Wow. Wow wow wow.
The way this handled heavy topics so thoughtfully and beautifully is truly impressive. It explores complex themes of justice and what is right. Makes you think about your own morals and what decisions you would make and I love that the answer isn't easy. The characters do some terrible things, but you understand *why* and even though are leads are technically opposing each other, they are both right and both wrong. Morally grey feels like an understatement. It also deals with the power and necessity of forgiveness. How difficult it can be, how healing, but also how scary and painful because it is a form of letting go of something you've grown accustomed to. It’s about grief, revenge, forgiveness, and humanity, which are all huge things but handled so expertly.
The magic system is really cool too and the binding aspect is what I was hoping for (but ultimately disappointed by) in Threads That Bind. This felt so much more real. And I loved how it prioritized bonds that weren't just romantic bonds. I appreciated the rep and how our main character (Remy) dresses ambiguously or femme. I want to recommend this to fans of The Bones Beneath My Skin because of the vibes and difficult situations brought up but this one is darker, so please look into trigger warnings. There is on-page murder and starvation, and child death. The latter scene was a particularly hard one for me to read.
I was tearing up multiple times because of how much grief there is but it was also so beautiful in other parts that it gave me goosebumps. I found it hard to breath many times while reading, and the thought of being without air is so viscerally terrifying and this book so expertly evocative that it felt like it was doing it to me. Hence, why I feel like I can sum up this book in one word: wow.
Huge thank you to Hodder & Stoughton Audio and Netgalley for an early copy of the audiobook.
P.s. I'm also so happy I was able to get my hands on the beautiful Goldsboro edition of this book too

This book was phenomenal. I’m really not sure what else to say. Sci-fi is not a genre I usually read but when I do, I am never disappointed. The emotions and devastation loses this book inflicted on me was brutal. I think I cried 5 times while reading it and yet, I want to read it for the first time again. Please go read the book if you like found family, interesting magic systems or someone learning how to live through grief.

I really enjoyed this book the only reason it didn't get 5 star was purely due to how long it took me to get into this book. This is a scifi fantasy with action drama mystery magic and found family. It's sweet action packed and moving

I feel like every book becomes new when it's read by another person, so I was excited to receive a widget that let me listen to Georgina Sadler's interpretation of Lord of the Empty Isles! The only problem is that Netgalley has been regularly nudging me to review my own book ever since. I spent a good long while ignoring those emails, but then I realized I could take the opportunity to share a note here, which seemed like a good idea!

I did my best to make this story adventurous and compelling and was very excited to have a chance to build the book's tether system, which celebrates not only romantic love but love of all sorts. At its heart, though, Lord of the Empty Isles is very much a story about loss and healing and messy people finding each other, so it does deal with some heavier content. Please take care if any of the below topics might be difficult to read.

Content Notes: grief, loss of a sibling (off-page but prominent in the book), on-page depictions of death and injury (children, adults, the elderly) in a mass-casualty event, advancing illness (due to a death curse)

Probably one of my favourite books of the year.
The audiobook is super good and I loved it. The narrator did an amazing job at giving each characters a different voice, it helped identify quickly everyone.
Thanks NetGalley for the arc

Thanks NetGalley for the audio arc !
It was a delight to revisit the story and I absolutely loved it even more than the first time. I urge everyone to pick this book, be it the ebook, the physical book, or the audiobook which is brillant.

A great read for pride month, I was so happy to see a book featuring an aroace main character which is usually massively under-represented and misunderstood in media so seeing a main character who is aroace and seeing t done well was absolutely fantastic.

I found the world building with the tethers and such very well thought out but also complex and difficult to understand though I suspect that is partially due to audio format and I think I personally would have found it easier to follow in a physical read.

The characters were all perfectly flawed and showed fantastic growth, Remy especially. This book was the perfect example of the found family trope so if you love found family absolutely gibe this a read.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Soughton Audo for this ARC audiobook and Happy Pride!

I had been really anticipating the publication of this novel, by debut novelist Jules Arbeaux, for some time. I loved the sound of the premise: a queer space fantasy with piracy revenge but with a unique twist whereby Remy, the protagonist, tries to kill his enemy Idrian in a slow and painful "withering", but the magic backfires to make both their fate's inextricably linked together. When one of them dies – they both will die.

I leapt at the opportunity to listen to the audiobook and narrated by Georgina Sadler – it didn't disappoint and kept me gripped and entertained right right to the very end.

Set in a different universe to our own, where people are connected by invisible but magical bonds, the story follows Remy Canta, a 19 year old who is set on killing his brother's murderer, space pirate Idrian Delaciel, with a withering curse, only for it to rebound so that their fates are inextricably bound together.

