Scan barcode
toyajwilliams's review against another edition
3.0
I don’t really know what to think about this book. Hard to get into for quite a long time because of how downright unlikeable Kyr was lol but something kept my interest so I pushed through. I have absolutely no idea what anything looked like - as in, I literally couldn’t imagine anything as I was reading because I just found the descriptions and settings so lacking in important information. Maybe it’s just my inability to visually imagine stuff. I also, idk, hated the end?? Or felt unfulfilled?
And after further pondering, I just didn’t think the queer representation was done well. It was clumsy and it was superficial. Love Mags but what is this poor boy doing falling for someone like that? Built like a tank and dumber than a bag of rocks, it seems. It was unnecessary - I thought, anyway. I also feel like the twist about Kyr was thrown in there; maybe after an editor’s comment or suggestion because ??¿¿ I stan not.
2,000 people on board, not one Trans person??
Despite all that, I did read this in practically one go because I did like the world building and how fleshed out the characters were. There was some mentions of -isms that could have been better explored or even just like, actually spoken about by the people suffering from them but I guess at least they were mentioned lolol.
And after further pondering, I just didn’t think the queer representation was done well. It was clumsy and it was superficial. Love Mags but what is this poor boy doing falling for someone like that? Built like a tank and dumber than a bag of rocks, it seems. It was unnecessary - I thought, anyway. I also feel like the twist about Kyr was thrown in there; maybe after an editor’s comment or suggestion because ??¿¿ I stan not.
2,000 people on board, not one Trans person??
Despite all that, I did read this in practically one go because I did like the world building and how fleshed out the characters were. There was some mentions of -isms that could have been better explored or even just like, actually spoken about by the people suffering from them but I guess at least they were mentioned lolol.
yaelm's review against another edition
5.0
Not revolutionary, yet still excellent, mainly because of the characters
kaylo_ash's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
cocopom's review against another edition
4.75
Liked the universe and the world building was good! Listening made the different speces and group name hard to follow! Kyr was a good mc! I fell like it was a intro to propaganda book (not a bad thing just flagrant). All the hatred kyr had for everybody made me angry! All the trigger warning were all present😭! I liked the found / force family aspect and the bound the sparrows created. I said what i said about kyr but at the same time, she saw the end of the universe thrice and all the weight of the universe has on her shoulder so who am i to judge!
christinakann's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
allthings's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a hot mess, but I enjoyed it.
+Kyr's character arc. I loved following her beginnings as an indoctrinated daughter of Earth whose life had been dedicated to training for war and through the choices and changes that would shape her path forward.
+Cute alien.
+Space gays.
+Wild twists and turns I wasn't expecting. I recommend going in without spoilers.
+Maybe horrible people doing maybe horrible things.
+Mixture of small personal and big world-changing stakes.
+/-The sci-fi setting is the kind of sci-fi lite/fantasy sci-fi where it's basically magic. Some people will be turned off by this.
+/-The pacing is frenetic and also kind of all over the place as we swing between different places and times.
-The book attempts to tackle huge and complex issues of fascism, cults, female bodily autonomy, racism, etc. but it's not particularly nuanced in its approach and ends up coming across rather simplistically. I wish it had simply picked one or two aspects and really honed in on them.
-Some things/people are presented in a very black-and-white manner which seems at odds with some of the overarching themes. Ultimately, I wasn't really sure what the book was trying to say in the end, other than a generic theme of "good people vs bad people". There was so much there in the backstory of the destruction of Earth and the foundations of the cult, but I never felt like these bigger, more difficult conflicts were ever examined in the detail they deserved.
-Sometimes shit just kinda happens and you have to roll with it.
-The word "big" was used to describe Kyr and her brother so many times that it was giving these vibes: https://youtu.be/qMgMr0JcYJ4
Honestly, I think that marketing this book as adult science fiction is doing it a disservice. Some of the language may be too much for YA, but the characters, writing, dialogue, and plot all scream YA. Having said that, I think it read as good YA, and this would be a fantastic novel for YA readers on the older end of the spectrum that presents a lot to think about among the non-stop action.
If something like [b:Iron Widow|52459864|Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)|Xiran Jay Zhao|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617986668l/52459864._SY75_.jpg|77901205] is your jam, I think you'll like Some Desperate Glory. Overall very messy but still an enjoyable rollercoaster of a read.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC via Netgalley.
+Kyr's character arc. I loved following her beginnings as an indoctrinated daughter of Earth whose life had been dedicated to training for war and through the choices and changes that would shape her path forward.
+Cute alien.
+Space gays.
+Wild twists and turns I wasn't expecting. I recommend going in without spoilers.
+Maybe horrible people doing maybe horrible things.
+Mixture of small personal and big world-changing stakes.
+/-The sci-fi setting is the kind of sci-fi lite/fantasy sci-fi where it's basically magic. Some people will be turned off by this.
+/-The pacing is frenetic and also kind of all over the place as we swing between different places and times.
-The book attempts to tackle huge and complex issues of fascism, cults, female bodily autonomy, racism, etc. but it's not particularly nuanced in its approach and ends up coming across rather simplistically. I wish it had simply picked one or two aspects and really honed in on them.
-Some things/people are presented in a very black-and-white manner which seems at odds with some of the overarching themes. Ultimately, I wasn't really sure what the book was trying to say in the end, other than a generic theme of "good people vs bad people". There was so much there in the backstory of the destruction of Earth and the foundations of the cult, but I never felt like these bigger, more difficult conflicts were ever examined in the detail they deserved.
