When I read the blurb for Persephone Station, I thought it sounded amazing. A genre-bending infusion of science-fiction and weird Westerns with a predominantly queer cast.

And, from the outset, at least one of those things fulfilled my expectations in a good way: Persephone Station features a large cast of characters, many of whom are people of colour, nearly all of whom are women (in addition to one nonbinary protagonist, who uses they/them pronouns) and nearly all of whom are queer. This is a queernorm world, and while science fiction is improving in this regard, I always do a little dance of joy when a book makes it clear that there’s no essentialist gender fuckery to be found within the first few pages.

Unfortunately, the flipside of being a genre-bending story is that Persephone Station simply tried to do too much, and didn’t stick the landing(s). Again, there is a large cast of POV characters, but it was incredibly difficult to differentiate their POVs from narrative tone and voice alone, and I kept getting confused about who was who. Given that some of these characters were not human, I would have liked to have seen more distinctive POVs. Additionally, there’s a lot of info-dumping about characters’ backgrounds and motivations, particularly in the first half, rather than naturally revealing these elements as the plot progressed.

There’s also two separate plot threads, and keeping track of them got confusing very quickly (especially since there are also lots of minor plot points that don’t clearly fit in). The more interesting of the two stories to me dealt with the colonisation of this backwater planet by the giant Serrao-Orlov Corporation, and the lengths the indigenous population of the planet went to protect their existence. While colonisation is not a unexplored topic in science fiction, I like that this book tackled some of its new and evolving faces: as an Australian, there were lots of parallels to the fraught relationship between indigenous Australians and mining companies.

The other plot thread deals with the rights of AI, and I frankly wasn’t particularly interested in this issue at all, which wasn’t helped by all the jumping around. I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it picked a single issue and stuck to it.

Overall, I really loved the ideas in this book, and will always champion diverse fiction, but I didn’t connect to any of the characters enough for a 500 page book. I hope this book finds a home with readers who will love it more than I did.

While this ultimately wasn't for me due to the style of the writing and the overall tendency to info-dump when it came to exposition, I could see it being a huge hit for sci-fi fans of complex world-building and large ensembles. It gave me a bit of a space-opera "Firefly" vibe with a cyberpunk-esque twist. Lots of interesting ideas and themes combined with an inclusive cast kept me reading past when I ordinarily would have stopped.

I enjoyed the premise of Persephone Station, but struggled with the execution. It was a slow build with a lot of characters. So many characters, that it was hard to keep it all straight in my mind. There was very little action until the second half of the book. I do enjoy a good, action-packed space opera, so I was sure I would love this. Honestly, if the first half had as much action as the second, I would have loved this. As it was written, I give it a 3. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review this book!

⭐⭐⭐.25

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery / Saga Press for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Persephone Station is a planet that’s been largely ignored by the United Republic of Worlds – that is, until the Serrao-Orlov Corporation finds that it’s hiding secrets that it wants to exploit. Rosie is an owner of Monk’s Bar, which is often frequented by an exclusive criminal class and those who seek to employ them. Angel has a job to do for Rosie, and a job that will ultimately impact Persephone and put Angel and her group against the Serrao-Orlov Corporation’s army.

I’m a big fan of space opera. Between the heavy worldbuilding, the exploration of the cast of characters, and the political intrigue, there’s so much to explore. Persephone Station definitely heavy on political intrigue, although I did find myself wanting more.

The first half of Persephone Station especially is rich in setting the stage. We’re introduced to the world, all of the characters that are taking center stage in the story, and the backstory of the central conflict. But as I was reading, I found myself wanting more backstory on why and how we got here. It felt like a strange combination of being heavy on worldbuilding, but not quite giving the answers to the questions that I wanted.

I felt a similar way when it came to the characters. I liked them all, and they all had their unique personality traits, but I found myself wanting a little more from all of them. I don’t think I connected with them as well as I would have in other space opera books.

But what I did get from the world I really liked. For one, I really liked the exploration of a team of women in a sci-fi novel. I’ve been starting to see similar themes in other sci-fi books and I enjoy seeing how these characters’ roles are explored in this context. I also enjoyed the inclusion of non-binary characters without the presence of judgment from other characters or the world as a whole. One aspect of sci-fi I really enjoy personally is the inclusion of speculation of how societies will exist in the future, and I especially like seeing books explore more positive changes, like inclusivity, in them.

