Some Desperate Glory

Dee 📖 (book aspect) reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Some Desperate Glory

5 stars

On the surface, this may seem like military SF, but really, it's more about trauma, and radicalization, and cults, and personal growth. It's well-written, too. When following the perspective of an initially angry teenager as she then changes as a person, it is possible to lay things on too thick, but Tesh manages to do it just right.

This sort of shifting perspective also makes the worldbuilding of the setting interesting. The view of the novel's world is colored by the characters' biases, and how those biases shift, and those shifts play a role in the overall plot. The overall plot is perhaps a bit of the standard SF fare, but the way it is told through the arcs of the characters involved is what makes it compelling.

This book stands out in both its approach to the kind of plot and setting it employs, and also in doing what …

On the surface, this may seem like military SF, but really, it's more about trauma, and radicalization, and cults, and personal growth. It's well-written, too. When following the perspective of an initially angry teenager as she then changes as a person, it is possible to lay things on too thick, but Tesh manages to do it just right.

This sort of shifting perspective also makes the worldbuilding of the setting interesting. The view of the novel's world is colored by the characters' biases, and how those biases shift, and those shifts play a role in the overall plot. The overall plot is perhaps a bit of the standard SF fare, but the way it is told through the arcs of the characters involved is what makes it compelling.

This book stands out in both its approach to the kind of plot and setting it employs, and also in doing what other SF novels may attempt to do, but in this case doing it exceptionally well.

Flippin' 'Eck, Reader reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

A gripping modern space opera

5 stars

What happens if you take the classic space opera format -- soldiers! weapons! aliens! humanity fighting for its very survival! -- and give it a queer, feminist, 21st century twist? You get Some Desperate Glory, that's what.

The book manages to walk the tightrope of combining hard sci-fi themes with social science fiction, and manages to pull it off in style.

(Minor spoilers ahead)

The primary character, Kyr, is a teenage soldier in the vein of Starship Troopers or Ender's Game, brought up from birth to be one of humanity's last living soldiers on a secret base where the few remaining humans have their resistance movement. So far, so expected.

But as the book progresses we see Kyr's black-and-white view of the world gradually peeled back and altered as she gains access to other, hidden and banned points of view.

Without going into too much spoilery detail, over the course …

What happens if you take the classic space opera format -- soldiers! weapons! aliens! humanity fighting for its very survival! -- and give it a queer, feminist, 21st century twist? You get Some Desperate Glory, that's what.

The book manages to walk the tightrope of combining hard sci-fi themes with social science fiction, and manages to pull it off in style.

(Minor spoilers ahead)

The primary character, Kyr, is a teenage soldier in the vein of Starship Troopers or Ender's Game, brought up from birth to be one of humanity's last living soldiers on a secret base where the few remaining humans have their resistance movement. So far, so expected.

But as the book progresses we see Kyr's black-and-white view of the world gradually peeled back and altered as she gains access to other, hidden and banned points of view.

Without going into too much spoilery detail, over the course of the book's 500-or-so pages we accompany Kyr on this journey of discovery and it's a fast, exciting, scary and emotional ride. The characters are well written and believable and although the plot occasionally becomes convoluted, it's well worth persevering.

73pctGeek reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Started with a bang, but fizzled out for me

3 stars

At first, I was very taken with this and thoroughly enjoyed a good chunk of it. However, at a certain point the narrative veers into a type of sci-fi I don't enjoy, and it became a slog to finish. Though well written, interesting and with well drawn characters, once the pivot happened I simply lost interest and found the rest of the book slow and long-winded. Regardless of how I felt about the book as a whole I also found the ending disappointing.

Astigmatic from Books reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

An Antifascist Masterpiece

5 stars

From time to time, humanity is gifted the formation of a writer of such unimaginable capability and spirit that their work may reorient our past and reshape our future. Science fiction has had no shortage of such writers: Verne, Asimov, Le Guin, to name only a few — and now Tesh.

