This book brings to mind The First Sister by Linden Lewis. Ever since reading Gideon the Ninth, I've been starved for more fantasy-blend space operas, especially ones with sapphic characters. It delivered in one important aspect for me, with characters who are obsessed with each other and deliver on chemistry. I enjoyed Korinna as a protagonist, getting to see her grow from being relatively inexperienced to learning to wield her power. One thing I particularly enjoyed was the presence of Korinna’s disability - something that was relevant without overshadowing her. I found the magic system interesting, though I can see how it might be a little daunting to fans of fantasy who have yet to make a foray into sci-fi fantasy. My recommendation would be to go into it with an open mind. Some of the pacing overall seemed a little off to me, but the relationships were what really drew me in.

Thank you Solaris and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The premise for Redsight is very interesting—a blind priestess has the ability to manipulate space time, and she has been raised to believe she is the weakest in her order—and I was really into the first half of the book. Still, I found my interest waning as it went on and I felt that too much was crammed into a single volume; there were very few chances for the story to breathe and there were times where I struggled to keep the different POVs straight. Though I thought I would develop attachment to the characters based on the opening chapters, I ultimately felt like they were more impressions than fully fleshed out characters. The worldbuilding and the overall story was interesting, but I think this would have benefitted from being made into a duology, allowing for more character development and better plot development.

Overall, there are a lot of really interesting ideas here, but the execution fell flat. I’d definitely keep an eye on Moore as a writer, I just wasn’t super into this one.

Thank you NetGalley for another ARC,


Redsight, by Meredith Mooring was, unfortunately, one of a few arc that I received that I wasn’t able to finish reading before release day; my personal life was a bit crazy back then and reading took a back seat for a while, ARCs included but, since things are a-ok now, and I had the audiobook for this book, I thought: why not?

Redsight is a sapphic sci-fi fantasy with visual impairment rep, which is something you don’t find very easily so, props to Meredith Mooring for writing about a blind FMC. The book had many aspect that I enjoyed, like the three sisters (hehe, sisters, yeah right) Vermicula, Furia and Radiosa and their orders. Korinna was an enjoyable main character, even if at times I found her to be quite naive. Sahar, another main character (although not as “main character” as Korinna) was also very enjoyable to read about. Aster, the third female main character, wasn’t as enjoyable to read from as the others, and she annoyed me often, but I did understand where she was coming from.

So many things happen throughout the narrative that, when I reached the middle of it I thought: damn, what else can happen? the answer? A lot. A lot could happen and did happen, which made me think that perhaps it could have been split into two.

Overall, it was a pleasant ride, but one that I feel I will forget later on.

Also, props to the narrator of the audiobook, Natalie Duke, what made so many female characters sound different from one another.

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

I was looking forward to this book and excited for the blind and queer representation. Sadly, the story didn't live up to my expectations and I ended up skimming much of the second half. The worldbuilding is potentially interesting, but I feel like it's let down by the weakness of all the other elements. The biggest problem in my opinion is the lack of character development. I wouldn't mind the somewhat predictable plot etc. if the characters were interesting, but they are all very one-note. I am unable to describe any of the characters' actual personalities. They don't seem to have any interesting flaws or internal character arcs going on. To top it all off, the prose felt very flat to me—not immersive, distant from the characters, and some of the imagery felt really heavy-handed and kept pulling me up short.

In summary: a potentially very interesting book, but one that I feel needed a lot more development before it was published, sadly.

While some of the characters were super cool (Aster!!) this book unfortunately fell short for me.
The premise was very good but there was so much unnecessary info dumping which made it a difficult read. Some chapters would be super fast paced and the next was super boring.

I'm excited to see what else the author writes however.

Listen. I love me some sapphic romance, so when I saw this book, I was very hyped. While the book did deliver on some fronts, overall I felt that the execution, especially the characterization, could've been better. Instead of a stand-alone, if this had been a duology, I feel would have had more time with the characters and this book itself would not have been SO long.

