Such a fun read! A queer space heist that deals with gentrification, betrayal, and class disparity. Edie is released from prison after a job gone wrong, and is immediately pulled back into one last heist- by the person who got them sent away in the first place. This book quickly grabs your attention as you meet all the players for the heist, and slowly learn more about Edie and Angel’s past. The characters are all really interesting with their different skills and motivations for taking on a risky job. And I loved getting into Edie’s head as they grapple with teaming up with the person who cost them eight years of their life- but when there are no other options, is there really a choice? I really liked this book, can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.

Makana Yamamoto's Hammajang Luck is an awe inspiring sci-fi heist, but more importantly a treatise on identity and family. Overwhelmingly enjoyed!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Cyberpunk Ocean’s Eleven-esque space heist?! Yes.
Edie has just been released early after an eight year stint in prison only to be brought home by the one person who put them there. Angel Huang was like a sister growing up but now could not be anymore of a stranger. Angel has one last job that would set Edie and their family for several lifetimes. Drowning in debt, a sister expecting her third child, and a niece undergoing cancer treatment, how can Edie say no?
How could you not love this beautiful cast of characters? They were so easy to root for and love. The light banter was fun and matched the fast-paced plot. The friends-to-enemies-to-lovers was so well done and didn’t feel rushed at all. I loved it all and couldn’t put it down!

Thank you NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ebook arc!

This book is a great classic heist story, made even better by being set in a futuristic space station. The stakes are high as a great cast of characters attempt to steal from a tech CEO in what should be the last job of their lives. The main character is fresh out of prison and has to team up with a person from their past to pull it off, even though they hate each other's guts.

The plot moves pretty fast in this book. The main cast has about eight characters, and we go through all of their backstories and about half have fleshed out character arcs. In my opinion this is the selling point of the book, I can see it being pretty big with fans of things like Six of Crows, and similar books with group adventures.

The only downfall of this book is that it feels a little short. Like I said, most of the characters get plotlines, but I thought that more time could be spent getting to know them. However, this is mostly nitpicky, and I still had a great time while reading.

This was exactly my brand of fun sci-fi adventures, and I'm really excited to see what the author puts out next.

I enjoyed the heist parts of this. Edie has just gotten out of prison, and a person from her past is ready to recruit her for a heist so that Edie won't ever have to work again. Angel, the blast from the past, is the mastermind behind the whole thing, and between her and Edie they start recruiting the other members they will need to pull this off. Grifters, thieves, a hacker, and Edie our resident runner.

I loved Edie's relationship with their sister, niece, and nephew. I also really enjoyed the antagonistic relationship between Edie and Angel. You find out why early on and can tell there are more emotions under the surface, so each interaction is pretty entertaining. At a bit over halfway through their relationship shifts, and it wasn't something I was rooting for. Their relationship is definitely a bit on the toxic side.

I also think this was a bit longer than it needed to be, there were some parts in the middle that I found myself zoning out for a bit.
I think where this book really shines is the heist itself, it reminds me of Oceans 11 a bit and I found that part super enjoyable, and Edie and their relationship with their family, old friends, and new.

I really wanted to like this but unfortunately 42% in and I was just not connecting with the characters or the plot.

I don’t think it’s a bad book, just not one for me.

If you are a heist aficionado, you will find a fair bit to like in this one. Set on Kepler station, it centers around Edie, back from serving time in prison for a botched theft attempt 8 years earlier. The catch is that they are released with the help of their (former?) friend Angel, the one that set them up to fall for the previous heist. And is being very cagey about a new job she wants Edie to join her on.

A lot of the set up reminds me of the Oceans movies, or the TV show Leverage. Angel assembles hitters, hackers, grifters and thieves while she dons the cape of mastermind. And simmering behind everything is the relationship between Angel and Edie. Are they friends? More? Less?

