A review by wilt
The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui

  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

this could have been a toxic yuri revenge story. i think this book really, really wanted it to be. but it had no idea how to execute it. this story has no meat. as a scifi, it is generic, underdeveloped, and juvenile. the entire setup for the conflict feels incurious and lazy and one of the most important things for writing a good convincing revenge story is conflict. the reader should be rooting for the main character, should feel their rage and understand its roots. At no point did I feel interested in the conflict (both on a larger scale and the more personal feelings between Kato and Rezál) or convinced by Kato's motivations. But most egregiously, this book just made no damn sense. Why was Kato picked for this job in the first place with her background if she is known as an anarchist terrorist? What did she even do to get that renown? Why are there barely any mentions of her ties to the resistance and why is it presented like she's better than them and that none of it will be worth it if it doesn't all come crashing down according to her personal solo plan? Why does Kato feel like she's failed right when Rezál is telling her
she's done with the war, after Kato herself acknowledges that the loss of their most famous pilot could be a very effective morale killer?
Why am I supposed to feel convinced of Kato's lingering feelings for ex? Why am I supposed to feel Kaya's love for Rezál after she fires missiles at her and nearly kills her during a game? What even went wrong for Kato to get the injuries that disabled her? I could go on. I have so many questions - most of all why this has overwhelmingly high ratings when it reads worse than marvel slop, and like the author has never read scifi before. You can say this is a novella and that it didn't have enough time to develop a convincing conflict, or interesting worldbuilding, but this lacked even the barest breadcrumbs and even the shortest of short stories can do more effective worldbuilding than this. 

Genuinely one of the sloppiest books i've ever read.