I enjoyed this book immensely and I'll be looking forward to the next in the series. Excellent example of putting a historical character and situation into an unfamiliar milieu, as George RR Martin did with Game Of Thrones, this time with added queer relationships and an engaging set of characters. One I will be re-reading.

Thank you Head of Zeus and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

The writing style pulled me out of the story’s and the characters felt flat and boring, it couldn’t hold my attention.
So after multiple times trying to get into this story and feel something for the characters and the storyline I had to decide to call it a DNF, because this book didn’t work for me no matter how many times I tried.

This wasn't for me...

The world was interesting, but the writing and lack of depth in the characters was such a let-down. I only remotely liked Persephone's character, The plot was non-existent and I didn't have a good time reading this. Unfortunately I won't be continuing the series- this sci-fi isn't it :(

I saw many reviewers and readers were excited about "gender-swapped Alexander the Great in space" as a pitch for this novel, but as a reader with exactly zero knowledge of Alexander the Great I wasn't pulled in by the hype this built. But, give me a strong willed, relentless, unconquerable woman any day of the week and I'll be happy.

The story follows Princess Sun, the unconquerable woman in question, who has grown up in the shadow of her mother, the battle-scarred and incredibly fierce Queen Marshall Eirene. As heir, Sun must ensure she is accepted by her people of Chaonia, and every day battles for recognition of her strengths despite her terrible temper. Meanwhile, Chaonia is years deep into war with the Phene Empire after Eirene has finally managed to make peace with the Yele, another race.

This novel is extremely plot driven. There are a lot of races, people, politics, ships, and concepts to keep straight in your head as you read, and Elliot seems to take pleasure in forcing you to scramble to keep up. The plot itself is extremely fast paced after the first quarter, and truly, I really struggled following what was going on at times. I don't mind using context to come to conclusions, and I don't mind flicking back a few pages now and then to check something - but the lack of context and the incessant torrent of information was challenging and not always enjoyable. As a plot driven story featuring some huge "twists", I felt that this style of writing and communication didn't work. On more than one occasion I was aware that something dramatic was happening, but failed to realise the full implications until some pages later, since it took me so long to dredge up the right information. This being said, I eventually found a good rhythm while reading - I glossed over a lot of the details in favour of enjoying the pace, the drama, and the action of the story and found it to be enjoyable overall. The action sequences were entertaining and suitably over the top for a fun space opera.

Another thing I did like was Sun - I loved her as a character even though I felt she was a little flat. I loved her relentlessness, her audacity and her drive, her incomparable wit and intelligence in the face of serious danger. But for all this entertainment, she didn't feel much like a real person. This was also the case with her companions, who were fine enough but never really got to shine on their own, since the pacing of the story leaves no room for character led moments. Zizou, a prisoner of war who Sun takes into her care, was the most interesting character of the group and I felt he had the most impactful arc, but still his screen time is fairly short.

For those hoping to read a sapphic romance, Unconquerable Sun may not be a satisfying read. Sun has a secret female lover in her companion Hetty (not a spoiler, since it's clear early on) but this relationship is very much on the sidelines for the entire novel. Much more emphasis is placed on Zizou's romance with another character, Persephone, which was in my opinion a much less interesting relationship. Persephone falls in insta-love with Zizou despite him literally attempting to throttle her, so I was checked out of that entire romance early on. It's a shame because I cared so little for Persephone and was desperate throughout the entire book to read more about Sun and Hetty, how they came to love one another so deeply (in comparison to Persephone and Zizou's lust) and how they navigated their relationship in secret.

On the whole, the world building is somehow extremely detailed and also frustratingly vague, the rocket-fuelled plot is challenging but entertaining, and the main character is everything I wanted while also having no depth of personality. It's a novel of paradoxes which ultimately has left me disinterested in reading any following instalments.

I read this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley; my review is my own.