The heist part is excellent and moves as a good pace. It was the relationship between Angel and Edie that I had a hard time latching into. For so much of the story, Angel is set apart and her motivations do not feel clear or solid. The connection between her and Edie also feels abstract until it isn’t. Edie is our guide through the whole thing, and their connections to family and home on Kepler are solid and a good counterpoint to the unfolding heist. The LGBTQIA representation is also a high point for the overall story as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for giving me an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review! It is really difficult to write a satisfying heist story— because while of course you want the protagonists to win, you don’t want that win to be so easily gained. “Hammajang Luck” walked that line perfectly. There was just enough detail about heist planning that the reader could understand what the plan was, without going overboard. And, the characters encountered plenty of issues along the way. Ultimately, I think these characters provide wish-fulfillment for a lot of folks— to rob and ruin the life of an evil tech billionaire. And by god if it wasn’t satisfying to read. Like much sci-fi, the story itself is a reflection, a mirror, of our current reality, and takes this role seriously (while also not taking itself *too* seriously). Really my only issues with this novel were that the beginning was a bit rough (common for standalone sci-fi/fantasy) and that I sometimes had a hard time understanding the Pidgin— but I don’t believe either of these are reason enough to deduct a star from the rating. If you like sci-fi heists in space, you will love “Hammajang Luck.”

I liked Edie as a character and I wish that we got to know more about the other characters. I don't know that I wanted them to actually end up with Angel, she seemed kind of toxic but if they are happy I guess I'm fine with it.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This book is marketed as a cyberpunk sci-fi heist novel, and it definitely is that. I found the story to be interesting enough to finish the book, but I wasn't hooked or feeling suspenseful like a heist novel usually would inspire. I liked the overall themes, loved the ace/lesbian representation, and most of the characters were enjoyable. My biggest grievance was that I want heists to be action packed and suspenseful, but this one read more like a Lifetime or Hallmark movie. Everything goes smoothly essentially the whole time and everyone is one big happy family at the end. I just found it to be a bit boring. There were so many interesting sub-plots that I would have loved to see the author dive into more, but unfortunately the main story line was just kind of meh for me personally. It's not a bad book by any means, just not necessarily for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 stars.

I’m not a massive sci-fi reader, but I liked the idea of the Hawaiian culture and setting in this context. However, my lack of investment in the genre, plus the snail’s-pacing of the book ‘meant my attention flagged. The characters were also not particularly interesting.

This is a hard one to rate because I loved the heist itself and the heist team and the Hawaiian culture and influence on the characters. However, the pacing really worked against it.

The heist didn’t actually start until about 40% in, and as such, we didn’t get to spend much time with any of the heist crew. Sara, Duke, and Nakano in particular get shafted by this. Also we don’t get to see anything good about Angel at all so Edie’s constant moral dilemma about following her or telling her to fuck off doesn’t land - we really could have used Andie here to build that background, but Andie was really only used to give Edie something to lose (ie the other moral dilemma).

The heist itself was tense and well-plotted, giving us a lot of choke points and brief victories. It reminded me of how much I loved the show Leverage.

I had deeply mixed feelings about this book. There's a lot to love about it, but at the same time I think that certain elements would have translated better on-screen or in a longer format, and the central "romance" was not compelling.

The good:
-The setting was well described and vivid. It leans on some classic sci-fi tropes (e.g. literal higher and lower classes), but by also weaving in specific and more personal elements like the main characters' Hawaiian cultural context and language, the author brought detail and life to what can be a very standard backdrop.
-Edie's character and journey as an individual are very powerful. I was rooting for them the whole way, even when I couldn't understand their fixation on Angel.
-Family dynamics - loved this so much! I really felt the love between Edie and Andie, and their ties with others like Cy.

I wanted more of:
-The rest of the crew - this is where I think watching a story in TV or movie form gives an advantage, because a good actor can give even a side character with minimal screen time a lot of personality. It's harder to do that in text, and I really wanted more of the other members of the crew so I could better understand how they all came to think of each other as family.
-Feeling the drama and tension of the heist itself. This book suffered a bit in comparison to a couple of remarkably well described plotting books I read recently, but honestly I think heisting is very difficult to pull off in text. I would say ultimately this element was decent but not outstanding.