This is perfect for fans of messy characters, queer found family and adventure fantasy, with the enemies to friends trope at the core. But it's far more complex than that and when both Remy & Idrian are cursed to die a slow and painful death, as Remy uncovers some real truths about life on his planet, Idrian ceases to be the black and white villain Remy has believed him to be. Idrian is fate bound to his misfit crew and all the things Remy has taken for granted his whole like are brought into question, making things even more complicated when unsuspecting Idrian and the gang take him in – adopting him as if he was one of them.

I enjoyed Sadler's portrayal of the characters and, particularly as I'm not strictly speaking a sci-fi fan – I found the space fantasy feel of the novel really compelling, enjoyable and engaging. I have now purchased a copy of the book as I want to spend more time rereading the epigraphs for each of the chapters and understanding more about the magical bonds or tethers that Arbeaux has created.

Arbeaux's characters are a joy and the world-building she creates makes for a claustrophobic space world, exposing some bitter truths about humanity and the choices people can be pushed to make when they are fighting for survival. I look forward to reading more from Jules Arbeaux in the future.

Thank you Hodderscape for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of Jules Arbeaux's Lord of the Empty Isle.

I really liked this! The characters were all well written and the world was different to what I've read before. Georgina Sadler did a good narration and captured the tone of the book. I did feel the pacing felt a bit off at times, and I never felt desperate to carry on reading, but it was cosy and enjoyable. Overall, it's pretty good book by an author I've never read before.

Lord of Empty Isles is set in a uniquely magical world with a profound way of connecting people - in love, friendship, and through deadly curses. It has an aroace-spec and gender non-conforming lead, and a vibe like Firefly (TV show) that kept me reading.

I will admit that this book was slow for me at first as I learned all of the rules of this world and as we follow Remy on his accidental path into Idrian's life. We slowly learn that Idrian is the killer Remy expects - but not for all of the reasons Remy believes. The cast of characters, which become a sort of found family for Remy and his best friend, are richly drawn without distracting from the main characters. I wish we had a little more time with Remy's best friend, who started off as the main character but kept getting left behind as the story progressed.

Overall, I think this is an interesting book, and I would recommend it to others who like Becky Chambers. It won't be for everyone, but I think it will find it's fans.

The only reason I’m giving it 4⭐️ is due to some confusion at times on my part of what was going on in their world. Once I started to understand the world the characters in it, I was pleasantly surprised by this little YA sci-fi/fantasy gem.

Excellent book! Really draws you into the magical world. Fantastic plot twist that I didn’t see coming. Would love for this to become a series!

This story is a mix of Sci-Fi and Fantasy (set on a different planet and we hop from said planet to artificial moons and back but we also have bond-magic). It's very much a story about the consequences of your actions; every plot point is part of a seemingly never ending chain reaction of things. But we're never really getting anywhere.
We follow Remy, who does a thing, which leads him somewhere where he meets a bunch of people who then proceed to just drag him along and show him a whole new world (or rather three...). As the reader, this is where you spend most of your time: learning about said new world(s).
The story itself is a solid read. The characters are interesting, the worldbuilding is on point, even though it is very front loaded. Especially the rather complicated bond-magic. We get a giant block of exposition about it right at the start, only for a lot of this information to come up more organically later on - making this lecture at the beginning kinda pointless? The balance between exposition and the rest of the prose was a bit off for me.
This book also ends a bit too sudden for my taste. I don't mind open ended books but this one feels like there is a paragraph missing to wrap things up a bit cleaner.
I do like seeing all the different queer rep - especially an aro/ace lead (we don't get enough of those)! I also like that no one really labels anything; people are just people and everyone is good with that, no questions asked.

The narration by Georgina Sadler takes some getting used to it. The accent work to distinguish the sizable cast is good but the choice for Remy's voice is not my favorite. I personally just don't vibe with the chain smoker rasp...

3.5 stars.
This is such a wonderful story. You've got space travel and heists and political intrigue all while spending times with a lively, dynamic group of characters that are very easy to get invested in. The world itself feels fresh, with the concept of tethers that literally bind people together playing a major part in the world itself.

While this book sounds action packed, is at it's heart a story about grief and friendship, about love and the lengths people will go to for those they love. The group of characters are at their core a co-dependent found family with some messy dynamics but with a clear core of love and acceptance. It's rare to find queer books without romance so it's so refreshing and lovely to read books like this one.

While it sounds like this story might be full of fun hijinks, it's actually quite dark and devastating at points and I think that's part of what prevented it being a five for me. It's really quite a heavily emotional read and I wasn't really prepared for that. More of a clash of expectation than anything actually being wrong with the book. Additionally, while the plot is great and the characters are great, I sometimes felt the story struggled moving the plot along at a good pace whilst also having the essential emotional moments that make up the heart of the book. It felt a little dragging after the halfway point but overall I still think it's a really worthwhile read.