-Sometimes shit just kinda happens and you have to roll with it.
-The word "big" was used to describe Kyr and her brother so many times that it was giving these vibes: https://youtu.be/qMgMr0JcYJ4
Honestly, I think that marketing this book as adult science fiction is doing it a disservice. Some of the language may be too much for YA, but the characters, writing, dialogue, and plot all scream YA. Having said that, I think it read as good YA, and this would be a fantastic novel for YA readers on the older end of the spectrum that presents a lot to think about among the non-stop action.
If something like [b:Iron Widow|52459864|Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)|Xiran Jay Zhao|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617986668l/52459864._SY75_.jpg|77901205] is your jam, I think you'll like Some Desperate Glory. Overall very messy but still an enjoyable rollercoaster of a read.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC via Netgalley.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I'd already been told that this was basically crossing over the "Humans are space orcs" meme with the "Are we the baddies?" Mitchell and Webb bit, which is accurate, but doesn't entirely capture what's going on and why people love this book.
Basically, our heroine grew up being brainwashed by a bunch of terrorists, and was fully going on a suicide bombing run when she starts to see the cracks in her ideology, and questioning what she's been taught since birth. She's also a moderately obnoxious seventeen year old, a bully, and almost universally disliked by everyone she meets. After a few hundred pages, I found her obliviousness a little one-note? It was needed to set up the rest of the book, and I understand why we needed a baseline of her justifying herself and her horrifying views to show off how much she changes, but it did make the first third of the book drag a bit.
However, what did work for me was everything else. Without spoiling too much of the plot, there's some neat work happening with alternate realities, and who someone would be given different circumstances. Though it's a bit heavy-handed in places, I liked a lot of the details of how much being a Space Spartan would suck for everyone involved, and the points about complicity, and weighing when and if it's effective to rebel against corrupt authority. I also really liked how a lot of the secondary characters don't turn out to have the stories I expected, and how Tesh kept playing and inverting with YA and MilSF tropes. I was genuinely shocked by a couple of the turns, which doesn't happen much for me with SF/F.
I also thought the worldbuilding around the Wisdom and the loose confederation of humans and aliens associated with it had some neat philosophical concepts and dilemmas which felt very classic SF, and which I enjoyed the story chewing over. Also, nice to have a stand alone novel that felt complete and satisfying.
Basically, our heroine grew up being brainwashed by a bunch of terrorists, and was fully going on a suicide bombing run when she starts to see the cracks in her ideology, and questioning what she's been taught since birth. She's also a moderately obnoxious seventeen year old, a bully, and almost universally disliked by everyone she meets. After a few hundred pages, I found her obliviousness a little one-note? It was needed to set up the rest of the book, and I understand why we needed a baseline of her justifying herself and her horrifying views to show off how much she changes, but it did make the first third of the book drag a bit.
However, what did work for me was everything else. Without spoiling too much of the plot, there's some neat work happening with alternate realities, and who someone would be given different circumstances. Though it's a bit heavy-handed in places, I liked a lot of the details of how much being a Space Spartan would suck for everyone involved, and the points about complicity, and weighing when and if it's effective to rebel against corrupt authority. I also really liked how a lot of the secondary characters don't turn out to have the stories I expected, and how Tesh kept playing and inverting with YA and MilSF tropes. I was genuinely shocked by a couple of the turns, which doesn't happen much for me with SF/F.
I also thought the worldbuilding around the Wisdom and the loose confederation of humans and aliens associated with it had some neat philosophical concepts and dilemmas which felt very classic SF, and which I enjoyed the story chewing over. Also, nice to have a stand alone novel that felt complete and satisfying.
lorenz32's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
odin45mp's review against another edition
4.0
A good debut.
Kyr (spelling mistakes my own, I listened to the audiobook) is a child soldier raised to take revenge on Earth being destroyed. Only to find out there's so, so much more to the story than she has been told.
This book took a while for me to get into, because Kyr and her fellow soldiers aren't very likable. One even identifies as a complete asshole. She finds that the whole organization has rot at its core, that the state of the galaxy isn't quite what she thought it was, and that she might be able to do something to change it. Great action sequences string bits of plot together in a way that seldom left me bored and didn't stop to dwell on the science - it was here to service a high adventure, not prove theorems, and I'm good with that.
Recommended for fans of The Light Brigade, Starship Troopers, and Star Wars. Note: the content warning at the start of the audiobook is accurate. Definitely check the list before buying if you are sensitive to any number of difficult subjects, because odds are someone somewhere in the story either inflicts it on others, or contemplates it, or does it.
Kyr (spelling mistakes my own, I listened to the audiobook) is a child soldier raised to take revenge on Earth being destroyed. Only to find out there's so, so much more to the story than she has been told.
This book took a while for me to get into, because Kyr and her fellow soldiers aren't very likable. One even identifies as a complete asshole. She finds that the whole organization has rot at its core, that the state of the galaxy isn't quite what she thought it was, and that she might be able to do something to change it. Great action sequences string bits of plot together in a way that seldom left me bored and didn't stop to dwell on the science - it was here to service a high adventure, not prove theorems, and I'm good with that.
Recommended for fans of The Light Brigade, Starship Troopers, and Star Wars. Note: the content warning at the start of the audiobook is accurate. Definitely check the list before buying if you are sensitive to any number of difficult subjects, because odds are someone somewhere in the story either inflicts it on others, or contemplates it, or does it.