Author: Emily Tesh
Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
First published April 11, 2023
Quick description: A thrillingly told queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory is award-winning author Emily Tesh’s highly anticipated debut novel.
Review:
It starts a bit slow but it definitely picks up and ends up being action-filled and eventually, you can't put it down. I liked the written style and it make sit an easy fast read.
The world we get is interesting, it also tries to pack a good punch. It touches on heavy and important topics: gender, fascism, SA, eugenics, suicide, discrimination, and homophobia. That alone is greatly appreciated. The topics are not fully explored but as a debut novel, it deserves to be given a break. It could maybe be intended as YA novel if that's the case it would explain why we see these aspects touched only on the surface.
It's not perfect, and it was less science-heavy than I expected. We get zero explanations for the technological advances we see here, but that still is passable. The plot twist I did not see coming and it felt like it was thrown there to make you miss a step, it worked. It works best if you do not get spoilers about it.
Also, there is almost no romance, and the "relationships" are so minuscule that you might miss them if you blink. That is not an issue for me, I'd rather have no romance than have to cringe at their lame attempts of intimacy, but I see that it might be a negative for people, especially as this is labeled as a Lesbian or queer book. Be aware there is very little romance development, you are welcome to imagine it happening off-page though.
The romance was one of the lowest points, the F/F was added as an afterthought and it didn't seem to click at all. The M/M is more like a crush, it was not explored but it felt like it had more potential.
Also, Kyr is supposed to be a huge, heavy-built woman, so the cover artist - someone should have mentioned that to them before they released it, oh well. I'm being petty now.
So moving on to discuss the plotline a bit more.
Kyr is a young warrior, she has been raised on Gaea Station, and she comes directly from a warrior race. Their whole objective is to fight the aliens that obliterated Earth, they are the last standing rebellion against the invading alien race. The big patriotic scheme is that they are defying the aliens, in spite of the rest of humankind betraying and becoming a sympathizer.
The destroyers of Earth are called Majoda. Kyr hates them immensely and is overly eager to fight them, her one goal is to prove herself better than the male cadets so once she reaches adulthood she is given the chance to become a soldier and fight them herself.
This authoritarian government dictates everything, what to do, there is no longer a sense of family, and children are born from the designated women who serve the cause in the nursery. Yes, the planet was destroyed yet men are still in charge of assigning female roles, the whole system is messed up clearly. Kyr is a fanatical believer in their system, that is until the system "fails" her. Even if she is the best female warrior, she is selected for the nursery. That means she is assigned to bear children and raise them. She of course has always looked down on that role without giving it a second thought on how the women trapped there live. She decides to escape the station in search of her brother.
The found family is not something that comes across easily, especially because we do not see Kyr connect with anyone. She is in fact very unlikable. She’s cold, unsympathetic, and prejudiced, her inner nature and belief system having been molded by Gaea Station. She does grow as a person but for most of the story, she is very judgemental and prejudiced, changing a lifetime of indoctrination is not an easy thing so at least that makes sense.
This was used for the challenges:
2023 Releases
Buzzwordathon: Emotions
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