This was a fun science-fiction read. From the creative alien races, the western/noir-esque intrigue, and the mech and spaceship battles, this book has it all for anyone who enjoys a classic-feeling science fiction adventure! The story was good, the pacing and character depth was adequate, but overall I am glad I read this book!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was damn cool, you guys. My eye was initially drawn to its cover, and then my heart was stolen by the description, and then my brain and body were stolen by the words inside of it. The worldbuilding was INSANE AND DOPE AS HELL. The representation and diversity of the characters was brilliant! I had *so many feelings the whole time.*
If anything, I wished at times that it could’ve been a bit shorter, and I’m really honestly sad that it’s a stand-alone novel, but as far as everything else goes, this is a completely badass space opera that makes you care about EVERYONE. And that’s that on that.

I had a good time with this book! It was decently paced for the most part, though there were some slower sections in the beginning. Of course, there were also some action packed, exciting ship/mecha battles, so we do get more intense moments. I enjoyed the overall plot and can definitely see the comparison to The Mandalorian in that people are (perhaps reluctantly) trying to do the honorable thing and protect others. There were some fantastic plot threats with AI that I really liked. I could have used even more time spent on this! I do feel pretty satisfied overall with this story being a standalone.

The characters are great here! We have lots of badass women and non-binary characters. Everyone felt pretty distinct to me. I loved learning more about Rosie's background! Angel and her crew are fabulous. Some, if not all, are former marines, so we do learn about some (essentially) resurrection technology that exists. I thought the presumable strain of going through this process was reflected in our characters. I also liked that even though there's not necessarily a guarantee of coming back, they still fight for what's right.

We have some very intriguing alien races here that communicate through scent. I thought this was awesome, and I really liked some of the animals we get to see on the planet! As I mentioned above, we also have AI. This AI has feelings, so there was some fabulous plot threads here. I feel like these elements make you think about what it really means to be "human."

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 20:53-23:56 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AsFLmyEgmo

If you love science fiction, Persephone Station is for you! The writing and the world building were exactly what I needed without knowing it! I really enjoyed the characters and their group through the book. Eagerly awaiting for from Stina Leicht

This book was definitely very interesting. The writing was good and I loved reading about the characters, the setting itself was interesting to read about as well. It's a book that I wish there was more of.

I quite enjoyed this! Overall, thought it could be a bit shorter but enjoyed it nonetheless. Really appreciated a future that had a lot of gender diversity as well. Plus, that cover! *heart eyes* A riveting standalone sci-fi adventure with a feminist bent. Excited to see what Leicht does next.

Thank you to Saga Press for an advanced copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review.

Where to start? This book has everything my heart desires: LGBT+ representation, non-binary characters, badass females in leadership roles, space, Artificial Intelligence, found family, political intrigue, underdogs in a seemingly futile battle, rebellion against avarice and greed, morally grey characters and redemption! It’s a WINNER!!

Billed as a space opera for lovers of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop it lives up to those. I would also add anyone who likes Firefly, fans of Imperator Furiosa of Mad Max: Fury Road fame and Ripley of the Alien moves.

Our main character, Angel, is an ex-marine and captain of the ship Kurosawa. She leads a small band of misfit pilots, assassins, snipers and washed up con-artists. Together they are for hire to the more exclusive criminal elements of the town of West Brynner, a lawless outpost that runs mainly on organized crime. Angel’s main employer is Rosie, the classy owner of Monk’s bar. Monk’s is the front for Rosie’s underworld empire. Involved in a job gone bad, Angel and her crew find themselves at the mercy of Rosie to get them safely out of town. Where they end up is not only mysterious and shocking to the crew, but also puts them in even more hot water. The outcome is a do or die mission that changes everything for our merry band of misfits and has planetary wide consequences.

In all, this story is beautifully written. Leicht has immense talent setting a tone and describing non-existent worlds and people. You feel immersed in this new, foreign world and can identify with the flawed nature of its characters.

The story was a wild ride, it had me hooked from the beginning and it emotionally invested me in the outcome. I would definitely recommend this book to science fiction fans and also anyone who likes a good underdog story.

Wow I couldn’t put this down. World building and character development was amazing. Plot was action packed and I never felt bored or distracted while reading it. I can’t wait to get a hard copy of this book when it comes out!

