Safe to say this book caught me off guard, I didn’t know anything about the story but thought I would give it a try – I was not expecting it to go so hard but it’s fantastic!

There are certain elements of this story that I can’t really go into without spoilers and from my own experience, slamming the book down and shouting “WHAT??” is part of the fun with this and I absolutely would not want to take that away from any reader so I’m not even going to hint at what to expect. Nevertheless, this is a book about second chances (literally), redemption, tackling themes of racism, fascism, gender roles, LGBT+ and character growth like you can’t imagine.

The story follows Kyr, a soldier on the Gea Station, raised as a weapon, trained into obedience and loyalty at the expense of all else. The Station, and ultimately Kyr, represent the last of humanity, she is cold and detached and raised to follow orders – until her brother is condemned to death. For the love of her brother, Kyr risks all, challenges all, and realises what she knows about what and who is right, is not what it seems.

This is an incredibly socially aware space opera that caught me off guard, it has gripping combat and war scenes but also character arcs that dissect and reshape Kyr as the truth of her ignorance and manipulation unravels.
This is a sensitively and adventurously written story about violence and love that I’m so glad that I took a chance on. Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Fascinating dark sci-fi that's full of adventure - it couldn't be more different from Silver in the Wood, but it's just as compelling! I read it twice, once to race to the end, and once to really take in every twist and hidden facet. Gloriously good fun!

A pacey, accessible and compulsively readable story on what it means to save the world.

I've never read anything quite like this before, so others familiar with the genre and themes may not agree, but to me Some Desperate Glory was pacey, accessible and thoughtful. Kyr is a unique heroine – a top cadet in Gaea Station with enhanced musculature, she is maligned by most of her peers for her austere and prickly attitude, and deeply ingrained obedience to authority, including Gaea Station's leader, her uncle Jole. As the novel progresses she slowly begins to unlearn much of what she was taught, especially when it turns out Gaea Station is not as it seems.

The characters were so interesting, from Mags, Kyr's brother who despite clearly excelling may be broken inside, to Avicenna, a smart-mouthed technical genius with a sinister streak, and Yiso, a majo unsure of their place in the world. Due to the nature of the story you get to meet many different versions of these characters, each one showing how upbringing can wildly change the course of someone's outlook – and how wildly it doesn't as well.

This book asks the question: if you had the chance to redo everything to change the outcome, how many times would you try? It also wrestles with the idea of omniscience and power, and what people will do to wield it. My only qualm is the ending felt like a bit of a cop-out, but it in no way undermines the message of the novel.

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? I'd consider it.

This was a slow burner to start, but did it pull me in.

The further I read, the more intriguing it became with some great characters and wonderful world building.

A great Space opera / Time travelling story.

Whilst I enjoyed this read, it was not what I expected and some of the subjects broached were very unexpected, but it worked. I feel as though this is the sort of book that would create such a great book club discussion because there is something for everyone included and the themes are strong. I feel as though i struggled with the POV at times, but I'd pick it up again.

A fast-paced and engaging sci-fi tale with utterly unforgettable characters. I didn't expect to love this one quite as much as I did. Perfect for sci-fi sceptics.

I received a free copy from Netgalley all opinions are my own..
This review contains spoilers.
DNF at 35% or chapter 13.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of sci-fi, but I knew this was going to be a monthly book box pick, so I requested an eARC. And was lucky enough to receive it.

"She couldn’t remember ever wanting to hit someone quite as much as she wanted to hit Avi now."
See this is exactly how I felt reading this book, but instead of wanting to hit Avi, I really wanted to hit Kyr.
Kyr really annoyed me with how judgemental and closeminded she was.
I also hate her name 🥴
I really couldn't take how vindictive she was. Like making a girl lick the dirty floor because she played with water, and smashing valuable glasses just because it belonged to an alien.

I know character development is a thing, but I really can't deal with it when the MC is the ahole.
Especially not when you're in their head and can hear all their judgemental thoughts.

I really tried to read this book. But I sadly couldn't get through it because I disliked Kyr so much..
I do want to find out how the book ended and what was going to happen. But I don't think this book is worth spending more of my time..

This had moments of great underpinned by a solid worldly foundation but it did have plenty of lulls in the plot and felt long at times. I wanted a faster moving pace overall. I was interested in the estranged family connections that reformed and the reveals about who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Great queer rep. Overall, not enough for me to love but just enough for me to like.

