My thanks to Orion Publishing Group Gollancz for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Seven Devils’ by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May.

Although I hadn’t encountered Elizabeth May’s work before this, I did recently read Laura Lam’s ‘Goldilocks’ and was very impressed.

This is the first part of their feminist space opera duology. It follows the exploits of a group of resistance fighters seeking to overthrow an evil galactic empire!

A few years ago Eris had faked her death, leaving behind her old life as the heir to the ruthless Tholosian empire. Soon after she is recruited by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire's voracious expansion.

Her latest assignment is to infiltrate a spaceship carrying a deadly cargo. For the mission she is partnered with hotshot mechanic Cloelia (Clo) with whom she shares a troubled history. Still, they are under strict orders from resistance leader, Kyla, to play nice for the good of the mission.

When they locate the ship, they discover three fugitives on board with firsthand knowledge of the empire's inner workings. They are Nyx, a former empire soldier, Rhea, a courtesan, and Ariadne, a young genius raised by the Oracle, the AI that keeps the empire’s population docile. Together, these five women possess both the knowledge and capabilities to bring the empire to its knees. Well, that’s the plan - what could possibly go wrong?

This was a superb science fiction adventure complete with aliens, evil siblings, a very scary AI, plenty of action, diverse representation, and a bit of romance. The narrative viewpoints were split between the five main characters with the occasional flashback.

The title refers to a popular curse in the galaxy as well as being adopted by its kick-ass seven characters: the main five and two supporting ones including a ‘good dude’.

It’s very much a space romp with snappy dialogue and fantastic world building. The authors have also provided content warnings on their website as both the language and violence are strong.

I loved it from start to finish. Once I realised how brilliant ‘Seven Devils’ was going to be, I bought its audiobook edition and combined listening with reading for an immersive experience.

I will be eagerly awaiting the conclusion.

I wanted to reach Seven Devils for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, I loved Elizabeth May‘s The Falconer and wanted to see what her writing sci-fi was like. I’ve not read any of Laura Lam‘s work before, but I’m still excited to see what the two writer set up was like. Then I was genuinely interested by the beautiful cover and the blurb.

Seven Devils has brilliant sci-fi world building. It’s set in the far future when humans have colonised other planets to make up the resources they don’t have. There’s AIs, aliens, space travel and even the next evolution of humans. We’re given history of lack of resources, wars, mass genocide of humans colonising and getting rid of aliens. Plus, there’s a religion of gods which are followed which gives additional backstory. On top of all this, the Tholosian empire is a society of humans that are programmed to do what the empire tells them to do – run by an AI.

It also brings a distinctive cast of character who all have different upbringings, but must work together to save the day. We’re shown both past and present chapters, so we see first hand the backstory of each character alongside their current actions. They’re also diverse with multiple LGBT characters, including a f/f relationship and a trans woman in leadership.

Seven Devils ends up having 7 main protaganists to mirror the title, where 5 of them have POV chapters. Some may find this too much, but once you get into the story and learn about each character it’s so easy to know who is who.

Firs up we have Eris, who has changed her name and face, so for the first part of the book you’re trying to guess who she really is (don’t worry they tell you pretty early on anyway!). Eris’ back story is entwined with Prince Damocles the antagonist, and also Xander, who is a character I wish we’d seen more of. She’s a strong character trying to make up for past mistakes whilst in the empire… by making more mistakes sometimes. The book centres on her a lot, but her story arc through Seven Devils was beautifully written, and I can’t wait to see what she does in the follow up book.

Clo highly contrasts Eris in a few different ways. Firstly, she was naturally born and raised as non-programmed in the kind of slums under the city Eris was brought up in. Secondly, Clo and Eris start off as conflicting forces who don’t like each other (we find out why in a backstory chapter) – and they need to get through that somehow to work together effectively. There’s a lot of anger, but they still clearly care for one another throughout the book, so the dynamic of them was very interesting to read.

Next up we have child genius, and brought up by The One, Ariadne. Her job assigned at birth was to be the person to help program and guide the AI to do better, but at the cost of her missing out on life. She’s the brains of the operation, and is the reason why Rhea and Nyx have escaped the Empire and are joining the rebels. She’s also the one that initiates the found family feeling of our cast as she missed out on social interaction growing up. Whilst she can be awkward, her heart is in the right place and the others all respond to this.

