often she still falls back on them. That, in my mind, is what makes her a sympathetic character—it’s the struggle against what she “knows” to be true because that was what she was told her whole life.

For me, the book’s brilliance is a slow burn indeed. The first part feels like a traditional tale of insurrection: Kyr wakes up, realizes she is one of the baddies, and takes it upon herself to fight back the only way she knows how. It’s the second part of the book, after a cataclysmic event and Tesh’s introduction of time/dimensional travel, that really causes Some Desperate Glory to take off. I love when a story that I think is one thing ends up hopping subgenres to become something else entirely—sure, it doesn’t always work, but when such a leap of faith lands so gracefully, as it does here, it is sublime.

From deradicalization we go to bigger philosophical questions of what it means to be human, to be sentient, and who should have the power to decide what course is “best” for the greater good. Though Kyr was definitely on “the wrong side” before, Tesh asks us if she is now on “the right side,” if there is a right side.

I’ve been watching a lot of The Flash for the first time alongside my rewatch of Supergirl, and I have to say, it’s making a strong case that time travel—at least, time travel to the past—is straight up unethical. No exceptions. Time travel is an act of hubris that asserts that you, as the traveller, have some kind of right to rewrite the experiences of countless other lives simply because you want to take a jaunt into the past. On the other hand, I wonder if my perspective is biased—no, scratch that, I know it’s biased, but I guess I wonder if that bias actually matters—because I experience time linearly. Maybe entities who see the entirety of time simultaneously do actually know better. I don’t know.

I just know that I like stories that make me think about this stuff while also giving me fight scenes and explosions. It’s why I like The Flash and Doctor Who, and it’s why I like Some Desperate Glory.

In addition to Kyr, there’s a truly interesting cast of characters, all of whom are flawed and fabulous. I love how, much like Kyr, most of them are hard to fully like—a lot of them are kind of assholes or rude—yet they are all so interesting. I really appreciate the way that Tesh sympathetically portrays how difficult it is to overcome prejudice—even in little ways, like how Kyr has to get used to using they/them pronouns for Yiso, etc. Without making excuses for people who are prejudiced, I also think we need to make space for the fact that it takes people time to work through prejudice and fear—another good example of this is Captain Shaw from season 3 of Star Trek: Picard. Tesh expertly depicts the complexity of the human experience, the ways in which we are all messy and contradictory, whether we are trying to do better or simply obsessed with power and revenge.

Then there’s the ending. Some Desperate Glory stands on its own as a novel, which I appreciate. I love me a good standalone science-fiction novel. Yet there is also room for sequels, and honestly the way it ends between Kyr and the Wisdom, that cute little conversation (and who doesn’t love a sentient spaceship with a sense of humour?) … gosh, I would read more. I’m just saying.

Some Desperate Glory is some of the most original, delightfully incisive science fiction that I have read in the past few years. I went into it expecting it to be good, to be a fun read—I walked out blown away by the storytelling, the characterization, and the themes. What a great experience.

I enjoyed this book and overall thought it was an engaging read. I will say that I agree with the reviewers who think this was more YA than adult but overall loved the intro and the last half was fast paced and engaging. Some of the world building was lighter than expected but again, overall a book I enjoyed.

I have the audiobook on hold from the library but from the first couple chapters that I’ve read (about 20%), I definitely am going to finish this amazing sci-fi. I love sci-fi and this is exactly what I want in a sci-fi !!!

What if aliens succeeded in their oh-so-noble quest to destroy planet Earth and all its inhabitants? Kyr is one of the last humans, bred for war and trained to avenge her people. But when she’s relegated to bearing children for humanity’s revitalization, Kyr leaves Gaea Station to undertake a suicide mission. In encountering the outside universe and its many inhabitants, she’ll question everything Gaea told her.

Tamsyn Muir has a blurb on the cover, in which she very accurately calls this book “a completely wild ride.” Similar to The Locked Tomb’s tagline (“lesbian necromancers in space”), SDG is described as a “queer space opera.” Initially, I took this to mean that there was going to be sapphic romance at the center of the action, and this is not the case. There are a number of queer characters, but romance is very irrelevant. Shockingly, I didn’t mind! Against my better judgement, the story kept me up until 2 am with just the plot alone.

