The Tholosian Empire rules the galaxy with an iron fist. New planets are wiped clean of any species so the Empire can claim the resources. Citizens are brainwashed by an embedded chip in the brain, and constant reinforcement of obedience. And the ruling Archon? He creates hundreds of tank-grown ‘offspring’, who are raised to fight and kill. On coming of age, they are pitted against each other, with only the strongest being declared heir.

Eris is one of the few who manages to escape, and turns her skills over to the Novantean rebellion. But when she’s sent on a mission with Clo, a pilot and engineer with a deep grudge against Eris, the last thing they expect to find with the mysterious cargo they’ve been sent to investigate is three more women hoping to also escape the clutches of the Empire. A soldier, a courtesan, and a child computer genius who’s hand is in far too many of the Empire’s controls.

Disparate but desperate, these five women may just have the combined skills to stop the destruction of the galaxy.

With shades of Star Wars, there’s a lot of fun to be had with this rag-tag group of resistance fighters. The cause seems overwhelmingly hopeless, but as we learn more about the Empire and Archon, the more necessary it is.

Chapters alternate viewpoint from each of the five characters. There’s both merit and flaw in this approach: we get to see all of the women’s inner thoughts, but it can dip the pace. I struggled initially to differential between Eris and Nox, both being soldiers and fighters. I’m not sure the approach particularly strengthened my fondness for any of them – to be honest, it came over as ‘telling not showing’. Ariadne is brilliant but has imposter syndrome – great, but maybe that should have come through her actions rather than outright stepping into her thoughts and so many “I must prove I’m useful!” comments?

Interspersing the action-packed mission, we have flashbacks from all five women, and while other reviewers have complained a little about these, I’m almost of the view that these were the better parts. Finding out what had driven each to risk death or worse for their freedom was a highlight for me, and the revelation of so many secrets along the way was great. I did wonder if the ‘big’ mystery was done a disservice by being revealed from the start, pretty much, with only the other characters getting the big reveal later.

Overall, this wasn’t as flawless as I would have liked, but despite my vague complaints it was a lot of fun. The world building is great, the writing excellent – no ‘tells’ that I spotted with the dual authorship – and the characters work together well even if I never quite managed to love any of them. I was invested more in the ‘overthrow a despicable Empire’ rather than any individual, and I wonder if maybe a single focus would have helped.

Still, worth the read, despite my nitpicking! I’m launching pretty much straight into the second half of the duology, keen to see how they get out of a bit of a huge predicament…!

This book was so great to read! It was such a great space opera book, and I loved getting to know these characters, and the adventure that they're on, I just couldn't put it down. And I loved the way that it was told, jumping around on the timeline, to different characters. It all told this wonderful story!

This book was a fantastic story of rebellion. I loved learning more about this world, the details were pretty aggravating. Like the One, the computer that gave programming to most of the citizens of the Empire. Which could control what they did, but would make them a mindless body, basically. Not fun! So yeah, it was great to see these characters rebel!

Between getting these characters histories, and getting them together, and then having them work on taking the Empire down, it made for really great reading, and I couldn't put it down! I loved these characters, as individuals, and as the group that they formed!

Man, were there some aggravating moments, but also moments that were just totally shocking. Like that ending, with her brother taking credit for the good that they did, while blaming what he had done on them. Gah! I need book 2!

Loved reading this book, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here!

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy of this book! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get to this one ahead of the pub date and I now own a hardback copy, so I will review it on my blog once I have read that copy.

This book was just fun, an amalgamation of cool science fiction, awesome aliens, and interesting heroines. While it may start slow, when the action starts picking up it keeps going and going until the end. The characters are awesome, and having multiple perspectives throughout helps understand what they're actually going through in the moment; though I will say the flipping time periods threw me off a little at first, it works as the story grows. I ended up actually loving having some kind of insight into backstory here and there without it feeling like a lore dump, a character spilling information to another close to the end of the book, it filled in the gaps perfectly.

The characters were definitely my favourite part of this one, their ambitions clashing while also working together so well. Having so many different narratives going at once helps keep the tone fresh without feeling overwhelming, and there were never moments of "who am I reading about right now" with how the characters differed, something difficult to accomplish generally with a large cast like this.

Ultimately, I loved this one, bringing the best of some of my favourite tropes, I'm excited for the sequel!

