Having loved 'The Tensorate' series by Neon Yang I was thrilled to read what I believe is their first full length novel - throw in the idea of Joan of Arc but in space and you know I was intrigued.
The Genesis of Misery is the kind of science fiction book that throws you in at the deep end, no lengthy explanations of what is going on you'll figure it out from the context clues. This is my preferred method of scifi worldbuilding but I will say that the natural effect of that is that it takes a little while to get into this story. I would say that by around the 40% mark I was fully clear on what was going on and what I needed to be focussed on.
It is interesting reading this book knowing that Neon Yang had previously written novellas because I did feel as though the distinct parts of this book could be 'chunked' out and read separately. I really like that kind of structure as a reader because it not only makes this book easy to pick up and put down without feeling lost but it also gives the story a sense of a faster pace.
I thought that the plot was fantastic and I'm already chomping at the bit for book two, there's intrigue, found family and a whole host of religious trauma to be unpacked - I have already recommended it to pretty much everyone I know and will continue to do so for the foreseeable. Misery as a character I wasn't sure about at first but they definitely grew on me as the story progressed.
I think, perhaps, that is my biggest takeaway from this story, this was a book that grew on me not only as I was reading it (by the last 10 percent I was on the edge of my reading chair) but also after finishing the book I had a huge amount to think about and this story has stayed with me in a way that a lot of science fiction has not.
I would absolutely recommend reading this book particularly if space robots tickle your fancy!
My rating: 4 stars
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley all opinions are my own.

When they said non-binary Joan of Arc rehashing I said "Yes, absolutely sign me up". I couldn't have imagined how much I would end up enjoying this. The writing, the setting, the narrative voice of the storytelling it was all *chef's kiss*. I need more from this world and this author immediately. I will say, though, that it took me a bit to get into the story at the beginning but I am so glad that I stuck with it. This is definitely one of my favorite's of the year, and one of my favorite space operas of all time. 10/10 give me the more before I go insane.

Came for the promise of a non-binary Joan of Arc reimagining and stayed for the brilliant writing and storytelling. Hearing rumors online this will be the first of a trilogy and really hope it’s true!!

I couldn't get into this one. The writing was fine as a whole, but I was never sucked into the story.

This is a fascinating space opera. While it's a bit difficult to get into at first (intentionally so, I would say), it quickly becomes immersive and borderline-impossible-to-put-down.

What do you get when you take the story of Joan of Arc, put it in the blender with a huge helping of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a dash of Code Geass and Gideon the Ninth, and just a pinch of feudal lord/handmaiden? Well -- you get the Genesis of Misery, an unapologetically queer, unrecognizably religious space opera about a young nonbinary person (or 'nixen', the term they use in-text) who goes from con artist to zealot as they try to destroy their enemies, the Heretics, and defy the government to do so.

(Misery uses she pronouns in personal contexts and they pronouns in professional/report-style settings; a review is a report so I'm using 'they' here in general, but she for my personal feelings about her. That feels right.)

I thought this book was just extremely, extremely cool. The setting is extremely rich (an aeons-past-earth settler story! Voidmadness! Religious? angels? of the Forge? who left mecha for their blessed people! A decadent, decaying space-empire!). It's Joan of Arc's life story remixed, as I said, with a lot of deliberate Evangelion, and you can see the nods to it in plenty of places, ("all is right, all is right, all is right", making a hole through a base so the angel can descend into the depth, the non-religious religiousness of the whole thing) but it's nothing like a fanfic either; its world is unique.

I can understand why some people might not entirely jive with it, although I very much did. Like Gideon the Ninth, The Genesis of Misery plays with rapid whiplash between high and low language, going from religious speeches to a vulgar comment, or interrupting the strange, foreign fantasy of this place with quotes from our own modern era. This works for me given the themes and the characters. Likewise, Misery is not a nice person. She's selfish, self-centered, blames other people for her flaws, and refuses to ever doubt herself, even when murder is involved. But she's believable and she's engaging and fascinating.

This story is queer as hell, and I love how the pronouns are presented -- we are being TOLD the story straight up by a being in a culture where introducing yourself with your pronouns is standardized; why wouldn't it be listed in the text as specifically offered information? Everyone is pan, many characters are nonbinary.