Overall, I thought Persephone Station was a really interesting space opera, but I do wish I got to experience more in the story! I would have loved to see this as a series or as a longer standalone to be fully immersed in the conflicts it presented.

Truly one of the most engaging sci-fi stories I’ve read in a minute! It can feel intimidating at times, but then you just remember it’s a heist and there’s a LOT of political intrigue, and you dive right back in.

Persephone Station is an intense race against a greedy corporation that will stop at nothing to gain indigenous knowledge on the planet Persephone for personal and monetary gain. Our main character, Angel, leads a mercenary team of fierce, professional women who will find themselves assigned to help protect a secret indigenous community and all of their knowledge from the corporation's greedy hands. Readers will also see through the perspectives of a sentient AI responding to an unusual signal on the planet and a non-binary crime boss/onetime monk.

There are many things to recommend this action-packed escapade. Chief on my list is the casual and prevalent inclusion of queer and especially non-binary characters. Our crime boss Rosie (short for Rosencrantz for the lit nerds out there!) is most prominent, but several minor characters add to the feeling that we have entered a world with many issues, but false gender binary and non-binary prejudice aren't among them.

Second, I love that the most important relationships in the book are non-romantic. I read straight up romance novels, too, but it's nice to see a plot that doesn't require it to move forward. There are are touching relationships involving found family throughout, and the story of Angel and her best friend, Sukyi, is particularly poignant.

The aspect I liked the least is that >50% of the book is battles and preparation for said battles. This is one of the least interesting parts of epic stories for me with few exceptions. Therefore, it didn't match up with my personal preferences. However, if you are a reader who likes gritty war stories in space, this book will be right up your alley.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the opportunity to read and review this book. It hits shelves next month on 1/5!

I loved this. A space opera with an all female flight crew? I'm in.

Persephone Station is a small out of the way planet. So why would a big corporation like Serrao-Orlov want to set up there? Angel and her crew are about to find out since Rosie, the local crime boss has hired them for a very important job.

I loved the story, and I loved the characters. Hopefully this will be a series. I would especially like to read more about the Emissaries. They are very interesting to me.

I'll admit it, I was in when I read about a female led space opera. Sure the world building is a bit slow (the first 1/3 of the book) but the characters and witty writing more than make up for it. Battles are written well, which I find to be VERY important in space. Leight's writing style is witty and the characters seem like real live people so this novel was a joy to read. I have the impression that this book may be a stand alone novel and that makes me a bit sad. I could see this becoming a series or an amazing graphic novel. If you're in the mood for some epic space action with some badass ladies and nonbinary folks, pick up Persephone Station ASAP!

2.5 stars - I am pretty sad about this one. The premise sounded so interesting, but I don't think the plot delivered what I was expecting. I did really appreciated that this is a female forward novel - almost every character is a woman and bad-ass ones, at that. It really emphasizes female friendships and romance, which I really enjoyed. Without going into spoilers, I also found the AI aspect of the story to be really intriguing. It's a personal preference of mine, but I always find discussions surrounding AI rights to be really engaging and the way this story tackled it was really cool. However, I think this novel really lacked in its overall storytelling. Primarily, everything felt all over the place. Most of the characters did not have unique voices, so it was really difficult to distinguish between the POV of the chapter (especiallyyyy in the beginning). I also felt like there was too much going on, that were quickly explained - and honestly, the book should have picked on plot and stuck with that. Because of this, the ending felt suuuper rushed and probably tied up the most interesting storyline in a few pages (and the dialogue was horrendous in this specific scene??? I was so confused!). Overall, I really disappointed in this one. Loved it for the representation however, and I look forward to reading for from Leicht.

It took me a while to get into this book and that's partially because there's constantly a lot happening. For a decent chunk of the first part of the story I really wasn't sure where anything was going and certainly didn't predict where it ended up. Because I stuck with the book, I ended up on a very fun ride. Can I really explain it? Nope, but it doesn't matter. There's a lot about the world that felt inventive and fresh, even when I couldn't quite follow why things were happening. I will say that the ending wrapped up rather smoothly and I really appreciated it.

Holy feminist space opera, Batman! This book has some of the most absolute kickass women characters I've read for a while. It was a GREAT breath of fresh air for this genre.

