Wow! What an epic read…. Lots of strong female leads, magic, politics, love and war. Fantastic book. Thank you to the author, please write more. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Thank you to Bindery Books and Left Unread for the digital ARC of Cry, Voidbringer by Elaine Ho.

Some books entertain. Some inform. But once in a long while, a book comes along that reconstructs you from the inside out. It does not just invite you into its world, it drags you into its marrow and demands that you look, truly look, at what it means to hope in the face of annihilation. What it means to be complicit, to survive, to love, to lose, and to keep breathing anyway.

Cry, Voidbringer is that book.

This debut novel is nothing short of breathtaking. It is literary alchemy. It is ferocious and tender, intimate and epic, unflinching and achingly human. It is a fantasy novel, yes, but calling it that alone feels reductive. It is also political. It is deeply emotional. It is mythic. It is real in the ways that matter most.

Elaine Ho explores the rot of colonialism, not as an abstract idea, but as something embedded into the daily lives, choices, and compromises of people trying to survive inside systems designed to crush them. The story asks a brutal question: what happens when those who have been broken by empire become its enforcers? There are no tidy answers here. Instead, we are given flawed, exhausted people making impossible decisions that are just as understandable as they are devastating.

Hammer is a marvel of character work. She is hardened by trauma and dulled by routine. She is someone who has long given up on hope. Watching the smallest ember of her compassion reignite as she protects Viridian, who is both a child and a symbol, fragile and frighteningly powerful, is one of the most emotionally nuanced arcs I have read in years. And Viridian herself? She is a child shaped by violence and hunger, who refuses to let the world define her completely. She tries to hold onto her softness even as the world punishes her for it. Her chapters cracked me wide open.

And then there is Naias. She is a former faceless who now holds the illusion of power in a structure still built to break people like her. Her chapters are quiet and surgical. Her arc is a meditation on survival under empire. It shows how empire shapes you, how it hardens you, how it convinces you that you have overcome it even as it continues to consume you. The way she moves through the world is a masterclass in character complexity.

The structure of this book is as bold as its themes. The narrative voice shifts fluidly throughout the story and it is done with clear intention, each change drawing the reader deeper into a specific emotional space. These shifts create a kaleidoscopic effect that makes the story feel more alive, more intimate, more human. You don’t just read this story. You experience it. It breathes on your neck. It whispers in your ear. The second-person passages especially feel like being seen in your most vulnerable state.

Let’s talk about the worldbuilding. There is no info dump, no front-loading of lore. You are dropped into a world that is brutal and beautiful, and it demands your attention. Slowly, through character choices and moments of survival, the picture becomes clear. The world feels fully realized without ever feeling overwritten.

This book is heavy. It is brutal. There are gory moments. But the violence that lingers most is the emotional kind. Still, there is light here. There is connection. There is tenderness in the cracks. And there is an insistence, quiet and unwavering, that healing is not only possible, but worth reaching for even if it hurts.

By the end, I was not the same person. I had cried, whispered no to myself, gasped aloud, and clutched my chest through scenes that shattered me. And I was grateful for every moment. This book is a reckoning. It is a song for the lost and the wounded. For the ones who are still fighting. For the ones who need to believe they are worth saving.

This is not just a five-star book. This is a masterpiece. It is the kind of debut that will be taught and talked about for years to come. It sits comfortably on the same shelf as the works of Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin. Elaine Ho has written something extraordinary, and I count myself incredibly lucky to have read it early.

Elaine Ho, thank you.

thank you net galley for allowing me to read this early!!

this book was phenomenal. the characters were so complex, drawing you in yet pushing you away at the same time. it’s so refreshing to have such complex characters, characters you root for, and characters that make you want to scream at them.

this was beautiful, the last third had me gripping my kindle, unable to put it down. i loved the twists, the rage, the heartbreak, all of it. i can’t wait to see the hype this book will get when it’s released

the unchecked power was amazing, the hierarchy of these kingdoms symbolic to so much more

This was such a beautiful and complex story. Each character in the book, whether main, secondary, or otherwise had layers.

I loved the world building in Cry, Voidbringer. From the description of the sceneries to the lore of the Gods and practices, I felt fully immersed while reading. There were some times where the book became difficult, but not in a negative way. There were deep themes of grief, abuse, trauma, and loneliness that made it tough to not get caught up in the emotions.

This story also made you question right and wrong at times. Was this character right in their actions? Should this person be saved? The complexity and questions of morality at times were real strengths in this book.