I was promised Mad Max: Fury Road in space - I got that and so much more. Seven Devils is an explosive new addition to the space opera genre. May and Lam had me from the first severed finger! This is a book you are not going to want to miss and the start of a series that promises to be a wild ride.

Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May,

I was really excited to read this book having read and loved Goldilocks by Laura. I have to say that this book did not disappoint. It was a throughly good read, which has a complex plot and characters.

Overall; it’s a really awesome YA science fiction novel that I would recommend to anyone!

A thought-provoking, pedal-to-the-metal space opera with characters to root for.. Full review of the book is at the Nerds of a Feather Blog.

I got about half-way through this book before giving up on it. I liked the characters — as I will be telling anyone who asks — but I just could not stomach the worldbuilding. Space fantasy is absolutely not my genre, and it was not obvious to me from the blurb the extent to which this book was space fantasy, rather than more along the lines of other recent great (less-fantastical) space operas. The ridiculousness of the worldbuilding (the tiny galaxy, the incomprehensibly inefficient empire, etc) was too much for me to put up with just for the characters.

(Note, I am not posting this negative review on Goodreads etc, but will be verbally conveying it upon request.)

4.5 stars (rounded down bc I almost never like to 5 star on first read (sorry bout it), especially for an ongoing series)

Honestly, going into Seven Devils, I was super nervous, because reading an author friend's book is incredibly nerve-wracking at the best of times and 2020 is absolutely not the best of times, which means I've been struggling to read most any genre aside from romance. But, maybe there is a God of Mercy after all, because this book is flarking excellent.

I knew on page one that I was almost definitely going to be into this book. The heroine gets a Pathos call with an annoying ring tone that cracked me up, and that was the sign that this was, truly, a Christina book. As Eris avoids answering, she's also being a murdery badass, so it sets the tone (literally and figuratively) for the whole book, which is a blend of darkness and humor, aka exactly what I want all science fiction to be really.

Now, I know this was pitched as Mad Max: Fury Road in space, but I've not seen that or any other Mad Max, so I really can't comment on that, other than guessing it's accurate based on Elizabeth May's deep love of pop culture. From my perspective, my comps for Seven Devils would be Firefly and The Illuminae Files. The tone of both is pretty similar, though I would say The Illuminae Files are a bit lighter, which makes sense as they're YA. Still, I think if you enjoy either of those stories, with the mix between the moments of comedy and connection and the moments of utter despair and horror, Seven Devils will absolutely be your jam.

The misfit crew that becomes a messed up little adorable family is absolutely my favorite science fiction trope, and it's so well done here. The whole crew is bantery and badass and wonderful in a bunch of varying ways. And, even the ones who don't get along, like Clo and Eris, would do anything to save one another when it comes to an external threat. There are seven main characters, which can overwhelming sometimes, but they all felt distinct to me in terms of voice and personality.

As a lot of science fiction does, including Firefly and Star Wars, Seven Devils focuses on a tiny resistance trying to take down a massive, shitty, nigh all powerful empire. One of the things that makes this story stand out from the crowd in a pretty common (for good reason, admittedly) plot is how much this story focuses on the shades of gray involved in a rebellion. This isn't a story of good versus evil the way Star Wars is. Seven Devils will not let the reader forget how complicated everything is, and that supplies needed to foment a resistance are supplies stolen from the Empire, supplies that won't make it to poor citizens. This adds a real nuance to the overall effort and also to the characters themselves, as they all grapple with their moral compasses.

For me, the scariest aspect of the story isn't any of the more overt villains (the Archon and his heir, Damocles), though they are also pretty terrifying, but the Oracle, the computer that controls almost everyone via a microchip. Almost all people in this world were built by science, not birthed, so they start with programming and propaganda directly in their brains. The Oracle can take them over, but it usually doesn't need to, because the mind control and brainwashing is so effective. Lam and May do a wonderful job showing how the members of the resistance who have been de-programmed still have a constant fight against those ideas. It's not as simple as just removing the chip and being able to fight back. When your whole brain is primed to support the ideas of the Empire, it's a battle every day for the rest of their lives.

