The pacing for Some Desperate Glory was refreshing among the books I've been reading recently. I had a rough start with reading it (it read like a very technical world building manual for the first few pages, or so I thought), but once I got a feel for the narrator (Kyr), I was able to get into the book. The more I read on, I got a better understanding of Kyr and the nurture vs nature elements---eugenics and militaristic dictatorial regime propaganda---that created a character like her. The supporting characters answered my question of "What would a character not drunk on the jingoistic propaganda juice be like in this world?" and the character studies we are offered made the images from the book more vibrant in my head. The plot device that drives the later parts of the book had the potential to get really messy, but the author handled it very well. I appreciate the story elements that resembled intergenerational trauma which (without giving too much away) saved this book from not being another grimdark futuristic savior story. There are a lot of little details just mentioned in the beginning that end up making sense into the bigger picture by the end of the book, which always feels like a treat to a reader even with how horrifying they could be. (I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

I have mixed feelings about this one. I absolutely loved the Greenhollow duology, and going into this one having read the cw's, I was expecting Some Desperate Glory to be both very good and very intense.

For the first 30%, it lived up to my expectations. After that, things started to get confusing. What threw me the most is that for most of this I couldn't see the overarching plot of the book. Kyr, our protagonist, starts out with clear goals, but then she keeps meeting those goals without adding onto them--it gave a feeling of "now what?" that threw me out of my immersion multiple times. I had trouble finding the throughline of the story until the end, and around 50% when the book changed entirely (*minor spoilers*--we get an entirely different parallel universe and timeline) I got very confused about where the book could possibly go next--not in a way that left me feeling curious and needing more, but in the way that "it was all a dream" endings are supremely disappointing.

I ended up liking the last third of the book much better than the middle, and it got a lot more focused after that and asked some interesting ethical questions. Ultimately I did end up feeling satisfied with the ending, though the middle was a bit of a bumpy ride--a feeling that made me like the book much better overall.

I've seen other reviewers mention that they couldn't stand Kyr; I didn't have that problem personally, as I enjoyed seeing how much growth she had to do. My issues were more with the structure of the book, the video-game feel of starting over from scratch multiple times, and the lack of a clear trajectory for much of the story. In summary, I would still recommend this one, but be prepared for a wild ride as the story takes some massive jumps and feels a bit disjointed.

What a book, oh what a book. This was a wild reading experience, the kind where you allow yourself to just fall in step along with the characters and trust that the author is going to take you somewhere cool as hell. And this book took me somewhere extremely cool. While the main point of view character, Valkyr, is rather unlikable at first, I found that I warmed up to her as the book went on. I think that the way that the setting is revealed through her eyes was well done, and you root for her as her cult deprogramming slowly progresses.
The strong influence of video games on the plot was apparent but was incorporated well. There were moments of the plot that felt like the characters running up against a "Game Over" screen, and having to recoup and reassess their strategies, sometimes even who they are in their very core. A strong theme of the book is choices making you who you are as a person, and choosing to do better, or at least trying, in a way that is also very reminiscent of the best story video games, wherein a hundred little dialogue and behavior choices determine who your character is when the action of the game reaches a climax.
One thing I can already envision becoming a point of contention in less-than-nuanced social media spaces is that this is being marked as an "LGBTQ+ book" and which it very much is, in many many ways. This book is queer in its setting and ideologies, and all of its human main cast is queer. However, the main character does not have a romantic plot line, which will annoy a certain subset of reviewers. I personally felt gratified that there was no romance plot for Valkyr, as it would have felt wildly out of place and inappropriate (and unforgivably tropey in the worst way) for the mental and emotional work she was doing, not to mention the whole saving the universe bit.
I adored this book and couldn't read it fast enough, desperate to know what happened. This book hit the ground running and only picked up speed, and I loved every second.

Some Desperate Glory tells the story of Kyr, raised as a warrior to avenge those responsible for the destruction of Earth. Soon Kyr realizes that her people, the last free humans, on Gaia Station may not really know the truth. I loved this book, excellent world building and a wild adventure.

There seems to be a lot of hype around this one, describing it as a queer space opera, and there are lots of reviews raving about it. My take is that it is a good story, well told. Nothing groundbreaking here.

However I did enjoy the story. The main character, Kyr, is not really likeable but she has been brainwashed into her opinions and her approval of the way things are on Gaea Station, and she acts accordingly. As the book progresses and her eyes are opened she changes. There is plenty of action and there are some very tense moments especially towards the end of the book.

Overall a nicely written book with an enjoyable story. Four stars

4.5

I have never believed that I had the mental capacity for sci fi lol. I've read some YA sci fi here and there, like, maybe one every two years, but I've never felt brave enough to try an adult high sci fi novel like in space and on different planets and stuff.

But I got an email from the publicist pitching this book to me that included this quote from the author: "I can never get enough of a villain redemption arcs; this one has a feminist twist. I wanted to write a monster girl, the Worst Person, and I wanted to give her a chance to grow. I wanted to talk about radicalisation, groupthink, propaganda, justice and vengeance. And I wanted to make it a character-driven high-stakes scifi banger, the kind of book I love to read, a stay-up-till-two-in-the-morning book."