Rhea was a dancer for Prince Damocles before escaping the empire. She’s the least trained for combat, and she has the most empathy towards everyone they meet. Her story arc was the one that surprised me the most as I didn’t see it coming.

Then last but not least for our POV characters we have Nyx. Nyx was a trained and heavily programmed soldier and killer for the empire, and she holds all the guilt that goes along with that. Nyx and Eris are very similar in upbringing, and I enjoyed how both of them started to chip at the walls they’d built up.

We also meet Kyra who is a bad ass leader of the rebels, and is a trans woman. This showed that growing people in vats and programming really reduces any senses of self for the human race. Then there’s the hostage pilot Cato, who has his own struggles that he has to get through (that I hope we see more of in the next book!).

The free choice, or lack of free choice in the empire, conveys a lot of backstory to characters such as Kyra due to many trans people in real life being forced to not make the choice to be themselves. Then there’s Nyx and Cato who had been trained to kill and how this negatively impacted them once they realised what they’d done. The Tholosian empire forces you to be complicit in the dehumanisation of others.

Then there’s the overall theme of lack of self control as The One controls everyone unless you’re one of the few born natural (or deprogrammed…). People are “born” in vats and brought up for specific jobs from birth, with no choices to be had. This lack of free will also means no personalities, no humanity, and even no evolution of humans as they’re not adapting to survive.

On top of the AI, propaganda and religion is used to reduce consequences to actions, for example, needless murder is justified as a sacrifice to the God of Death. The name Seven Devils parallels the 7 gods in this world, as the gods encompass more devil-ish nature of sins. This is further paralleled in the 7 main characters who are good, but have sinned in different ways.

My only hesitancy to read the book was that the beginning felt a bit slow. There’s a lot of info packed into the first half of the book, which does lead us to bigger mysteries and a great plotline. However I could see people putting down the book before getting to the good stuff and missing out.

Overall I loved Sevin Devils and enjoyed the characters as well as the brilliant world building, I’m excited to find out what happens to our characters in the second book in the duology!

Positives of Seven Devils
Character depth and backstories, create diverse and interesting cast.
World building is expansive, whilst not being too much for a duology.
Negatives of Seven Devils
Slow build up.

Eris and Clo are members of the Nova resistance, fighting an ever expanding, domineering empire. The former friends are forced together on a mission to infiltrate a ship belonging to the empire, one that holds a mysterious and deadly cargo. Only, as well the cargo, they also find three women, who may be the key to stopping the empire once and for all.

So begins a book of heists, spies, space craft and discovery. The five POV characters are all a delight to read and follow as we see their friendships and frustrations, as well as hints of their secrets, as the book progresses. I really enjoyed their dynamic and that it was a diverse cast of characters. The flashbacks helped build on the world, especially in relation to establishing the empire and expanding on the characters.

I did find that the pacing made the book difficult to read at times, from parts that were quite slow to a lot of action in a small period of time. I also felt some of the decision-making by the characters was a tad convenient for the plot and that some parts of the book seemed to contradict themselves on occasion which was a touch confusing.

That being said, it was an enjoyable read and I felt that the characters were such a strong element to the story. Eris was easily my favourite character, her whole personality and background was fascinating to read, and it was great to see them all come together – found family is one of my favourite tropes and it is done beautifully here. Seven Devils is a fun up-against-all-odds science fiction read that keeps you on your toes.

Elizabeth May is one of my fave authors and I loved her previous trilogy, so I had high expectations with this book. Alas, I was disappointed. Maybe it was the co-writing with Laura Lam (which I've never heard of until now) but I couldn't connect with the characters and the story. I was intrigued at the beginning but after a while I got bored. Some parts were dragged too much and I found myself skipping pages. Also, I couldn't care about any character and some of them annoyed me. I hope other readers could enjoy it more than me.

A group of women fighting against a corrupt empire in a feminist space opera? Sounds like my kinda book. Especially with a name like Seven Devils. From the very first page I knew that I would love this book and that definitely came to pass. It was such a fun, entertaining read.