I've been excited for this book ever since it was first announced and it delivers on its premise. The plot is riveting; the world is complex and fascinating; the characters are diverse and complicated and interact with each other in interesting and believable ways (and Persephone's POV in particular is a pleasure to read). I found the final sequences unputdownable - however, and this is a very your-mileage-may-vary complaint, the length and number of action sequences was a little much for me. A lot of the novel is high-octane action, military maneuvers, and while it's well-written, it just wasn't fun for me - however, whenever the characters talked, or plotted, or any reveals happened, I loved the book. I expect the sequel may be more to my liking - now that I know more, the action is likely to feel more immediate and gripping even for me, less into that side of the genre. I just wish we could have had more information earlier - the final 10-15% of the book was simply amazing. I liked it all, but I loved the ending so much, I wish the rest of the book could have been more like it.

And now I cannot wait for the continuation. I am so curious about what's to come.

I'd never read a Kate Elliott novel before as I don't usually read fantasy, but this sci-fi fantasy (or is it just sci-fi, I wasn't sure) was immediately engaging. It is marketed as 'gender bent Alexander the Great in space'. Well, I don't know anything about Alexander the Great but I found Sun to be an intriguing and engaging main character, and I enjoyed the palace intrigue elements as much as the battle elements. There wasn't anything in this story that ultimately I felt I hadn't seen before, but it was well told, pacy and enjoyable. I would read more stories set in this world, and I particularly liked the Riders (space wraiths).

Advertised as a gender-swapped Alexander the Great in space, this is the first book in the Sun Chronicles. It did take me a little while to get into it, but after a couple of chapters I had settled into the flow of the story. The writing is great throughout and the pacing is maintained through the entire book. If you enjoy political intrigue within an epic sci-fi story, then I would highly recommend checking this out.

7/10 stars

Unconquerable Sun takes place in a political environment reminiscent of the dynamic between ancient Macedonia, Greece and Persia. Yes, there are some details pointing to Elliot’s Alexandrian inspirations, such as snakes on Sun’s extravagant father’s clothing, a clear bow toward Alexander’s mother Olympias, or the explosive relationship between Sun and her mother Eirene, resembling that between Alexander and his father Phillip II. There are some hidden clues, such as a deficient sibling of the heir hidden away, or a host of concubines and wives, each with their own claim to the throne and a healthy dose of mistrust and rivalry toward each other. Will Elliott take the resemblances as far as the real story’s sad end? Considering the first installment, fizzling with YA vibes and a sense of youthful invincibility, I somehow rather doubt it. And anyway, Unconquerable Sun mostly tells the tale of Elliott’s fascination with Asian cultures: from very strong Chinese and Japanese influences to slightly more hidden Hinduist and even Mesopotamian elements.

Western influences are rather limited in this first tome, mostly focused on the superficial layer of ancient Greece and Rome, which boils down to certain affectations of nomenclature (the Ilion – Troia system, for example, or Eirene's name), the political structure, based on several old powerful families and the rule of Primes inter pares, and institutions, such as the rulers’ Companions who serve as their most trusted advisors, friends, bodyguards and wards rolled into one appealing and highly educated package. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out a very Western style of warfare, but all in all it seems that the majority of the legacy of our current Western cultures is limited to Elliot’s equivalent of the doomed Greeks – Yele, a bunch of scheming have-beens mostly focused on unimportant fluff like science and poetry, and Persians - Phene, who dwell in a powerful, technologically most advanced empire and always have taste for more conquests. Phene's ruling caste members have four arms and sometimes a chitinous armour, as well as god-less basilicas that apparently, while quite popular among the various peoples who pray to the traditional sixteen saints, mostly serve the hidden interests of the priesthood. Oh man, while I’m the first to welcome a solid, well-prepared critique of our religious institutions, here it is such a tired, overused trope that it’s like kicking a man while he’s down. And I’m even more dispirited to report that the priesthood is basically formed by Lord Voldemorts from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, literally riding on the back of their host’s head as creepy second faces capable of long-distance telepathy.

As you probably already know, I tend to be as unstinting in criticism as I am in my praise. And Unconquerable Sun deserves both, in spades. Elliott’s vision of the far future of humanity presents an intriguing amalgam of various contemporary cultures, mixed and stirred and changed so far as to be recognizable only in bits and pieces. It’s a fascinating puzzle, and one that continues to delight me – the different versions of humanity’s socio-cultural heritage presented by various authors, from Miller Jr. to Stephenson and KSR are often more interesting to me than the actual characters or plot 😉. Elliott seems to have put a fair amount of effort into creating her world, and it is a dazzling, complex creation, with many economic, political, cultural and military dependencies, conflicts and idiosyncrasies waiting to be uncovered. There are still some lazy parts, like the dinosaurs – I mean, really? Or the lack of South American or African cultures. But all in all, worldbuilding is in my opinion by far the best aspect of this book.

