5/5

Started on 19/05/24
Finished 23/05/24

ARC provided by Netgalley.

Let's be clear, it's my favorite read of the first half of the year. I love every single characters of this book. I would defend them with my life.
The story is amazing, the plot is so great I loved discovering new things about each characters and their linked through each chapters.
If I had to compare this book to an already well-known book it would be the hunger games.
I recomend this book. I will be buying it when it gets released. I want so much more about these characters.

This had a really interesting premise, a queernormative world, and a band of found-family robinhood type characters doing heists and murders for the greater good. It also had a unique magic system that is unlike other fantasy I’ve read. However, I also think it got bogged down a bit in unnecessary details and didn’t go enough into the individual characters to make their stories hit emotionally.

My biggest issue with the book is also what made it most unique—the tether system. It’s both under and over explained, which is frustrating. I have no idea why the tethers form (magic? fate?) or whether everyone has tethers, if some people get married without tethers, etc. Yet I DO know a lot of random information about what it means when a tether attaches to the hand versus the gut versus some other place—despite that ultimately being irrelevant to the plot of the story. I felt so bogged down in details about things I didn’t need to know and yet still wanting more details about things that weren’t included. Some of the details were a little too convenient/unrealistic when it came to coincidences of how everyone is related.

Still, the way the life and backstory of the main character interweaves with all of the people he meets was pretty delightful, and I really appreciated how reasonable people were in seeing that they were doing the exact same thing that he had done but to different people. A nice lack of hypocrisy for most characters throughout. I also appreciate that they didn’t shoehorn a romance into the plot even though the MC and his enemy/whatever easily could have followed that trope. I did find a lot of the political stuff very high handed and unsubtle but with how detailed the book gets into the lives on Alta, I didn’t really mind.

I really wish we had gotten POVs from some of the rest of Idrian’s gang and more information about their backstories. I would have loved to know more about them and their lives.

Thank you so so much Netgalley & Hodderscape for letting me have an advanced copy of this book!!
I loved this book, I loved this book, I LOVED THIS BOOK!!
From the very first line I was instantly taken by the story, and I fell in love with the cast very very quickly. Everything about this book is phenomonal, heartwrenching and beautiful. The world and magic is unique and makes you feel very immersed in it, with wirldbuilding explanations weaved in as epitaphs.
This is described as a queerplatonic love story, and my gosh is it full to the brim with love. I sobbed multiple times and have so many moments highlighted.
No criticism here, I absolutely adored this <3

From the description of this book, I thought I was going to get a sci-fi adventure with a Robin Hood-like character, a creative magic system, and some found family along the way. And I did get all of that, but wrapped in a story that is ultimately a sweet, optimistic exploration of bonds between people and of grief.

Remy is set on revenge. His brother was murdered five years ago by a withering, a spell cast upon him that ultimately led to his death, and being a witherer himself, Remy is uniquely qualified to avenge his brother's death. The withering backfires, linking Remy to the man he was trying to kill and cursing them both, and of course Remy begins to discover that things aren't always as they seem in his world.

There was a lot to love in this story! Set in a queer-normative world with an aroace lead, the worldbuilding and politics of the story were some highlights I didn't expect. I did expect this to be a very character and emotion driven story, and so everything tied back into the characters. Which I like as a reader - I want to get emotionally attached to my characters and emotionally messed up by them, I want them to be the driving force. And they certainly were here. I didn't get quite latch on to any of the characters, but I did appreciate them and would be down for subsequent books that are just like. Adventures of the crew of the Astrid. That would be fun!

This whole book was quite fun, though it did have darker moments than I had anticipated. It was a bit like a spacey Robin Hood, and hey, who doesn't love seeing the little guys take on corruption and shake up our main character's world view?

The other big standout for me was the emotions behind this. You can tell that <i>care</i> was put into this story, and I did just think it would be a fun heist story, but at its core, it was actually much more concerned with the characters, and bettering their world, and especially how they had all been touched by grief. This was a book about mourning, about resiliency, but always with this thread of hope in it. The emotional beats were lovely, and the tenderness in the writing shone in those moments.

