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woolerys's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Writing - 4/5
Plot - 4/5
Characters - 4/5
World-building - 3/5
Personal tastes - 5/5
TOTAL: 4.0
I’m always a little wary of self-published work, but this novel exceeded expectations and was definitely superior to some publisher-published books I’ve read!
The three main characters are all wonderful; the human was a bit hero-y but still likable, while the ship was my favorite (gotta have that queerness-repped-through-sentient-AI element!). Actually the ship narrative had some tough conversations, especially if read as metaphors for coming out (which, it seemed fairly obvious to me, is how they are intended), and its story was also the only part left unresolved, so I have high hopes for the next book!
Anyway if you need some feel-good queer fantasy about organizing and collective action (who doesn’t), add Warped State to your list.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility and Police brutality
The ship's conversationgrid's review
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
In my personal review I called this “harrowing”. I loved the ship character.
qujoy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I can’t wait to start book two in this series!
mikime's review
4.0
Adventures in labour organization and workers' rights and interspecies friendship on alien planets in the far future. The two protagonists, of different species, band together to make life difficult for a particularly evil interplanetary corporation. One is a spy looking for evidence of past and possibly future wrongdoing on planets-wide scale, including his home planet, whose inhabitants suffered extremely bad and irreversible consequences for it. The other protagonist is a worker starting to organize and fight for better work conditions for himself and his colleagues at one of such corporate-run planets. Even though they start with different purposes, experiences and views of life, they become friends and partners, after going through all kinds of problems and dangers and after realising their ultimate goals may actually align. To make the story even more intriguing, there is also a newly sentient A.I. ship that starts mingling with people's affairs when the orders it gets seem unjust and against its values. A page-turning novel, fast-paced and compelling. I am quite curious about the sequel.
clara_ward's review
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Come for the optimistic space opera, stay for the sentient spaceship! While the backdrop was bleak enough to keep the organizers and activists busy, what made this book work for me was the development of three different POVs (one a spaceship!), each at a different stage in their political and activist understanding, trying to follow their good intentions despite plenty of missteps. The portrayal of various sorts of families and parallels between different species (or AIs) charmed me as well, and left me eager to read the sequel (which I discovered is out now!).
imaginarywhatever's review
5.0
I went into Warped State vaguely expecting a somewhat traditional-ish gay romance, just… in space. This, I can safely say, was incorrect.
There is a sweet, slow-burn romance between two of the main characters, a human acting under the pseudonym Mason Singh, and a reptilian humanoid named Stirring of Small Havoc (Havoc hereafter). Havoc is a devoted company man who is agitating for change from within the company in an attempt to improve rights and working conditions of others at the company. Singh and Havoc have something of a will-they/won’t-they and it was charming to read, even if I couldn’t quite picture how kissing would work with what’s described as a longer lizard face. Beak? Muzzle? Snout? I don’t know, I’m a cat person.
All this is happening, though, in the shade of activist movements on the planet Havoc lives and works at under increasingly repressive capitalist regime run by the Ravel company. The MC’s work together to teach and learn organizing skills, both self-identify as activists, and Miles gives the reader a terrifying vision of what a future of unchecked capitalism and imperialism might yield all while showing how resistance against those regimes will persevere.
The author walks us, not just through the power of being in that moment of protest and resistance, but of the genuine fear that accompanies overt political acts and the ways that institutions - in this instance, the corporation - work to eradicate dissent. The punishment we see Havoc experiencing after rescuing another character at one point is heartbreaking, more so because we see how he has been conditioned to accept that punishment as the inevitable, just response to his actions.
This is all happening alongside an entire ship - one being used by what seems to be a glorified bounty hunter/hit man/crony - to try to track and capture the main characters. A sentient ship who sympathizes with the resistance, begins socializing with other sentient technology once they realize it’s out there, and struggles with gender identity and misgendering themself. Ship - that’s what they call themself - is, if not the star of this book, then definitely one of the most unique and compelling characters. If someone hasn’t sent this to Donna Haraway already… maybe do not do that, since it would be random and impolite, but I imagine she’d have plenty to say about this. And I would read that book, too.