Redsight is pretty fucked up. The amount of times that Korinna, the main character, has blood pouring out of her eyes, her fingernails falling off, the skin of her hands disintegrating - that is undeniably horrifying. And she is just blasé about it, just accepts it every time. I guess that's almost like a metaphor for my ultimate feelings of this book: creepy, creative, and downright fantastic ideas that never quite go as deep into it as I would like.

I tore through the first half of this book. I loved the lore of the three different orders and how dark and mysterious they were, and I loved how brutal so much of the story was. Aster's true self? The idea of a redseer entombing themself? Horrifying, in the most engaging way. I'm also a fan of political sci-fi, and so this truly had it all.

Where it lost me a bit was in the characterizations. The idea of Aster was incredible, but she herself was just kind of . . . there. For a millennia-old being, she talked like a twenty year old and as the reader got to know her, as she became more than an idea, she just never felt fully-formed or as interesting as I thought she should be.

That's actually my main issue with all three POV characters, but it's especially emphasized in Aster just based on the build-up of her character. They were all just there, or, in Sahar's case, barely even there, really. The loss of so many of her order didn't result in the emotional punch that I think it was going for if only because none of those secondary characters nor Sahar herself really felt developed. Korinna was great in her backstory and how trauma shaped her, but her actual personality was quite bland.

So it should come as no surprise that the romance left me cold. I never really understood why either of them was romantically interested in the other, and why they bonded so very, very quickly.

I actually think this book may have benefitted from being a series, or at least a duology. That would have given it time to breathe, time for the characters to actually develop and form, and while I did really like the ending of the book, it would feel more earned and ethereal had there been perhaps a brutal ending to book one and then really revelling in the darkness and risk of the world. As it was, I struggled to connect emotionally and was a bit letdown in the end. But based on the concepts and how much I enjoyed the first half of the book, I think Meredith Mooring has potential as a strong sci-fi writer with dark imagination and female-focused sci-fi, so I'll be keeping an eye out for what she writes next.

Thank you to the publisher, Solaris, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

Korinna is a Reedseer, a blind priestess who can manipulate space and time, but she’s the weakest in her order, and her only goals are to stay alive and stay out of trouble. Her placement on an Inperium ship, where she is to be used as a weapon, reveals that she’s not as weak as she’s been lead to believe. In fact, she’s super powerful, and her entire world is upended when pirate Aster Haran takes over the ship.

Aster is fulfilling a vendetta against the Imperium, swallowing everything in her path. She’s fueled by a darkness, but she knows things about the world that Korrinna doesn’t, and the priestess is drawn to her. Torn between her allegiance to the Imperium and her feelings for Aster and growing knowledge about the world, she’ll have to make a difficult choice, one that will risk the fabric of space and time.

This one was a massive undertaking (for me as a reader and for the author as a writer). It was pretty long, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a fantasy space opera with complicated politics, complicated characters, and a solid, sapphic story. I thought it would take me way longer to read, but I was invested in the characters from jump.

3.5*

This promised a sapphic space opera and though it delivered on most fronts, I found the ending to be a little confusing and lost.

There were a lot of good ideas at play across the story, from the magic users, the drama between the characters, but it all felt a bit rushed by the conclusion.

Let me just start by saying that the representation in the book is great. Sapphic Priestesses, a blind Main Character, multicultural/BIPOC characters... I need more diverse reading like this in my life!

The world-building in this book is also wonderful. There are so many details of the life designed for the characters and their worlds, including magic systems that are not your usual boring trope.

However, for me, there were whole swathes of sections that were packed with lots of detail, but nothing happened. Sometimes, there is too much telling, rather than showing.

Then, the end. Literally.
You're swimming through the details and the subplot when suddenly, almost out of nowhere, it's the end. I was not ready for it!

Overall, this is a good read for any space opera fans who like women-led action and an escape from their patriarchal-drenched daily lives.

*I received a free copy of this book from Rebellion/Solaris via NetGalley, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review.*

Billed as "space opera filled with sapphic romance, space pirates, a blind witch and powerful priestesses," I was expecting a lot out of this book and unfortunately despite having so many of my buzzwords I didn't love this book. I was expecting more of a The First Sister vibe and instead I got a Some Desperate Glory vibe. Though in saying that, I seem to be in the minority of people who didn't like Some Desperate Glory, so maybe this would work better for others.

