Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: grief, child death, injury, death, violence, imprisonment, starvation, abuse

In a universe where people’s relationships are tied together through invisible tethers, Remy Canta has had to endure the worst thing that can happen. A death curse, known as a withering, was cast on his beloved brother, Cameron, which led to his agonising, drawn-out end five years ago. Remy has always wanted revenge against the person who did it to him, even if the man responsible was his childhood hero, Idrian Delaciel. Now he finally has the materials to cast the same curse on Cameron’s killer but it rapidly goes wrong. Instead of causing Idrian to suffer like Cameron, it rebounds onto Remy, joining the two men together through fate and inevitable death. However, the only way to slow the speed of the curse is to join up with Idrian and his crew of criminal rebels from the Empty Isles, a series of moons where anyone judged as a criminal is abandoned. Remy soon learns that Idrian isn’t a criminal, he’s trying to save thousands of innocent lives no matter the damage to his own life- if Idrian dies, so does the Empty Isles. As they venture through space, heists and conspiracies tying back to Cameron, Remy finds himself living for the first time in years- even as the countdown works against them all. Unfortunately, the only way for Idrian- and the Empty Isles to be saved- is for Remy himself to die.

“Lord of the Empty Isles” is ultimately a book about the terrible experience of loving someone and losing them but also how to find a new way to live afterwards. Remy is such a powerful and relatable lead character, he’s so angry at the entire world for the loss of Cameron and his decision to try and kill Idrian isn’t made likely. However, once he joins up with Idrian and the other rebels, Remy begins to realise that the life he’s always believed to be true is a lie. I found Idrian and his crew to be really enjoyable and especially significant for how they try to rescue their people. Idrian likewise has little care for his own life but by the end things really do seem brighter. Some scenes in this book were truly devastating- particularly ones set in the prison space stations- while others are lovely and humorous (I especially liked the running joke of Idrian’s bed being stolen). I raced through this book in a few days, drawn in by the fast pace and the characters but also by the incredible vulnerability in the writing. This is a gorgeous debut, I’ll definitely read more from this author in the future and I hope to see these characters again.

Lord of the Empty Isles is a highly emotional science fantasy novel written by Jules Arbeux, and published by Hodderscape. An excellent debut which shines especially in how touches difficult themes such as dealing with grief and the control of narratives by the power, while throwing a delicious amount of space pirates, banter and criminal found family.

Five years ago, Remy's brother died as a result of a withering (a death curse) cast due to an order from interstellar fugitive Idrian Delacial; from that moment, Remy has been grieving and thinking about vengeance. Now, he has the materials for paying back to Idrian; however, the withering goes wrong, bounding his fate to Idrian's. He will have to join forces with the assassin of his brother if he wants to find a cure; when he gets there, Remy finds that many more lives are at stake, as the Idrian's crew is also fatebound to him, and is responsible for providing life-saving supplies to thousand of lives in the empty isles.
After force of circumstance makes Remy a part of Idrian's crew, he finally finds a life that helps him to alleviate his grief; but time is against him, and the only apparent solution is ending his life before the curse ends with all his new mates.

With this premise, Arbeux has woven a novel that works in two senses: a more intimate one, that explores how Remy almost destroys himself as a consequence of grief, while taking more people on his demise; and a bigger one, about how the empty isles are being oppressed by the main planet, and how Idrian is fighting against that narrative that is asphyxiating them, not only giving them supplies, but also directly confronting the power.
The relationship that gets established between Remy and Idrian is quite an excellent example; both are similar in some aspects, but they are enemies due to circumstances. However, the more time they spend, Remy finally manages to overcome that animosity caused by grief, and starts to understand the reason behind Idrian's actions. They pass from enemies to platonic lovers; an almost poetic ending.
The rest of the crew has some peculiarities, but they are almost the family Remy was missing; some rough moments happen, but all are working for a common goal.

The world-building is quite interesting, painting a portrait of a main planet that oppresses those empty isles, a strong political power that keeps them under the threat of not getting enough resources (effectively killing them); in those circumstances, we can understand the apparition of Idrian's crew. Interestingly, Arbeux manages to point how important is controlling the narrative, and how the powerful use the mass media to create enemies to blame, even if those are the same experiencing the consequences of that genocide.

Honestly, Jules Arbeux has proven herself as a talented written with this kind of powerful debut; it's not only touching on an emotional level, but also invites you to think about many topics that are quite accurate nowadays. SFF fans, you need to read Lord of the Empty Isles, and prepare to get emotionally destroyed.

Thanks to Hodderscape and Netgalley for the ARC.