The political-military plot is interesting, and the peeks at the dynamic between the dominant, ruthlessly cold yet loving mother and the ambitious, impetuous daughter striving to escape her mother’s long shadow are the highlight of the novel’s character development. Add to the mix an equally ambitious, constantly scheming father, Prince João, who nevertheless loves both the unpredictable, fickle despot Eirene and his wayward, hot-headed daughter Sun – and you have a very powerful and unstable triad at the top of the political structure of the Chaonian Republic. There’s also so much backstabbing, conniving and plotting, with space battles, surface attacks and super soldiers, that every space opera fan should be sated.

And yet there were several elements that slightly detracted from my reading pleasure. Firstly, the book is written in a rarely used style: different POVs are written either in the first or the third person perspective. While Sun’s chapters written from the TPP were interesting, swiftly propelling the action forward, the FPP chapters covering one of Sun’s Companions, a rebel girl named Persephone Lee, were, at least to me, much less so. Persephone seems like a cool enough character, but Elliott gives her several off-putting characteristics: total interpersonal naivety, loads of suicidal, counterproductive, over-the-top and incredibly juvenile snark that very quickly becomes tiresome, and some weird sex drive that makes her stupid with lust at the sight of every attractive grunt, even if, or maybe especially if it’s a one that repeatedly tries to kill her. But worry not, he’s a sweet soul forced to the murder attempts against his will due to the evil programming of the imperial Phene. While Persephone’s backstory is delightfully convoluted, much in the style of South American soap operas, the writing affectation her chapters exhibited had a very strong YA vibe – you know the drill: loads of angst, anger and short-lived desperation, aided by self-recrimination (in moderation, though, mostly in a drama queen style) and topped up by hormonal upheaval and conflicted feelings about the boys. And as she has her own companion, an eye-popping and incredibly skilled beauty called Tiana, which serves as a sort of nicer-looking Alfred to Persephone’s Year One bumbling Batman, a lot of interpersonal drama ensues. And the same is true for most of the Companions, who are mostly a bunch of very spoiled, bratty rich kids with inflated egos, superb fighting skills and cold ruthlessness of functional sociopaths. So, in short, not much character development.

I have received a copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

In a lot of ways, this book ticked all the boxes before I’d even turned the first page: gender-swapped Alexander the Great space opera with politics, intrigue, mystery and loads of action? Sign me up right away! Like with a lot of authors, I was familiar with Kate Elliott’s titles, but I hadn’t read any of her works. I’ve had Black Wolves on my TBR for a long time and I keep eyeing the Crown of Stars series as it would definitely scratch a very particular itch for me. Now, having experienced her writing through Unconquerable Sun, it’s just made me want to read more of her works!

Queen-Marshal Eirene has done what no one thought possible: expelled the invaders and built Chaonia into a republic to be feared and respected. Her heir Sun longs to be as successful in military action as her mother - and she seems to be on the right track, until it becomes apparent that the ruling houses of Chaonia have a very different goal in mind. As Sun realises her very life may be in danger, she needs to be rely on her wits and skills, as well as the help of some unlikely companions, if she is to succeed and more importantly, stay alive.

The book, admittedly, starts off quite slowly. There is a lot of scene-setting, though Elliott also doesn’t explain all of the terms and political structures and instead expects you to pay attention and figure it out yourself. It’s not really all that complicated, admittedly, at least if this isn’t your first foray into political space operas but even if it is, I would say in the first 50 or so pages you’ll be able to figure out who’s who, where the power lines lie and what’s about to go down. I can see how this would put off readers, especially if the premise doesn’t capture you immediately, but I definitely recommend powering through it, because it’s worth it.

