Thank you to NetGalley and Solaris for providing me with the eARC. This is my honest review.

2.5⭐️ overall
4.5⭐️ for the world building

Initially I was hesitant to start, but the concept was captivating once I was a couple of pages in. The world building was fresh…if not just a bit bloody. 🙈 but it’s not too bad.

In typical fantasy fashion, more questions than answers surfaced at the beginning, and unfortunately, by the end, satisfactory answers remained elusive.

My struggle intensified with Korinna's relationships, particularly the romantic one, which seemed to blossom out of thin air. The narrative is a jumble—events unfold without clarity, leaving me confused about their occurrences.

Characters shift between distrust and love without clear motives, making it challenging to connect with them or care about their relationships and goals. Regrettably, this lack of engagement made it difficult for me to read.

"Redsight" offers a captivating space opera filled with sapphic romance, space pirates, and a blind witch named Korinna. As a Redseer with the ability to manipulate space-time, she discovers her destiny as a weapon for the Imperium. When attacked by the vengeful pirate Aster Haran, Korinna faces a pivotal choice that could shape the galaxy's future. The narrative unfolds with suspense as she navigates love, loyalty, and her extraordinary abilities. Filled with intrigue and the clash of powerful forces, "Redsight" promises an enthralling adventure for fans of Gideon the Ninth, weaving a tale of magic, destiny, and space-time manipulation.

A fairly standard fantasy, with religious elements baked in. I'd rather play Fire Emblem: Three Houses, or watch Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass.

I will not be reading or reviewing this novel as I am uncomfortable with the author's recent behaviour online, particularly the defense of a white author who targeted the books of authors of colour with falsified reviews.

Fascinating debut sapphic space opera that leans into the boundary between sci-fi and fantasy in the best kind of way. As far as I can tell this is going to be a one shot, but if she chose to, I'm absolutely fascinated to see more in this universe. We have a fascinating blend of the layers of truth hidden in religious orders, dark secrets, a blind protagonist, fantasy implications for space travel via blood magic, space pirates, and just overall, a really well done plot and characters. It can be a bit light on characterization at times, and focuses a bit more on plot, but I overall really liked it, and highly recommend picking this up from Solaris when it comes out in February 2024!

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley

Redsight is a Sapphic science fantasy in the vein of Dune and Star Wars from the POV of a blind character.

From the very beginning, I was in love. This book was written specifically for me. The novel opening with a priestess being distracted by a beautiful woman is perfection and a woman turning into a giant snake and eating a man was everything I wanted in an intro chapter to the character.

I would love to say a lot of smarter things about this book, but all I can really say is ‘I love it, I love it, I love it.’

I would recommend this to fans of Dune and Star Wars who are open to Queer narratives. I would not recommend this to readers who are looking for less faith in their space operas or space fantasies.

My only concern is that it might be too close to blood libel. Korinna kills a child in a rite of passage connected to her faith to get their blood to fuel her magic. I am not Jewish nor am I the expert on blood libel, but I am concerned.

"Redsight" is definitely one of the most unique books I've read--a queer science fantasy with blind priestesses, a star-devouring snake goddess, and entombed gods with a complex threefold magic system.

This read extremely long to me, but I'd definitely recommend it to readers looking to immerse themselves in a sweeping science fiction epic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for the advance reader copy.

I really enjoyed this book! The world building was so unique and the vastness was captured perfectly. The magic system felt new and unique which added to my enjoyment of the book.

There was a decent paced build up to the main story and once it got going you appreciated the time taken to get used to the world (universe).

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy and sci fi as it has a good mix of both.

There's a lot to love here, but what stands out the most to me in this book has to be the world and the concept. It very much fits what I've come to expect and love from Solaris as a publisher (i.e., high-concept science fantasy). The magic system (yes, there can be magic in space) is a delighful hybrid of fantasy and science-fiction that I struggle comparing to anything else but itself. Will it take time to understand the world? Yes. Will it take time to understand how to magic operates in the world and how it influences the characters? Yes. But that time is worth it, in my opinion. It's not a book for the type of reader who wants to understand everything at once (which is fair). You have to be able to trust that you're told what you need to know when you need to know it. Several times, I lamented not understanding something, only to realize some chapters later that I wasn't ever supposed to understand it. Not at that point, anyway, since it served a plot point/twist later on. Lastly, the politics and backstory were well-developed. They propelled the plot and the choices of the characters forward steadily and securely (if you've read this book, then this was an accidental pun, I swear).

This was an interesting novel and had some of my favorite elements of sci-fi. The characters were well developed and I liked the writing style. However the conclusion felt meh and the interactions between the three MC's felt a little flat for me.