The publicist herself said: "This book has everything that made me fall in love with space opera in the first place: there are space battles; there’s a sweet little alien; there are twists, turns, and impossibly high stakes; the protagonist is the absolute worst, and yet I would surely challenge you to a back-alley duel if you ever said one bad thing about her—and, best of all, there’s rebellion."

I mean, I simply had to be brave and try it out. Every single word in both of those pitches spoke to me.

And yeah, we do start out with a total shithead main character. Kyr is 17 and was raised on Gaea Station, which is like, obviously a space station. The colony of people live on it because the majo, an alien race basically blew up Earth, killing like, most of the humans. The folks of Gaea Station hate the majo now for clear reasons.

Kyr is fiercely loyal to all the rules of the station. Children being bred for work or war from like, age 10. One third of the station's women being assigned to Nursery which means they literally just get pregnant constantly, and sometimes die, and if they don't die, they take care of the kids WHILE pregnant. But Kyr is fine with it all because she's pretty close with the main guy in the station, he practically raised her and she calls him Uncle, so she knows she's going to end up in a position of power that she feels she deserves.

So imagine her surprise when she's assigned to Nursery, and her twin brother Mags is assigned to Strike, which is an off-station suicide mission that involves killing targets but surely being killed in the process. So, in an act of defiance, Kyr goes after him, with the help of Mags' friend Avi (who is NOT Kyr's friend) and the company of Yiso, a majo that happened to be a prisoner on the ship.

The betrayal Kyr felt, both at her own assignment and her brother's, is not enough to make her realize how oppressive Gaea is. She and Mags have an older sister who left the space station, and Kyr sees her as a traitor. She remains brainwashed by Gaea for quite some time. It makes total sense - she was raised there and it's all she knows. She was not raised to make friends, or to have any kind of loving relationship with anyone - kids on the ship are not raised by their own parents so there's no favoritism, but Kyr's parents are dead, anyway. She's basically a war machine - cold and brash towards everyone, angry at the "enemy" and enraged at what happened to their people years before she was born, and highly trained in combat stuff. This makes it super easy to not like her, because she's basically an asshole.

This book is pitched as queer, and it is. But it is not a romance, not in the slightest. I think it's very important to have access to all queer representation over a spread of genres, not only when the queer characters are pursuing or dating someone. However, I'm a little nervous people will go into this expecting romance and dislike it when there's not really any. So just manage your expectations for that aspect!!

Alright, another elephant in the room: my head is very empty when it comes to sci fi and the way future technology and wormholes and laser guns and whatever tf else works, so I am thoroughly please with the space station and the physics of everything that happens lol. I cannot speak to the execution of these things in the slightest. If they are bad do not blame me. If they are good, I knew they were good and told you so.

I spent most of the book thinking the stakes were relatively high but not worth the blurb specifically pointing them out, but by the last few pages I was hyperventilating. Also crying a lot.

The cast of characters is varied and mostly likeable, sometimes detestable. The politics are pretty straight forward as far as good and bad go, but I still like the way Kyr grows to become anti establishment. Kyr's redemption arc, especially in regards to the way she treats people, was really impactful to me, considering I was an asshole in my younger years lmao. Now that I think about it, the changes in Kyr are sorta giving A Christmas Carol set in space, but you know what, whatever lmaooo.

I thought the settings and the action scenes were really well described and felt cinematic, but I also never felt like the sentences were bogged down with lots of words (my fear when I read adult novels) and I never felt confused or lost

I'll be interested to see how sci fi fans feel about this. I might have liked it so much because I don't have experience with the genre. But good for me!!!

There are queer characters, like I said, and there's one or two Brown characters, but the conversation about racial diversity is mostly in regards to eugenics and selective breeding on the space station. So the book is not very diverse but the reason is because of the big bad oppressive group that hates minorities and also women. (See, it's pretty cut and dry as far as morals go)

I wish I had just a few pages more, that's probably my main issue, which isn't an issue at all, really, I just really want more of these characters and to know what's next. I would eat up a sequel!! Character driven stories are my favorite, it matters to me way more than plot usually, and these characters were very easy to get invested in.

Alright, so overall, take this recommendation from me, the gal who knows nothing about science, fiction, or science fiction.... it's good

I can't believe Emily Tesh made me feel so many things about space cult Cub Scouts.

Valkyr (AKA Kyr) is supposed to be the last hope for humanity's vengeance, and she is frighteningly, violently good at it. She has the best training scores, and that means she will get the best assignment. Everything she knows is built on fairness and order and justice.

Except that it isn't.

Except that she's missing crucial aspects of the space station she lives in, facts that bounce off her steely resolve, and she's too underfed and overworked to have the chance to think. One of the facts she's missing: that's all intentional.