And then, about a quarter of the way in, things really kick up into another gear and there is barely any room to breathe. For fans of military sci-fi, this will be an absolute delight: from large scale space battles to close quarter combat to more politics, deception and intrigue, Unconquerable Sun absolutely doesn’t let up. The shifting points of view were also really well done, in my opinion, giving you glimpses of more than just Sun and her Companions (but whose chemistry is brilliant and they easily became some of my favourite secondary characters) and fleshing out the world and its inhabitants.

Elliott also makes use of three different narrative devices: a standard third person past tense, a first person present tense and a third person present tense to capture the three main POV characters. Initially, the change in perspective was unexpected and I wasn’t entirely sure why she had decided to go that way, but with hindsight, I think it works really well. It’s refreshing, it breaks up the narrative without falling into the trap of being distracting or annoying (or at least it wasn’t for me). The chapter titles also throw back to the way that ancient Greek epics were written, which I found to be a nice touch.

I’m honestly so excited to see where this goes next. It’s a big, expansive universe, it’s full of intrigue and danger and if you’re on the hunt for your next military space opera, then this is definitely one you should consider picking up!

Kate Elliott is one of my favourite fantasy authors, so I was really excited to read this epic space opera, especially with it being described as 'genderbent Alexander the Great in space'. Unconquerable Sun contained all of my favourite elements of Kate Elliott's writing - the worldbuilding, the characters, and the weirdness - to create a fast-paced and awesome adventure.

My only complaints are that certain romantic aspects often felt more YA than adult, and the differing perspectives; that's probably just my own personal preference, but it really jars me when a book is written in a mix of third-person and first-person, as well as combining past tense and present tense. I understand the reasoning, and I do feel that it was utilised well to differentiate between the characters' perspectives.

So, overall I give Unconquerable Sun 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I read this for a blog tour.

Inspired partly by the life of Alexander the Great, this is the first book in what promises to be a cracking, conspiracy filled, space drama trilogy.Sun is the Alexander figure, with a powerful mother and enemies within the governing Houses that support the marshal-queen, who aim to displace their mixed-heritage princess with an heir they can control.She and her loyal Companions are thrust into war when the enemy empire carry out a daring planetary raid, Sun sees through the attack and is determined to find out why the Phene would risk such an attack.From a slow start as the main protagonists are introduced, the action then kicks into high gear with the discovery of several overlapping conspiracies and events which affect both Sun and Persephone, twin sister of one of Sun's closest Companions.Fast paced, gripping, well written, funny and with several pop culture references that made me raise an eyebrow "I see what you did there" style.I really enjoyed this, and am already looking forward to the next one.

Unconquerable Sun is an expansive space opera full of action, politics and alien tech. It’s the story of the players, large and small, that are caught up in a ruthless war between two intergalactic empires.

The book is told from four perspectives, with Elliott mixing up her narrative techniques for each POV (the author employs 1st/2nd/3rd person, both past and present), which I thought was a really bold and rewarding move.

The story follows Princess Sun (heir to an empire, fighting to keep her place in line for succession), Persephone (heiress to a noble family), Zizou (an advanced space warrior) and Apama (an alien soldier from the opposite side of the war).

It takes about a hundred pages to really get going, as Elliott has a complex world and a large cast of characters to establish. After this point the balance between setup and action tips, the pacing rockets and it doesn’t let up until the end.

The action is brilliantly written, epic and cinematic in scope. There’s a spectacular mix of space battles, air battles and ground combat. Elliott’s prose is so vivid it makes these scenes play out like a blockbuster movie.

The character dynamics is also a true highlight. There’s an element of found family to the group that congregates around Princess Sun and I loved the way they came together and had each other’s back through battles, kidnappings, assassination attempts, coups and romances.

The only reason this is hitting four stars instead of five is the denseness of the world building. At times there is so much minute detail given that it became distracting, pulling me out of the story.

Overall, Unconquerable Sun is a solid start to a promising new science fiction series that I would easily recommend for fans of Red Rising, Skyward and The Aurora Cycle.