I did waver a bit between 3 and 4 stars, and I think this is ultimately a 3.75 star book for me. All was going quite well, parts seemed a little bit shallow, I wasn't obsessed with any characters, but that was okay, I was having a good time and pretty enchanted by the tenderness, so in a pretty good mood overall, and there was some adventure, and then the climax of the big political adventure plot kind of . . . brought this down fairly significantly for me. This was probably in chapters 23 and 24 out of 25, so really right at the end, but there were a couple of confrontations with characters that just didn't work for me. One was more minor, but just felt too easy and like some paragraphs to get from point A to point B were maybe missing, rushing from one place to another (there were a few other moments throughout the book like this, to be completely honest), but that was still okay. But the "villain reveals all" chapter just really soured the ending for me. It seemed too easy, and much too cliché, too cleanly wrapped up. The end of chapter 24 and the short final chapter 25 ended the story on a high note for me, and I was in a good enough mood to let that act as a recovery, but it was a bit of a near thing.

Overall, a bit of a delight, a bit of character-driven emotions, and a sweet, fun read.

<i>Thank you to the publisher, Hodderscape and to NetGalley for the ARC.</i>

Lord of the Empty Isles has a fantastic premise, and anything billed for fans of Becky Chambers will catch my attention!

There were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed, including the queernorm world and the representation; the magic system was also intricate and very original. It was a lot darker than the Wayfarers comparison would suggest, which isn’t a criticism - I just went in unprepared for the layers of dystopia, despair and grief. Despite this, Lord of the Empty Isles is a heartfelt read and the central curse plotline carries you through the more intense elements of the book.

Thank you to Hodderscape and Netgalley for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

In an unexpected turn of events, I've just found my new favourite read of 2024. This book... I don't even know how to review this book for no words that I can write will do it justice, for no words will capture the beauty of this book, or how much it meant to me.

This is one of the most beautiful books, if not the most beautiful, I have ever read. This is Jules Arbeaux's debut novel, and I am so excited to see what they will do next after this outstanding debut.

This is so much more than a sci-fi novel. The sci-fi elements are there of course (a great deal of this takes place on space ships and moon-planets) and are done excellently, with such fresh and unique world building. The concept of bonds and tethers, witherings and fighting against a corrupt and lying government, and every thing else that came in between was such a wonderful surprise, and I loved the depth and nuance that came with every element of this.

What this book really is, at it's heart, is a tale of loss, grief, and the journey to healing, the anger and hurt and nuances that come with all of it. Remy is such a remarkable protagonist, and it was truly such an honour to join him on his adventures. I'm very grateful to have never experienced the pain Remy went through, and yet I still felt such a kinship with him (perhaps because we're both aroaces with brothers called Cameron 😂). And it's not just him. The stories of Idrian, Yves (perhaps my second favourite besides Remy), Tirani, and all the rest of them were so painful and heartbreaking to read, but so so worth it in the end. These characters, their journeys to find the courage to let go and begin to heal, will stay with me always. I love a book with the found-family trope (especially when the characters are queer), but this book took that to a whole new level. These characters are messy and hurting and nuanced and they make mistakes (pretty BIG, revenge driven mistakes), and yet that's what makes this book so wonderful and so so important.

This book is heartbreaking, heavy, and it's going to make you cry a lot (please keep tissues on hand as you read), but it is such an important and wonderful story. I will never forget these characters, this world, this story. Thank you, to Jules Arbeaux, for forcing your wonderful story forever into my heart.

I have never meant a book recommendation more than I have this one. Next month, pick up this book with tissues ready and be prepared to fall in love.

