Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - La Gloire à tout prix

This fantastic one-off "social science fiction" captured so many moral dilemmas in it. Kyr as a character was written fantastically, unlikeable, yet the necessary person for this role. Tesh is able to capture what is so dangerous about fascism, fanaticism, and bio-essentialism while also giving the reader a space opera. It captured so many elements of sci-fi that I enjoy.

The feminism of this book is so important as it takes a character who is a staunch believer in her bio-essentialist community and learns to see the amazingness of the women around her and the women who came before her; especially those who beared children for their community.

An important line that stood out to me was, “She wasn’t Earth’s child. She was Elora Marston’s and Yingli Lin’s and Ursa’s, and she owed her duty not to some abstract unknown planet but to the women who’d come before her.”

Often we not only forget the women who came before us, but forget the women around us, forced to live a bio-essentialist life. This book is an important reminder, especially in a post-Roe world, the importance of who we consider when we discuss feminism, intersectionality, and bio-essentialism.

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alexalala's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow. I was blown away by this book!

Kyr has trained her entire life to avenge Earth's destruction aboard Gaea station with her mess, the Sparrows. She expects to be placed in a fighting wing, but instead is placed in Nursery to bear humanity's future children. Shocked, and a little disillusioned, Kyr takes destiny into her own hands, stealing a ship with a captive alien and another Gaean. What follows is a heartwrenching tale through space, time, and different dimensions.

Everything about this book was incredible. Kyr goes through grief, disillusionment, and grapples with understanding who the "good" guys are, if there are any. This book explores what it means to be sentient, empathetic, what family is, and how to stand up for what's right. This book is also very heavy, as it deals with ideas such as indoctrination, eugenics, mass murder, cult-like communities, abusers, suicide, and the literal weight of the world. All was very well handled, with grace and empathy. It asks many questions about ethics, morality, and relationships.

It also featured many different types of relationships throughout contexts - whether it be familial, abuser/abusee, romantic, friendship, or interspecies. The characters were extremely complex, all wrapped up in their own biases and background while trying to make sense of the truth around them. In particular, Kyr grows immensely throughout the book,

from a brainwashed cadet incapable of empathy to a kind, empathetic person who critically thinks through her actions and those of others.

Yiso is also particularly well done, changing through different dimensions and even becoming a little morally grey.

Though the beginning was a bit slow, it sped up quickly and alternated between medium and fast-paced. It was a very entertaining read, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and felt extremely emotional by the end. The prose was beautiful but very readable, and I never felt like it was going over my head, nor that it was a simplistic read for the beach (though I did read this on the beach successfully since I couldn't put it down). The plot had many twists and turns, but they felt very earned and added to the plot, rather than being for shock value. Each plot point had a purpose for the overall plot and message of the book.

Overall, this was an incredible book that will definitely make my best book of the year list.

You will like this if you like: space operas, multiple dimensions, aliens, sci-fi, cults, strong emotions, heartbreaking conflict, and complicated characters.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thanks to TorDotCom Books for the free advance copy of this book.

- Whew, this book! SOME DESPERATE GLORY has fantastic world building, morally gray characters, "are we the baddies?," a dash of queerness, and a freaking fantastic couple of twists that I will try not to give away here. You need to go in fresh on this one, just trust me.
- Kyr is going to be a hard character for a lot of people (as will several others in this book), and I loved that Tesh just did it. Yeah, she's mean and self-centered and has a limited worldview. Deal with it, alongside Kyr herself dealing with it.
- SOME DESPERATE GLORY is truly the best of what sci-fi can do. It pushes on big questions of morality while also delivering edge of your seat action. I absolutely cannot wait to see what Tesh does next.

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dcackley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

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