I think this world is really interesting, though it's definitely falls into the Star Wars-esque genre of space fantasy. There are blood witches, old gods, pirates, an evil big bad, a blind main character and a sapphic romance. It's fast paced and full of action. There is a lot to love on the surface. I love the concept of exploring the way foundational myths create a society, as each of the three main religions we see in this world have the same/similar history but have gone in much different directions.

Unfortunately, I found myself losing interest pretty early on. I tend to be a world and/or character driven reader. If one or both of those things are done well, then I will be hooked nine times out of ten. While I do think the world is interesting, there was a lot about it that didn't make sense or felt hand-wavey, and while sometimes that works for me, here it started to grate, especially as some of the plot points became repetitive. I also found that I had a hard time distinguishing between the voices of the main characters. Korinna is the most fleshed out, but even her character felt fairly one dimensional. I loved that we got blind representation and it seemed to be well done to me; however, I struggled to buy into her which made it hard to buy into the book as a whole.

Overall I think Mooring had some really interesting ideas here, but to me it felt like a lot of aesthetics/vibes and not enough meat, which made the execution fall flat.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with an eArc of this book. I apologise for the late review. I was trying to give it the best chance it had. Unfortunately, I did have to DNF this book in the end. I honestly didn't like the writing. It failed to hold my attention and just fell flat. I didn't connect with any of the characters or find myself engaging with their stories.

While the book was not for me, I hope it has found its audience now that it is in the world.

This was a pretty cool sci fi book, and I loved the rep in it. It felt a little too complex at times and lost me in the middle, but I still enjoyed reading it. Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC!

I find it hard to talk about this book because I really did not enjoy it, and you know maybe it´s not the book. I had the feeling the plot was all over the place, jumping from one action scene to the other without much time to figure out what was going on. Which is Another big issue I had with this story, the world-building. I can tell that the author had a really good idea but we are thrown in the middle of the action and I, personally, spend most of the time confused about how exactly this world works.
My other issue was the insta love, the characters act like their relationship has been going on for a long time, while less than a month has passed and the two had less than three scenes together.

Started promisingly but the writing didn’t get better, lazy and ultimately space pirates don’t do it for me. DNF 27% :(

In theory, this should have really worked for me. Blind priestesses that navigate space ships with their mind? Women turning into lizards and eating people? Space cults? Sapphics? Sadly, I found the execution lacking and the prose was very clunky. The book suffered the most from having a weak protagonist and a lacklustre romance. The most interesting aspect was the worldbuilding to me which was well done, so I'm looking forward to what the author does next, but this one was a miss for me. 2.75/5 stars.

⭐⭐⭐💫
🌶️🌶️
🌌🚀✨🐍🗡️

Redsight is a sapphic space pirate horror science fiction novel that is both intriguing and horrifying at the same time. Three goddesses. Three priestesses. Three women are drawn together with opposing aims: the Lightbringer engineer, the blind navigator, and the star eater space pirate.

This book is full of self-sacrifice, spaceship invasions, saving entrapped goddesses, and changing the way the space world works. There is a sapphic romance, a very opposites collide, with a thousand-year-old age gap, one seeing, one not, one who literally sheds their skin to navigate spaceships with tactus, and one who turns into a serpent and eats stars.

The one flaw I had with this book was that it was quite long and drawn out. But otherwise, I really liked it, despite the gorry stuff.

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion/Solaris for a copy of the ebook. This review is left voluntarily.

I am dnfing the book 28% in - it's not holding my attention, the plot feels boring and simultaneously confusing.

'Redsight' is a space opera packed with action and interesting plot-twists. When I read that this title was perfect for Gideon the Night fans, I knew I had to give this book a try. I had high expectations and it delivered. I can't say much without spoiling the plot, but I loved the characters, especially Korinna, and their development, the queerness, the setting and the in-depth themes the book explores. All in all, a must read for sci-fi lovers!

*Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review