4.5/5

Here's your fair warning.....this story will hit you in the feels multiple times. It's a science fantasy story that focuses on the characters as they fight an uncaring government that has left them to barely survive on several small moons. In addition to the dystopian elements, there are bonds of different kinds that connect people in different ways and certain people have the ability to either see and interpret the bonds or the ability to sever the bonds. Remy is a witherer, he has the ability to sever bonds between people and he has been set on finding his brother's killer and putting a curse on his bonds to kill him in revenge. Idrian and his friends are doing everything they can to help these people by smuggling in supplies. Remy's actions put him and Idrian on a collison course which could have deadly consequences for many people.
I found the system of the different types of bonds that connect people really well done and when you add finding your unexpected family to the mix, the story really hits on all cylinders. The circumstances the people sent to the moons find themselves in is so compelling and it is heartbreaking what they have to go through. The different characters working through the difficult events of their pasts and finding forgiveness not only for others, but for themselves and working through grief is a central part of the story and it is so well written that it will bring you to tears. There are twists and surprises along the way that make this so hard to put down. It hits on so many visceral levels that I think will appeal to both fans of science fiction and fantasy. Cannot wait to read more from Jules in the future, definitely a writer to keep an eye on in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.
4 stars book from me. Loved the plot and the stories in this book. Loved every single second reading it.

Gah! This book! This book had everything I love most! Found family! Queer characters! Misunderstood Robin Hood-ing! I read this book in one sitting and then immediately ordered a copy for my personal collection.It broke my heart over and over again, but in the end left me filled with hope. A stunning debut!

Five years ago, Remy's brother was murdered. Remy had watched him die under a withering, unable to do anything about it, and has carried that bitterness with him ever since. Now, finally, he's in a place to take his revenge and cast his own withering. But when he does so he, he discovers something horrifying - he is fatebound to his brother's killer.

The only way to slow down the curse is to get close to the man he's spent the last five years hating. But all is not as it seems, and Remy finds himself doubting everything he's held onto so tightly for so long. But the only way he knows of to stop a withering, is to kill the witherer...

I love an interesting, unusual, and well thought out magic system, and Lord of the Empty Isles most definitely has that. The idea of being bound by an invisible line to the people in your life, one that can only be seen by a weaver, and can only be manipulated by a witherer, is fascinating and unique.

I also found the plot and world building compelling. Remy's journeys across the various planets were fascinating, and we learned more about the world he lived in as he did. The pace was excellent, and I was really drawn in to the story.

My main criticism is the characters. I can't fully put my finger on why, but they all felt a bit too similar. I think that while their differences were told, it didn't feel like they were shown. The character voices all felt a bit samey. However, the book was still overall very enjoyable.

Thank you for providing me with a copy of lord of the empty isles. I really liked the concept of this book and how it is developed throughout. The world building at the start of the book really drew me in and there were a lot of twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting. I did feel that the middle section of the book was a bit slow compared to the start and end so I did have to power through a little through the middle. However I do think it was worth it overall as I was drawn back in to the ending of the book. I liked the use of chosen family and the themes of forgiveness but also grief that ran throughout and I enjoyed the dynamics between different characters.

"'I know it doesn’t matter,' Remy says, 'but I'm sorry.'
'For what?'
Remy slants a glance at Idrian, unimpressed. He must be being purposefully clueless.
'Killing us both, I guess?'
'Eh. Someone had to succeed eventually. Might as well be you.'"
**Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book**
This is, by far, one of the best books I discovered though NetGalley. I must say that I was first taken by the beautiful cover, then by the summary and finally by the writing. What I thought would be a classic “enemies to lovers” moment turned out to be so much more impactful than I could have ever imagined. Idrian, Remy and the entire crew mean so much to me now, and reading this book made me feel like I was on this journey together with them, along for the ride before then slowly but surely getting closer to every one of them until I was in way too deep. This is a novel about grief, loss and overcoming adversity through the bonds that link every single one of us to each other, whether we like it or not.

Jules Arbeaux's Lord of the Empty Isles is a gripping queer sci-fi fantasy novel that dives deep into themes of grief, power, and unexpected alliances. The story follows interstellar fugitive Idrian Delaciel and Remy Canta, who is hell-bent on avenging his brother's death by casting a withering—a deadly curse—on Idrian. The twist? The curse backfires, binding Remy to his enemy in a race against time to find a cure.

Arbeaux excels at depicting the raw and poignant grief that drives Remy's actions, while also introducing an intriguing magic system that adds depth to the narrative. Although the characters occasionally come across as immature for their ages, this flaw does not overshadow the story's strengths. The novel’s exploration of a queerplatonic hate-to-love relationship is refreshing and offers a nuanced take on platonic bonds, a rarity in the genre.