Normally I'm not a fan of alternating POVs especially when there are so many of them but in this instance the authors pulled it off and I didn't mind switching between Eris, Clo, Nyx, Ariadne and Rhea.

Flashbacks are something else I'm generally not fond of but again in Seven Devils they worked.

I loved Seven Devils but I can't say I'm happy about having to wait for the next installment because when a book is this good, time always drags on when comes to the sequel.

As a side note: this book is definitely begging for a film adaptation or big budget tv series.

This is a sci-fi adventure that you do not want to miss!

This gave me vibes of Illuminae Files and Aurora Rising and these are two of my all time favourite books!

Soaring across space is a band of outcasts. They are part of a resistance against a hash regime and wanting to stop them anyway they can. The crew is made up of an ex-princess who is hiding from her past; a mechanic from the slums who is trying everything they can to hold things together three unexpected stowaways from the Archerons own personal guard, harem and technology. Let’s not forget the soldier who isn’t what anyone expected!

They work together as a team to try and stop something catastrophic happening. Thing is not everything goes to plan and they end up fighting for their lives.

There is definitely LGBTQ+ representation as well POC. I felt that I needed more of this though and am hoping for that in the next book.

I really enjoyed this fast paced and action packed book. There were definitely times where I had to hold my breath and the the twist at the end had me gasp out loud. It’s definitely a fun read and I like how the characters worked with one another. They all had different personalities that even though they clashed at times worked together well.

I’m excited to see where this series goes and I am up for seeing some more space fighting.

"The Falconer" series by Elizabeth May is one of my favourite series ever, so of course I HAD to read her new novel straightaway. "Seven Devils" is the first book in a feminist sci-fi duology, written for adults by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam. In this novel set in space, seven rebels try to save the galaxy from an evil Empire, which controls the minds of every person since their birth. Why should you read it? First of all, if you enjoyed Aurora Rising, Guardians of the Galaxy, Rogue One or Six of Crows, and you are looking for a more feminist and adult version of these titles, than you'll definitely love "Seven Devils". Moreover, what I liked the most about it is the diverse cast of characters and the LGBT+ representation: the main love story is between two girls, and it's very sweet; besides, it's so easy to grow fond of every single woman in this book. The authors did an excellent job in describing the characters and their past, which is narrated in flashbacks. This way, the readers understand what happened to them and why these women act in a certain way. The worldbuilding is also well developed: in the first 80-90 pages the authors took their time to explain the world we are in and the background of the characters, but then the pacing gets fastwe and the reader is thrown into a mix of action, plot twists, friendship and a bit of romance. There's a cliffhanger at the end, so I really can't wait to have the sequel in my hands. Easiest 5 stars of the last few months.

Deathly secrets
Dangerous missions
And kick ass characters
I didn't know what to except from this book but man was it wild, fill with kick ass characters, some good old romance and sci-fi

Need a second book of this

Seven Devils is a high-stakes science fiction that will suck you in like a black hole and leave you desperate for the sequel. It’s the essence of many science fiction movies (of the likes of Star Wars or the Chris Pine Star Treks) distilled into a fantastic book. It’s fairly dark, as tales of rebellion can be, but it’s also a fun read and an easy world to get lost in.

The ensemble cast is one of the things that makes Seven Devils so enjoyable. The characters are introduced as they become part of the story, so it’s not as overwhelming as all of them getting POVs right from the beginning. Eris and Clo both have history, and seeing the way they interacted was really interesting given how they already had an established rapport. The addition of the other characters and their interactions with each other and with Eris and Clo mean that the group felt cohesive, even though there was tension between the members. I really liked all of the main characters, from the geeky and slightly out-of-place Ariadne to Rhea, the courtesan with a secret, and from Cato, the captured pilot who is forced to shirk his programming but who was already partway there and has secrets, to Kyla, the former soldier turned leader of the rebels and Nyx, another former soldier. I think Damocles was also a great antagonist, as we saw him through multiple lenses and contexts, meaning that he was never quite guaranteed to fit any view that we were presented of him and making him a great antagonist.