I had this as a Netgalley ARC, and after bouncing off that gave it another go from the library, but have reluctantly concluded that, as much as I enjoyed Tesh's previous fantasy books, this one isn't for me. The set-up isn't a million miles from recent series by Becky Chambers or Adrian Tchaikovsky, humanity dispersed after the loss of Earth - but the difference here is that the novel's point of view is firmly embedded with a single character, and she's one of the hardliners, outraged that anyone could think of anything but revenge, a zealot even within what we swiftly realise is a fundamentalist terror cell: "no one wasted time in the arcade but weaklings and traitors-in-waiting". Hell, she's even suspicious of sleep. And despite knowing that she's going to head off into the big wide galaxy, where she will almost certainly learn valuable lessons, let go of some of the rage, maybe even discover that meaningless sex isn't as bad as all that, in the meantime she just makes for very tiring company, and it's too warm and the world is too much of a mess and no criticism of the author or book, but right now that's not for me. Although I did enjoy the opening excerpt from a guide to humans, beginning "A common misconception is that humans are uncontrollably violent." It goes on to admit that yes, they are stronger, tougher and harder to kill than many people, and always think they have a reason for attacking, and are also obsessed with putting everyone in sex categories, not to mention weirdly prone to valorising "soldiers" and "heroes". Now, admittedly that's followed by a review describing it as a "pile of ignorant bioessentialist crap", but if Tesh ever writes more in this setting from the perspective of that author, who to me sounds like they know their stuff, then I'll be happy to give it another go.

3.75 rounded up.

This was a dystopic sci fi with an unusual, slightly unlikeable main character. I found the concept to be interesting, and decent world building. It starts off a bit slow but gains momentum from about 45%, however I did find the pace disjointed due to the timelines.
I will say I believe this should be marketed as YA rather than adult sci fi. It tackles some heavy topics, and deals with some of them better than others (sexism, homophobia, racism).
I do think the main character (Kyr) has character growth, and really enjoyed the side characters (Yiso and Mags being standouts). I like an ambiguous ending but I think it could have been a bit stronger.
Overall worth the read, and I would check out more from this author.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc.

Okay, listen.. this book was a ride and a half. At some point it takes off and then it just doesn't stop or even slow down a little bit until it's done.

We follow Kyr who's one of the last remaining people - not on earth, but on a spacestation named Gaea, since earth has been obliterated by aliens. There's a system in place to keep this small group of humans going and growing, and each person is given a set of tasks they have to do.
Kyr knows this is what is required of humans to keep the human race going and surviving, but when she's assigned to nursery to bear children until she one day can't anymore, despite being one of the top warriors on the spacestation, she decides <b>F that</b>, Kyr will not bear children, and takes revenge for humanity into her own hands.

Overall this was a fun read, albeit confusing at times. I will not disclose why because spoilers, but put your thinking cap and your seatbelt on before going into this, you're definitely going to be needing both to keep track of what the heck is going on.

I enjoyed seeing Kyr's opinion fly back and forth for a bit as well. It would've felt unnatural for her to just be converted all of a sudden, so that was a point in my book even if at times you wish she'd just pick a side.

Alsoooo, because I know some of you care especially about this. The romance plot is super tiny, pretty much non-exisiting. So if you're one of those readers who avoid romance in books, this should be a safe pick for you.

Will say, while I dislike the UK cover, the US cover is okay, HOWEVER. I don't think anyone would describe me personally as "built like a tank", but Kyr is described as such several times. She's supposed to be a massive warrior woman. Yet... the US cover is just not giving that, I swear I'm bigger than that girl. What are you afraid of, give us tank Kyr, thank you.

Thanks to NetGallery and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

4.75 rounded up.

Emily Tesh’s debut novel!! Her Greenhollow novella duology was an instant favorite and I was eagerly anticipating her next work, and it was a stunner.

A sci-fi space opera I actually 1) finished and 2) loved!

This was a, I won’t say fun because it is dark and dystopic, but definitely engaging read. I can’t say the characters are lovable because they are far from that, especially Kyr. And yet, she’s an incredibly unlikable heroine whose adventure you still want to follow along as she learns and unlearns truths, battles with beliefs and convictions, and makes impossible decisions.

I think Tesh did a great job of showing Kyr being a brainwashed child soldier and how she grows as she’s exposed to what’s beyond all she’s ever known. And that too through Kyr’s unreliable POV. It’s not a clean, straightforward process, it’s messy and full of conflict. The overall execution of the plot and characters was extremely well done.

I really loved how multi-faceted all the characters were. There are some twists and developments that took me by surprise. I loved Kyr as a character though I did not like her, and you’re not supposed to, especially at the start.

I was a bit disappointed in the ending. It felt abrupt and a bit too open ended. I don’t mind ambiguous endings, and this story definitely would have felt cheapened if it had a firm end, but if it would have carried on just a little more, it would have been perfect for me, personally.