The US cover shows the seven main characters, and, in case you haven't looked, seven of them are female. While I have read a decent number of spacey sci-fi, I do believe this is by far the most female-dominated. And, not only are the characters of note largely female (with most of the men of note villains), but this society isn't patriarchal either! Men and women both are generated for any job, including that of Archon. That was so refreshing, honestly, and I hope this book does very well and generates a wave of more female-led space operas. I think this aspect is part of why I was able to really settle in and enjoy Seven Devils, despite the fact that my 2020 brain mostly can't handle anything but romance.

Seven Devils takes a relatively familiar formula and makes something fresh, new, and nuanced. This is the first in a duology, and I'm crossing my fingers that book two is just as good or better, because, if so, this will be on the list of my absolute favorite series for sure.

Damn, but this was a hell of a lot of fun! Seven Devils is exactly as advertised, a feminist space opera about women supporting and loving one another while kicking the patriarchal empire’s ass. Laura Lam and Elizabeth May have crafted a sweeping epic that feels as significant as it is spectacular, and I’m already anxious for the as-yet-untitled sequel.

Admittedly, I wasn’t so sure about things at the start. Eris and Clo are hard to warm up to – there’s so much tension there that bad blood is dripping off the page. The bickering and sniping at one another was getting on my nerves and I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle a whole novel of that. But then we meet up with the women who will round out their crew – Nyx, Ariadne, and Rhea – and the depth of sisterhood between them completely turned my emotions inside out. I still found Eris to be a challenge, a woman I came to admire but never really liked, but that was much less of an issue when surrounded by the larger cast.

Royalty, soldier, mechanic, hacker, courtesan – a more diverse group of women you couldn’t ask for. The sense of found family is such a huge part of what makes their story compelling, with women healing and supporting of one another, and the sweet, slow-burn romance between two of them was one of my favorite things about the book. Oh, and I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t mention Kyla, the transgender rebellion leader who joins them to get her hands dirty in the latter portion of the book. She’s secondary to the crew in many respects, but I loved how perfectly she embodied the themes of freedom, autonomy, and transformation.

I’ve seen some reviewers lament the pacing and the use of flashbacks but, for me, they were what made the book. The present-day story is a pretty simple bit of space opera rebellion – infiltrate the ship, steal the superweapon, sabotage the evil empire, save the day – but it is the women who make it compelling. Understanding who they are, how they suffered under the empire, and why they came to join the rebellion is what allows us to sympathize/empathize with them. There were moments where I didn’t want to leave those flashbacks, where I either wanted to know the rest of the story or just spend a little more time with them.

On the dark side of the story, we’re faced with an Evil Empire that deserves full capitalization. It’s a patriarchal, militaristic, genocidal culture that uses a truly invasive AI entity to control thoughts and emotions, and which treats those outside the One’s reach as either disposable or deplorable. There’s been a trend in the last decade to paint heroes and villains in shades of grey, to leave readers questioning rebellions and their motivations, but there’s no such doubt there. By the end of the book, we don’t just want the Eris and her crew to succeed because we like them, we need them to succeed because the empire needs to fall!

I went into Seven Devils with hopes and I can honestly say it paid off in every respect. It’s well-written, engaging, fast-paced, fabulously feminine, and fiercely feminist. The technology, the science, and the alien biology are all fascinating, and there’s genuine scope to the universe as well as the story. As Lam herself noted, there are elements of Rouge One, Fury Road, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy here, but the whole of the story s so much more than the sum of its parts.

This one sits at about a 3.5 for me.
A note to start this all off, I haven’t read a ton of space operas before so my newness to the genre colors this review. But how could I resist the pitch the “be gay, do crime” meme with Mad Max Fury Road vibes?
This is a feminist, girl gang space opera about a rag-tag crew trying to take down a patriarchal empire. You’ve got the former princess of the empire defected to the resistance, a cantankerous mechanic, an escaped sex slave, a deprogrammed soldier, and a child genius -all women- coming together. But in order to accomplish their goal, they will have to face their demons and their past.
So, this series starter is strong in a number of ways though I do have my quibbles. I think the characters are so fun and they are diverse in both identity and personality. There is queer rep everywhere as well as diversity of race and ability. Their banter works and their dynamics often pop off the page. There was a little more work that could have been done on the character dynamics - I felt that the relationship between Eris and Clo could have used a bit more fleshing out - but overall the found family dynamic was well-done and touching. The world in this is quite interesting and brings about some commentary on the current state of our world. While it took me a hot minute to get into the story, once I was in I was invested.
I think my biggest issue and why this book dropped stars for me was the structure, which in turn led to issues with pacing. This book uses a lot of flashbacks and jumps back and forth in time - which is in line with other Laura Lam books I’ve read. They do a decent job in fleshing out the world and characters, but it is jarring when a moment plays out near the climax of the book that has been talked about and hinted at so frequently that I already felt like I knew what happened. While the flashbacks brought value to the story, their placement was sometimes awkward and hampered pacing.
Overall, I think it’s amazing to have a sprawling space opera like this center such a diverse and compelling crew. The ending definitely left me wanting to pick up the sequel, especially since the antagonist is quite interesting. I’d recommend for space opera fans and for those who are new to the genre.

