Honey Hawk

“I feel like there’s no such thing as a war with a happy ending. There’s no such thing as, as a soldier with a happy ending.”


Honey Hawk is a story about humans and vantarians trying to cohabitate on earth, after the vantarians revitalized the planet from its apocalyptic end. Our main characters are Alder, who works for the human military and Sefynne who is relatively active in the vantarian liberation movement. When Alder and Sefynne cross paths, Alder realizes that humans might not be as innocent as they seem, which means it may be time for Alder to reconsider just who they want to fight for.

This book took a while to warm up, but once it did I was hooked. One of the main characters is nonbinary, and both are queer. The romance of the story was so sweet, despite the difficulties involved. The world building was really interesting, and the struggles seemed very realistic even though this book is so heavily rooted in sci-fi. My only complaint is that sometimes the writing felt a little too story focused, so it lost out on some potential beauty. Honey Hawk gets 3.5 stars from me, and I’m looking forward to continuing Alder and Sefynne’s journey in the sequel!

This book is great, I love its content, and the way it's written and this is something I would defenitely read again another day, and live in this fantasy, it's something I really enjoyed pretty much

The first thing that I want to mention about this book is that Alder, a main character, uses they/them pronouns, and it's so normalized, and everyone respects it, and I really love that!

The story was a little too predictable for my liking, but I still enjoyed the book overall, mostly because the characters were great. I really felt like I knew each character and their struggles, both external and internal, but it did take me a while to really get into it because the beginning had a little bit of info dumping.

I heard that there is a sequel, so I'm really looking forward to that!

I started this book reluctantly, expecting a run-of-the-mill post-apocalypse scenario (which I am really not much in the mood for, due to a certain pandemic that feels all too much like the plot of a novel) - and I read it through in one sitting, pushing my bed time to 1:30 am. Which has not happened in a long time!

This book has some sort of internal power that just pulls you forward, wanting to know more and not stop reading. It is the romance story between an extraterrestrial whose race lives on Earth as a minority (despite their superior strength and all they have done for the planet) and a non-binary human soldier (though reluctant) tasked with keeping order (read: suppressing the alien race). No, it is not the alien that is "weirdly" and "unhumanly" non-binary, it is the human. And it is never discussed, just taken for granted all the way around. Which I appreciated very much. It was a cute, enemies-to-lovers, star-crossed romance story with some very emotional scenes.

But it is also a story of two groups sharing space and fighting about it. One suppressing the other without real cause and policing their lives from denying access to certain areas to demanding permits for every business and licenses for building houses. Some other reviewers pointed out that this mirrors the Israeli-Palestinian conflict most, but I think it also holds true as a parable for other similar situation in which different groups (ethnicity, minorities, faiths) live so close to each other, yet separate and wary of the other.

If I had to critique something, it would be the lack of subplots beyond those two. So much more could have been explored in detail: the history, the details of vantarian culture, the details of the new human culture, their faith, even just the unusual wildlife. The side characters were interesting, but again: could have been more prominent. Aside from that, it was a delightful read that becomes more meaningful the longer you keep reading, and turns from a sweet romance into a warning tale for acceptance and tolerance of other lifestyles without prejudices and fear. I was glad to discover there would be a sequel.

Honey Hawk
By Hava Zyidema
An interesting look into relationships of diverse cultures. How a new alien invasion would not change our division but enhance it. Looks into the nature if oppression and divergence.