Some Desperate Glory is already one of my favorite books of next year. I was invested in the plot, but the real strength was in the narrative pacing and the characters themselves. For a long time I felt the sinking dread of knowing more than the protagonist, which usually frustrates me, but not this time, because other characters also know the truth and feel the same dread for Kyr. Her messmates have tried to tell her about horrifying realities of their world, like the Nursery Wing, but she can't (won't?) hear it. Because Tesh puts the reader so effectively inside her head, all I could do was understand and dread and let Kyr barrel on towards Doomsday. Over and over and over again.

This is a story about fascism versus deradicalization, unity versus solidarity, survival versus life. One of the most compelling elements was the way Kyr's understanding of power was thoroughly deconstructed throughout the book. She learns that she had mistaken some forms of strength for weakness, and finds new respect for those she had once scorned, but she also learns that in certain circumstances, no amount of combat training is enough. There are no pulled punches. Please make sure to read the content warnings.

Recommended for fans of: The Library at Mount Char, The Genesis of Misery, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Bokurano. I still think Kyr should be more buff on the cover, though.

I received an advance e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I've kind of been stalling on writing this review because I just don't have all that much to say about this novel. Some Desperate Glory is, to me, a perfectly middle-of-the-road book. The writing is capable, there is character development, there is world-building. All those things are present, to be sure, but to me this novel never really went above and beyond with any of those elements. It's a competent novel, but it wasn't a particularly impressive one. The basis of the plot is nothing groundbreaking, as a lot of other reviewers have done a much better job at pointing out--authoritarian regime, indoctrination, etc.--and I don't mind that necessarily, except that, like I said, the execution is not especially remarkable or distinct. I think the fact that I'm struggling to even say anything substantial about this novel already speaks to how little of an effect it had on me: I read it, and then I finished it, and then it was over and I never thought about it again...

Thanks so much to Tor for providing me with an eARC of this via NetGalley!

Queer science fiction sounded right up my alley. I was looking for a fast paced story and this definitely delivered and I really enjoyed the story in the first half. The plot was entertaining and the characters were getting the development they needed. Then, after the “time jump,” I got confused and completely disengaged from the story. I felt it became a bit repetitive and I was not sure what the goal of the story was.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

This book is filled with fascinating concepts and continually challenges us with the questions of what is real and what is reality. On the downside, the main character is pretty much unlikable during the first 2/3 of the book, making it difficult to get through. However, if you can get through that then the last third of the book redeems the whole thing in a satisfying way.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Brilliant story focusing on a young woman who has trained her whole life to be the perfect soldier only to find out that most of what she's been told has been a lie. Great character development and world building anchor what could have been a cliche story but instead is supremely compelling. Loved every page!

a new writer of space opera - one of my favourite genres. This novel is about a lot of things, but perhaps, at the centre, it's about what humans are capable of (both good and bad). This is a fast, consuming read - there's lots of action and twists. Justice and war are examined in a great way - read the content warnings.

Some Desperate Glory is a searing space opera of a debut novel that asks over and over again, what is humanity? What are we capable of? It's beautiful and rich, bleak and brilliantly hopeful, with complex and gorgeous character arcs. I swallowed the book whole in a day, unable to stop reading, needing the answer to infuriatingly thorny moral questions that the story poses. The book was not what I thought it was when I started and I enjoyed every second of the ride. This is a must-read for any speculative fiction fan.

I loved this book. I really appreciate the way that the author handles radicalization and how undoing that process is always going to be messy but worth it. It is a very empathetic story and I enjoyed the exciting setting and story it was told through.

This is like if you took the epicness of a Becky Chamber novel, the snarkiness of The Locked Tomb and mixed all of those together. A wonderful masterpiece that I couldn't put down. Oh, yeah, and its hella, hella queer.

This book promised to rip my heart out, and it delivered! Some Desperate Glory is not only the queer space opera you've been looking for, but also a fantastically character driven story. It's smart, unrelenting, surprising, emotionally-gutting, and glorious.

I think the last time I devoured a book with this much intensity was A Memory Called Empire - and that was much more tailored to my specific interests. Some Desperate Glory is a stunning achievement that unflinchingly takes on tough topics and questions. It's a narrative especially suited to our current world and the worrying rise of fascism and gender essentialism. I laughed, I cried, I would have shouted at some of the twists if it hadn't been the middle of the night (because I could not stop reading)!

I reviewed this book for Asimov's -- the review will appear in May 2023. Here's an excerpt: This is a thoroughly satisfying book. I read it all in one gulp, staying up until two in the morning to do so, and found myself still thinking about it days later. Highly recommended.

At the halfway mark, I still wasn't sure about this book. My spoiler-free advice is to fight through that ambivalence and trust that Emily Tesh knows what she's doing--because she does.

Some Desperate Glory is immersive and surprising; it has a lot to say about injustice, war, and family, all lofty topics that would be significant to tackle on their own, let alone together in one twisty, layered narrative. Kyr is a tricky protagonist, someone easy to scorn and hard to root for. The world of Gaea Station lacks any real warmth. In a lot of ways, the odds are stacked against the audience--we're working through a narrative that feels devoid of hope and devoid of heroes.

But because Emily Tesh is so masterful, the story works--really, really works--anyway. And then the first big twist hits, and every expectation goes to hell. It's SO incredibly fun.