I probably wasn't the target audience for this book. I considered it not bad, but also not original enough. Many of the story elements reminded me of other YA books and the constant falling into backstory made it repetitive. This book, like many other YA books, would have profited with more words being cut during editing. There were interesting science fiction elements tough, therefore three stars.

I would like to thank NetGalley and DAW for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had never heard of Laura Lam until earlier this year when I read her book Goldilocks. It was quite enjoyable, and I made sure to note her down on my list of “authors I want to read more of.” So when I saw that she and Elizabeth May had a new space opera book coming out, I quickly requested an eARC from NetGalley. I’m glad I did!

Although this book is far less “hard sf” than Goldilocks was, it shares that book’s careful exploration of character. It’s also a rollicking adventure with lots of twists and excitement. Totally recommend it!

Super fun, action-filled and at time dark space romp with a GREAT cast.

The cast really is where Seven Devil shines. There are five distinct POV characters, and I adored each of them:
Eris, who used to be the evil empire’s heir but then faked her death to join the restistance, now a ruthless agent known for her skills in seemingly impossible missions and high kill count.
Clo, a disabled mechanic born in a planet’s slums who’s also a skilled pilot, and who hates Eris for who she used to be.
Nyx, a lauded soldier of the empire who’s tired of being of being a mindless killing machine.
Rhea, an empathetic courtesan favoured by the empire’s leaders who no longer wants to be an object and who hides her own secrets.
And Ariadne, who was engineered specifically to be hands and voice of the empire’s all-encompassing controlling AI, a genius desperate to just experience life.

I loved all of them, as well as several of the side characters, including the last two main characters who make up the titular Seven Devils.

The story is told in alternating timelines, every now and then showing flashbacks into different characters’ pasts. Those flashbacks always have immediate relevance, and chapters overall were rather short. I was never confused with the frequent POV and timeline changes, all of them were interesting and a joy to read.

The plot is fast-paced and action heavy. There’s always something happening, and the characters barely get a chance to take a breath. It was always enaging and exciting, but not so tense as to be sweat-inducing.

The evil Tholosian empire truly is a nightmare. Not only is genocide one of the common modus operandi, all citicens have neural implants so an AI has direct access to their brain, constantly feeding them propaganda, controlling them, making them commit and be complicit to atrocities, and even completely taking over in high stress situations.
And that doesn’t even account for the terrible child abuse.

While I do love all characters, I also have a clear favourite. Sure, Eris and Nyx were badass, I adore Ariadne’s need for proving her worth, and Clo was wonderfully rounded and such a dear, it was Rhea who totally stole my heart. I loved that she wasn’t one of the combat fighters, but still never incompetent. As an empathic person myself I loved seeing that facet of her character and how it was executed.
She, like pretty much all of the characters, has a horriffic backstory that isn’t for the faint of heart. She also has a secret she hides from the others, and it’s about that I have my biggest (and pretty much only) complaint about the book. To me it felt very sudden and like there wasn’t any buildup. Another thing I struggled with was in regards to the AI of the empire… sometimes referred to as One, sometimes as Oracle. They seemed to be distinct, but I couldn’t tell the difference.

I loved how diverse the book was. The cover is absolutely stunning, and the characters fit the descriptions pretty much exactly. There’s several POC, and almost all relevant characters and all POV characters are women, which was another great facet.

There is a minor romantic subplot which was wonderful and tender and totally what both characters deserved. The couple is sapphic. Overall the focus is heavy on the action, but character dynamics and relationships are very important too. Friendship, (found) family, trust and group dynamics as well as mentor relationships are much more in the foreground than romantic ones, though.