I could have done without:
-Edie and Angel's romance. I don't object to the idea of them getting together eventually, but I didn't feel like the ending this story gave them was really earned.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC.

Very interesting! Sapphic lovers-to-enemies-to-????. The atmosphere was unique and not too overwhelming (coming from a person who tends to avoid sci-fi). I really liked the main characters and the dialogue between them. The world is thoroughly developed although there are some confusing moments. LGBTQ cyber-punk meets money heist with hints of Six of Crows.

That being said, I don’t think I am the target audience for this book. I loved aspects but felt like parts were a little childish. If the **light smut*** was removed, I think this would be a young adult book. Obviously no problem with YA but just not what I expected. Very fun and lighthearted (ish) read with A LOT of diversity. Loved the non-binary MC

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5, rounded up to 4

I am always a sucker for a heist story, and Hammajang Luck certainly delivered on that front! And the quirk that really makes this one stand out is the dynamic between Edie, our main character, and Angel Huang. Yamamoto brings the reader through the whole affair like a dance, bringing them closer together, then apart, drawing the reader into their history and the tension between them in a way that had me hooked. More than wanting to know what happened, I wanted to understand Angel through Edie's eyes.

The heist crew was a fun group, though I feel like some of them had more depth than others. It's hard to write a whole group of interesting criminals that the reader wants to root for, so I'm perhaps more forgiving due to my soft spot for heists than other readers might be. The pacing lagged in a couple places, and the ending felt a bit rushed and TOO neatly tied up in places, which is why even though I was going to give this a solid 4, I dropped it to a 3.5 right at the end. The world-building was good; if you would normally shy away from science and tech-heavy scifi settings, HL is a relatively safer pick in that regard. The Hawai'ian cultural influences feel natural and add a colorful filter to an otherwise box-standard, near-future scifi setting.

I haven't read Gideon the Ninth, so I'm not sure if it's a good comp, but Ocean's 8 and Blade Runner feel like accurate comps. I would argue that using Ocean's 11 would be fine too, since not everyone on the crew is a woman, but that's probably a nitpick on my part.

This has all trappings of an exciting, heart warming story - a heist with a found family. I was really intrigued by the set up and I loved that the main character was in their late 20s and had lived a little bit. However the execution fell a little flat. I couldn’t have been less invested in the romance (I’m not convinced they actually like each other) and was only marginally more interested in a majority of the side characters. What kept me reading to the end was the MC’s family and how that dynamic played out.

Thank you Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

I was so delighted to be selected for an ARC of Hammajang Luck!

Set in the mid 2100s, this fast paced heist novel is part of a universe where a Jeff Bezos level villain has taken over almost every industry on New Earth. A complicated and lovable group of criminal plans to take down the company and walk away with 125 billion credits…each. Of course, that is if they can forgive one another for their past transgressions.

I strongly reccomend picking this book up once it comes out in January 2025!

🏷️ #aapireads #netgalleyarc #heistnovels #hammajangluck

Hammajang Luck is a heist book that is less about the heist than about the characters conducting it. I loved the butch and femme representation, and felt very connected to the characters, especially Duke and Nakano, the grifter couple. I cared about Edie even if I didn't understand some of their choices, and I adored the subversion of the butch martyr trope. Where this book fell a bit flat to me was the heist itself and the worldbuilding, which started out very strong but later felt like it could be any near-future city, with the space element fading out of relevance. Part of this is due to real-world tech catching up (I know several people with RFID implants). Calling a heist book formulaic is like complaining that water is wet, though--that's part of the fun of the genre--so I still highly recommend it! You'll fall in love with at least one character, guaranteed.

Hammajang Luck is a novel set in the sprawling cyberpunk society of Kepler Space Station in a future when humans have established themselves all over the galaxy. Edie, the main character, receives an unexpected gift: a chance at early parole, an opportunity to go home to Kepler, see their family, and restart their life. Except their ex, Angel, is waiting outside the prison with an offer almost impossible to refuse: one last job; one last heist; one last run, and the chance to truly live beyond the walls of prison.