Comparisons to Winter's Orbit and The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet are apt, as Lord of the Empty Isles delivers a similarly engaging blend of personal stakes and larger-than-life adventures. Overall, it's a compelling read that both challenges and delights, making it a standout in contemporary queer speculative fiction.

Despite putting this book down for a few days, I actually really enjoyed this! The world building was really interesting and I loved the ideas of the threads and bonds that tie people together. This also had really good found / chosen family vibes (which is one of my favourite tropes) and I loved the focus on platonic and familial relationships in this.

My only critique of this is that it took me a bit of time to get invested in the story, but that's probably more to do with me than the actual book itself.

This is a book that’s got many layers to it.

Firstly is the fact that these characters are not likeable in any way. This is a book where almost every decision taken is the trolley problem looked at from different angles. The two main characters both do many questionable things and honestly I didn’t ever warm to them. I do think that’s part of why I struggled to get into it. The other reason being that I just didn’t get on with the writing style.

As I read on though, I really got into the shades of grey that were being depicted in the book. All these characters were trying to survive (aside from Remy at the start who was letting his grief speak through him) and help the people on the prison planets survive. It was really interesting to read.

I also loved the platonic nature of the relationships in this book. It’s so rare to see platonic relationships be so emphasised in a book. In this culture of shipping and heavy romance, it was really refreshing to see a book where these relationships were so prominent.

This is definitely a read for anyone who likes reading about grey morality and dislikeable characters. I just wish I could have gotten into it more.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

I had a very hard time getting into this book and picking it up again, I cannot really tell you why. At first I was confused by world building and characters, I felt overwhelmed. Then some characters started growing on me but I found the story to be quite predictable.

I love the aroace rep and that there are queerplatonic relationships but I found this also to be underexplored. Overall, the book read like at least two books had been crammed into one. Yes, it is cozy in parts and yes it is a fun scifi, but there was a lot of unused potential.

3 stars

3.5/5

After Remy’s beloved older brother dies, he vows revenge on the man who cursed him, Idrian Delaciel. Thankfully, Remy is a witherer and is capable of returning the favor without much more than a drop of Idrian’s blood. Unfortunately, the curse backfires and Remy must seek out his sworn enemy in order to save his own life.

In this queer enemies to lovers, we follow Remy as he is forced to acknowledge the bond between himself and the person who killed the one he loved most. Arbeaux does an amazing job of world and character building and I found myself laughing just as much as I was tearing up. This story of conflicting emotions and government cover ups was just what I needed as a refresher between my more difficult reads!

If you are looking for a quick and entertaining fantasy, this is the perfect choice for pride month!

Headlines:
One of the best found families
Queer platonic connections
Tethers

So much about this book was unexpected to me, I thought there would be a 'love story', I was uncertain about the tethers in the first few pages and I wasn't sure what I thought about Remy. Excuse my 180 after a chapter or two where I was completely inquisitive and invested in the ideas of tethers..."please tell me more" and I began to like Remy a lot.

Remy went from entitled to rebel, from murderer to saviour and all of this was under the watch of Idrian, the Lord of the Empty Isles. Idrian was a character I wanted to get to know, to unpick and find out what made him tick. I didn't get to know him quite as much as I wished but I really liked who he was as an individual, but even more, who he was as a leader and friend.

This book delivered on the kind of found family I long for in books. This family was inter-dependent in a good way, full of authenticity and rolled from one crisis-trauma to the next. There were lots of queer characters who were simply their lovely selves.

The story/plot had lots to bring in terms of grief and loss, a displaced population under the control of a dictator who rationed their water, air and food; so much to identify with current times. While there were difficult scenes in this story, the author still managed to make this a hopeful read.

Lastly, I just want to address my expectations in terms of a romantic love, there wasn't, although there seemed to be chemistry. However, the other kinds of love were strong and prevalent and I don't think I missed out on this.

Jules Arbeaux is an author I will be jumping to read again. I think this is a standalone as it wraps up well but I guess there could be more to come in this world. I would be happy if there was.

Thank you to Pride Book Tours and Hodderscape for the review copy.

I really loved Lord of the Empty Isles!
It was such a good book! It made me tear up a few times as there were really some heartbreaking moments, especially this one scene that made me cry. The way the book explored grief was just so well done.
The book wasn't all full of grief, though, as there were also many lovely moments full of healing and found family.
There were so many great characters, and they were definitely the highlight of the book.