The plot is breakneck enough to keep you on the edge of your seat without actually breaking your neck, which is exactly the right pacing for this book. The way the characters themselves play into the plot worked so well, with each character contributing to what happened next and really making the story feel like something that was actually happening in the moment. It’s almost like a rollercoaster in the way the twists and speed make it a hair raising read, but with twists that come out of nowhere and yet feel completely right. The basis was a solid ‘rebels trying to take down the empire’ plot line, but it was built up on incredibly well and had so many different threads woven through making it a fantastically developed story.

Seven Devils is also one of my absolute favourite subgenres of science fiction: galactic empire. The Empire in this case was very well crafted, with hints of backstory and a distinctive culture, built around the war they had been fighting for hundreds of years. The way the Empire was seen through the eyes of so many different people, from the former Heir to ex-soldiers to someone who was born naturaly in a world where that’s unusual was super cool to read about. The addition of an AI called the Oracle, who is embedded in the minds of the artificially grown citizens who make up the majority of the Empire’s population was a fascinating addition to the story. This added a lot to the idea of rebellion and compliance running through the book, as well as the idea of control, as on the surface the Emperor was the one who was in charge, but in actuality it was a lot more complicated than that.

Though the book is co-authored, the writing blends together superbly and every character has a distinctive voice. There are no fumbles in the writing: flashbacks that give character backstory are in exactly the right places, fight scenes are sharp and easily imaginable, and dialogue is excellently done. Seven Devils is one of those books that reads so well, it’s almost like you can visualise the entire thing in a mental movie theatre. I do have one small nitpick about the writing itself, and that was the swearing. Invented swear words are really cool and add a layer to the world building given how swearing develops, but it felt a tad clunky, especially since there were a couple of modern swears in it as well. It really wasn’t a huge deal though, I’m just a slightly nitpicky linguist!

If you want a truly stellar science-fiction novel that will keep you up through the night in anticipation, Seven Devils is the book for you. It’s overall a really excellent addition to the science fiction genre, with an awesome concept, and will leave you craving the sequel when you finish.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review!

I read this for a blog tour.

Anyone who knows me knows I love me some space pirates/rebels. And I loved this book.It's got humour, it's got romance, it's got action, adventure, swearing, spaceships, an evil AI, baddies with ancient world names, heroes with other ancient world names. It's basically excellent.I don't want to give any spoilers, if you've read it and want to gush, meet me in the Twitter DMs.

The love story is so perfect, I adore our lesbian romance, I love that their leader is trans, that the smartest person there is a sixteen year old girl who associates the taste of chocolate with freedom.

That the villain is called Damocles (as in Sword of), and one of the heroines Ariadne (who led Theseus out of the Minotaur's lair with her ball of thread), another Rhea (a titan and mother of Zeus and Hera) is just another moment of nerdy delight (please see my enormous collection of mythogy books).

The AI, Oracle, genuinely is creepy, evil and corrupt and horrible. It gave me shivers thinking about how it was in everyone's minds, slowly turning them into zombies devoted only to it. Like that bacteria that enslaves ants by seeping into their brains.I had a sampler of the first chapter from last year's Gollanzcfest and I love the work of both authors (whose books you need to go check out now please) so I knew good stuff was imminent but this was so much more than I expected.

And yes, I have the Florence & the Machine song stuck in my head whenever the words "seven devils" is used but that's fine.Now the long wait for book two commences, guess I'll just have to read this one again!

What a fantastic start to an epic sci-fi series! I am in awe of the writing and characters! The fast-paced action, rebellion, rising evil kept me at the edge of my seat and I couldn't read fast enough! I highly recommend this book to fans of found-family tropes and sci-fi adventure. I can't wait for book 2 and I need a physical copy of this right now!

Seven Devils is a fantastic start to a new space opera series. We've got an evil empire, a burgeoning rebellion, a defector in disguise... I can't wait to see what happens in book 2. Full review may still follow.

4,5 stars

Seven Devils is that one Sci-Fi book that I really looked forward to this year yet when I got an e-arc it took me forever to pick this up. I was so scared I wasn't going to love this. And I wanted too so much. I hadn't read anything by either author before and I have such high hopes for them as far as authors I'm going to like. So those are high expectations to fill already. But I am pleased to say that I really enjoyed this book.

Seven Devils starts us off with the focus on two characters, Eris and Clo. Both are a part of the resistance and there is some animosity between the two of them. Yet they are forced to go on a mission together. And from there it just goes from bad to worse.