This was a beautifully written novel that tackles themes of tyranny, oppression, broken systems, found family, and so much more. I think it is a book that is very much needed in this current political climate. It was heartbreaking to read, but I am glad that I was allowed to read it. The characters were not even a little bit perfect and it made you feel for them even more. The ending felt very realistic, it wasn't summed up nicely just like stuff isn't in the real world. Amazing read!

This book was such a trip—in the best way. Cry, Voidbringer is eerie and emotional, kind of like if cosmic horror had a nervous breakdown and wrote poetry about it. Elaine Ho's writing is gorgeous and unsettling, and she somehow makes the end of the world feel incredibly personal.

The vibes? Immaculate. There's this slow, creeping dread that builds the whole time, but it's also deeply introspective—more about loss, memory, and identity than just straight-up horror. That said, parts of it did feel a little vague or abstract, and I had to reread a few sections to really get what was happening.

Still, it stuck with me. If you're into beautifully written weird fiction that leans more sad than scary, this one’s for you.

Cry VoidBringer By Elaine Ho is a dark anarchist story about powerful women, resistance to colonialism and tyranny, and the dangerous allure of complicity. This was an amazing, beautiful, and powerful story that is going to be THE BOOK of 2025.

Starting this book I knew it would be powerful, that it would deal with issues that feel both so far from reality, but also incredibly relevant to the world we are living in. It is the sort of story that at first makes you think " that kind of thing would never happen to me" or "I could NEVER do that kind of thing!"

Sometimes we get so ground down by what the world throws at us that it is easy to just give up and not push for change or expect better from life or the people around us. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking we are doing things to improve life for all, when our actions are really only serving ourselves.

This story is about women who are surviving in the different ways they have each been pushed into by the world and their individual experiences and how they react and change when a young girl with a rare and dangerous ability that could change the entire path of their world is found. But what will they each be willing to do or sacrifice to save what they value?

Bindery is absolutely killing it with all their books and this is no exception! I love the premise of the story and the execution didn't fail. I was so invested right from the start and it kept my interest, making it hard to put the book down.

This book takes commitment because it will hurt, several times I had to make myself go back and read the harsh passages. The way the author executed the themes of suffering and entertainment. This is most definitely a must read.

“You read our lives because you want to be entertained. But it’s the same story. Of death, and tyranny, and the banality of it all.”

Cry, Voidbringer weaves together three perspectives, that of Hammer, Viridian and Naias to tell a story of anger, loneliness, anti-colonialism and found family.

Hammer was wretched from her home and culture as a child to serve as a Faceless, a second-class citizen soldier (little more than a slave) in Ashvi. Her years as a Faceless and the seeming endlessness of the war against Tevu has hardened her heart.

Viridian is a child that Hammer accidentally saves during a mission. She was predicted by Tevu’s prophet queen to have a power that could change the fate of the war and the world.

Naias is the commander of the Faceless, having been raised from the same fate by becoming the lover of the queen, Khall. Khall is a nervous and new queen, not yet sure of how to operate the throne with the fresh memory of her father’s death on her mind. Perhaps it’s thankful then that Naias can be such a helping hand.

~*~*~

4.75/5 stars

I absolutely ate this and up. This was absolute excellence.

This is a dark story, and the characters don’t always make the “right” choice. They are complex and grey, but the author does a good job of establishing their characters so it could not have gone any other way.

It should be noted that you are dropped right into the world - it is expected of the reader to pick up the world as you go, since they don’t stop and explain anything. This is my preferred style of world building, so I really appreciated this. On the topic of world building, I really enjoyed it. Even if we didn’t see the entirety of the world, I liked the bits we did. It felt solid and realistic. I liked the different gods/religion and how the magic system was divine in nature (a particular favourite of main as a cleric main <3).

I found the entire really engaging and provoking, though it did drag at some points (though this was purposeful. It is hard to explain without spoiling, but I promise it was a creative choice. While I agree with the choice, it didn’t stop me from getting through that section much slower than the rest).

There were some choice use of second person narration, and I felt they really added to the story. I enjoyed the choice of which characters to follow - it would’ve been a different story if we followed other ones, and I don’t think the message would have been as impactful.

The world was queernormative, and a large majority of the characters were casually queer, which I deeply appreciate. There is a prominent f/f relationship, a bisexual main character and an important non binary side character, none of which is challenged (ie: homophobia or transphobia) by the narrative.

All in all, a fantastic story that I highly recommend you pick up when it comes out in October (2025), especially if you’re a fan of Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco.