I think this is one of the smartest books I’ve ever read. Emily Tesh must be a genius. (This is supported by a google search… she went to Cambridge for undergrad and UChicago for her master’s—not that the name of a school means much, but still.) I cannot explain WHY I am so freaking impressed (and also jealous!! I wish I wrote this book!!) because spoilers, but I’ll just say this: she skillfully includes a sci-fi element that is VERY difficult to do well.

If you’re interested, definitely look up trigger warnings. Kyr and her brother endure a lot, including homophobia and depression. A lot of people may be annoyed with Kyr’s character at first, but she never bothered me; in fact, I think she’s overly criticized for her reaction to trauma. Nevertheless, there’s amazing character growth, so even if you’re driven more by characters than plot, I still think this book is for you.

It's an easy 5 stars.

This title grew on me. For once, I can say the twists and turns that the story took actually kept me guessing, gasping, and coming back for more. By the end, I was applauding, and eagerly telling my fellow sff-loving librarians about this book.

Some Desperate Glory will definitely end up on my Top Reads of 2023! The protagonist was amazing, the storyline was gripping and exciting and the world-building was phenomenal. Honestly, I can’t wait to see what else Emily Tesh has in stock for us.

“She had been born into a universe gone wrong. She had waited her whole life to come face-to-face with something she could blame.”

I’ve been loving the “space opera” sub-genre lately, so this book was right in that sweet spot for me. I will say that I almost put it down toward the beginning, because the main character has some extremely authoritarian and bigoted views that she doesn’t exactly hide. I continued, hoping for some intense character growth, and I’m glad I kept going to see how the MC grows both individually and in her relationships with others.

There are some hard concepts tackled in the book that include bigotry, racism, classism, sexism, authoritarianism, war, assault, societal expectations, and who gets to decide what is right and wrong.

There is also humor, tension, action, and a variety of sci-fi tropes that I don’t want to spoil for anyone who hasn’t yet read the book. While there were a few sections that dragged a bit (for me), the premise was unique and interesting, and I really enjoyed the book overall!

Thanks so much to Tor for the advanced readers copy!

4.5 stars

"Some Desperate Glory" took me on a space romp. And oh, did I have fun.

Emily Tesh’s queer space opera is all about Kyr, a young warrior who has trained her entire life on Gaea Station to fight an alien faction that destroyed planet Earth, called the majoda. Kyr is firm in her hatred of the majoda and patiently awaits her turn to come of age and enter combat. But when she is instead assigned to Gaea Station’s nursery to bear and raise children, Kyr gives herself a different mission, one that will fulfill what she considers to be her true purpose.

"Some Desperate Glory" is relentless in its storytelling and thrilling in its execution. Tesh sucks the reader into Kyr’s world on the very first page and, moving forward, dishes out nothing but non-stop action and excitement.

But it isn’t easy to like Kyr. She’s cold, unsympathetic, and prejudiced, her inner nature and belief system having been molded by Gaea Station.

What left me somewhat wanting, though, isn’t so much the character of Kyr as the depth of which Tesh addresses the heavy themes of the story. The novel is marketed as adult sci-fi and tackles racism, homophobia, sexism, suicide, and eugenics, but all with a simple, heavy-handed touch more suitable to a younger audience. As an adult reader, I would’ve appreciated a deeper dive.

Still, it’s a minor complaint about what is otherwise a fantastic read. I’m a huge fan of "Some Desperate Glory" and will sing its praises to all who will listen.


My sincerest appreciation to Emily Tesh, Tordotcom, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

<b><blockquote>Her family was her station. Her family was her cause. Her family was fourteen billion dead, and her mother was a murdered world.</blockquote></b>
I've been in such a reading slump, it's awful. I've been inching my way through SOME DESPERATE GLORY for over three months - but it was worth the effort.

Valkyr - Kyr - is a teenage warrior woman living on Gaea, a militaristic station and the final refuge of free humanity after the universe-spanning conglomerate the Wisdom destroyed Earth and most of humanity. Rigid in her belief that Mother Earth must be avenged, her faith is rocked consistently and constantly as her entire life's purpose unwinds around her.

I really loved this in the end. Starting slow, it builds to several crescendos, one after the other, and I genuinely had little clue where the story would twist next. I've not read any of Tesh's writing before but if this is a fair benchmark for her quality then I really have to seek out some.

