3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for my digital review copy.

It was so refreshing to read a book focussed purely on friendships and platonic relationships and how those can develop between characters. I adored how the magic system of tethers was so linked to the ideas of relationships and how we got the descriptions of the tethers throughout the book and I loved being able to pierce together the characters and their tethers and what that says about them.

Though, I would have loved to have even more information about the tethers and their meanings. As my copy is an arc, I don't know if there will be a compendium of sorts in the final copy, but I feel like having some form of list at the back with all the different tether colours and placements would be helpful (or maybe this is just a me thing and the fact I want all the lore and worldbuilding I can get to be able to fully immerse myself? I did find myself hghlighting nearly every piece of information we got regarding tethers throughout the narrative as I was so fascinaed by this idea of bonds and meanings)

This book had so many layers to the relationships, that I'm absolutely certain that I will find more links/a deeper understanding of this level of crafting on a second readthrough.

First of all, thanks, netgalley, for the arc. All thoughts are mine.

It's been a long time since I cried that hard while reading a book. Lord of the empty isles has one of the most accurate depictions of grief I've ever read. And while it made me drown in my own tears, I found it cathartic.
If you know grief, you know how insidious it is, and I found that exact feeling in Remy's journey. It felt true.

Lord of the empty isles is a story where everyone is doomed by the narrative, and you can't help but feel for them as they try to survive. Remy, our MC, has been trying to find his brother's killer for five years and when he finally find a way to get to him, it fires back at him and now he must figure how to disentangle himself from this mess. I really loved Remy because, in a way, he tried to keep his brother alive. Through revenge and hatred, but still. He tried to navigate his grief the best way he could.

Was he annoying at time? Yes.
Did I roll my eyes at him at first? Yes.
But. Like everything in life, nothing is easy, and you learn with Remy. You see him open his eyes to the world, and you can't help but care for him.

As for the other characters: I would give my life for them. They’re one of the liveliest bunch of characters I've had the pleasure to meet. Each and every one of them is full of life and bravado, and they're so easy to love.

I could spend longer gushing about this book but I'm writing through tears right now so. Forgive me !

I enjoyed this quite a bit! But I think it could have gone a bit further in places. It has some interesting concepts and a great cast of characters, and the plot doesn’t drag. Of course I love that it focuses on platonic relationships and has no romance!

I think most of my thoughts come down to it’s pretty clear that the book had some specific goals that it stuck to but the details opened up a lot of questions I can’t stop thinking about….. I feel like it could have done a little more work in the beginning to convince me of Remy thinking he’s in the right - basically from the second he meets the pirate crew it’s very obvious they’re in the right and where the plot is going to go and I was never convinced otherwise.

There’s clearly a lot gone into developing this bond system but to be honest I still don’t entirely get it? It seems to emphasise that the bonds just reflect connections between people rather than predetermine anything (which I’m glad for - I don’t like soulmate stuff), but also the plot kind of hinges on Remy and Idrian having a predetermined bond? There are a lot of explanations of intricacies but a lot of it didn’t sink in because it’s just sort of explained rather than deeply embedded in every interaction. I also felt like the bond stuff felt a bit disconnected from the rest of the worldbuilding.

I do wish Remy and Tirani’s relationship was more prevalent also- I feel like she kinda disappeared in the second half.

I feel like things are solved quite quickly and easily in the end - both the curse, and the downfall of the chancellor. I feared it would go down the route of blaming things on the person in charge rather than emphasising systemic issues, which it kinda does…. It’s impossible to ignore right now just how deeply people are willing to believe dehumanising propaganda - and how ‘telling the truth’ and exposing the person in power as bad doesn’t actually do anything; so that happening here made me go…… oh okay. well.
I felt like all the people upholding the system that we meet are portrayed as too nice for what the effects of the system are, too. However I think there is room for a sequel, which would maybe explore this? I get that it was probably just an easy way to end the story, and maybe exploring that stuff in too much depth would shift the intended tone.

My little complaints aside - I do recommend this! It was fun and pretty unique.

Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the arc

All in all a very enjoyable ride. The magic system takes some getting used to but it is interesting once you do.

Great story—couldn’t put it down! Can’t wait for the next book.

Loved it!

Loved the characters. Loved the plot. Love this author.

Another great book by a great author. I can’t wait to read the next book.

So good I’ll probably read it again! I would recommend the author to others as well.

I really love the sci-fi genre and I am honestly surprised at myself that I don't read more sci-fi books. From the summary itself, I knew I would enjoy reading Lord of the Empty Isles and I did. I love the whole concept. Although, there were parts where the explanation of how things work got a little confusing, I think I was able to get a good understanding of this concept.

The fact that Remy finds himself accidentally bound to an intergalactic fugitive and his brother's killer leads to a tense situation. Remy is now bound to Idrian Delaciel and his crew, linking their fates. Because if one dies, all of them die too. The story also gives us this heartwrenching moments where Remy misses his brother and greives for him. This book does a fantastic job at capturing the intensity of grief and how that shadows over everything that you do, and no matter what, the pain of losing someone you love doesn't go away.

I love love love queer platonic relationships in books and we so need more of them. When I realised that we would be getting one in this, I might have let out a little scream of joy. This plus the dynamics of the crew, that ends up becoming a found family....I love it.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a book that I'm not going to be forgetting about any time soon.

Space heists, enemies to lovers, & found family with a robin-hood-esque twist? This book was destined for my shelf.
In a world where the bonds between people are tangible and can be manipulated by some, Remy Canta's brother died of a curse five years ago, and Remy seeks revenge on the person who killed him. He doesn't expect his plan to go sideways, very fast, and he is forced to work with his enemy to survive as he is ripped away from everything he thought he knew.
Not all plots are created equal. Trust me when I say the pacing on this was perfect. The plot twists made me audibly gasp, and the first one appeared very early on in the book and hooked me right away. Things happened exactly fast enough that I kept turning pages because I HAD to know what happened next, but the pacing slowed down when we got emotionally charged moments between characters or bits of worldbuilding that let me sink into the story so much better. This book kept me up till 2am, and I don't regret it one bit.
The magic system of this is quite unique, and one I haven't seen before. It allowed the theme of grief and loss to be handled so softly and gently, and provided insight on how the different characters deal with grief, what it reveals about their background growing up, and how grief impacts them and takes them to the book's end. This story was so poignantly sad and at other times lighthearted and silly - Arbeaux definitely knows how to balance elements so readers are taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions.
Last but not least, the characters. Remy: tired and driven and caught in a bad decision. Idrian: snarky and reckless and making the best of a bad situation. Tirani and Roca and all the other characters who make up this book: necessary and flawed and so blazingly alive. They go through so much, and there is teeth-sinkingly good angst and hurt/comfort in here. I love them.
If you're looking for a sci-fi fantasy with a character-driven plot, a diverse & relatable cast of characters, and a hopeful ending that will actually give you closure and allow you to mourn the fact that the book has come to an end in peace, give this a go.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for providing the ARC!

A sweet, fast-paced read about love, loss, and the family we find along the way. Remy and Idrian are compelling characters whose interlocking story keeps you on the edge of your seat. I didn't always love the pacing—some twists come so abruptly that they don't really get the attention that they deserve in the context of the story. That being said, it was a nice read and I look forward to recommending it, especially to readers who are seeking queer stories that aren't romance-focused.

This was a really enjoyable read, every character had charm and a unique personality. It was effortless to relate to them and care about their struggle.

I do wish that the story wasn’t as black-and-white thought. The best part for me was when the main character was struggling with his hate for his brother's killer vs the good deed’s the killer was doing, but quite quickly the balance shifted and there was no doubt about who is good and who is evil. I would have liked the evil side to have more motives and justifications for their actions besides wanting more power.

This was incredible, cried my eyes out because it was so stunningly sad and beautiful and now I don't know what to do with my life anymore.