The whole casts is five but it isn't until Eri and Clo meet them do we get their point of view. That worked incredibly well because it allowed us time to get into the world and two other characters first before we had to get to know three others. Too many point of views from the start can unnecessarily slow down the progress of a plot because so many things have to get told first.

There are some flashback throughout the book and a first that didn't work for me but as we got deeper into the plot and we got to know the characters, the more invested I became in their history. In understanding where they came from. And quite frankly they call kicked ass. I think though that Ari grabbed me the most. I think that is just my feeling as a mom.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series and more by these authors.

I liked this sci-fi story, it kept me hooked and entertained till the end.
I loved the strong female characters, they are realistic and I appreciated their different traits.
The world building is interesting and the plot engrossing.
I can't wait to read the next book.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

3.5 stars

Eris fought and murdered her way to become the heir of a brutal galactic empire. But then she faked her death and started working for the Novantaen Resistance.
Eris's new mission to slip onboard a spaceship and find out what the cargo is means she will have to work with her former friend Cloelia, who hates Eris with a passion.
When Eris and Clo find three women who want to escape from the empire on the ship, they discover a plot that could lead to the deaths of millions.
Can the women work together to stop the new heir to the empire?
Can they bring themselves to go back to the very empire they just escaped from?

When I heard that Laura Lam and Elizabeth May had co-written a sci-fi book that was pitched as Mad Max in space, I immediately wanted to read it.
I liked all of the main characters, who were all very different people and had been through a lot, but Eris was the one whose chapters I looked forward to the most. She was an intriguing character and, despite all the bad things she had done, I couldn't help but like her because she was trying to be better.
The setting was interesting, as were the concepts in the book such as the One - an AI that the head of the empire used to control the citizens. It was a bit scary how much the One influenced people, and just how deep the programming went.
The villain of the book, Damocles, was Eris's brother and the new heir. He was very easy to hate, especially after a certain thing he does towards the end of the book. Some villains can be quite two-dimensional, but with Damocles I could really feel his motivation.
There was a lot of diversity, which I liked.
The plot was interesting and held my attention. Sometimes longer books can drag for me, but in this case I didn't have any issues with the pacing. While I did guess a few of the plot twists, there were some I didn't see coming.
I enjoyed reading the different points of view and, despite there being quite a lot of them, it didn't feel like there were too many.
I also liked that some of the chapters were set in the past, so we get to find out more about the characters.
The writing style was easy to follow and I didn't feel like there were any info-dumps or times when I had no idea what was going on.
While I wasn't gripped or blown away by the book, I found Seven Devils to be an enjoyable read.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend.

This was a great book. An evil Empire where people are genetically coded before birth for appointed tasks and controlled by an AI that stops them from questioning anything; a constant war over natural resources and a possible genocide of the last alien race; and the resistance standing between them. Five young women from very different backgrounds, who each have managed to escape the Empire, have to return there in order to stop a sinister plot, and the only way to do it is to bring the key to the extinction with them. Stakes are high from the start and they only get higher.

I liked the book from the first page. The pacing is good, with fairly short chapters and constant motion. The five women each have their POV chapters, both past and present, giving the reader a good sense of what has formed them and making them nuanced. I liked them all, though some more than others. There were difficult moral questions brought up: Eris and Nyx are ruthlessly conditioned super-soldiers who killed without emotions for the Empire, and now that they've finally stopped, they have to weigh the possibility of an extinction of an alien race against the good of the galaxy. Add to that the group dynamics among the women, none of whom really know how to interact without the AI, and secrets they're keeping from one another -- Eris especially -- and the book becomes unputdownable.

The worldbuilding is good. It doesn't get hung-up on details like faster than light space travel or genetic manipulation, or the many details that make it 'science' fiction. The characters are familiar with their world and the reader is simply taken along. That goes for the minority representation too. There is no unnecessary commentary on women loving women or one character being trans, for example, giving the reader a notion that it's how things are naturally in that universe -- not minority at all -- making it natural for the reader too. Excellently done.