But overall, this was a fantastic debut novel and standalone sci-fi space opera. Quite different from the Greenhollow Duology, but I still really loved this for different reasons. Highly recommend if you love complex, troubled characters and commentary where the lines of right and wrong, good and evil, are messy and blurred and complicated.

I was really in the middle of for a good science fiction story when I started and boy I wasn’t let down. This story was fantastic.

The world building is good and I loved the characters it the story brought this up to a five stars. I really can’t say much without giving away the story but it was really cleverly plotted and written. I wish I could give this ten stars

This book packs a big bang for its size. It's a fun fast paced sci-fi fantasy read with interesting world building and concept.
We follow the life of super soldier Kyr who I had mixed feelings for throughout the book.
It does address some important topics such as racism and fascism but it could have been written a little better? It is suitable enough for a ya reader but if you're more on the adult side of things it could have had some more detail or thought added in there. The last quarter of the book felt a little rushed too, like suddenly the time had been realised and everything just had to be crammed down.

It's an okay read but it could have been a bit better.

This is an excellent book, a page-turner designed specially for those of us who wanted something like Ender’s Game but GOOD and QUEER, with a protagonist who taps straight into the archetype of an English public school prefect bully but goes such a long journey towards found family and personal growth and reevaluating all she has known all her life, and it feels so good to watch her go through it. (Honestly I’m amazed how Kyr managed to stunt/suppress her mama bear instincts up to that point; once she knows a fact she cannot ignore it, but by god she puts herculean effort into ignoring facts.)
Many twists and turns, a lot of work done by careful prose, and the characters come to life brilliantly, with solidity and consistency that’s pretty remarkable given the mad loops the story made. I had a little bit of of a rocky start with the book — which has more to me reacting viscerally to tyrannies that hijack women’s reproductive rights rather than the state of the protagonist at her lowest point — but as soon as Yiso and Avicenna appeared, things picked up pace and didn’t stop. I found it thrilling that I wasn’t able to predict the twists and turns of the story, but that they all came together beautifully.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of Some Desperate Glory

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This is quite a difficult book to review.

First off, the positives: it was a really quick and engaging read, I think I finished the whole thing in a day or two. I really enjoyed the world-building, as well as the twists in the plot.

However, without giving away any spoilers, the end of the story felt very rushed. The book deals with some really difficult topics, such as racism, homophobia, eugenics, fascism, etc. and I felt like at times these topics were dealt with somewhat superficially. I think this is also a problem with how the book is marketed. I saw that it is technically aimed at adults, but at times parts of the book felt quite YA.

Overall, if you're looking for a sci-fi adventure with good writing, an interesting setting and plot twists, I would definitely recommend 'Some Desperate Glory' (but be warned that Kyr's perspective in the first half of the book is pretty brutal).

PS: I am not a scientist, but this is the kind of sci-fi where I think you shouldn't think too deeply about how the science/technology in the book works (I almost treated it like magic/fantasy).

Thanks to Netgalley who provided a free ARC in exchange for review.

There's something so wonderful when a much anticipated, much hyped book ends up being even better than you hoped. I genuinely loved this book and the experience of reading it so much. Our MC is Kyr, a teenage super soldier living in a space station of some of the last human survivors after an alien attack that wiped out the Earth’s population. When the story kicks off, she and her agemates are about to be assigned their future job roles in the ongoing galactic war — and that’s when everything goes upside down.

The book is a really good blend of being great fun to read, with lots of interesting plot developments and humour, but also doesn’t flinch away from the darker aspects of what is primarily an anti-fascist narrative. There’s a particular focus on gender roles and this is pushed to the extreme — there’s a trigger warning at the start of the book and I definitely advise you to pay attention to that. The author is a classicist and there are a lot of classical allusions in the book — some more blatant than others and it was fun to pick those up.

I loved Kyr, because she is the worst — the sort of character you’re set up to hate. I loved her journey throughout the book and the hard lessons that she was forced to learn.

Honestly, I just really loved this book, and I hope it wins all the things come award season.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for the ARC to read for an honest review.

Some Desperate Glory follows Kyr who has been trained her whole life to avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised on Gaea station with the last of humanity, they are all training to face the Wisdom a reality shaping weapon that aided the Majoda in their victory over humanity.

However when Kyr's brother is assigned to certain death and relegates her to nursery Kyr knows she must take the mission into her own hands.

Alongside Avi a friend of her brother and a captive alien she's escapes from the station into a different universe to what she was taught that is more wonderous than could be imagined.