Delightful book! Dark at times, but all the better for the story of grief, pain, and identity it's telling.
The magic system is new and unique (confusing in the beginning, though), and the characters leap off the page! My favorite part was the emphasis on platonic relationships (MC is gender nonconforming/aroace), which we so rarely see explored to this degree.
My only complaint is that some characters felt a little too immature for their age at times, but overall it didn't take away too much from my enjoyment.


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Welcome to Verdine, filled with people in pain and an abundance of greenery, and just up there? They're the Empty Isles, filled with people in pain and definitely no greenery. The world has burnt and been regrown, and now we've got to look after it, except, if you disagree with the authoritarian government you get sent to the penal colony that is the Empty Isles. The lord of the Empty Isles, Idrian Delaciel, killed Remy's brother and only family five years ago. Remy wants vengeance for his brother, and he's going to stop at nothing to get it.

This book! This book! It grabs you from the first pages and it doesn't stop until the last. I sat down and read it in one sitting and don't regret a thing except that it was over. The pacing is good, the characters are real and so is their pain. The world that Arbeaux has created is stunning, with a magic system that reminds me a little of Holly Black's curse workers world. There's a lot to keep up with about the different bonds, and it might have benefitted from a reference of them at the back, but I can understand that Arbeaux probably didn't want to reveal some of that information until it was needed.

In this queer normative world, everyone seems to have suffered unbearable losses, and family is such a large theme of this book. Tied together with an aroace lead character and what is quite clearly a queerplatonic relationship just, urgh, insert keyboard smash here. I don't know how to properly articulate that this is everything I want in a book. Closeness and focus on intimacy without the need for romance, without the need for sex. We're all valid and this book reminds us that we have stories that are there to be told as well.

Would I have wanted more Remy and Idrian time? Definitely. Would I have liked even more moments of them caring for each other and learning who they're going to be to each other? So so so much. Does it make it a worse book without them? Oh, not at all!

I want every story about these characters. I want a whole series of their adventures before they take down the main bad guy. I want more.

People always love those quick summary lines, and I suppose for this it's firefly but queer and with some magic, but, that just doesn't do this book justice at all.

Losing half a star for a couple of coincidences too many and a few friction points that didn't quite have a satisfying conclusion. Also that I think we could have had a million books in this series and it still wouldn't be enough space to tell Idrian, Remy, et al's story!

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

Lord of the Empty Isles is like if Treasure Planet and Howl's Moving Castle had a baby. We're talking space heists, found-family, magical curses, revenge plots, rebellion, sacrifices, a queer cast of characters and a handful of prison moons. It has the ingredients of a veritable space opera, but sticks to the orbit of one planet and its many problems. Those that break the rules on the planet's surface (ecological crimes, having too many children, and generally disrupting the status quo) are sent to one of three moons to serve out their sentence. But not everything is so binary, and the punishment may not always fit the crime (if there's even a crime to begin with)...

This is definitely a joining of science fiction and fantasy. Characters are linked by tangible threads called 'tethers' - they represent everything from love and friendship to mutual goals and entwined fates. It's a well conceptualised magic-system, though outside of the main crew it's not as big of a deal and it perhaps could have been. A character named Tirani can see these tethers when they're invisible to everyone else, but her skillset is never really capitalised on. We learn more about this magic system through the rhymes and quotes at the beginning of each chapter, but they ultimately feel a little superfluous.

The protagonist, Remy, is mourning the loss of his brother who, to all intents and purposes, was cursed to death by his childhood hero, Idrian Delaciel (a pirate of the non swashbuckling kind) - daring, yes, romantic... not so much. There's not a scrap of romance to be had here, but we're well fed on queer-platonic vibes. Anyways, when Remy decides to return the favour and casts a revenge-fuelled curse himself (also known as a 'withering') it has unintended consequences. What follows is an adventure through space, time, pain and grief as he finds himself having to infiltrate Delaciel's crew.