This is an ensemble narrative, as this group of desperate women of driven to face overwhelming odds to try and fight back a corrupt and inhuman system. I loved the dynamic and real danger posed by the deep programming inserted in every loyal Tholosian, who won’t hesitate to attack if they suspect they are facing a traitor. Life is both cheap and merciless – this dystopian society is rotten right to the top.

It would have been so easy for either author to have resorted to chunks of info-dumping. However, they manage to avoid such measures by giving us chapters in alternating viewpoints and also providing flashbacks to show how each character arrived at the stage where they’re prepared to risk all. It’s well done. Not only have May and Lam managed to keep the plot moving forward, those flashbacks heighten the stakes and strengthen readers’ bonding with the protagonists, which is always more of a challenge when there are more than one or two protagonists in the mix.

The gathering sense of drama as this book moved to the final denouement is what really sets it apart, however. I love May’s writing – it was the prospect of reading a space opera adventure written by her that prompted me to request this book, after her fabulous Falconer trilogy. She writes with the brakes off – and this book is imbued with that madcap energy I have grown to associate with her style and works brilliantly during the closing climactic scenes. I couldn’t put this one down as that ending played out – and I do hope we don’t have to wait too long for the second book, because it ends on a real cliffhanger that had me dreaming of the world. Highly recommended for all space opera fans. The ebook arc copy of Seven Devils was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.

9/10

I found Seven Devils to be a bit of a mixed bag. The blurb made it sound like exactly the book I'd been waiting my entire life for, but when I finally got my hands on it I found it difficult to get into. I'm not sure quite why - the characters are diverse and fantastically written, and the plot is fast paced and engaging. Maybe I struggled with the world building at the start?

As the book progressed, I really did get pulled into it and found it impossible to put down. I definitely started getting a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe from it, with that same clever rebel feel. If it had been like that from the beginning I would have certainly rated it five stars, but unfortunately I felt I'd really had to earn getting to the good bit!

Not everybody will struggle with the beginning though, so if you like sci-fi, found families and adventure, grab this book now!

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've been trying to get more into sci-fi lately, and I'm happy to say that Seven Devils was everything I could have wanted from a sci-fi novel! Seven Devils is a space opera following a group of resistance fighters who are part of the resistance against a galactic empire, I mean, what more could you want?

It has a compelling and diverse cast of characters (Ariadne and Rhea are my absolute favourites), an interesting galaxy I'm super excited to see more of in the sequel, and a gripping plot. While it took me a little while to get through the first 100 pages, as I didn't have much time to dedicate to this book, and I'm still new to sci-fi, I read the last 300 pages in three days, as I couldn't stop thinking about this story and the characters.

I loved this book so much, and I totally recommend it, whether you love sci-fi or would like to get more into that genre. 🚀

This book’s being described as a feminist space opera with Mad Max: Fury Road vibes, and as a lover of both of those things I knew I had to get my grubby hands on a copy.

I was initially unsure, especially when I realised that the authors would be juggling five different perspectives, it sounded almost too good to be true and I worried about the character development situation. Seven Devils managed to quash any of my worries about the lack of character development fairly quickly though, and it’s a testament to both authors writing prowess that I came away feeling that all five had such distinct voices. The diverse cast is full of powerful women, each talented in their own way and facing their own challenges, kicking bad-guy butt in space and I couldn’t ask for more.

Seven Devils has some seriously impeccable world-building, and I felt like I was stood on planets with the crew the descriptions were that good. Time was taken to really make you feel like this world was real, and that the struggle the resistance faced was incredible but not insurmountable. Their battles felt real and they have to make difficult, and often morally grey choices; this just made me root for our ragtag team more though, as they try to put a stop to an Empire built on war and death.

The story was a little slow for me and I would have liked more tension throughout. The last third or so was absolutely fantastic, but despite them being in some hair raising situations before this point I just didn’t feel the tension. This slow build was definitely there to deepen the world, and the ending more than made up for it, but I wish the pacing had been better.

All in all, Seven Devils is an absolutely cracking feminist space opera that leaves you wanting so much more! I’m so glad this is a duology and I’ll get to read more of this world and this fantastic cast of characters.

Recommend: If you’re looking for a Sci-Fi with wonderful worldbuilding, and a diverse cast, with w/w relationship and a trans resistance commander, then this is probably the one for you!