While I loved the characters and felt they were incredibly fleshed out, I felt the descriptions of the planet and overall world-building were seriously lacking. I wish there had been more time put into this, as it really started to make the book seem a bit lacking.

What really disappointed me was this appears to be a standalone book but the ending really left a lot of uncertainty and let me really dissatisfied. It didn't really wrap up everything and just left me completely disappointed.

Thank you Netgalley and Gallery Books for providing an ARC of this book!

PERSEPHONE STATION offers the most charming, and alarming, cast of characters you could ever hope to meet on a deep-space, corporate-owned planet. Stina Leicht has written an excellent space opera where the mystique of gender is handled with pronouns and no one freaks out that Rosie is a 'they.' This is refreshing to me as a human living in a society that dwells on gender and sexuality as lifestyles and degeneracy instead of a fact of life.

Along with the requisite action packed, far future scenes, PERSEPHONE STATION carries a message directed at readers today. The world today (in 2020) needs to start practicing what it preaches about freedom and equality for all people. These are concepts we have literally discussed for centuries yet our actions have not caught up with the dialog. Along with a good introduction to normalization of genders being a matter of personal perception, there is a lesson in using personal pronouns that acknowledges a person's right to be themself.

The biggest problem in reviewing a well written piece of science fiction is giving away too much. I just don't do spoilers. Did I enjoy this book? You bet I did… every single page. Anyone who reads in this genre will find something to their liking whether it's the strong female lead, the advances in AI, or just being in deep space.

Oh yes, do read the acknowledgements at the end. Unlike the usual list of persons thanked, Stina Leicht brings style to this section. These few pages are upbeat, personal, and convivial; well worth the minutes it takes to read them.

I’m rounding up because this book seems to be a standalone and that’s all too rare in this genre. It’s not going to be for all readers. All the characters in the group of protagonists are female and that’s not going to be for some readers. For the rest of us though, it’s a fun action romp in an interesting well built world. It drags a bit in the first third or so of the book then it’s non stop action. Violent but not in a super gross way and the violence is not consequence free. Not a brilliant book but a solid good time.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The first third of this book was rather interesting, but sort of slow. Things got off to a fast start but then it just plateaud from there. It also seemed disconnected from the very beginning to where it went. I didn't really know any of the characters motivations, instead their decisions seemed like it was just to forward the plot instead of what the character should actually do.

That being said, the worldbuilding was amazing. It was so fleshed out and we did get to discover quite a bit about the universe throughout this book. I, like others I've seen, am surprised that this is a standalone. It seemed like the author spent so much time setting up the world and characters only for very little of consequence actually happen. It definitely feels like an introduction to a new series rather than a standalone.

Overall, this was just a middle of the road book that, while marketed for fans of Cowboy Bebop (one of my all-time favorite animes) it wasn't really anything like it rather than having an ensemble cast.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy to review.

Representation: queer characters (lesbian, bisexual, trans, nonbinary), multiple characters of color, could make a case for disability rep

We’re taken to a planet that seems to be backwater, largely ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, and Serrao-Orlov Corporation wants to exploit a few secrets of the planet. Rosie is an owner of a bar that caters to wannabe criminals and rich tourists, but in the back, high-tier criminals and people who want to employ them mingle. Rosie also happens to know the secrets of Persephone, and has been doing what they can to protect the secrets. They hire Angel and her crew to do the work. Angel is an ex-marine, her crew has a mercenary, assassin, and criminals, who all have a penchant for doing the right thing even if it means breaking laws. Rosie’s job will pit Angel's small crew against a well-funded army, but despite the odds, they’re all in to protect Persephone once they learn the secrets that Serrao-Orlov is exploiting.

Rating: 5/5 I very intentionally avoided saying what the secrets are, because I didn’t know them going into this book and I think it’s best that way. I immensely enjoyed this read about a nearly all-women cast, multiple queer characters, multiple characters of color, and the kicking ass that goes down in this. A case could also be made for having disability rep in this, since Angel is ex-military, and her role caused her to leave the military with several cybernetic modifications. This has been described as a space opera, and a read for fans of The Mandalorian, which is indeed accurate! Be warned, the pacing of the first portion is somewhat slow, but once the main mission starts, it really picks up. The beginning has a lot of info about the characters, and I enjoyed the world-building even though it was a teeny bit lacking. I didn’t really have a problem with it, because I’m a huge nerd for anything sci-fi, so I had no problem filling in the gaps myself. I would definitely recommend this if you love sci-fi and queer badasses kicking ass. (Also, that cover is gorgeous!)

