Reviews

• I agree that women are beautiful and imperialism is bad, but it feels like sections are just copy and pasted to fill out this very flimsy story.

• One of the best novels I’ve read in some time. One of the best endings I’ve ever read. Happy reading

• The book is decent, grimey and very sexual. I find the author knows how to write middles than they do beginnings and ends. It feels unfinished but its still pretty good (WHY IS NEZ ABLE BODIED IN THE COVER THAT PISSES ME OFF.)

• Short but very good book.

• I read this novella as part of my reading of this year's Nebula Award finalists. It's far-future SF narrated by a woman disabled while training to be a fighter pilot for an empire she now opposes. Near the start, I had fun reading this. But as the book progressed, I liked it less well. I found the characters and the situation abrasive, unsoftened by the milk of human kindness. This is likely as intended, but means I am not the right audience for this story. On the plus side, I liked the twistiness of the plot. And there are moments within this that sing, lines that ask to be quoted. For instance, here's a seven-word sentence from chapter 10 that I love: "Time is linear, there's no undoing it." Also on the plus side: I was very glad to see a queer disabled protagonist -- but I wanted to like her more than I ended up doing! On the negative side, I found this unconvincing in various respects. For instance, the ruler of the empire spends scene after scene after scene alone with the untrusted, untrustworthy narrator: not an aide, nor a bodyguard, nor a deputy, nor a servant in sight, nor a mention of them being ordered off-stage. Large numbers of people do appear occasionally, but only when convenient for the story -- a group to cheer on a battle, a group to man the command deck of a spaceship. As a second example, little justification is offered as to why three youngsters conscripted from an inconsequential system all turn up here in plot-pivotal positions. I'm griping because I wasn't swept up in this. If I had been, I'd have either been oblivious or unbothered by these things. Three out of five vengeful stars. About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

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