I have to admit I did not think this story was going to be for me and I will admit that I was completely wrong. This book was a fantastic queer Sci-fi novel.

It was smart, well plotted out and very well written.

Kyr our main protagonist can be hard headed and frustrating at times throughout the story. However her character has the most growth and the book gives a good message on learning to be empathetic in a cruel world.

The book has so many twists and turns and time slips that it's impossible to guess how the ending is going to go.

If you are a fan of the science fiction genre I would really recommend this story and I fully regret skipping the Illumicrate box that had this book in it.

Read courtesy of NetGalley, opinions are my own.

I hesitated between three and four stars - this is not as strong as I would have wanted it to be. At times overly didactic, pulling its punches and relying on world-building and plot twists that render some of the emotional weight inconsequential when I wish it had gone full speed and no holds barred. I've seen it compared to my problematic childhood fave, Ender's Game and that's partly what drew me in, but I must admit Ender's strength relies on the reveal that everything matters much more than the characters and readers knew - that a game was really xenocide, that a childhood fight had really ended in death - whereas here we start with the genocide and then try to save as many as possible while reconciling with immutable past. It feels like instead of revealing that the stakes were higher than we knew all along, iy reveals that the stakes cannot be raised that much and also there is an identifiable singular villain that can be stopped. In other words, there's less complicity and more simplicity the further along we go. Ender and SDG are both novels that speak about playing games, but in Ender the game is not just a game, it's life and death, and in SDG, some life and death choices can be unmade like a game, so. Well.

And yet, the construction of a fascist character and her deradicalization made for such gripping reading. I couldn't put this novel down, and I enjoyed the lucid, direct style. I think there's a little bit of a problem with how much disbelief needs to be suspended re: Kyr's selective uptake of information, but it's a tightrope work that still all works for me, and the three siblings are all realized characters even if we see little of one of them.

(Yes, the hair touching scene is strange, not sure why it didn't get cut.)

In some ways, I want to disagree with the ethical choices this book seems to argue for. (In particular, I'm not an expert on genocide history and there are maybe parallels that don't work out well if we take this as allegorical, but then, that's a reductive reading, but then, maybe still we need to be extra careful.) I think it sets such ambitious goals that clearing them all was a tall order - but it's still worth the time and thought-provoking and just really readable on top of that. I'm curious what kind of critiques it'll inspire.

And if Tesh decides to follow this up with a novel that's in conversation with Speaker for the Dead, sign me up.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I requested an arc through NetGalley as I'd seen a lot of hype around the book, and it is an incredibly strong debut.

<b>Characters:</b>
Kyr: the MC. She is annoying as fuck! So aggressively rigid that I thought I was going to hate her, and then you find out that everyone else also thinks she's awful, and then <i>she</i> also discovers that everyone else thinks she's awful and actually that progression is fascinating to watch

Mags: the twin brother. The antithesis to Kyr in many interesting ways. I liked that he was the soft one

Avi: Avi is also annoying but in a completely different way to Kyr and I love him. He's my meow meow. Avi and Kyr's relationship made me SCREAM several times, Tesh balanced them out SO WELL against each other oh my god.

Everyone else: There's a lot of them so this would take forever to run through, but I liked that even minor characters got one or two things that made them stand out. It's rare to have a big ensemble cast where you remember who everyone is immediately, I think Tesh did the character development very well.

<b>Plot</b>:
There were several times I thought I knew where the plot was going and delightfully, there were some twists along the way. I liked the way the ending brought things round to the beginning again, though it did feel a little too neat.

<b>The sci fi</b>
I'm not a person who cares at all about the science in my sci fi, so all I can say is that it sounded handwavingly plausible. I don't need the science to be real, I just need it to sound like it could be and Tesh did well here I think.

<b>The themes</b>
I think some people are going to be disappointed by the lack of a full romance for the main character but personally, I really enjoyed it. It's queer sci fi and yes, it's pretty damn queer. Honestly Kyr has a lot going on I'd probably have been more annoyed if there was a romance getting in the way of the, you know, saving the world. (Whatever fucked up thing Avi and Mags has going on is DELIGHTFUL by the way, I love a hot mess.)

The book tries to cover a lot in terms of big issues: racism/xenophobia, sexism, eugenics, - it doesn't manage to get into it all but I think for the relatively short amount of time Kyr has to basically deprogram herself from being raised in a cult, she does okay! And Tesh tackles it well within the confines of the story.

Overall a fantastic read. I think if you enjoyed things like Red Rising, The Darkness Outside Us, Murderbot, or want a step up from Aurora Rising, this would work for you.