All in all I enjoyed this particular adventure, though it did take me getting to around the 40% mark to feel those first glimmers of real investment. My main struggle was with Idrian as a character, I think. I didn't find him charismatic enough to be the leader of his motley crew. There were no rousing speeches or banterific jibes or eccentricities that would make one fall in love with him. A lot of the time he wasn't even present on the page. The idea of his character was much more appealing than the reality, but perhaps we're being handed the gift of realism here. Sometimes that can be good and humbling - don't meet your heroes and all that - but I think I was in the mood for chaotic and charismatic. Instead we got sleepy and self-destructive. I could probably tell you more about Remy's brother (who's long dead before the first page) than Idrian, or even Remy himself.

My qualms are definitely just personal preference, because this is ultimately a well conceptualised SFF stand-alone with a lot going for it. If found-family, political strife and morally-grey heisting is your thing, it's one to pick up!

Lord of the Empty Isles was an adventure and I am so grateful I got to read it as an ARC. I loved this story and the characters we got to meet along the way. This book was emotional, with sibling death being one of the main themes of the book. We experience grief through the eyes of these characters, but we also see them grow to understand, forgive, and trust others. It's a beautiful story that had me crying, which is not typical for me.

The science fiction aspects were pretty easy to understand. When the world convicts someone of a crime, they are sent to one of the Empty Isles, which are 3 moons near the planet, so there are some space ships and a space station involved.

There is no romance in this book, so if you are someone who needs romance to enjoy a book, then this one probably isn't for you. Alternatively, if you are looking for a book with asexual, nonbinary, or gay characters, this book is definitely for you!

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys science fiction and fantasy merged, as well as people who love found family and are looking for more queer representation in their reading!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC! In return, this is my honest review.

Loved it! Lord of the Empty Isles managed to make me laugh and bring me to tears as it took me for a fast-paced spin through the stars (or, well, through some artificial moons and an orbital supply station, to be more accurate). Author Jules Arbeaux skillfully navigates unique world-building, a well-rounded cast of characters, and a deep, heartfelt emotional core in order to present a novel which I would’ve happily consumed in one sitting if life had permitted it.

Lord of the Empty Isles follows Remy, a deeply wounded young man who believes that finally casting a killing curse on the person who ordered the assisination of his brother five years earlier will allow him to heal - or at least, to feel something. When the curse rebounds on him and reveals that Remy is bound by fate to the man he wants dead - the infamous Idrian Delaciel - Remy and his closest friend, Tirani, leave their home to track down Delaciel and his crew, in a race against time and magic.

As he wrestles with his own grief and rage on his journey off-world, Remy also has to confront and challenge his conceptions of privilege, justice, morality, healing, and family. Eventually, Remy comes to see that he and Idrian, his childhood hero-turned-boogey-man, may not be so very different after all, and to understand why it is that they share a fatebond.

While Arbeaux shines in presenting a cozy, soft scifi adventure chock full of found family, queerplatonic relationships, and an aroace main character, they shine equally brightly in presenting a profound look at grief, at anger, at the places grief brings us to and the feats it may allow us to accomplish, as well as, ultimately, just how freaking much it can hurt to heal. There are parts of this novel that are so emotionally raw that if you, the reader, are bearing a fresh grief of your own, it may be best to come back to this novel a little later down the road.

In addition to grief, Lord of the Empty Isles deals with concepts of propaganda, oppression, and incarceration. Arbeaux handles these with a reasonably nuanced attention, given that the novel is so relatively short and fast-paced. Don’t expect to come away with any new revelations on government propaganda or the prison industrial complex, but given that I don’t think that that’s what Arbeaux was aiming for, I personally found these topics to be addressed appropriately.

My one complaint is that I wish I had more. More time with these characters, more chances to see them interact and develop, and more time to see the world that Arbeaux has clearly spent a significant time developing. On one hand, I understand that this would be a fundamentally different novel if the pace were slowed down long enough for that, but on the other, I can’t help wishing that it wasn’t over so soon.

I will certainly be keeping my eye on Arbeaux for any future releases, and highly encourage you to do the same!