Valkyr is a well done protagonist, and I really enjoyed living in her head as she struggled with her belief and faith. The supporting cast are on the whole excellent as well.

There's been quite a bit of hype I've seen about SOME DESPERATE GLORY being some new-age queer space opera which I'll be honest, I didn't really get. There are a couple of casually homosexual relationships in evidence, but I hardly found it to be a champion of gay science fiction. The first page opens with some trigger warnings which was a nice touch as there are some pretty dark themes throughout.

A really good, unique story. Well worth the read.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for providing me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</a>

Some Desperate Glory makes a lot of exciting promises and yet fails to craft an interesting story. Though I can see people new to the genre enjoying this, experienced SciFi readers will likely find it boring and overly simplistic. This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it ended up being one of my most disappointing.

The main protagonist Kyr is clearly meant to be an unlikable character. At the beginning of the story, she is heavily indoctrinated and isolated from the world. She expresses a variety of opinions that you are meant to find offensive and off-putting. Though I understand that this was meant to be a story of growth, it is very difficult to care about a character who is so thoroughly hateable. Kyr's eventual growth—like any other major topic addressed in this book—lacked nuance and felt unrealistically rushed. She was an incredibly flat character with no depth or personality. I would have rather followed almost any other character other than Kyr. However, none of the other characters in the book were that much more interesting. There is one twist with a side character that could have been cool if there had been more of an explanation.

Tesh attempts to tackle various "isms" throughout the story. Though these topics are important the way they are discussed is almost insultingly simplistic. The discussion is limited to a "good/bad" binary that should be reserved for YA books. The lack of nuance and depth extends to almost every aspect of the book. There were many plot moments that simply happened with no explanation or obvious cause. With every new twist, I grew more and more exasperated with the story.

Some Desperate Glory felt like it was written to fit current publishing buzzwords and have as wide appeal as possible. Instead, the simplistic and one-dimensional story promises to alienate many experienced SciFi readers.

A queer space opera with differing timelines, plots to take over the world, sentient aliens, and our main character realizes she has been drinking the kool-aid her whole life?? This was quite fantastic. A little weird and info heavy at times but that is pretty standard for sci-fi. The social commentary was spot-on alongside the sort of moral dilemmas our main character faces when she leaves her rather totalitarian/extremist life behind and realizes the world is larger than anyone allowed her to know. Go into this one with an open mind and there is a good chance you will be swept away.

Kyr has trained her whole life to be a soldier in the war against the alien species who destroyed the Earth. When her brother is sentenced to die and she is sent to the Nursery to breed boy super soldiers, she begins to question everything she thought she knew.

This is a difficult book for me to review because for most of the book Kyr is a rather insufferable narrator but ultimately being on her journey with her is the most rewarding part of the book. Also, some of my favorite things this book does are probably spoilers but just know that if you stick with this book and enjoy mind-bending science fiction then you will be well rewarded.

There are so many things going on in this book both in terms of plot and character building but also just in terms of themes and real-world commentaries. I think sometimes the book feels like it is just waddling in the paddling pool of these themes and could have gone much deeper but I commend it for just having the audacity to try because I was very much invested while at the same time just as disgusted as Kyr as she discovers who her real friends are and how much trauma can shape a person.

I would honestly love an entire book from Avi's point of view as he was the most intriguing character to me.

The very end was interesting in that I thought there should have been more but at the same time we are left at a very intriguing point and Kyr's journey is at a point where she has changed dramatically and grown as a character and it is quite the experience as a reader to be along for that ride.

Thank you so much to Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Taking "humans are space orcs" to its logical conclusion, Some Desperate Glory is a dark, desperate gasp searching for justice and hope. In a future where humans are faster and stronger than other aliens, their warlike nature and willingness to subjugate others has lead to the destruction of Earth and the creation of a military sect using the motto "while Earth's children live, our enemies shall fear us." Valkyr is a model member of her community, always willing to work harder, fight more, and push the other children farther in search of glory for her people. When her brother is sent on a suicide mission, Kyr abducts a prisoner and goes looking for him, only to find that nothing she was raised to believe is true. Heartbreaking and beautiful, Tesh continues her streak of impeccable writing and character development alongside groundbreaking genre work.

I’ve never read an Emily Tesh book, but with all my friends hyping up “the new Emily Tesh novel”, I couldn’t resist giving this book a shot. And what a ride it was. Tesh achieves the extremely difficult task of taking deeply unlikeable character and successfully convincing the reader to root for her by the end.

