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A review by allthings
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
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.