The best part is that this is the author's debut and I can't wait to see what they come out with next if this is what they manage on their first go.

I requested Lord of the Empty Isles on a whim. It is the June GSFF special edition, and their edition is so pretty that it piqued my interest. The genre is Science Fiction Fantasy, which I didn’t know I was missing. I have problems getting into most Science Fiction books, but with this one, the Fantasy and Science Fiction were so intertwined that I found myself not wanting to stop reading.

Now, getting into the book, Remy has spent the last five years mourning the death of the brother who raised him. The story begins with Remy finally getting revenge on his brother’s murderer. The character growth is delightful, and I can’t think of anyone I disliked (other than those you are meant to dislike). My only gripe is that there were some coincidences in the storytelling that made things too easy and less believable.

There are relationships in the book but no main romance. While I do love a good romance, Remy is characterized as aroace, and if the author had casually given him a romance, it would have been a detriment to his character.

I loved this book, and while I haven’t decided yet, I think it is my favorite read of 2024 so far. I know I will be looking for more Science Fiction Fantasy and have this book to thank for that.

I received an eARC from Hodder & Stoughton/Hodderscape via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

At first I wasn’t sure but as the story came together and the magic system explained I threw myself into this book. Found family is a favourite trope of mine. I liked the narrator, they did the voices to help distinguish different characters and it wasn’t too over the top, I never felt thrown out of the story. The world building was enough to help visualise the scenario. The characters were well thought out and the storyline was interesting. Overall this is a fantastic sci-fi debut!

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a delight! I was intrigued by the synopsis, and though sometimes I don’t jive super well with books with a heavier romantic focus, I did enjoy this one. It did admittedly take me a while to get into the story, and I’m not sure if it was my mood, the fact I read this as an audiobook, or the book itself. Regardless, I think Arbeaux had some excellent character work and I liked the focus on platonic relationships. It was definitely about the level of sweet I’d been expecting, which was what initially made me hesitant about this—it’s well done and quite good, but also not necessarily the kind of story I always seek out. Still, I’m not mad about it because I did find the overall work to be impressive and well done. I didn’t always get on well with Remy, but he’s quite believable and I’d absolutely be open to rereading this one.

The audiobook was narrated by Georgina Sander and I thought it was well done and added to the story!

Rating: 2 stars for my experience reading it. But I didn’t feel the narrator in the audio version suited the book so maybe it be a 2.5 stars potentially 3 stars if I’d physically read the book.

Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this book. I was very hyped to read it initially as the plot sounded amazing but I found I didn’t connect with any of the characters especially Remy the main character. I couldn’t tell you much about his personality as to me it was just “wants revenge and is grieving”.

I feel some of the story needed more build up. Like memories being reflected earlier on instead of randomly happening when they were needed. The beginning could have used at least one more chapter of establishing relationships instead of later relying on these memories. And more about the magical bonds that exist in this world then instead of at the start of each chapter.

The writing was alright at least and I guess pretty good for a debut. Apart from the overuse of the phrase “like a secret”.

The magic was interesting and this story was basically a fantasy sci-fi which I always like to see. I also liked how the book concentrated on platonic relationships and sibling bonds. It also did very well showing someone suffering with grief.

I think I’d have enjoyed the story a little more if I hadn’t listened to the audiobook. The narrator was talented but she made Remy the main character who is 19 years old sound more about 10. I wasn’t fond of the voices she gave to other characters either. I also didn’t feel the pain in people’s voices when talking about some heavy subjects.

I wish I had enjoyed this book but I didn’t. If it hadn’t been an arc read I’d have dropped it halfway in all honesty.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for granting me an Advance Reader Copy. All opinions are honest and my own.

I was so excited to recieve this book, but unfornately was so disappointed. The book is very....well to put it plainly... confusing. So much is going on but there was not enought explination for me regarding events, characters, plot, just to name a few. It just didnt make sense. It is high fantasy and not in the real world, and I felt think some things just have been assumed the reader would know and be common knowledge but wasnt. An example, for me was the teathers. I kind of gathered it is a "bond" between people, however some chacters were teathered to others that they didnt even know. I also kept getting the impression that maybe the teather was for lovers, however the main chacater has one with his brother. Again I was just confused all around.
I can apprecaite this book though and can see how it might be enjoyed by others. If the plot intriges
you I still say give it a try. I unfortunatley has to mark this book as DNF.

thank you so much to the publishers and netgalley for providing me with the audiobook!

i think the narrator did a wonderful job with keeping me immersed in the story throughout!

the plot itself was great and i loved learning about the world as we move along. there are a lot of interesting characters and they all had such a great dynamic. there is no romance but as someone who's number 1 trope is found family, this was perfect for me. i just loved the sincere and beautiful friendships that were built along the way. it is also beautifully written and i really enjoyed it overall!