I adored every single one of the crew and the queer platonic found family dynamics; all the characters were well-developed and complex, and clearly so much thought had been put into writing them which I really appreciated. Without a doubt my favourite character was Remy, our aroace main character(!!!) - despite being on a mission for vengeance it was so obvious how much he cared, and loved life, and his grief over losing his brother was devastating and so gorgeously written. His relationship with Idrian was the highlight of the book. Also, the worldbuilding was intriguing and had the perfect haunting sci-fi atmosphere that I love.

Reading this was a heart-wrenching experience (some of the LINES, man) and the lack of romance made it that many times better. Will be recommending this forever.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. I absolutely LOVED this one. The characters were amazingly well written, Remy is such a relatable character and the journey he goes through with his grief was incredibly well handled. I also enjoyed the ace representation in this, it is rare to see platonic relationships given such attention. In terms of plot while this has at times a 'cozy' found family vibe, it is also incredibly high stakes and heartbreaking. There is also a really cool magic system at work which is based on the bonds between people. If I have but one very minor comment, I would have liked more detail on the worlds history. Overall, I read this in a single day as I could not put it down, and I recommend to fans of sci-fi (along the winters orbit direction) and fantasy alike.

5 ⭐️ but I would give it more if I could.

Wow. This book really just did that huh. My emotions are all over the place, I am sobbing, I am SHREDDED. This is a beautifully heart wrenching story. I read this in one sitting because I quite literally could not put it down. How is this a debut novel?! I can't say anything other than that this was incredible and I am so thankful to have read it.

I'm not usually a sci-fi reader, and I also typically always read fiction with romance elements in them. But when I read the description of this book I just knew I needed to read it. Now, this book is not a romance. But, it is a tale of the bonds that run deeper. It's a tale of love. It is a tale about grief and loss, pain and hope, found family and the most beautiful queerplatonic relationship. And oh, I could write forever on the presentation of Capitalism in this book. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like it - for me it was unique in it's beauty.

As far as the writing and organisation of the story, I found it to be phenomenal. The way that information was slowly revealed to Remy, and therefore the reader, created such a convincing and emotional journey of growth and discovery. I really like when books have epigraphs at the start of chapters, but not when they're just there for the sake of it - I found these epigraphs to really enhance the narrative and world building, and I loved that. I didn't feel confused by the world or the tether system, I found the world building to be really effective. The writing style is absolutely beautiful, almost lyrical at points, and highly engaging. The narrative was obviously fast paced due to the nature of the withering curse, but I found this to be really effective and I loved the way the story moved.

I don't think there is more that I can say, other than that this was such a beautiful book.

Thank you so very much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for giving me the pleasure of reading this arc in exchange for an honest review. And thank you Jules Arbeaux. Thank you for writing this story.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I originally gave it 4 stars, but revised it to 3 because there were just so many things that bothered me about it. It only gets as high as 3 for two reasons: firstly, the main character is aroace (as am I), I have rarely seen a book that handles that so well and aroace rep means the world to me; secondly, even if I felt like the execution was lacking in places, I really liked the story.

I'm going to start with the positives, in case anyone only wants to read this far. I was fascinated by the magical system - bonds tying people to each other in different ways - and the way that the bonds weren't divided into romantic, platonic, familial etc but more by their characteristics: intellectual, instinctive, several other kinds which I confess I don't remember right now. There was no hierarchy of relationship, everyone has bonds which can change or fade with time but none is necessarily more important than another, and I just thought it was a really interesting concept overall.

I also really liked how Remy's aroaceness was handled, in that largely, it wasn't. I feel like a lot of the time, when a character is written as aroace, it can dominate their story, and so I don't tend to see aroace characters for whom their conflict is about something other than their identity. I appreciated it being brought up relatively early, and then not mentioned again. It doesn't influence his every interaction, it simply is, he doesn't have any love interests and it's not an absence (proving that stories can be perfectly compelling without them and that a great many of them might benefit from literally any other kind of relationship dynamic instead, but that's a separate discussion not directly relevant to this book). I don't think I really realised the extent to which so many books rely on romantic tension to drive the plot until I read this without, and it's like a breath of fresh air.