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for my digital review copy.

It was so refreshing to read a book focussed purely on friendships and platonic relationships and how those can develop between characters. I adored how the magic system of tethers was so linked to the ideas of relationships and how we got the descriptions of the tethers throughout the book and I loved being able to pierce together the characters and their tethers and what that says about them.

Though, I would have loved to have even more information about the tethers and their meanings. As my copy is an arc, I don't know if there will be a compendium of sorts in the final copy, but I feel like having some form of list at the back with all the different tether colours and placements would be helpful (or maybe this is just a me thing and the fact I want all the lore and worldbuilding I can get to be able to fully immerse myself? I did find myself hghlighting nearly every piece of information we got regarding tethers throughout the narrative as I was so fascinaed by this idea of bonds and meanings)

This book had so many layers to the relationships, that I'm absolutely certain that I will find more links/a deeper understanding of this level of crafting on a second readthrough.

First of all, thanks, netgalley, for the arc. All thoughts are mine.

It's been a long time since I cried that hard while reading a book. Lord of the empty isles has one of the most accurate depictions of grief I've ever read. And while it made me drown in my own tears, I found it cathartic.
If you know grief, you know how insidious it is, and I found that exact feeling in Remy's journey. It felt true.

Lord of the empty isles is a story where everyone is doomed by the narrative, and you can't help but feel for them as they try to survive. Remy, our MC, has been trying to find his brother's killer for five years and when he finally find a way to get to him, it fires back at him and now he must figure how to disentangle himself from this mess. I really loved Remy because, in a way, he tried to keep his brother alive. Through revenge and hatred, but still. He tried to navigate his grief the best way he could.

Was he annoying at time? Yes.
Did I roll my eyes at him at first? Yes.
But. Like everything in life, nothing is easy, and you learn with Remy. You see him open his eyes to the world, and you can't help but care for him.

As for the other characters: I would give my life for them. They’re one of the liveliest bunch of characters I've had the pleasure to meet. Each and every one of them is full of life and bravado, and they're so easy to love.

I could spend longer gushing about this book but I'm writing through tears right now so. Forgive me !

I enjoyed this quite a bit! But I think it could have gone a bit further in places. It has some interesting concepts and a great cast of characters, and the plot doesn’t drag. Of course I love that it focuses on platonic relationships and has no romance!

I think most of my thoughts come down to it’s pretty clear that the book had some specific goals that it stuck to but the details opened up a lot of questions I can’t stop thinking about….. I feel like it could have done a little more work in the beginning to convince me of Remy thinking he’s in the right - basically from the second he meets the pirate crew it’s very obvious they’re in the right and where the plot is going to go and I was never convinced otherwise.

There’s clearly a lot gone into developing this bond system but to be honest I still don’t entirely get it? It seems to emphasise that the bonds just reflect connections between people rather than predetermine anything (which I’m glad for - I don’t like soulmate stuff), but also the plot kind of hinges on Remy and Idrian having a predetermined bond? There are a lot of explanations of intricacies but a lot of it didn’t sink in because it’s just sort of explained rather than deeply embedded in every interaction. I also felt like the bond stuff felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the worldbuilding.

I do wish Remy and Tirani’s relationship was more prevalent also- I feel like she kinda disappeared in the second half.

I feel like things are solved quite quickly and easily in the end - both the curse, and the downfall of the chancellor. I feared it would go down the route of blaming things on the person in charge rather than emphasising systemic issues, which it kinda does…. It’s impossible to ignore right now just how deeply people are willing to believe dehumanising propaganda - and how ‘telling the truth’ and exposing the person in power as bad doesn’t actually do anything; so that happening here made me go…… oh okay. well.
I felt like all the people upholding the system that we meet are portrayed as too nice for what the effects of the system are, too. However I think there is room for a sequel, which would maybe explore this? I get that it was probably just an easy way to end the story, and maybe exploring that stuff in too much depth would shift the intended tone.