Truly, Kyr is one of the worst protagonists you can start a book off with. Raised in the fascist militant enclave Gaea Station and brainwashed with xenophobic ‘humanity’s last defense’ propaganda from the day of her birth, Kry starts off the perfect poster child for this particular group of space fascists. Which makes her not only an unlikeable and deeply unpleasant character, but an extremely boring one too. There are plenty of unlikeable characters who are fun to follow for the ‘how much worse can they get’ factor. Kyr is not one of them. Yet as the story progresses, Kyr’s slow arc of character growth is amazing to see and is truly a testament to Tesh’s skill as a writer.

The overall setting starts as many space opera-esque stories do. Humanity, having reached beyond the stars, has encountered a violent alien race they’re now at war with. Only this time, humanity has already lost and Earth is gone. Said alien race, the Majoda, host a powerful entity known as the Wisdom which guides all major decisions, including the destruction of Earth. While I enjoyed the setting and especially the excerpts of Majoda texts, the overall worldbuilding felt relatively surface. I wish we’d gone deeper into the Majoda societies and cultures. Expect something closer to YA than space opera.

Likewise, the plot felt relatively simple, and again with the trappings of a YA novel, not necessarily a bad thing. The plot and the worldbuilding really work together to tell one cohesive story that perhaps a more elaborate world would bog down. It’s hard to talk too much about the plot beyond the basic ‘brainwashed girl discovers there’s more to the world than she’s been led to believe’ plot because oh man does this book go places. Needless to say, the story is excellent and works extremely well for what it is, just don’t go expecting the space opera of space operas.

I don’t typically discuss trigger warnings in my reviews but I make a rare exception because Some Desperate Glory hit perhaps the one trigger that would instantly make me put down a book. Minor spoilers ahead. About 10% of the way in, Kyr gets told she’s going to be confined to a life of forced pregnancy and spends multiple pages attempting to rationalize her way through it. On one hand, it was almost justice to see her forced into this because of my sheer disgust with her character and simultaneously nauseating to have to read through. I continued reading with a friend’s encouragement, and it got a lot better, but those few pages were extremely rough.

Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. Emily Tesh achieves the herculean task of making the reader sympathize and cheer for one of the truly worst protagonists possible. The story is absolutely wild and is one a reader should go in with no context whatsoever.

I feel like one can't say 'queer space opera' these days without comparing a story to Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and the subsequent Wayfarers series. This is a LOT less soft and also possesses some of the mind fuck present in The 5th Wave.

I know we're still early in the year, so this statement won't have the added weight yet, but this is the best novel I have read this year. It could have easily been made into a duology, with the first half being the narrative of Kyr's life before the time slip, and the remainder being the second novel.

But, also? Having read this author's novellas before, I'm also glad to see what she can do with a fullblown novel. Definitely Emily's imagination is not lacking.

The only possible detractor I had was that Kyr seems to know so much to begin with, but there isn't any comment about a time slip being a possibility until the moment it's upon them at around the halfway mark, and then they just run into that plot. Because of the timing, it comes across that this one thing is a little too easy.

There is a bunch of plot that doesn't, though, so it definitely evens out.

Kyr is definitely an unlikable character at the beginning. We can see the antagonism given to her by the rest of her cohort, the Sparrows, before we really understand the reason or context for it. Kyr is a perfectionist, yes, and they are on a space station fighting for their lives after aliens destroyed Earth. Why wouldn't Kyr be mad? Why wouldn't Kyr want to do everything to help with getting vengeance on what happened to 14 billion people and her world?

But things like this are rarely this simple, and the thing this book does fantastically is introduce the other side of the story slowly and methodically. To say more would be needless spoilers. Just pick up this book, it's entirely fantastic.
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I genuinely don't think I will ever recover.

It took a while for me to get through this, only because life kept getting in the way. Under normal circumstances, I would've finished it in one weekend. But as I was making my way through it, I kept seeing people talking about this book, saying specifically that it absolutely devastated them in the most heart-wrenching way. I'm always so nervous when I hear these types of comments, because I cry a lot even for novels that are pretty tame emotionally speaking, so to hear people hype up a book like this, it was setting up these huge expectations for me. I promised myself that I wouldn't give it 5 stars unless it drained me of every tear my body could muster.