The one flaw I personally had with it is that it felt unresolved at the end (in a way Joan of Arc's story isn't), and I would have been fine with it except that the frame narrative is very much... I want to know what decision he's making about Misery, and why he needs this information about them from their point of view, and we're not given that. So it doesn't feel quite complete to me, just, so close to being there but not quite. Perhaps this is the first part of a duology or trilogy (as in the Joan of Arc biography obviously there is.... a bit more to go) but if so, neither NetGalley nor Goodreads has said as much, which means my reading has to be informed as if this is a standalone.

I enjoyed this VERY much. Thank you to NetGalley and to Tor.com for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan- Tor/ Forge for an advanced copy of this science fiction novel set in a fascinating and diverse new world

We all hear voices in our heads, or at least I hope the rest of you people do. The voice I hear is usually one of disgust, "Really, we are doing this again", or "You make socially awkward into an art form". I never have the cool voice, the one that tells me I am a chosen one, and the fate of the known universe is in my hands. That would be fun, once. Neon Yang's The Genesis of Misery, starts with a voice in the head, includes a war, giant mechs and some of the biggest craziest ideas that I have read in quite a while.

The book starts with a discussion between a shape changing being that is our narrator and an associate. From there we met Misery Nomaki, a colonist from a mining world that has had a voice, and a presence, Rein, that Misery hears all the time, an angel, sort of. Rein talks of Misery being a warrior, one to lead an army against a foe in a war that Misery is sure to win. Misery fears the voice is voidmadness, a malady that killer her mother, but it is easier to go on believing in the voice and the possibilities for a brighter future. Misery comes to the capital where Misery starts to train with other outcasts and holy fools for a war that might be coming, because maybe the voice is telling the truth.

This book has a lot of story and ideas, with plot for quite a few books. The universe is interesting and diverse in a way I never thought books would be. The plot is based of course on Joan of Arc, but is handled so well and balanced with a lot of interesting ideas. The writing is very good, though there is a learning curve, you don't just reading and getting the story, you have to work at it, and nothing is explained, but the answers are all in the writing. The story starts to drift a tad in the middle, but Neon Yang does a good job of bringing it all together, and makes the reader want to know more, and read further. One of the better science fiction books that I have read in quite a while.

A story that is diverse, intriguing, different and yet familiar, with a world that seems more comfortable with itself than we are today, even with the threat of giant mechs. Misery is a character worth getting to know and I hope that we get to see more about her. This is the first thing that I have read by Neon Yang, but I am looking forward to reading a lot more. A very gifted mind creating a fantastic and fresh story.

Neon Yang's *The Genesis of Misery* is an intriguing and twisty space opera. Yang is a nonbinary speculative fiction writer from Singapore.

The book is apparently the first volume of a trilogy, the idea behind which Yang has described on twitter as "Joan of Arc, BUT GUNDAM". That is a pretty accurate characterization. We have a galactic empire, with travel between star systems provided by wormholes. But it all has a basis that seems more religious than scientific -- in this way, the novel tends more towards what is sometimes called "science fantasy" than towards "hard" science fiction.

The novel's backstory is that, centuries ago, when human beings first explored interstellar space, they became mentally and physically ill as a result of contact with, or contamination by, what they call the "nullvoid", which seems to be something like the "quantum foam" or "dark energy" of spacetime itself. The nullvoid first foments madness, and then causes physical deterioration. The first human beings to explore interstellar space were also betrayed by their spaceship's AI. which (HAL-like) sought to pursue the mission by killing all the human beings conducting it.

But the human explorers were saved by the intervention of some apparently godlike agency called the Larex Forge or the Demiurge. The survivors of the mission, now remembered as "Saints", or as the eight Messiahs, were blessed by dream visions, which taught them how to manipulate certain materials known as "holy" stones to fend off the nullvoid. The various types of holy stones now run nearly all human technology; AIs of any sort are banned. The result is a despotic galactic empire dominated by the two (secretly conflicting, or jockeying for power against one another) authorites of Church and State. There are also enemies, known to the Faithful as Heretics, who deny the divine and seek to find scientific explanations for all these phenomena (and also seem to be less phobic about AI). The Faithful and the Heretics are engaged in a perpetual war.