However, I do feel like this book requires you to suspend your disbelief beyond a reasonable extent for a lot of it. Perhaps I'm just overly critical, but it felt to me like there were a lot of contradictions in the way the book's world was assembled and the characters' motivations. For instance, the leader of the world where Remy lives seems to have almost a stranglehold on information, providing propaganda that Remy and most of the people he knows (before the plot really kicks off) accept without question - except, there appears to be next to no surveillance, no overly patriotic (or suspicious, or callous) neighbours turning people in and the world's most notorious criminal was known and liked by young children, even in the capital city, and has been operating for 10+ years. The world seems relatively queernorm, which is nice, there's a nonbinary character who just is, and it's mentioned briefly that Remy's brother was attracted to all genders - except Remy's school also enforced gender norms aggressively, punishing him when he dared to wear a shirt that was not 'for boys' and making the act of doing so such a risk that he considered it to be on par with the daring acts of his idol at the time, the previously mentioned notorious criminal. Remy grew up on the governmental propaganda that made him believe everyone on the 'Isles' were criminals and deserved their punishment, and also hated Idrian Delaciel so much that he intended to kill him personally - yet after a day with Idrian and a few hours on one of the Isles, he has apparently shed every single bias he's ever had and is wholeheartedly on the side of the man who was responsible for his brother's death, along with all of that man's friends.

Also, as much as I liked the concept of the tethers, I really struggled to conceptualise how they worked. It seemed possible to form bonds with people you'd never met - such as Remy with Idrian - and yet they are supposed not to influence how people interact, only reflect it. How can that be so when you can know upon meeting someone that you're fate-bound to them? Surely that would affect how you perceive them. The different types - both location and colour - of tethers was introduced slowly, and often after they'd first been mentioned in the text, so I found it hard to keep track of everything and would have really benefited from them all being explained succinctly at the beginning or something. Who knows, maybe they'll add that in the final version, I am only reading an advance copy. I found it hard to understand as well how people could not be bonded to each other but still get along well - or perhaps they were, and it just wasn't mentioned? - and I'm not clear on how a bonded relationship differs from one that isn't, especially since the tethers in theory can have varying thickness depending on the strength of a bond, so does someone have a very thin tether connecting them to everyone they've ever interacted with, even in passing? I'm also not clear on how they develop, whether they're always there and you find out who they connect to over time or can be produced spontaneously without one having always existed. So, overally, a great idea, but could have done with a bit more fleshing out, in my opinion.

I really wanted to like this book. I'd heard good things about it, I'd heard going in that there was aroace rep and I thought that it could have been an absolutely brilliant story were things a little different. In the end, though, I ended up rather ambivalent, and looked at this book to rate it purely from an analytical perspective, really, because it didn't compel me. I look forward to what the author writes next, however, as I think there is great potential there, it just wasn't quite realised in this book.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a scifi-fantasy debut that was just absolutely spectacular. It’s been five years since Remy Canta’s brother died of a death curse, murdered by Remy’s once childhood idol—interstellar fugitive Idrian Delaciel. When Remy finally has the last ingredient needed to cast his own death curse on Idrian, the curse goes wrong and rebounds on himself too, linking their lifespans together. So Remy must hunt down Idrian and infiltrate his criminal crew to find a way to fix the curse before it’s too late. But as Remy gets to know Idrian, he learns that his vengeance may bring more devastating consequences than he could have imagined as Idrian is more than just the evil villain he thought him to be.

Again, I cannot emphasize how much I absolutely loved this book. But be forewarned that this may not be for everyone and some may need to be in the right mindset before reading it. The books is a devastating tale of grief and loss, of the love for family and the bonds that tie people together, and of just how far some people will go for those they love. In the midst of undercover infiltrations, interstellar heists, mysterious curses, a conspiracy to the very top of the government, and a race against the clock, the book still managed to bring me to tears so so many times with its soul.