The ending is more or less a cliffhanger, and the plot is very far from finished. The book was an exciting ride, and despite the heavy themes and abundance of violence and abuse it wasn’t a dark read. Several scenes made me laugh.
I am very excited for the sequel, and can’t wait to see how things end.

Yes, this book does live up to the gorgeous murdery vibes of Florence + The Machine’s “Seven Devils.” These women are, in fact, here to burn your kingdom down, and there’s a lot of grappling around “evil hearts” and “evil souls.” It definitely gave me Rogue One and Guardians of the Galaxy vibes, in the sense of an unlikely group of rebels banding together in the face of near impossible odds. Also? That cover is gorgeous, and, shocker, each of the seven main characters are actually recognizable.

“So, let me get this straight. Your plan was to murder a Legate and his guards, commandeer a ship, and just . . . find the resistance?” Clo asked. “That’s not even a plan. Seven devils, that’s barely even a fraction of a plan. That’s like a note to self after a night of carousing.”


The Tholosian empire is, by any measure, evil. For starters, they literally build their buildings out of the bones of the various alien races they’ve exterminated in their drive to expand. Most people are vat grown and genetically engineered for various cohorts – soldiers, merchants, etc. – and all are controlled by an AI called the Oracle through implants and sleep hypnosis. It’s no wonder that a group of rebels seek to oppose them, though it is a bit of a miracle they’ve managed to survive so long. For two members of the Novantae rebellion, Eris and Clo, their new mission is simple – infiltrate a Tholosian ship and to figure out what its mysterious cargo is. Of course, they don’t expect to find all of the ship’s crew dead and three women running the bridge. What starts out as a heist with two reluctant co-conspirators soon turns into a galaxy spanning race to figure out what Damocles, heir to the empire, is planning next. But what can five women hope to do against the might of the whole empire?

“I don’t want to atone,” Nyx said, surprising herself. “I want to destroy the Empire.”
Clo’s hands closed into fists. “Yes.”
The others nodded.
“Then we do it together,” Eris said, gazing at each of them in turn. “Planet by planet. We burn the Empire down.”


There are five main characters that the book follows: Eris, the former heir to the empire and now the rebellion’s first choice for impossible missions; Clo, a natural-born hotshot mechanic; Ariadne, a girl raised from birth by the Oracle to be its programmer; Rhea, the favorite courtesan of General Damocles; and Nyx, an accomplished solider. While Eris and Clo get the most page time, all of the characters have at least a few chapters of POV. Each of the women is absolutely kickass in their own ways, and each are dealing with their own personal traumas, which inform their distinct and realistic relationships with each other. My favorites were between Eris and Clo (friends to enemies to ok-I-guess-we’re-friends), Eris and Nyx (angsty can-I-atone-for-all-the-blood-on-my-hands? soldiers), and Rhea and Ariadne (emotionally experienced vs emotionally stunted). There’s also a very sweet f/f instalove relationship, and the book as a whole is delightfully queer, since it also features trans and ace characters.

“Few people liked to acknowledge that it didn’t matter how good your intentions; in order to overthrow an empire, murder was a necessity. Someone had to do it.”


The world building is excellent. It’s vaguely Greco-Roman-inspired, from the ruler’s title – Archon – to the character’s names and some of the gods. The empire itself is extremely brutal – one of the main gods they worship is the God of Death – and at times the rebellion is forced to be just as brutal in return. Throughout the book the characters are forced to grapple with the moral implications of their actions, both what they chose to do now in service of the rebellion and what they’ve done in the past. The angst is at times as thick as molasses and I absolutely loved it. There’s a mix of present day and flashback chapters which reveal each character’s backstory. This does cause the pacing to falter a bit in the first half of the novel, but once everyone’s background is established, it moves much more quickly, culminating in an absolutely action-packed ending. It’s very much the first book in a duology, so while I found the ending satisfactory, there’s definitely a lot left unresolved.

“It’s like a surprise! Only the surprise is your death and how quickly it happens.”
“I shouldn’t have asked.”


Overall, this was even better than I expected and I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series. If you love women burning things down and saving the galaxy, I highly recommend you pick up this book!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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.

A group of incredibly strong women on a space adventure to defeat the awful empire? Do you even need to know anything more? I guess you might want to but honestly you should probably just read the thing!

