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A review by kateywumpus
The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying
5.0
Okay, so the elevator pitch of this book had me hook, line, and sinker. A queer retelling of Hades and Persephone with giant mecha. I mean, if that doesn't catch your attention then this book isn't for you, and if you're not shouting 'GET IN THE EVA, PERSEPHONE!' somewhere down the line then this book probably wasn't meant for you. I mean, if you smashed Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gideon the Ninth together, you'd get this book, though it is missing Gideon's humor.
And when I say that the book is queer, it is queer. With a capital Q. And maybe all the other letters capitalized as well. I know I joked about how many neoporonouns were being used, but seriously, there were some that I hadn't encountered before, and I view myself pretty hip to the scene. All of the Pantheon are either female or non binary of some flavor as is all of the cast save for one minor character. Which I found weird, you know? It's like I felt that there needed to be more male identifying characters to have some contrast to the femmes and non binaries. I'm not complaining. I wish more works would be so bold to do this. It just felt weird.
The only other thing that could be a little off putting is that the tone is very stiff and formal. It lacks a looseness that I enjoy with my books, and the author is very familiar with a thesaurus. There are few books where I have to look up the definition of a word, and I found myself doing that here. The only other book that consistently challenged my vocabulary was the aforementioned Gideon. That doesn't really detract from the story however because...
OMG. The worldbuilding in this is excellent. It's rich and deep and well thought out. You're only seeing part of the greater story being told, and unlike a lot of books, you can feel that the history and lore just seeping through the cracks giving you glimpses of the greater picture. You have complete history here that you're only getting glimpses of, but you understand the shape of it, without giving you the details. How some things work is still a mystery, but it's not a Mystery Box like Lost was, where opening it would just get you another box inside. This isn't to say that you're left wondering what's going on. What you need to know gets revealed, but at the same time you know that there's more to it, and as the series promises answers.
Right now there's a prequel of short stories that (hopefully) answers some of those mysteries that I've been talking about. I can't wait to read it, but it's a bit further down on my reading list, and there will be at least one sequel to this because the book ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm definitely waiting for that. All in all I heartily recommend this book. Five stars.
And when I say that the book is queer, it is queer. With a capital Q. And maybe all the other letters capitalized as well. I know I joked about how many neoporonouns were being used, but seriously, there were some that I hadn't encountered before, and I view myself pretty hip to the scene. All of the Pantheon are either female or non binary of some flavor as is all of the cast save for one minor character. Which I found weird, you know? It's like I felt that there needed to be more male identifying characters to have some contrast to the femmes and non binaries. I'm not complaining. I wish more works would be so bold to do this. It just felt weird.
The only other thing that could be a little off putting is that the tone is very stiff and formal. It lacks a looseness that I enjoy with my books, and the author is very familiar with a thesaurus. There are few books where I have to look up the definition of a word, and I found myself doing that here. The only other book that consistently challenged my vocabulary was the aforementioned Gideon. That doesn't really detract from the story however because...
OMG. The worldbuilding in this is excellent. It's rich and deep and well thought out. You're only seeing part of the greater story being told, and unlike a lot of books, you can feel that the history and lore just seeping through the cracks giving you glimpses of the greater picture. You have complete history here that you're only getting glimpses of, but you understand the shape of it, without giving you the details. How some things work is still a mystery, but it's not a Mystery Box like Lost was, where opening it would just get you another box inside. This isn't to say that you're left wondering what's going on. What you need to know gets revealed, but at the same time you know that there's more to it, and as the series promises answers.
Right now there's a prequel of short stories that (hopefully) answers some of those mysteries that I've been talking about. I can't wait to read it, but it's a bit further down on my reading list, and there will be at least one sequel to this because the book ends on a cliffhanger, so I'm definitely waiting for that. All in all I heartily recommend this book. Five stars.