This is described as a space opera, and it is getting some buzz. Most of the anticipation seems to stem from the characters – if you’re looking for diverse Sci-Fi, this will probably be your jam. There are a lot of characters, and almost none of them are male. There is a mercenary crew of all bad-ass women, and there are a few non-binary characters. At least a few of the main characters are non-white, and some aren’t specified. (Some are also non-human, because this is a futuristic space story!)

This is the kind of story that has a lot of world-building behind it. So, it took me a while to start getting into it. I feel like all the build time was probably necessary, to be honest, but it’s still sort of a drag to get through.

Persephone is a planet that the Catholic Church originally tried to colonize, but they abandoned that effort. Now, the top contender is the Serrao-Orlov corporation. Currently, all non-native species are settled into one colony, Brynner. Reports of bad weather and deadly native species outside the walls of Brynner keep everyone inside. Only a few people really know what’s outside the walls.

One of those people is Rosie, a long-living bar owner whose bar is mostly used by the local crime families and others looking to do (illegal) business. Rosie hires our mercenary crew to go out into the wild to protect some sentient natives they didn’t know existed. The new head of Serrao-Orlav, though, did know about them – and wants their technological and biological knowledge. Hence, the need to protect them.

Meeting the natives, The Emissaries, and the ensuing battle are where the action really picks up. I won’t go into too much detail there, so as not to spoil the fun for those of you who intend to pick this one up.

I read an ARC of this one through NetGalley – it comes out January 5, 2021.

I wanted to like this book so badly -- a space opera with a good number of queer characters? Let's go! Unfortunately, the blurb was more enjoyable than the actual book. The pacing of the first few chapters was rough, and it was difficult to relax into actually reading and enjoying the book with so much set-up work to introduce the reader to the characters and the world.
I'm always on the lookout for stories with queer characters, especially nonbinary characters, but the surrounding book didn't keep my interest enough to make it worthwhile. I would recommend this book more for people who like the sort of high fantasy/hyperdetailed sci-fi contexts who don't mind uneven pacing in exchange for info-dumps.

I absolutely love the cover for Persephone Station. The cover was created by the talented Tomer Hanuka. If you have an awesome book, you have to have an awesome cover, right? Stina Leicht's Persephone Station is ultra cool. I am obsessed with The Mandalorian, just like the entire world is at the moment, and this fits right in the same vibe that makes the show so great. There is a diverse and exciting cast of characters, a great story with action and drama and an intense setting prone to attract that drama we love to watch.

This is my first time reading Stina Leicht's work and it will not be the last. Not only is the world building in Persephone Station captivating but it makes you want to stick around, even when you know trouble is brewing. I found the cast of characters to be even better. The story starts with a bang and does not let up until the end. Once I started reading, I just couldn't stop. This was such an thrilling and engaging story, one of my favorites of the year!

I want to thank Stina Leicht, Gallery Books, Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is an excellent space opera, containing a little bit of everything you could ask for:. political intrigue, grizzled war veterans, a plucky underdog band of sisters, corrupt corporations, spaceship fights, alien species, rogue AI, cool weaponry, space station rescues, an AI with a heart of gold, and probably a few other tropes I'm forgetting.

The writing is strong; the story flows well, the main characters are believable and likable while the villains are multi-dimensional, and the action sequences are exciting. The world building is imaginative - the aliens are somewhat unusual, the planet is well conceived, and the interplanetary society is complex.

There is certainly room with these characters in this universe for additional stories. I will be looking forward to them when and if they come.

I was a little all over the place with this book. On the one hand, a space opera filled with a bunch of kickass ladies is a big draw for me. On the other hand, I had a difficult time getting into the book. I do have this issue sometimes with the first book in a scifi. It can be difficult to get through the character introductions and world building and to keep everything straight. The majority of the book was a lot of fun though, despite the quick ending, especially because this book is super queer which is always a plus in my books. I hope there is another book planned because I love complicated relationships between characters and this is a good setup for that!