The Things I Loved:

►Such an incredible cast of characters! Oh how I loved them! They're all so very different, but their goals are the same, especially once they band together and realize how much stronger they can be together. At the start, they are mostly strangers (and a few borderline enemies), but as the story unfurls, you'll see the connections that the women make with each other, and frankly, that is my favorite part.

►I love overthrowing The Man™, don't you? Ugh, the things this empire has done... wow. They control minds, which is awful in itself, but then they wipe people too, and turn them into unthinking, unfeeling soldiers. Good times. I mean, who wouldn't be cheering for them to be overthrown?

►There are moments of levity and romance in the darkness. Yeah, this world is rough. And the things the women have to face are harrowing and brutal. But there are great little bits thrown in to remind us (and them) what they're fighting for. The lives the deserve, with love, and friendship, and happiness. And, it makes the rough stuff more bearable of course.

►So much intensity and action! But not in an overwhelming way. Just in a good, high stakes adventure way!

The One Thing I Struggled With:

►Okay, it was a bit of a slow start for me. And a lot of backstory, which I do think was necessary, but I wasn't invested yet, you know? Regardless, don't let that stop you, because it picks up soon!

Bottom Line: Come for the incredible characters. Stay for the epic war.

This book originated between the two authors as “Mad Max: Fury Road in Space”. It’s definitely that, but also so much more. There’s the anger and aggressive fight for freedom and self-definition that you can find in Fury Road; but there’s also some of the shameless glamour and style that made me think of Jupiter Ascending, in particular the way the beauty and the aesthetic is linked completely with violence and conquest. The brutal conquerers are surrounded by beautiful things, the people they oppress are scrabbling to get by.

It’s hard to know where to start, there’s so much crammed into this story that I loved, and I didn’t necessarily notice it all at once, it was only as I got over my delight at one part that the next part filtered through to catch me by surprise again. The first was how much I liked the borrowing of words from the Roman Empire for roles within the Tholosian Empire. That was a nice touch – Empires throughout history have tried to use Roman iconography to try and get themselves aligned with Julius Caesar and his ilk in the history books. From Emperor Napoleon and his eagles, to Hitler and Mussolini using Roman standards and the fasces (bundle of sticks) symbols. This is the first bit of foreshadowing we get, the Tholosions aren’t benevolent rulers, they’re fascists.

What Seven Devils gives us is a fascist, war-mongering empire that has been in power for literally centuries and is successful. With the added strength of SF technology, they have been able to literally erase other races from existence as they have spread their influence from planet to planet. They have sterilised their society so they can completely control the gene pool of their citizens through genetic engineering, breeding people in vats designed specifically for each role. People are commodities to the empire, and made more so by an in-depth regime of brainwashing and a digital brain implant that controls their thoughts and their hormonal responses – if someone attacks a solider of the empire, the chip will override their adrenaline and drive them to superhuman feats of violence in the name of Tholos.

We’re then given a disperate group of rebels: two who are old-hat members of the Novantae, former friends and current rivals; three who are brand new escapees who just want to make it safely into hiding and learn to live on their own; and one accidental recruit who it’s never clear if you can trust thanks to the circumstances of his recruitment.

There are other nods to classical history too, particularly with Eris’ names and the fantastic deeper meaning behind it that gives some very neat foreshadowing to her role and what it could mean for the future, which made me look more closely at the other names. Eris, Greek goddess of discord and strife, and the instigator of the Trojan War. Ariadne, the girl who helped Odysseus solve the labyrinth. Rhea, the titan of the Earth and mother of the Olympian gods. Nyx, the goddess of the night, so powerful that even Zeus feared her. Cato, the Roman senator, a former solider who fought against corruption. Cloelia, a girl used as a bargaining chip in a truce between Rome and Clusium, and whose bravery earned her high honours. And Damocles, the famous king over whom death hovered every day. There are deep themes here, and they’re so carefully woven.

These two authors are absolute powerhouses of attention to detail. There are so many little parts in this that I enjoyed, showing all the levels of conquest and colonisation. One little scene was a flashback to Clo and her mother. Clo’s natural dialect is based on Scots-Gaelic, and it works so well, and also fits the delightful slang they’ve given her that is all based around bogs and marshes to reflect the environment of her home planet. Clo confidently and proudly uses her dialect, but her mother corrects her to speak “Imperial”. To force her natural speech down and form her words in the way her oppressors will approve of. This sort of linguistic control has been seen throughout history, and in particular in the British Empire. The “othering” of a subsection of society through the way they speak creates a disconnect between social groups and can have wide ranging, and long-lasting effects. It’s a key form of control, and seeing it acknowledged here, even as a tiny aside in another scene because it’s so ingrained into the society of the characters, really stuck with me.