This is the first of a trilogy, so while there’s an HFN it’s not clear what direction things will head (or even if we’ll see these characters in the next book, though I sincerely hope so). Even if they aren’t, I’ll be back for the next two books and just keep my fingers crossed for Ship to make at least one or two cameos.
On an unrelated note, I never know how to end these things.
There is a sweet, slow-burn romance between two of the main characters, a human acting under the pseudonym Mason Singh, and a reptilian humanoid named Stirring of Small Havoc (Havoc hereafter). Havoc is a devoted company man who is agitating for change from within the company in an attempt to improve rights and working conditions of others at the company. Singh and Havoc have something of a will-they/won’t-they and it was charming to read, even if I couldn’t quite picture how kissing would work with what’s described as a longer lizard face. Beak? Muzzle? Snout? I don’t know, I’m a cat person.
All this is happening, though, in the shade of activist movements on the planet Havoc lives and works at under increasingly repressive capitalist regime run by the Ravel company. The MC’s work together to teach and learn organizing skills, both self-identify as activists, and Miles gives the reader a terrifying vision of what a future of unchecked capitalism and imperialism might yield all while showing how resistance against those regimes will persevere.
The author walks us, not just through the power of being in that moment of protest and resistance, but of the genuine fear that accompanies overt political acts and the ways that institutions - in this instance, the corporation - work to eradicate dissent. The punishment we see Havoc experiencing after rescuing another character at one point is heartbreaking, more so because we see how he has been conditioned to accept that punishment as the inevitable, just response to his actions.
This is all happening alongside an entire ship - one being used by what seems to be a glorified bounty hunter/hit man/crony - to try to track and capture the main characters. A sentient ship who sympathizes with the resistance, begins socializing with other sentient technology once they realize it’s out there, and struggles with gender identity and misgendering themself. Ship - that’s what they call themself - is, if not the star of this book, then definitely one of the most unique and compelling characters. If someone hasn’t sent this to Donna Haraway already… maybe do not do that, since it would be random and impolite, but I imagine she’d have plenty to say about this. And I would read that book, too.
This is the first of a trilogy, so while there’s an HFN it’s not clear what direction things will head (or even if we’ll see these characters in the next book, though I sincerely hope so). Even if they aren’t, I’ll be back for the next two books and just keep my fingers crossed for Ship to make at least one or two cameos.
On an unrelated note, I never know how to end these things.
graculus's review
3.0
Another one of those books where the blurb made it seem like something I'd really like but the way in which the author dealt with the plot in question just didn't quite work for me. As usual, YMMV.
The basic premise is that it's science fiction, set in a world where corporate entities control entire planets, which means that the people living there (whether human or not) have to live under the dictates of those corporations. One of our protagonists, who goes by Jasper (aka Mason, when he's undercover) has grown up on one of those worlds, where use of drugs on the population has led to a number of side effects cropping up which give the planet's inhabitants various psychic powers, while simultaneously decimating the birth rate. Somehow this has been able to be kept from the company which ran this (and many other) planets and so Jasper uses his particular gift of being able to see the emotional connections between people to try and sabotage that company's work on other planets.
Our other protagonist, Jasper's eventual love interest, is Kovari rather than human - despite his name Sowing of Small Havoc lives within a society where working towards the group good is the main goal and that's been abused by the company who owns this planet to make even the idea of organising against the company almost taboo. When our main characters meet, Jasper is supposedly encouraging unionisation but also has a plan to try and infiltrate the company headquarters, as further work is being done on a drug that works much like the one that affected his planet, destroying the birth rate but being immensely profitable.
