This is the queer space opera I never knew I needed in my life! As someone who is unfamiliar with the genre, I still loved this so much and it's because there is such a fun cast of characters. The adventures Xan and May, as well as their ever growing list of friends, go on are hilarious, completely out there (both literally and figuratively), and are underlaid by the ongoing suspense of battling Chaos. The final book in the omnibus is undoubtedly my favourite. I loved getting to know more about Xan as well as Aimz.

There is so much queer rep throughout this series - May is implied to be asexual, Aimz and Listay are in a sapphic relationship, Xan loves kissing anyone and everyone (and as an alien, it's mentioned his gender is kind of a big question mark). There's even an alien drag/burlesque show which was hilarious.

As for the things I didn't enjoy so much, I've never been a fan of "breaking the fourth wall" and it happens a loooot in this book. Personally it really takes me out of the story, and I remember at one point somewhere near the middle of this that the wall breaks were so frequent that I was starting to loose interest. The other thing is I wish we got to know more about May's backstory!! I felt like her character just began when the story did, because her life before being in space was barely mentioned, if at all, besides that she worked at Sonic. All the other characters had at least some of their history revealed so it felt a little missing for May.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed The Audacity and recommend it to anyone who is interested in sci-fi but wants something not too serious or intimidating, and to anyone who enjoys reading stories featuring queer characters! Thank you to Netgalley and Space Wizard Science Fantasy for the eARC.

Audacity Omnibus was published earlier this month. On a scale of 1-10, I would say audacity is a 3, and the inclusion of vast unknowable space entities is a 10.

In classic cosmic horror fashion our main character leaves their familiar world behind and is placed into a new one beyond their comprehension. May (like the month) gets whisked away to a space cafe and, like we all should be, is immediately skeptical of creamed corn still existing out in the depths of space. Chaos (like the noun) is an old god that possesses someone who used to be called another name but is now Chaos and everything is normal about that.

Carmen Loup delivers on a comedic and entertaining space journey. If this is a bus, Ms. Frizzle is definitely driving it. :)