The heist aspect of this novel is what drew me in, but I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by everything else I found, too. A cast of really cool, interesting characters who run the gamut from hacker to runner to mastermind to ingenue all set against the backdrop of the working class struggle. Edie and their friend Cy are both trans characters whose gender diversity is central to their personhood but not so much to the plot; in other words, they are trans, and they are partaking in a heist. I also love the Hawaiian future-punk pidgin that crops up here and there in the book; a little reminiscent of The Expanse in a lot of ways but with its own unique twist. The heist itself is well written and the execution kept me intrigued, as did the exploration of Edie's relationships with their sister and family, with friends both old and new, and ultimately with Angel, the now successful ex who sold them out and sent them to prison in the first place.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for this eARC!

This book promises to be a queer, cyberpunk Ocean’s Eleven, and that is exactly what you get, plus some. It is confident, has a strong and engaging voice, and is a lot of fun to experience.

The story itself is not incredibly original. Our main character emerges from prison, has the promise of one last job to rule them all, and then we get to watch them assemble a motley crew as they plan a heist against a despicable antagonist who you feel good rooting against. The villain isn’t a casino magnate but instead an absurdly wealthy tech CEO that is a cross between Elon Musk and Bryan Johnson, but otherwise the overarching plot is pretty much what you would expect, including the occasional wrench in the plans and the eventual outcome.

However, what makes this story stand out from the crowd is not just the cyberpunk futuristic setting of a colonized space station that is ravaged by wealth inequality and corporate, capitalist greed, but the characters at the center of the story and the pure love for those characters that the story carries within itself. We have a number of queer characters, including trans representation, but that is hardly the most interesting thing about them. In this timeline their gender and sexual identities aren’t any sort of point of contention, it isn’t a single locus of conflict in the story, and yet the author still manages to celebrate their diversity and make it a meaningful part of their identity. More importantly is the love for Hawai’i and the cultural communities and families that come from the island. The characters’ cultural sentiments and outlooks, as well as their language patterns, are incredibly specific. This specificity drives this story, accentuated by immersive and skilled dialogue that switches between Pidgin and mainland English from one paragraph to the next depending on which characters are in conversation. The queer/Pacific Islander/cyberpunk works really well to make something unique and fun. Our main character, Edie, is at the center of the story. This is what helps distinguish the story from other heist stories, because they are more than a simpler suave thief, they have an intimate personal life and a deep love for family, a family we spend a lot of time with. Their characters feel genuine and complicated and really well-rounded, and they set this story apart.

The writing and pacing were consistently strong, and the secondary characters were also interesting, though they more or less fit into expected archetypes. This kind of is to be expected with a large-cast heist story, but attention was given to some of them to flesh them out a little more, make sure the audience had something more to grab onto with each of them, and I appreciated that. The story was familiar, and almost expected, at least if you’re a fan of the genre, but that gave it a very cozy kind of feeling. I knew what to expect of the plot, so I was free to focus on other details, like characters, and so on. I would have liked a few surprises, along the way, and it would have been nice to have spent a little more time with some of the other crew members, to fill out those characters a little more. In addition the ideas, about what we are willing to do for those we love and how what it means to make something out of nothing when the odds are stacked against you, they are perfectly lovely and they do support the story, but they are also a little simple and easy, and I wouldn’t have minded if they had a little more heft to them, a few more thorns or complications. Those are the main reasons for only 3.5 stars, because I felt like the rich tapestry of this world--the culture and this group of characters—had so much to offer and while what we got was incredibly fun, it held the promise of more. Still, though, a really good time. It had me smiling the whole time, and I enjoyed spending time in the world and didn’t want to put it down. It isn’t particularly complicated or genre-breaking, but it has great representation, has strong writing, and is definitely fun.

(Rounded up from 3.5)

I want to thank the author, the publisher Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.