Thank you to MacMillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Every single thing in this book was an absolute gut-punch, and I absolutely LOVED it.

All Kyr has ever known is Gaia Station, the 'last' of humanity, essentially a militia group aiming to exact revenge on the majo (aliens) who destroyed Earth and killed everyone on it during the war. This book starts off fast, and is really easy to immerse yourself in. I honestly found Kyr not to be super likeable during the first part of the book (but that's kind of the point!) and even though I found her to be a questionable person, I really enjoyed her character. She's written in a way that makes it so easy to understand her motivations and why she is the way she is, even if you don't necessarily agree with her actions. Her character, and the cast of supporting characters, are so intricately constructed, and they feel like real people that you can relate to. I'm emotionally attached to Kyr and the rest of her squad at this point.

I found the world-building to be very fascinating, and enjoyed learning more about the world as the story progressed and the world expanded.

I will say that while reading this, I did experience a bit of a stall in the middle portion where I was confused about what was happening, and thought that I wasn't enjoying the direction that the story was going (that quickly changed, however, as I'm sure you can tell by the rating I ended up with).

This book does deal with some pretty heavy topics (in a well executed way, I will note), but definitely heed the content warning that the author includes at the start of the book.

I think this has become a new favourite sci-fi of mine, so I'll definitely be checking out anything else that the author writes.

I devoured this book over the space of about eight hours. Blurbed by Tamsyn Muir with a Mass Effect inspired setting? It was like this was written just for me. I would advise any reader to very closely attend to the content warnings at the front of the book because things do get pretty heavy.

Our heroine, Valkyr, has only known life on Gaea Station. It is here that what little is left of humanity plots to destroy a dangerous, reality-shifting/time travel device called the Wisdom that allowed their enemies, the majoda, to destroy Earth. Valkyr is a model soldier, completely loyal to the cause, and an absolute ass. When she's sent to the nursery to pop out babies instead of going to the front, she decides to take a more active role in her own glory and humanity's salvation. Most of the novel follows her long and painful redemption arc. I absolutely loved her.

This book is high-stakes and action packed while still remaining introspective and probing deeper into the nature of humanity. I'd recommend it to any fan of science fiction, and to all women who are tired of being asked when they're having children.