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Emily Tesh: Some Desperate Glory (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom) 4 stars

All her life Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of …

Dark but not heavy

5 stars

This book really stuck with me after reading it. I had to stop reading it before bed because I would stay up too late reading it, which is a trait I cherish in a book and is also hard to pull off in a book with such heavy themes -- brainwashing, abuse, reproductive coercion, war,.... And the characters were so well articulated. I really live for books where characters seem like actual humans who are capable of being really truly horrible to each other and also capable of kindness and growth.

replied to AndreasD's status

@AndreasD I have read it, I really loved them both but I found them quite different and hard to compare. I see surface similarities, but Tesh's book felt more about trauma and interpersonal relationships less about politics, whereas A Memory Called Empire shines when it's describing far future civilization more broadly and speculating about alien life more philosophically? Both great, just very different vibe for me.