In general terms, there's pretty good world-building and a nice range of supporting characters (including a spaceship which has recently acquired sentience and wants to get involved in what's going on) but the main characters aren't as strong as they could be. I had some trouble visualising what the Kovari look like, so it's probably a good thing that this is not a particularly explicit book for m/m and I hope the writer has a clear grasp of the respective biologies if she plans to change that in future installments. There's also a bit of bleed-over from what looks like the author's own experience of unionising, as sometimes there's a degree of info-dumping of 'how to organise people into a union' which just feels awkward.
So, in general terms not a bad book and it's likely to work well for some - for me, it just lacked that clarity of characterisation that makes me care what happens to the people involved and then want to pick up the next in the series.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.
The basic premise is that it's science fiction, set in a world where corporate entities control entire planets, which means that the people living there (whether human or not) have to live under the dictates of those corporations. One of our protagonists, who goes by Jasper (aka Mason, when he's undercover) has grown up on one of those worlds, where use of drugs on the population has led to a number of side effects cropping up which give the planet's inhabitants various psychic powers, while simultaneously decimating the birth rate. Somehow this has been able to be kept from the company which ran this (and many other) planets and so Jasper uses his particular gift of being able to see the emotional connections between people to try and sabotage that company's work on other planets.
Our other protagonist, Jasper's eventual love interest, is Kovari rather than human - despite his name Sowing of Small Havoc lives within a society where working towards the group good is the main goal and that's been abused by the company who owns this planet to make even the idea of organising against the company almost taboo. When our main characters meet, Jasper is supposedly encouraging unionisation but also has a plan to try and infiltrate the company headquarters, as further work is being done on a drug that works much like the one that affected his planet, destroying the birth rate but being immensely profitable.
In general terms, there's pretty good world-building and a nice range of supporting characters (including a spaceship which has recently acquired sentience and wants to get involved in what's going on) but the main characters aren't as strong as they could be. I had some trouble visualising what the Kovari look like, so it's probably a good thing that this is not a particularly explicit book for m/m and I hope the writer has a clear grasp of the respective biologies if she plans to change that in future installments. There's also a bit of bleed-over from what looks like the author's own experience of unionising, as sometimes there's a degree of info-dumping of 'how to organise people into a union' which just feels awkward.
So, in general terms not a bad book and it's likely to work well for some - for me, it just lacked that clarity of characterisation that makes me care what happens to the people involved and then want to pick up the next in the series.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.
zigzagzmak's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Jo Miles' debut novel, Warped State, exemplifies the author's bio, who says they "write optimistic science fiction and fantasy." At times, the optimism outweighed the attempt at realistic activism and organizing. A lot of happy accidents and convenient explanations that wouldn't hold up against scrutiny allow for main characters Jasper (aka Mason Singh) and Sowing of Small Havoc to carry out their plans. Warped State tries to do a lot of things and does most of them at an okay level, rather than doing one or two things really well. There is inter-species romance, extra-human capabilities, corporate caste systems, complicated family and team dynamics that aren't fleshed out, spaceships gaining sentience and developing personal ethics and morals, and a lot of debates around various approaches to activism and organizing.
I wanted to like this book, but there are several things that just turned me off. I probably would have set it down after only a couple of chapters under other circumstances, but I wanted to give it a shot. The inter-species romance aspect really is not for me but I know that there is an audience that will love it.
I also found it incredibly difficult to visualize the Kovari, who make up around half of the characters, including Sowing of Small Havoc. A late-revealed physical feature of them not having lips and instead having always visible teeth caught me off guard and made me more confused about their appearance. I don't feel like they were adequately described and that details were too sparse and far apart.
The story jumped between perspectives of various characters so often that it left very little room for suspense or mystery. When Mason is infiltrating a corporate building early on in the story, we know exactly what the security officers are thinking and doing because of the constant jumps back and forth between Grist, the security consultant, and Mason, mid-heist. I think the story would have been stronger had we not known what the circumstances were behind the scenes. Additionally, because of the way this author switched perspectives so frequently, it often required jumps back and forth in the chronology of the narrative, meaning we'd see the same thing happen from multiple perspectives in a row, with dialogue repeating in consecutive scenes. This felt redundant to read and really threw a wrench in the flow of the story.