Remy is a man still reeling from the murder of his older brother, the man who raised him and the only family he had left, and he is blinded by his hate and single-minded quest for vengeance. It was honestly gutwrenching just reading about his love for his brother and his anger for what happened that it will make you actually root for him to get his vengeance. Meanwhile, Idrian is a morally gray man who does what he does for a reason. He is a man beloved by his people for bringing them hope in their bleak existence and hated by others for what he represents. There is a certain parallel you can make with his people’s plight and what is going on in the world right now.

There is no romance here (Remy himself is actually aroace), and that is not to the book’s detriment. Instead, it features queerplatonic relationships, bonds greater than that of friends and beyond that of family or lovers. The book has a magic system of sorts involving different kinds of bonds between people (think tethers), and it demonstrates the different types of relationships from romantic to the platonic. Together, Remy and Idrian help each other grow and heal to break the cycle of violence that has lead them down their dark paths. It is about confronting their conflicts and learning to understand if not forgive the actions that have been done. There are several noteworthy scenes of them just interacting (their initial confrontation when all is revealed and another towards the end) that were so exceptionally powerful that it still manages to make me tear up just thinking about it.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a moving and devastating cozy scifi-fantasy blend featuring an aroace protagonist, a found family, and queerplatonic relationships on top of its epic scifi story. Be ready to cry.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC.

This book was really really nice!!! It had wonderful writing and the protagonists and characters were vibrant and full of life. I finished it in a day!!

As for the world building. I really got some Snowpiercer vibes in the beginning, with how the people of the Isles were treated ans how information was manipulated from the government to influence public opinion, something which seemed really interesting and well thought out. However, as much as I liked the bond system and the tethering, it felt confusing to me personally and it took me a while to get used to the type of bonds and tethers you can have. I really enjoyed the snippets from books and poems in the beginning of the chapters, since it hints at a greater world and history, which I would not mind to explore again.

I really liked the fact that the protagonist is aroace and it doesn't play any role in the story whatsoever. He is not defined by that and I really liked that. Also, the diversity of the main cast was really nice and they complimented each other perfectly.

I found the climax of the book, the final showdown, a bit rushed. I did not think I would go down this smoothly, and the fact-spoiler- that the Chancellor was trumped because the inside of the office was broadcasted felt a bit incomplete in my opinion.

Finally, I loved the way the author portrayed the emotions that became the driving force for the protagonist, such as grief, healing and acceptance. It was beautifully written!

DNF’ed at 50%. I really wanted to like the concept of this one, with the concept of different bonds between people, but I think the execution of it as well as the story itself was too clumsy. It has taken me weeks to get to the halfway mark because the story hasn’t captivated me the way I wanted it to. What is great about the book is the diversity and amount of good representation. This story just wasn’t for me, unfortunately.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

DNF. I tried really hard to get into this book but ended up giving up. The plot sounded like it should have been interesting but for some reason it never grabbed my attention. Maybe I'll give it another go sometime in the future.

I loved this, it was incredibly well written, and I absolutely loved the diversity and the character representation. Having an Ace-spec and gender-non-confirming lead, found family AND queer platonic relationships?? I adore this book and am super excited to read the next part.

This was a really tough book to read. That's not a criticism—but you need to be in the right place to read it. So much pain, so much cruelty (not perpetuated by the MCs, though they do plenty of harm). It was just really hard to read, given the world we live in.

Okay, enough of that. The story itself, and the writing, were marvelous. I loved the main and supporting characters and would gladly read about this world again and again. I went back and forth between four and five stars and finally settled on four, mostly because the climax didn't entirely work for me. <spoiler>It seemed too easy—I kept expecting the Big Bad to have another trick up his sleeve (and there was something about a needle that I think was mentioned and then simply vanished...). I expected there to be more fighting to be done after the initial broadcast of the message, and the fact that it was like "Oh, everything's going to be fixed now" felt like a copout after all the hard work leading up to it.</spoiler> Despite that, it was an excellent book, and I'll definitely look forward to more from this author.

My thanks to the publisher/NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

This book was so unique and interesting. The world building and magic/powers were easy to follow and understand. There’s themes or grief, revenge, and ultimately humanity. The characters were flawed and relatable.