4,5* rounded to 5
his is the first book I read by Kate Eliott and I can say I thoroughly enjoyed.
The blurb talks about “Gender Swapped Alexander the Great on interstellar scale” and I couldn’t resist as Alexander the Great is one of my favorite historical character.
To be honest I found hard to match Alexander with Sun as I wasn’t able to match fictional characters with the historical one. On the other side I think it’s an excellent and gripping story that kept me hooked even if I’m not a big fan of military sci-fi
It’s a bit slow at the beginning but it’s also the part where the author introduce us to a very complex and fascinating world. The world building is amongst the strong point of this book: fascinating civilisations and different races, political intrigues and very sophisticated technologies. Even if there’s a Far East flavour they are original and fresh.
Kate Eliott is an excellent storyteller and she delivers a story that is action packed, gripping and fast paced after the first part.
I didn’t find easy to warm up to Sun but we see her grow and show her cunning and her strategical abilities during the book. Her companions are fascinating, I loved Persephone and Zizou. All the characters are well thought and interesting.
Even if it’s a sci-fi story some aspects reflect those of our society and there’s plenty of social commentary. I liked how the author use the reality show as a mean of propaganda and as a part of the plot.
I’m very curious to read the next books in this series because I think it’s going to be very interesting. It’s the first book I read by Kate Eliott and won’t surely be the last.
I strongly recommend it as it’s highly entertaining and gripping.
Many thanks to Head of Zeus and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Can you guess how much I loved this book?! I bet you can't! Kate Elliott has delivered an incredible story with "Unconquerable Sun". The plot itself is refreshing and gripping, filled with many new concepts and imaginings. The quality of the writing is superb, with an awesome flow that just keeps you reading. The characters... Oh, the characters! I want to live with these people! They are so strong and solid you can almost believe Kate Elliott has seen the future and written about it. Beware getting too close to the edge of your seat with this one - I almost fell off the sofa!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Im a bit conflicted with this book, I admit I don’t know Much about Alexander the Great but when I read this as a gender swapped Alexander space opera, I was incredibly excited, but it took me quite some time to get into this, it wasn’t an easy read, but if you dig your heels in and commit to this book, the action does kick in! The one character I struggled with was Persephone Lee who felt such a typical character, distracted by lust (I’m a romance I didn’t really feel the need for), unnecessarily confrontational to Sun and I didn’t enjoy having to endure her POV when I actually wanted Sun’s. There is a variety of different characters introduced, I enjoyed when the companions all worked together, and the LGBT romance is very charming, but for a book literally titled about a character, it felt incredibly impersonal to not know her and to just see reactions and perceptions of her.

I think this book could’ve been brilliant but for many I’m sure it was, but for me it left me wanting.

I don’t know all that much about Alexander the Great’s life, especially his upbringing. But if he had even half of the issues to deal with when growing up that poor Sun is confronted with, then it’s hardly surprising that he grew up to conquer a goodly chunk of the known world. After all, it would be the only way to keep himself and those he cared about safe.

This full-scale adventure set in space has a fairly complicated setup, and I needed to pay attention, as Elliott doesn’t do large info-dumps (yippee!). It is also in multiple point of view, though the first-person viewpoint is in Persephone Lee, who is trying to escape from a toxic upbringing, where love and approval are in short supply.

Sun, the fiery and charismatic heir of a charismatic and fiery ruler, isn’t in any danger of getting too much parental praise, either. Her mother, the legendary queen-marshal, who managed to stabilise Chaonia and turn it into a state to be reckoned with, tends to spectacularly butt heads with her daughter. And there are plenty around her who are only too willing to see Sun disinherited and disgraced for their own political ends. Initially, I had thought this was going to be one of those tense, court intrigues where a single misstep or unguarded remark can have dire consequences. I wasn’t unhappy with the prospect as I rather enjoy that dynamic – but when it all kicked off, the full-tilt forward momentum was breathless, sharpened when several of Sun’s beloved and trusted companions die.

I loved this one. It’s over 500 pages long, but it certainly didn’t feel like it and I reached the climactic and satisfying ending with a sense of loss. I wanted more, which is always a good sign. Elliott hits all the main tropes of space opera with panache, including a cracking space battle that had me holding my breath as I turned the pages – and I’m now really, really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Very highly recommended for fans of fast-moving space opera with dynamic characters and plenty of plot twists. While I obtained an arc of Unconquerable Sun from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Unconquerable Sun is the first instalment in bestselling science fiction writer Kate Elliott's stunning new space opera series, The Sun Chronicles, and spins a refreshingly original yarn. Princess Sun has finally come of age. Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected―and feared. But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme―and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead. To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war. Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia―add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same―and hold on tight: The Sun Chronicles is the space opera you’ve been waiting for.