My little complaints aside - I do recommend this! It was fun and pretty unique.

Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the arc

All in all a very enjoyable ride. The magic system takes some getting used to but it is interesting once you do.

Great story—couldn’t put it down! Can’t wait for the next book.

Loved it!

Loved the characters. Loved the plot. Love this author.

Another great book by a great author. I can’t wait to read the next book.

So good I’ll probably read it again! I would recommend the author to others as well.

I really love the sci-fi genre and I am honestly surprised at myself that I don't read more sci-fi books. From the summary itself, I knew I would enjoy reading Lord of the Empty Isles and I did. I love the whole concept. Although, there were parts where the explanation of how things work got a little confusing, I think I was able to get a good understanding of this concept.

The fact that Remy finds himself accidentally bound to an intergalactic fugitive and his brother's killer leads to a tense situation. Remy is now bound to Idrian Delaciel and his crew, linking their fates. Because if one dies, all of them die too. The story also gives us this heartwrenching moments where Remy misses his brother and greives for him. This book does a fantastic job at capturing the intensity of grief and how that shadows over everything that you do, and no matter what, the pain of losing someone you love doesn't go away.

I love love love queer platonic relationships in books and we so need more of them. When I realised that we would be getting one in this, I might have let out a little scream of joy. This plus the dynamics of the crew, that ends up becoming a found family....I love it.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a book that I'm not going to be forgetting about any time soon.

Space heists, enemies to lovers, & found family with a robin-hood-esque twist? This book was destined for my shelf.
In a world where the bonds between people are tangible and can be manipulated by some, Remy Canta's brother died of a curse five years ago, and Remy seeks revenge on the person who killed him. He doesn't expect his plan to go sideways, very fast, and he is forced to work with his enemy to survive as he is ripped away from everything he thought he knew.
Not all plots are created equal. Trust me when I say the pacing on this was perfect. The plot twists made me audibly gasp, and the first one appeared very early on in the book and hooked me right away. Things happened exactly fast enough that I kept turning pages because I HAD to know what happened next, but the pacing slowed down when we got emotionally charged moments between characters or bits of worldbuilding that let me sink into the story so much better. This book kept me up till 2am, and I don't regret it one bit.
The magic system of this is quite unique, and one I haven't seen before. It allowed the theme of grief and loss to be handled so softly and gently, and provided insight on how the different characters deal with grief, what it reveals about their background growing up, and how grief impacts them and takes them to the book's end. This story was so poignantly sad and at other times lighthearted and silly - Arbeaux definitely knows how to balance elements so readers are taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
Last but not least, the characters. Remy: tired and driven and caught in a bad decision. Idrian: snarky and reckless and making the best of a bad situation. Tirani and Roca and all the other characters who make up this book: necessary and flawed and so blazingly alive. They go through so much, and there is teeth-sinkingly good angst and hurt/comfort in here. I love them.
If you're looking for a sci-fi fantasy with a character-driven plot, a diverse & relatable cast of characters, and a hopeful ending that will actually give you closure and allow you to mourn the fact that the book has come to an end in peace, give this a go.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for providing the ARC!

A sweet, fast-paced read about love, loss, and the family we find along the way. Remy and Idrian are compelling characters whose interlocking story keeps you on the edge of your seat. I didn't always love the pacing—some twists come so abruptly that they don't really get the attention that they deserve in the context of the story. That being said, it was a nice read and I look forward to recommending it, especially to readers who are seeking queer stories that aren't romance-focused.

This was a really enjoyable read, every character had charm and a unique personality. It was effortless to relate to them and care about their struggle.

I do wish that the story wasn’t as black-and-white thought. The best part for me was when the main character was struggling with his hate for his brother's killer vs the good deed’s the killer was doing, but quite quickly the balance shifted and there was no doubt about who is good and who is evil. I would have liked the evil side to have more motives and justifications for their actions besides wanting more power.