I'll be honest: the first third or so of this book is kind of a slog. There are a lot of characters, and the character development isn't great. It's hard to figure out who's who. I wasn't particularly attached to anyone. I was bored. It was hard to figure out how the weird political assassination fit into anything else. But! But! The back half of the book is really cool. It was quintessentially space opera in a way that I loved. The Emissary characters are great. There are crazy bears, booby traps, and aerial dogfights. It has some of the most fun action sequences I've read in a book in a while. There is non-binary representation, which is nice, although occasionally it feels a little too on the nose. The overall quality in the back half was enough to redeem the first half of the book. So, like, first third, basically 2.5 stars, last half, 4.5 stars. I still would have liked to see more character development and more distinction between the characters, but the action is fun. Sort of recommended if you like space opera.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

<b>*UPDATE* It’s come to my attention that I was mistaken— this is meant to be a standalone, and to that I say to Stina Leicht, “<I>whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy 😩</i>” Ugh, why go through all of that world building for one book with these lush characters?? I guess i should’ve taken the hint with the epilogue, but for some reason I was convinced that its goodreads page indicated it was a series. Super disappointing. Unfortunately, that does effect my rating, and I will be recanting my curve. Should this error turn out to be a premonition, I will adjust it back. 💔</b>
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Actual rating is like <b>3.25 Stars</b>, but I honestly very much liked the writing style, prose, and characters, so gave it a round up— it was just the overarching plot, it’s stakes specifically, that I couldn’t get into. However, I did not DNF because of the aforementioned.

We have our entire cast of characters consisting of both womxn and non-binary folx. <i><u>Helllll yes</I></u>

The dialogue and character dynamics rule and kept me interested. There was just something lacking in the expository sections— and this happens with Book 1s in a series— it all felt very exhaustive, such an info-dump. And that okay!— but it lead me to start another book that was almost twice its size in length at about 40%, finished it, and came back to </I>Persephone</I>.

Because the positives really do outweigh my struggle with the stakes and overly-vast world-building, I was determined to finish it, and I’m so glad I did!

Genuinely, I will pick up Book 2–The author is very talented and I grew a fondness for the characters. I have a feeling the next installment is really going to hook me in.

<I>Thank you to NetGalley, Galley/Saga Press, and Stina Leicht for granting me a very early eARC for my honest review</I>

A regular spaghetti western told with all of the promises of the future. Fast-paced, great characters, a galaxy that feels close enough to touch, what else could you ask for?

Persephone Station is an extremely welcome addition to the ranks of sci-fi adventure tales. Within sci-fi, I particularly love space adventure books and stories set on alien planets with all the interesting and intricate world building involved. However nine times out of ten in order to enjoy books of that type I have to slog through poorly written women, misogyny, gender binarism, and homophobia (seriously folks? we're 1,000 years in the future spread out over the universe and you want me to believe we're still hung up on same sex relationships??).

This book was such a wonderful respite from all of that. Diverse identities and relationships are included without paying them extra heed - as though they are just an accepted every day part of life. The camaraderie and love between the cast of characters builds a beautiful "found family" vibe that really puts the cherry on top. I felt like this book hit the perfect balance of building out an interesting political and interpersonal world without sacrificing on adventure and fun/quirky detail. I am hoping there's a sequel coming after this because I definitely want to spend more time with Angel, Rosie, and Kennedy.

The book had me at: "a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing." The universe Persephone Station is set in is so rich and layered; that made it easy to understand the grand stakes resulting from every point-of-view character's actions. The characters also were deeper than is the norm for, well, most books, because that is Stina Leicht's gift, to bring us into these characters so we feel what they feel. A thing I particularly enjoyed about this book is that while the disparate points of view characters and their individual problems came together in the climax of this story, they just as easily separated after its resolution, leaving space for many other stories in this universe and again reminding us how vast this universe is. Because it's a space opera I'd be remiss if I didn't say this story gives you plenty of bang! and boom! and all the clever plans you could want.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

As a whole I give Persephone Station 4⭐s

Cast Diversity--5⭐

Worldbuilding--4⭐

Plot wrap up--4⭐

Pacing--4⭐

Character Relationships--4⭐

Ending--4⭐

Persephone Station was a fantastic read. Described as a space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Beebop, I agree with that. I'll add in Ghost in the Shell as well.

The cast is a little large but the characters are distinct. Angel, Lou, Enid, Sukyi, Vissia and Kennedy Liu are all very well written, along with every other character.

Like crime families? They're here and Rosie helps handle them all and prevent any all out war.

Assassinations? Yup, it's got 'em. There are AI and they're very believable. The author really did the work to make the AI a solidly believable part of the story.

The pacing got a little weird in some places before me. I didn't feel the rush along with a few of the characters in some part, but the plot was nice.

There were several plot lines that seemed like they were pulling characters in different directions and seeing how they collided was really nice. It kept me hooked.

One thing I wanted was more explanation about certain parts of the world. Revivification is mentioned by Angel and I wanted to have it detailed. It was so interesting and I really wanted to know how it works. Not having it wasn't a huge deal but it was a bit of a let down.

The relationships between the characters were all strong. I wound up attached to all of them. I loved their dynamic.

My only real nitpick was the way the absolute very ending played out. Part of it seemed a little out of nowhere to me but even then I enjoyed it. I'll recommend this to a few people.

#netgalley #bookreview #persephonestation #netgalleyreview #4starread
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