Lam and May have both been clear that this is a Very Gay Book. And it is! But it’s not just a Very Gay Book. There is a lot of representation in here. There’s a trans character, a disabled character, an autistic character, various characters from different ethnic groups, and a very cute WLW love story. The representation is all explicit, clearly signposted (nothing that could be hand-waved away or retconned in later), but also described as naturally as one would describe hair colour, unlaboured. Everything is given its place in the plot and story, and handled thoughtfully. How do these things impact the characters? The story?

Because this is the first of a duology, it doesn’t have a simple ending. Instead, it starts to set things up for part two, and with the way things are left at the end I expect the next instalment to be even more brutal. This is truly epic in its scope and its execution, and I can’t wait for part two to see how it’s all pulled together.

Briefly:

A high-stakes space opera, that doesn’t shy away from brutality on both the macro and micro scale. As this is the first in a duology, however, there’s no clean resolutions at the end – brace yourself!
Potentially some trigger warnings to keep in mind for an abusive parent to the extreme, and allusions to sexual assault. One of the characters is a former “courtesan”, but she’s very much a slave. That said, there are no direct or explicit threats of sexual violence in the book, but there is plenty of general violence.
“Seven devils” is used as a cuss in the book, as in “what the seven devils?” The book is essentially titled “Fuck” and if that isn’t a 2020 mood then I don’t know what is.

5/5 – This book probably illustrates how so many people feel right now, like they’re a small person fighting against overwhelming odds. I wouldn’t say this book alone gives you hope (I’ll wait on the sequel for that), but it taps into anger and redirects it from giant nebulous things outside, to specific injustices and characters in a book. I felt like I’d been gut-punched when I finished it, but I also felt a little lighter.

A very generic YA space opera that tries to be feminist by making 99% of its men bad. Maybe readers who haven't read a lot of sci-fi may find this more appealing that I did but I'm tired of lazy world-building in which we have an evil empire and a group of rebels.

4.5 Stars

This was such a fun read. We have a real romp of a space Opera, jam-packed with action, high's and lows and not just one but two daring heists! (We know I love a heist).

At first I did find it a little difficult to get into. We follow 5 perspectives in this book, with both present day and flashbacks and occasionally I found that a little overwhelming to remember where I was in the time line. But as the story built and we got to know each of our band of Devils and I ended up really liking the style. The use of the flashbacks to tell the various backstories was great as it really allowed us to get to know each of the characters and how the relationship between all these women built up over time.

My only snippy point was the use of "Scottish" style dialogue for Clo. I am so glad us Scots make it into space (there always seems to be one of us hiding out in some far flung space port) but I always find the deliberate spelling of words to give them the "glasgow twang" is just a bit cheesey to read. As a Glaswegian myself, it just bugs me.

I really like how the use of flashbacks also built and layered the plot, the building of the relationships first between two separate groups, one from within the Empire and one from within the rebellion and then how they built up when they came together to fight the same cause was great. I really did find the flashbacks the most interesting as they also carried the weight of the worldbuilding and it was really awesome world building. It was just filled with tiny details that really emersed me in the story. I particularly liked Eris' perspective as it really gave such detailed insight into the Empire and its ruling.

The Oracle, an over arching AI that controlled the populous of the Empire was also really interesting. I liked how various different characters related to it in different ways and we got to see it's influence from multiple different angles. I think this in itself really made the world-building stand out.

The plot was also paced very nicely, it kept moving but gave time for relationships to build, for tension to rise, for successes and failures to be felt. The end managed to be a great crescendo and a little too open ended all at the same time. We built to something really exciting with very high stakes, only to be left with not quite a cliff-hanger but a nice segway into setting up the next book. I wasn't disappointed by this, it just makes me want to read book two even more.

Overall, despite my slow start to get into it I really enjoyed it. It was nice to see such a diverse female cast, written well and with a really nice balance of light and dark moments. I think this would be an awesome intro to sci-fi and space opera.