Overall this was a pretty good read for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this novel. The plot and the universe are engaging and original. The story starts off quickly, which is perfect for this kind of plot. However, it is not necessarily fast-paced book, but it did not bother me very much. The characters are rather well-developed but I did not personally connect with them. The only real complain that I have is about the romance, which grows too quickly for me. It made the romance a little bit superficial which is unfortunate.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Honestly, an interesting premise but you will wonder by the end just how much blood someone can lose and still be standing! Worth it if you like warhammer 40k or wanted a less bone-centric Gideon the Ninth.

I've never read anything quite like this. Lesbian priestesses, complex religious/magic lore, in a sci-fi space world. Disabled (blind) MC. The author is also blind which lends a lot of realism to the disability representation. There was a lot packed into this book, and I think it could have benefitted from either being longer or maybe being a duology. Interesting debut, looking forward to more from this author.

Fantasy Space and Empire story that spans the Universe in time and Space. Three Gods create in harmony. Three human religious factions that think they know better. Three women with choices to make. The Universe is beholden to the outcome. I read this book a few chapters at a time, dipping in and out, but kept coming back to it; I’m glad I did. This book has big ambitions, and for the most part meets them. So, not entirely perfect, but in the whole a worthwhile read. Thank you to Rebellion and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

3 stars!

i adored the vibe of this book. the plot was super interesting and that was what hooked me in.

on the other hand, there were times when i wished the author had not ''skipped'' forward during an important scene. i would have really loved to see what the main character did in that moment of time instead of skipping to the next scene where she has already made a decision (for example).

i would give this a 3 stars because of the plot, but the writing was not for me.

I LOVED this book, the world building and history was refreshing and bizarre in the best way. Korinna is an amazing MC, starting at the bottom of her order as the weakest student unknowing that one of her teachers has been purposely hiding her potential to save her life, revealing it at the last moment for Korinna to ace her tests and leave the spaceship in hopes she can fulfil her destiny to remove the current high priestess and become the new one. There eyes bleed when they use their magic is such a violently beautiful way, and when she meets the famous space pirate Aster? Nothing will ever be the same, In life and love

I'm a little unsure about this one. I don't know if it was too smart for me (valid, I respect it) or if it the way things were described and events were ordered were slightly off (frustrating, cause I can the potential).

I found myself wanting more in the descriptions of the world and the way it worked. I enjoy when books don't give a lot of explanation as to what's happening and lets the action speak it for itself, but with the level of detail included in the worldbuilding, I found myself wanting more concrete answers. I also felt that this caused the way the scenes were ordered, to give that needed understanding, to take away from moments that should've been plot twists or big, dramatic moments.

It was a fascinating world, and had fascinating characters. I just wasn't the biggest fan with the way the book was constructed. But that is totally a me thing!

This dark science-fiction book was really great. I really love the worldbuilding, the magic system and the characters. Each POV were really interesting. The characters were complex and with The fast paced was really enjoyable. Action, emotions and sapphic, the perfect blend,

To my disappointment, I could not find myself captured by this book. The comparisons to Gideon the Ninth are accurate in the scale of the lore and world-building, but I didn't find either to be as comprehensive or clever. The story also takes a blunt approach to communicating the word-building: very much telling, and very little showing. While this may work for some, it really took me out of the story, and was not complemented by the fast pace. I did enjoy the representation of disability in fantasy, and the thoughtful way the author works blindness into the culture without being disrespectful or appropriative.

This is a book with a lot of potential to be great that delivers in some areas, but really misses in others. I really enjoyed the world building and character work, I felt like it used a lot of familiar sci fi aspects that draw the reader in while also introducing a lot of unique elements that keep the reader on their toes and rooting for the characters. But much of the story felt poorly paced or glossed over. With complex moral choices for characters in difficult situations, especially in a fantastical setting outside of our world, I like to see the characters ruminate on their choices, and dig into who they are and why their brain works the way it does. But the pace at which the story moves really doesn't leave enough time for any of that, and using a lot of telling instead of showing creates a rift between the reader and the characters. So as much as I *wanted* to love them and root for them, since they had all the bones that would make me feel that way, I just didn't have any attachment to them. I wasn't given the chance to feel for them.

When I read adult sci-fi I have some fairly high expectations for adult characters making adult decisions, and I often found the characters frustrating or flat, skimming over important details and leaving me often wanting more. The writing style and quick but detail-lacking storytelling felt more juvenile than what I was expecting. I think this story would have benefitted from being a duology or even a trilogy, allowing this big story room to breathe and really give it some depth that was missing.

I'd give it a 2.5 for basic enjoyment, but I'll round up to 3 because I didn't hate it, I just really wanted to LOVE it. Thank you to netgalley for the arc!