~*~*~

Content warnings: Gore/descriptions of violence, genocide, drug use (opium), slavery, child abuse and death, colonisation


Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books (via Left Unread).

I really enjoyed this book! I came in as an empty slate; I found the book on NetGalley and was intrigued by the premise! It ended up being a unique, and emotional fantasy. I am impressed by this debut and look forward to reading more from the author! I cannot stop thinking about this story and characters, and am so glad I got to read it!

I loved the theme of found family within the book, and how people have different roles in their various families (daughter, mother, friend) This book is filled ith complex characters that readers will love, or love to hate.

The characters are well crafted, and the story weaves them together in a brutal struggle to free themselves from being powerless in a struggle for land

This is the best book I've read so far this year.

Cry, Voidbringer is a debut fantasy novel that follows: Hammer, a soldier, whose main goal is survival. Viridian, a child with god-like powers. And Naias, a commander, who wants to prevent the current ruler from making the same mistakes as the previous ones.

This novel has themes of tyranny, oppression, broken systems, sacrifice, found family, survival, and so much more.


*Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery for the eArc*

The last act of this book felt like getting kicked in the ribs in the best way. I was non-functional for the rest of the day after finishing this book.

A brutally honest tale that holds not just its characters, but its readers accountable for their role in the rise of tyranny. Elaine Ho's raw, unflinching storytelling coils around your chest and squeezes. Cry, Voidbringer is unlike anything I have ever read before.
- R. A. Basu, author of To Bargain with Mortals

I think this is a book that is needed right now. It is one that deals with political manipulation, oppression and the corruption of power. The author did a great job creating characters that felt real. There are so many interconnecting stories and motivations and it was heartbreaking to read, but needed to be read. The characters were not perfect, they had flaws and their own ideas about what is right. The ending was not tied up perfectly with a bow, it was fractured and hurt, like endings in the real world. I think the author did a wonderful job creating a fantasy world that mirrors the world with all of its flaws but with heroes willing to fight for it. I can only hope that we have real life heroes that are willing to fight for our world the way the characters in this book did.

Hot damn, talk about a book that pulls no punches. There are some really heavy themes here, and the author doesn’t shy away from their brutality and ugliness. But my favorite part has got to be the character work. The cast runs the full gamut: characters you want to root for, characters you want to see change, and characters you want to absolutely throttle. I find that a lot of times with multi-POV books, I always have one favorite that I’m impatient to get back to, but here, I was equally invested with each. If I had one complaint, it would be that the pacing is a bit off in the middle, but it picks back up in the third act and finishes with a bang.

I struggled with this book for the first quarter of it, not necessarily with the content but the fact that it didn’t feel edited. It felt choppy, like you’ve not been dropped in a first book but in a sequel or the second season of a TV show and you’re scrambling to understand what’s going on because they’ve changed the writers and recast half the of mains. And maybe that’s the author’s intent because the characters are in a state of confusion and chaos? That aside the story itself is outstanding and gut wrenching, and once you figure out what’s going on this twist and turn at a breakneck pace. The power system in the book is unique and something that has a ton of potential to be expanded on.

First off - WHOA. Cry, Voidbringer has been one of the most difficult reads for me in 2025. Does “difficult” mean “bad”? Absolutely not!! This author so expertly crafted complex characters navigating various shades of personal trauma, difficult emotions, and clashing motivations. The reader is given a birds eye view of rampant false promises, and is left facing the terrifying truth that complacency only breeds tyrants.

If you are looking for a happy go lucky fantasy book that’s a light read, this is not the one for you. But if you’re ready for a heavier, war torn book that makes you feel uncomfortable at times, definitely give this a try! The book’s overall vibes? Horrifying. But the execution of the writing, the presentation of the cruelties of tyrants, and the narrative of unchecked power choking the tiniest ray of hope? EXCELLENT. I was honestly blown away by this book. When I put it down, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. There were so many moments that share similarities with real life oppression strategies, the danger of corruption, and how inaction against an onslaught of political manipulation will leave no one unaffected in the end. This book presents and forces its readers to grapple with complicated feelings, all set in a fantastical world filled with Gods, gifted individuals and wartime tactics. I was stressed when I wasn’t reading this book! And quite honestly, this is a book I will not easily ever forget. Brace yourself, and check this out on October 28, 2025! Thank you to Elaine Ho, Michael LaBorn and Bindery Books for allowing me to receive an advanced reader copy!