Remy was a great main character, and I loved his relationships with everyone, especially Idrian, who was also a really great character. I just loved them both!
They had such a good enemies to queerplatonic relationship, it was done so well.
Lord of the Empty Isles is definitely a book that i highly recommend as it was an amazing read that will definitely stay with me. It will both make you cry and then make you feel better with characters that you will love! I already miss them so much!

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

Thank you Hodderscape and NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

I feel so torn in this review, because despite loving so many things about this book, I can’t bring myself to give it 5 stars.

Overall, this was a wonderful story about morality and perspective and whether the ends can truly justify the means. Jules Arbeaux is a blisteringly good writer, spinning out seemingly effortless prose with a gorgeous lilt and rhythm. At the same time, the author manages to balance artful prose with snappy and funny dialogue that definitely lives squarely in the snarky camp but never feels obnoxious. Despite the quick pace of the book the characters are well fleshed out. Watching Remy and Idrian challenge each other’s world views and grow to find a way of life that is less binary and destructive is moving and sometimes downright profound.

However, the one place Lord of the Empty Isles really faltered for me was in its villain. The Chancellor’s motivation for evil is protecting the planet they live on and preventing another catastrophic environmental catastrophe like the one that nearly destroyed humanity hundreds of years ago. I’m all for an interesting nuanced villain with relatable goals, but the Chancellor is not that - Arbeaux presents him as entirely, 100% evil and never cèdes any ground that protecting the planet might be a good thing, if better executed. This left the book seeming to argue that any laws requiring people to protect the environment are evil and oppressive, which is…a choice. Given the massive scale of environmental destruction our world is experiencing now, this borders on irresponsible. I doubt Arbeaux is actually an anti-environmentalist. But after giving so much thought to the prose and the emotional growth of the characters, it really disappointed me that the author apparently couldn’t spare a few moments to wrestle with the political and philosophical implications of the villain. It unfortunately soured what could have been one of my favorite reads of the year. But I can’t really abide how the author treats the villain, no more than I could abide a novel where the cartoonishly evil villain is pro-choice or anti-racist - it just feels regressive in a way that gave me the ick.

This book is beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring and infused throughout with both grief and love. The tethering magic was like nothing I've read and it really feeds into the story so well. Also, the queerplatonic rep is beautiful to behold.

It is impressive that this is a debut, especially with the amount of emotion and depth to the story and characters. However, the book is a little too long and does suffer from some uneven pacing. Also this is a personal preference but I do struggle with POV protagonists who kinda suck at the beginning and then go though a growth journey. Fortunately, Remy gets to a better place eventually but many of his choices and actions and thoughts are rough to read in the first half.

Definitely trigger warnings - there is a lot of grief and human suffering (and indifference to that suffering) that is not easy to read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I started Lord of the Empty Isles I could not put it down and finished it in one sitting. I highly recommend this book to anyone (even the people that rarely read sci-fi). I had a lot of fun reading this and I just wish there was more. I can't wait to read more books from the author.

I really wanted to love this book, but sadly it wasn't for me.
The concept is wonderful - literal connections tethering us to significant people in our lives, and the placement of each tether reflects the nature of the bond. When a connection is severed (through death, separation, neglect, etc), the tether may begin to rot. Our hero, Remy, is a witherer, a person who can sever these bonds. His gift is seen as a necessary evil in society - nobody likes to think about why they might need a bond severed, but it's either that or leaving it rotting.
I love this idea! It's unique, and the writer has executed it well. It's clear it's been carefully thought out, with deep lore and explanations behind the bonds and the nature of withering. The plot has been built around this concept, making it feel like more than just window dressing.
Remy's motivation is clear: he wants revenge. There's something to be said for keeping character motivations straightforward. However, I did find that he perhaps too quickly begins to abandon this idea. It felt a bit like the narrative was rushing into the found-family aspect, which I found difficult to buy, given the lengths Remy went to to exact his revenge.
I suspect the other reason I struggled to get into this book was I found the messaging a tiny bit heavy handed. A light touch will usually work better than hitting the point too hard.
Most of my thoughts around this work are either positive or minor gripes - at the end of the day, I just didn't connect with the voice. Can't win them all! But, if you like cosy sci-fi/fantasy with a cool worldbuilding, a unique magic system and found family, this might be worth a look!

I really enjoyed this read. The pacing was great! I think I went into this book expecting more romance than there was & that’s fine! I also think the complexity of Remy’s character was really well done but many of the supporting characters felt flat. In my opinion Emil, Thom, and Roca all felt very surface level. I think I would have appreciated a bit more on each of them to understand their dynamic and how they became a found family in the first place. But otherwise I think it was a really great read!