And, goddamn, it did.

I am exhausted. I have cried so much in the last few days as I made my way through the second half of the story. I have been destroyed, mind, body, and soul. I mean, this is what sci-fi should be; this is how you do it.

I think I could write three separate novels discussing everything that was addressed in this book: every message, every dilemma, every part of our MC's character arc. There is so much depth to it, and the story itself, while being complex and rich and full of content, was also very clear. Everything was laid out in a way that made it easy to understand, while still giving you space to make your own connections, reach your own conclusions, develop your own opinions and ideas about it all.

I loved every single character, in so many different ways. I'm obsessed with SFF novels that use their characters to talk about what it means to be "good" or "bad". People who are simultaneously severely unlikeable and yet also extremely relatable. They hate each other and themselves, and you hate them all but also you feel more love for them than you thought you could for a fictional character. And I hated how consistently this book called me out, but I also loved every minute of it. Why go to therapy when you can just get obliterated by this masterpiece of a story?

I will probably never shut up about this book, for as long as I live. A part of me is sad that it isn't a 20-part series because I would have read every single page of that. But I also think it was a genius decision on Tesh's part to write this as a stand-alone; it was perfection. I am truly obsessed with it and from now on, this is the standard to which I will be holding all other sci-fi novels I pick up.

Without a doubt, you need to read this as soon as humanly possible. I will never be able to recommend it enough.

Earth is gone. Over 14 billion people, dead. Plants, animals, everything, destroyed by the majo zi and their Wisdom, a so-called benevolent god machine capable of altering time, space, and reality itself because humans were deemed dangerous. It’s been nearly twenty years since a handful of survivors and a collection of dreadnoughts managed to set up a fragile new home for humanity on a barren rock. There, a new generation of human warriors has been born, raised to honor lost Earth and trained to kill.

Kyr is a war bred girl, only 17 years old and already taller, stronger, faster and smarter than every other girl or woman on Gaea. Admiral Jole, ranking officer of Gaea, war hero and leader of what’s left of humanity, is her uncle; she’s the top of her class and destined to avenge every human killed by the majo. Until she isn’t. Her brother betrays her, betrays humanity by refusing his assignment to a combat wing, and Kyr can’t understand why. Surely he wouldn’t leave Gaea, wouldn’t leave his duty. Wouldn’t leave her!

Kyr isn’t the sort to ask questions until she has no choice. With the help of the brilliant Ari, the only openly “degenerate” on Gaea (queer is a luxury when all of humanity must breed to build up numbers) who wants to leave as badly as Kyr wants to stay, Kyr makes a choice to leave Gaea behind and go in search of her brother. A moment of compassion has her rescuing the recently captured majo zi, along with their ship. Perhaps it’s a foolish choice, to save one of the creatures who destroyed Earth, but it’s the first choice of many Kyr will have to make, and the one that will define her the most.

Sometimes I’m lucky enough to get a book that grabs me by the throat and doesn’t let go, a book that never feels long enough, one that I don’t want to end, even as I can’t stop turning the pages. And this is one of those books. Kyr is, at first, a difficult character to embrace. She’s cold, aloof, unpleasant, self-centered, and selfish. She’s also 17, deliberately raised to be obedient and to always feel as if she isn’t good enough, strong enough, smart enough, or even just enough. No girl, no matter how skilled, holds any rank above Sergeant, and even the Sergeants are honorary titles for the older breeding women in the Nursery wing.

Kyr isn’t introspective, isn’t curious, doesn’t want to know more about the world. When she’s made up her mind, it’s made up and it’ll take a planet-sized rock to the head to make her change it. She is loyal to a fault, driven to excel, to earn even a crumb of praise from her uncle Jole. She doesn’t see her brother’s misery, she only sees that his scores are better than hers. She doesn’t see her age-mates — the girls are grouped together by ages, kept apart from the boys — as anything but tasks. Make them stronger so they don’t drag her down; raise their scores, keep them in line. She has to be a leader because it’s the only way to prove she deserves to be put to a Combat wing. But when she’s, instead, sent to Nursery where she will be forced to produce child after child after child for the good of the colony, Kyr … can’t. Won’t. The idea of children, of having her body turned against her, is horrifying. The idea of being touched like that by one of the older ranking officers … just, no. It’s not until she is betrayed that she is motivated to break out of the cycle of obedience, freeing herself from the people who have groomed her — as they have groomed all of the children — to be pliant. Dutiful. The pretty ones for breeding, the useful ones for fighting, and none of them able to question.