As for the spaceships -- or at least the space warships -- in the novel, they are all more or less giant mecha (hence the Gundam premise). The are described, at least on the Faithful side of the confilct, as "seraphs" or "archangels." A pilot is ensconced in a ship, and binds with it so that they feel like the the ship's limbs are extensions of their own (except they often have six or eight limbs instead of four). Space battles (of which there are a good number in the course of the novel) are an odd sort of physical combat. Nothing happens at a distance. Instead, the mecha ships grapple with one another, their limbs physically bashing and trying to cut into one another. Not having been a gundam/mecha fan in my childhood, I am not really sure about the emotional resonances of all this; I am sure there are aspects of it that I am not catching. But the space battles are described grippingly enough that it still works for me without this extra layer of understanding.

The novel's protagonist is a young woman named Misery Nomaki, presumably the novel's Joan of Arc analogue. I love the twist of having her first name be "Misery". She's a young queer woman from a mining colony moon in some distant star system. She starts hearing voices and hallucinating apparitions that claim to be divine, and that prophesy her status as the next Messiah. She also has the power of being able to manipulate, with her mind, all the "holy" stones on which the civilization runs. Initially, Misery is really punk in sensibility. She's been screwed over by everyone, and she hates it. She comes to the capital of the Empire, cynically determined to use her special abilities to get ahead. She assumes that her hallucinations and powers are a fraud, the result of nullvoid contamination; this means that her life will not be long, but in the meantime she hopes to do as much as she can.

In the course of the novel, however, Misery has a conversion experience. She has a mystical vision of union with the cosmos, and as a result comes to believe that all the things she has cynically pretended to be are in fact literally true. She is now confident that she actually is the Ninth Messiah, called by the Larex Forge to liberate the Empire from the destructive threats of the nullvoid and of the Heretics. United with her archangel mecha, she thinks she is invulnerable and can win every space battle. She and her lover Lightning (the ferocious sister, and bitter opponent, of the current Emperor) resolve to save the world (or worlds) together.

And this is where questions of narration come into play. Misery's story is told in the third person, but very vividly, in the present tense, and with the narrator closely identifying with Misery and expressing her inner feeelings. (There are short sections called Interludes, narrated more objectively, and containing information that Misery doesn't necessarily know; but these constitute less than 5% of the text). The narrator is themself a character in the narrative, however, as is revealed in a Prologue and Epilogue framing the main story. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal who the narrator is, though this does prove consequential for the narrative as a whole).

When Misery has her conversion experience, the content of her thoughts changes, but the style of narration does not. So, as we move from Misery's punk cynicism to her absolute militant fervor, we are inclined to still give her the credit that we did from the beginning. We are strongly seduced into completely identifying with Misery's zealotry; but at the same time, I also started to feel an uncomfortable, nagging sense of doubt. Things just don't feel quite right. Indeed, Misery herself starts at some point to feel that things aren't quite right -- albeit for different reasons than the reader feels this. Misery never doubts her religious certainty, but she begins to doubt to what extent the universe really conforms to that certainty. I cannot be more specific about this without recounting the ending of the novel in detail; there's a surprising shift of perspective there that puts a new light on everything -- but that I remain uncertain about, and that will only be resolved one way or the other by the succeeding volumes of this trilogy. The official publicity for the book states that the trilogy as a whole is "a story about the nature of truth, the power of belief, and the interplay of both in the stories we tell ourselves." This self-reflexivity is entirely merited in the current volume, since the novel both solicits our belief in the protagonist and in her beliefs, and yet steps back and makes us question that at the same time.

I will end with some more general points. *The Genesis of Misery* -- like a lot of recent speculative fiction -- presents a world, or a cosmos, in which queerness is taken for granted and not stigmatized. A good number of the characters are (by our early-21st-century standards) queer or trans in one way or another, but (unlike today) this is entirely normal or expected within the world of the diegesis. I am inclined to see this as a kind of utopian element; however these novelistic worlds are messed up and oppressive in all sorts of ways, gender identity and sexual orientation are not parts of the problem. Writing speculative fiction in this way does two (seemingly incompatible) things at once. On the one hand, it gives readers plenty of opportunities for identification, rather than demanding default identification with a white, cis, heterosexual protagonist as older genre fiction all too often tended to do. At the same time, and on the other hand, struggles for gender equity and sexual equality are not in any way the focus of these novels, because the struggles have already been resolved, and in an entirely liberatory way; this leaves the author free to both be affirmatively queer, trans, or non-binary, and yet at the same time to address all sorts of other issues as well.