Additionally, the dialogue and inner-thought style narration of characters felt so overwrought and unnatural, and it constantly reminded me I was reading a capital-S Story, rather than allowing me to sink in and enjoy what I was reading.
Another aspect that really put me off was that Grist, the security consultant with augmented physical capabilities, was also a drug user dependent on painkillers. It's such a tricky thing to introduce pain medicine dependency to your story and I don't think it was done with care towards drug users at large, especially since the one character who was using drugs was also a villain. It wasn't addressed again after serving as an opportunity for Grist to pass out while the sentient ship intervenes in some local happenings.
Was there anything I did like? Sure, I think the corporate caste system was really interesting and an accurate look at how folks act within strict hierarchies with the idea of rising up through hard work. The disdain folks at higher ranks viewed those with lower ranks and even the self-deprication within those at lower ranks felt reminiscent of the real world and our class and economic systems. I wanted to read more about this corporate life and about the people at every rank who wanted to join in revolution, to hear about their stakes and what made them tick.
While this book wasn't for me, I'm sure the story will make a lot of readers excited. Readers who enjoy a more optimistic approach to social justice and activism who are interested in furry-adjacent futuristic intergalactic space world building will get a kick out of this book, which promises to be a trilogy series at least.
Thank you to Jo Miles and NetGalley for access to an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!
I wanted to like this book, but there are several things that just turned me off. I probably would have set it down after only a couple of chapters under other circumstances, but I wanted to give it a shot. The inter-species romance aspect really is not for me but I know that there is an audience that will love it.
I also found it incredibly difficult to visualize the Kovari, who make up around half of the characters, including Sowing of Small Havoc. A late-revealed physical feature of them not having lips and instead having always visible teeth caught me off guard and made me more confused about their appearance. I don't feel like they were adequately described and that details were too sparse and far apart.
The story jumped between perspectives of various characters so often that it left very little room for suspense or mystery. When Mason is infiltrating a corporate building early on in the story, we know exactly what the security officers are thinking and doing because of the constant jumps back and forth between Grist, the security consultant, and Mason, mid-heist. I think the story would have been stronger had we not known what the circumstances were behind the scenes. Additionally, because of the way this author switched perspectives so frequently, it often required jumps back and forth in the chronology of the narrative, meaning we'd see the same thing happen from multiple perspectives in a row, with dialogue repeating in consecutive scenes. This felt redundant to read and really threw a wrench in the flow of the story.
Additionally, the dialogue and inner-thought style narration of characters felt so overwrought and unnatural, and it constantly reminded me I was reading a capital-S Story, rather than allowing me to sink in and enjoy what I was reading.
Another aspect that really put me off was that Grist, the security consultant with augmented physical capabilities, was also a drug user dependent on painkillers. It's such a tricky thing to introduce pain medicine dependency to your story and I don't think it was done with care towards drug users at large, especially since the one character who was using drugs was also a villain. It wasn't addressed again after serving as an opportunity for Grist to pass out while the sentient ship intervenes in some local happenings.
Was there anything I did like? Sure, I think the corporate caste system was really interesting and an accurate look at how folks act within strict hierarchies with the idea of rising up through hard work. The disdain folks at higher ranks viewed those with lower ranks and even the self-deprication within those at lower ranks felt reminiscent of the real world and our class and economic systems. I wanted to read more about this corporate life and about the people at every rank who wanted to join in revolution, to hear about their stakes and what made them tick.
While this book wasn't for me, I'm sure the story will make a lot of readers excited. Readers who enjoy a more optimistic approach to social justice and activism who are interested in furry-adjacent futuristic intergalactic space world building will get a kick out of this book, which promises to be a trilogy series at least.
Thank you to Jo Miles and NetGalley for access to an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!
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