Kyr’s lack of empathy is, in part, her youth. It’s also the system that raised her, the calculation and the training. And watching her go from a lonely, angry, willfully blind child into a clear-eyed woman, capable of great love and great forgiveness — using everything she was taught and everything she learned — is so smoothly and subtly done you don’t realize how far she’s come from the first page to the last until the book is done.

Kyr had spent her whole life angry. It was deep inside her, the seed that Gaea had planted and nourished till it twined through everything she was; a righteous rage that said I am the hand of vengeance. She had been born into a universe gone wrong. She had waited her whole life to come face-to-face with something she could blame.

And here he was.

And he didn’t matter.

Kyr’s friends — Ari, the gay tech who has learned that cruelty is the only weapon he has, who sees Kyr as a means to an end; Max, her brother, never meant to fight, who never wanted to hurt anyone, let alone kill them and who sees Kyr as his sister, his weakness, and the goad used against him; Yisa, the majo zi whose boundless curiosity and trust are offered up to Kyr again and again, who sees Kyr as a hero; Cleo and the other Sparrows who see Kyr as a tyrant, a would-be teacher’s pet with no care for anyone but herself, and yet … she’s still one of them — all have their parts to play, and they do so so very well.

Gaea is a horrifying place, but it’s also home. It’s the place that made Kyr who she is and helps shape her into who she will one day be.

If Kyr had learned anything, it was that there was no justice in the universe, none; that nothing was fair and nothing was ever going to be fair. And here they were, alive, planning, hoping; carrying it all with them, everywhere they went, forever; living with what they had and hadn’t done.

There are many similarities between Gaea and a cult. The radicalization, the isolation, the zealotry, bigotry, and xenophobia the adults instill in their children leads to an atmosphere of fear. The children are trained to be unthinking machines, doing as they’re told, and the pretty girls are carefully selected to be used — mostly by the ranking adult officers and some chosen young men of exceptional bloodlines — as breeding stock. This is done against their will, but the young women are indoctrinated into it so thoroughly they can’t even think of saying no. Gaea is unhealthy and quite mad, and the tension and horror are there as a deliberate and additional character. Not everyone will find it to their taste, but if you give it a try and trust the author to lead you through the darkness there is light at the end, and it’s a glorious and golden light.

I loved this book. I loved the world building, I loved Yisa, the alien, and their relationship with Kyr. I loved Kyr’s growing relationship with her brother, with Cleo, even with Ari. The first half of the book was so good I’d give it a 5 out of 5 on its own. The second half … wobbles, a bit. But the wobble feels deliberate, the tonal shift, the characters’ actions, all of it is to a purpose and to strengthen the themes and impact of the end. And it’s a good end. A very good end. This is a five-star book with strong writing, amazing characterization, and a brilliant story. I just loved it. Please, please give this book a try. You won’t regret it.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

"Some Desperate Glory" is everything I love about sci-fi! Lots of action, cool aliens, and explorations of what it means to be human and how to make the universe a better place. It asks a lot of tough questions and deals with some sensitive topics, so be sure to check trigger warnings.

I was gripped by this book from the start. I loved how the characterization was done, especially for Kyr, the MC. She is so unlikeable at the beginning, but you can see so much room for growth. All the characters were interesting and beautifully written, with none of them being truly good or bad, but instead complex people, who have often been brainwashed or manipulated, and have to make tough choices.

I don't often enjoy revenge plots as I find they can become reductive and tiresome. But I honestly loved how this book handled themes of control, grief, anger, and forgiveness. There was so much nuance in the ways that the different characters reacted to tragedy and the drive for revenge. It really made me think in deep ways about humanity and "evil" (i.e. what might cause someone to commit terrible acts).

I also loved that it had so many queer characters, while not being a romance. The representation was great, and I especially liked that different alien races had different ways of viewing gender. This book also challenged the gender binary and the backward views that often place men as "superior" to women.

I could go on and on about this book, but needless to say, it is a new favourite for me and I can't wait to revisit it one day. There was so much depth to the world and characters, while still being fun and action-filled. Never gonna stop recommending this one!