Described as a GENDER-SPUN ALEXANDER THE GREAT ON AN INTERSTELLAR SCALE, this is a thrilling adventure set in a rich universe full of political intrigue, non-stop action and space battles galore. Elliott's prose flows beautifully and grabs you by the throat which is where you stay for the entirety of the story. With richly-imagined and wonderfully immersive worldbuilding, a fast-paced and exciting plot, and a cast of engaging and interesting characters, this is a compulsive, entertaining and endlessly fun space romp. Despite a twisty, drama-filled story nothing is taken too seriously, and you are in for a truly raucous ride through this stellar, sprawling universe. Elliott never forgets that most people read for escapism and provides us with just that. It has more than enough for you to get your teeth into, with plenty of action taking place, and a central figure who is not only ballsy and independent but who gives a nod to diversity too. Bravo! Highly recommended. Many thanks to Ad Astra for an ARC.

This was a DNF for me at 50% mark, and I had to force myself to read that far. There was no proper plot by that point, despite having gone forever already with all sorts of action taking place; it was just characters reacting to things thrown at them or spending time.

At the beginning of the book we are introduced to the characters and then skip several months to learn that a plot has been hatched against them in the interim that blindsides everyone, the reader included. The gap served no point that I could determine. Some characters die before I’ve properly began to care for them. And then a new character is introduced out of the blue, in first person point of view this time, which instantly makes her feel more alive than the other characters so far.

The titular character, Sun, is bland, and her chapters are slowed to tedium by all the world-building and backstories. We learn everything about everything and everyone except about her. I have no idea how old she is or even what she looks like, let alone anything about her character. She’s supposedly in love with her companion, but their interaction is so devoid of emotions that I found it hard to believe. The side characters with their own point-of-view chapters were more interesting and each had makings of a proper plot in their backgrounds, which were sadly ignored in favour of some political machinations that I didn’t care about, because I didn’t care about Sun. In addition, there is a bunch of other characters that are dragged along for some reason that I couldn’t fathom and forgot all about them the moment they weren’t talked about.

All in all, this feels like a book where the author has had a great idea for a story and then she’s doggedly forced it on, despite other stories rising from the background that would’ve worked better. Maybe she gets to those stories later in the book, but I’ve already lost my interest. However, I give it three stars anyway, as I did like those side characters and found their subplots interesting. Because of them, I might even finish the book one day.

I admit, the start of this book was pretty rocky for me. The first two or so chapters that introduced Sun and her dad were great, but after that, I just found the first 30% an absolute slog. Partially, it had to do with the absolutely ham-fisted worldbuilding. I’m one of the weirdos that doesn’t mind authors info-dumping, but author’s attempting to disguise info-dumps through characters asking other characters questions they should definitely both know the answer to? One of my biggest pet peeves. And it just happened over and over and over again. The other factor was how distant the characters felt. Shit goes down in the first 30% and there was just no emotional impact for me at all. Unconquerable Sun has actually become one of the few cases where I’ve had to check the extremely stellar Goodreads reviews to keep myself from just straight up DNF-ing the book.

After about the first 30%, the action kicks into high gear and the book becomes one battle leading into another into another. Just how I like my space opera. Elliot definitely demonstrates her skill in writing combat because in this book alone there are small five-man skirmishes, land battles coordinating multiple sets of troops, all the way up to full scale space battles. I found each battle extremely engaging and well laid out.

For the characters, I unfortunately can’t say I liked them all. While the book is advertised as a gender-bent space-Alexander the Great, the book doesn’t so much as tell a story about her as it does around her. Sun, our Alexander character, has competence, arrogance, and brashness is spade and she was unfortunately also the character that got the least amount of character development. Instead, this story is told through Sun’s Companions, sworn…companions(?) from the seven houses that make up Sun’s Chaonian Empire.