This leads me to larger questions as well. My friend Jason Read wrote on Twitter, just this morning, that: "The cultural domination of fantasy over science fiction that we are currently living through just seems to be symptomatic of the broader turn towards fascism." He is especially thinking, I suppose of current television blockbusters like the prequels to Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I am inclined to agree with Jason for the most part: it just seems reactionary to me that so many speculative fiction works focus on Kings and Emperors, rather than on bureaucracies and spy systems, as both forces of oppression and ideals. I will always prefer science fictional approaches. But at the same time, this domination of fantasy over science fiction in recent years does not just apply to hegemonic media, but also to written speculative fiction by so many queer, trans, and nonbinary authors, and to many nonwhite authors as well. I am not sure what to make of this. I do not accept the explanation that this simply means the rejection of dominant Eurocentric instrumental reason in favor of older and non-Western 'ways of knowing.' But I do not have a good counter-theory, either. *The Genesis of Misery* deals to a certain extent very thoughtfully and self-reflexively, but my questions remain.

The Genesis of Misery is an undeniably imaginative work of science fantasy, although one I don't know what to make of. The sense of mystery and disorientation is clearly intentional, with only some things revealed and an intentionally shrouded perspective, but that does impact the reading. I struggled to engage with what this story was trying to be - experimental rumination on religion, mecha action, political intrigue - which, again, is probably the point, but was still a challenge. I feel like the relationships between characters never felt quite as full as they needed to be, and maybe I needed just a little bit more grounding in where this was all headed. That being said, I am certainly intrigued, and it may be that once this series continues (for surely this is just the beginning), this book's purpose will slot into place.

I had zero knowledge of this book going in, other than my love for Yang’s writing, and man what a weird fucking book this was. Personally, I loved it. There’s a lot of aspects that really shouldn’t work, the intense religious fervor being top of that list, but somehow Yang has managed to craft a brilliant story.

The Genesis of Misery is not a story for the faint of heart. It’s one of those sci-fi novels that drops you in the middle of the actions (in this case, a jailbreak) and says a bunch of in-world terms at you, and expects the reader to figure things out from context clues. When the author can do this skillfully, this is one of my favorite ways to experience fantasy/sci-fi worldbuilding, and Yang certainly has the skill. Also included are short interlude chapters, spaced out just as the reader is on the brink of giving up because words are too confusing, that provide enough historical context to re-affirm or correct what readers thought a word meant.

The backdrop of Misery is a fairly simple one: humanity left their home planet in a generational spaceship, and on the brink of annihilation, is saved by a mysterious “diety” referred to as the Larex Forge, who grant eight Messiahs sainthood and lead humanity to prosper. Following biblical parallels, two of those eight Messiahs reject the Forge’s teaching, splintering humanity between the Heretics and the Faithful, who’ve been in conflict ever since.

It’s many generations later where Misery takes place, where country-bumpkin Misery has conned some Important People into thinking she’s the next Messiah and now has to lay in the bed she’s made. We delve deep into the fascinating, if concerning, mind of Misery Nomaki as she is forced to carry out this con, finding herself in more and more precarious situations, all while convinced she’s going mad with a literal voice in her head giving her instructions that sound suspiciously like the Larex Forge’s messages.

Where I suspect people will love or hate this book is due to how ‘in Misery’s head’ the narration is. We spend so long following her every train of thought: doubts, suspicion, madness, etc, that the character development for almost everyone else, as well as some of the teased worldbuilding secrets, fall to the wayside.

A great example of this is Ghost, a white saint who Misery ends up working with. Saints, blessed by the Larex Forge, are randomly chosen amongst the populace and have the unique ability of sustaining themselves purely from starlight, no human food required. Also they’re extra shiny and can control these cool holy rocks. At the beginning of the story, Misery encounters these white saints and quickly realizes the Empire of the Faithful have learned to clone saints, but they’re kinda creepy and not fully human, but we never really dig further into that topic because Misery’s off doing other things. One of my favorite character archetypes is ‘robot-like characters slowly discovering their humanity' and we sadly only see this in throwaway line descriptors of what Ghost was doing compared to other people in this team.

Without giving away the ending, I will say that I was surprised to learn upon finishing the book that this is supposed to be a trilogy. In the worldbuilding and the characters there is a lot left unexplored, but as a story of Misery Nomaki, it was complete. I’m really curious to see where Yang will go from here, especially because there’s much in this Heretic vs Faithful conflict that’s clearly not what it seems.

Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5. The story and the setup for the worldbuilding were just incredible, and Yang handles the weird weird psyche of Misery Nomaki with finesse. This is certainly a book that you need to read twice, once for the story and once to pick up all the clues you missed because you lacked context.

This book was different than probably just about any other book I’ve read. From beginning to end, it was hard to determine if I was reading about aliens or angels or AI or delusions. It’s written in such a way to allow for ambiguity while still maintaining a storyline that is relatively easy to follow with (mostly) likeable characters.

Misery is… complex (plus about a million other adjectives). It’s uncertain whether she’s good or evil… does she want to save the world or destroy it? And what world are we talking about. Certainly not the planet Earth that we live on.

I have a love/hate relationship with sci/fi type books. I like to push my brain to explore things that are different, but not push it so far that it just seems outright crazy. This story is honestly a bit of both… mostly different, letting my imagination run wild and explore new ideas, but also a bit far fetched and even a bit frustrating at times. Misery occasionally takes such dramatic and rogue actions that I couldn’t always like her character.

Overall, a good story. Glad I read it.

Thank you, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Books, for allowing me to read The Genesis of Misery early!

Neon Yang just knows how to write. Their style is so immersive and captivating and this novel was a perfect representation of their genius. I adored it.

I think fans of Binti would enjoy this however it wasn't my cup of tea. Really appreciated the inclusion, this one is going to be popular, I think.

This was an interesting premise, but I don't feel it was handled particularly well. Most of the characters are only superficially developed, and the narrator pontificates and detracts from the momentum of the story in too many places. There is the trope of the Chosen One and how they come into their full strength, but it's muddled with a confused sense of religion and mixed signals from most of the characters. Misery Nomaki (she/they) has the potential to be a protagonist to root for, but there's not enough depth to her relationships with the other characters for this reader to care much about what will happen next.

How have I not read Neon Yang before? I’m going to be talking about this book for a long time, even after the publication date.

A gorgeous treatment that gives the idea of faith an almost scientific treatment in many forms, and a banger of a story that makes me look forward to the next installment in the series.

Detailed review to come.

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-Arc!
If you wanna complicated an intricate sci-fi story this is it! Neon Yang did an amazing job of making a very complex and detailed story. I loved Misery and was unbelievably happy to see a she/they pronouns user. I was also super excited to see the neopronouns and The casualness of LGBTQ+ relationships in this book.
The opening of the book is a little bit complicated but once you continue through the first two or three chapters a lot of things start to make sense. I was thoroughly impressed with the magic system and the whole religious order that was created for the story. It was very creative and very well done.
Overall I thoroughly recommend this especially if you’re looking for a wonderful LGBTQ+ sci-fi book.

This book was an interesting ride. I don't know much about Joan of Arc but I felt I really got to know Misery Nomaki. The voice of the story was vastly different from anything I had experienced before. I do have to agree with other reviewers that the story is too insular. It's entirely invested in Misery, who I loved, and leaves side characters feeling two-dimensional and flat. I also had a hard time with the writing style. The clash between the grandiose third person with the colloquial, personal story of Misery is odd. It was a bit rough in the beginning to get used to.

I liked it, I just don't know how eager I am for a reread. Maybe the audio version will be a bit easier to follow.

The Genesis of Misery is an intense and compelling examination of the Chosen One narrative. It follows Misery Nomaki (who uses she/they pronouns) as they come into their role as a Messiah of the Empire of the Faithful. There's a constant tension as Misery slides from not-quite-lying in order to stay alive to something much worse, and I'm genuinely in awe of how smoothly Yang draws Misery's character over the course of the story so that every slide felt inevitable. Revelations felt well-paced, and it was hard to put this down. I also loved the way they handled queerness in this world, which felt extremely deliberate and thoughtful! I'll be recommending this book to any sci-fi fan who will hear me out.

This book is a wild ride. Gideon the Ninth combined with the Catholic church and mechs, what else could you want? At the beginning of the text, Misery is an unwilling participant in fulfilling prophecies and imprisoned by the throne, by the end of the book we've experienced mechs, space battles, political intrigue, and some crazy religious imagery. Misery is also an unreliable narrator, you're heavily in her PoV and trying to filter her reality to what is actually going on. I really enjoyed this, it's a romp from start to finish.

I think this was a matter of writing style not being my jam but I think I'll pick up a physical copy when it comes out and try again!