In particular, we follow Persephone, a recent military academy graduate who finds herself forced into Sun’s Companions after a series of circumstances. Frankly, I found Persephone the least interesting and most annoying to read of all characters. To me, she has that similar template to a lot of edgy female YA lead with the snark and self-hate but thankfully a little more personality to back that up. She grew on me a little by the end, but anytime I read one of her chapters, I just wanted to get back to Sun. Hell, any of the other companions, hackerboi James, the Honorable Hestia Hope, or actually-a-kpop-idol Alika, would have been a much more interesting character to focus on than Persephone in my opinion.

The writing for this book is an ambitious mix of serious space-opera and an almost… Percy Jackson form of humor, mixed in with what I can only describe as Kpop stan fervor. Netizen squeeing reactions would honestly not be amiss in this book. As Sun goes about fighting battles and dodging court intrigue, the adventures of her and her companions are being filmed for some bizarre cross between something like American Idol, idol competitions like the Produce series, and America’s Funniest Home Videos, as a way to demonstrate her actions to the people. While I think the concept was interesting, I don’t think the execution fully hit the mark. The jumps between Sun and friend’s running for their lives to this seemingly irrelevant show was so clumsy imo.

Worldbuilding-wise, I think this book shines. Elliot has developed a complicated political system between galaxy powers Chaonians, the Yele, and the Phene, and added some truly interesting factors into space travel and mind controlled soldiers. Ignoring the fact of how the world was introduced to the reader, the actual worlds are rich and extremely satisfying to delve into. The Chaonian Empire in particular is an interesting mix of East Asian (primarily Chinese?) and Greek-inspired cultures. Characters eat deep friend sesame balls and rice cakes, and listen to Teresa Teng of all people. What I enjoyed most was that many names came with tonal marks! Which means for a Chinese speaker like me (okay that’s a bit of a stretch) I don’t have to guess at which tone a character’s name is supposed to be! I will say that the Greek/Chinese don’t feel like they fully mix (linguistically the two languages are nothing alike) and that the Asian aspects do feel somewhat decorative at times.

Overall, I rate this book a 4/5. While I had my hang-ups in the first 30%, I loved the fast-paced action-filled latter half. I fully admit to knowing absolutely nothing about Alexander the Great or his story, so I can’t speak to the accuracy, but I enjoyed both the worldbuilding and the characters

This book definetly crept up on me with how much I enjoyed it!! It is such a fun space opera with some really loveable characters, I did find it quite dense for the first ~10% but after that I got super into it and it was such a fun ride!!!!!

We follow various POV characters, the first being Sun who is the heir to the empire with her mother being the queen who has various consorts and Sun's father is currently out of favour and at the start of the book gets sent away on a mysterious project so sun is then left by herself to go on a tour of the galaxy to essentially get her out of the way (politically). Sun also travels around with a bunch of companions and I loved this friendship group, there were some interesting friendship dynamics and I really like Sun and Hetty's relationship - I am a sucker for friends to lovers and their development through the book made me soft T_T I will say though sun was not my fabourite character, I found her quite annoying and entitled at points but I really enjoyed the plotline and I can see why she was this way given how she was brought up.

We also follow Persephone Lee, who is the estranged daughter of a powerful family within the empire and after something happens to her brother she gets called back into the fold and has to become one of princess suns companions. Persephone was easily my favourie character!! She was so interesting and very practical and willfull and confident and basically I want to be her haha. I loved how effortless cool she seemed but she was also very endearing and loveable. I also loved her dynamic with Tiana who is her cee cee which is basically an assistant that all the nobles have. They had such a strong connection instantly and I love strong friendships in books, also Tiana is an absolute icon.

We also get a bit from zizou who is a gatoi soldier who are basically mercenaries working for the enemy empire, however Zizou pledges himslef to Sun. Also Zizou is basically wrong hordak and I LOVE HIM T_T i'm a sucker for the dumb puppy characters haha

And finally we follow Apama who is working for the enemy as well, her POV was very interesting and added an interesting angle to the story! But I also feel like we didn't get enough of her to truly love her character.

In conclusion Unconquerable Sun is such a fun ride, filled with action and intrigue and a very interesting and nuanced political situation where you don't always know who are the villains/which side you are supposed to be rooting for and we watch our protagonists try to figure this out for themselves. I always love complex politics in space!!