While this is her debut novel, it is obvious that Emily Tesh has refined her craft for much longer than the writing of one novel. This book is a finely-wrought masterwork with the precision and efficiency of Traviss, the soul and insight of Le Guin, and a creativity and compassion all her own. I cannot wait to delve into her prior work and to see what she creates next.

Heed the content warning at the beginning of this book, though it's not as bad as it could be. But if you have any interest in antifascist military sci-fi, in …

From time to time, humanity is gifted the formation of a writer of such unimaginable capability and spirit that their work may reorient our past and reshape our future. Science fiction has had no shortage of such writers: Verne, Asimov, Le Guin, to name only a few — and now Tesh.

While this is her debut novel, it is obvious that Emily Tesh has refined her craft for much longer than the writing of one novel. This book is a finely-wrought masterwork with the precision and efficiency of Traviss, the soul and insight of Le Guin, and a creativity and compassion all her own. I cannot wait to delve into her prior work and to see what she creates next.

Heed the content warning at the beginning of this book, though it's not as bad as it could be. But if you have any interest in antifascist military sci-fi, in what it means to fight injustice in a hopeless world, or just a good damn book, give it a read.

And if, by some twist of fate, Emily Tesh ever reads this review: thank you. I didn't even realize there was still a Gaea inside me, and now I know what to do about it.

settingshadow reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Review of 'Some Desperate Glory' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This was excellent -- just a really solid example of good science fiction. I loved the character growth for Kyr, and the space that the book made for characters to be nuanced and make mistakes because of past trauma without excusing bad decisions.

The book really benefitted from genre awareness and using that to build and then subvert expectations. I, in particular, liked how the dystopian doomsday preppers in outer space, such a common genre, turned out to be a fascist cult led by a charismatic leader with strong analogies to modern religious doomsday prepper cults.

It reads quickly and easily, but left me with a lot to think about and touched on a lot of relevant topics.

Balise reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Review of 'Some Desperate Glory' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Gaaah, this is a hard one to review, and I'm probably rounding up. I mostly liked it, but I don't remember getting that amount of "tell me you're not going there :heartbreak: oh no you are definitely going there :plot twist: YOU'RE NOT GOING THERE :hurray:!" in a single book. Which was, you know, an interesting mix of nice and infuriating :D

Will reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Good, but not great

4 stars

The first half of this book reads like a very predictable standard space opera, then it takes a turn for the wild. There are a lot of great ideas here, and my only criticism is that the pacing in the second half was awkward. Tesh rushed through some segments that could have used more detail, yet lingered on other parts way too long.

satanicguava reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

1/2 of an incredible book, 1/2 of a very good book

5 stars

navigates complexity in a propulsive and heartwrenching manner. the first half asks important questions that don't have answers, and then the second decides there are in fact earnest and hopeful answers after all. felt a little twee, but i adored these characters and felt so strongly for them, and i read this whole thing in one explosive rush. i may not completely vibe with the resolutions given, but i'm engaged and pensive and grateful over the questions being asked. edit: ok its been 24 hours and i bumped it from 4 stars to 5 stars because i'm still chewing this book over and i think i will be for months

finndr reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Review of 'Some Desperate Glory' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I read these 448 pages in 3 days during nanowrimo. 'nuff said.

teamdave reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Review of 'Some Desperate Glory' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

What happens if the AI that runs the galaxy determines that your world would upend the permanent harmony enjoyed everywhere and Earth needs to be expunged?

It's an excellent idea, and I enjoyed the rebel army fighting-for-a-cause-against-impossible-odds angle the book mainly sets itself in. But as David Mitchell said, "Are we the baddies?"

It got a little lost with alternate realities in the middle but brought it all back again with an exciting roller coaster end.

loppear reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Growth from a dark place

4 stars

Incredible pace and a depth of painful experiences that beautifully if implausibly bend towards light and attempting to right wrongs when our characters break loose and are able to reflect. Despite some structural misgivings, I loved everywhere this went.

Eduardo Santiago reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Review of 'Some Desperate Glory' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

You’re almost certainly familiar with Kahneman’s and Fredrickson’s wonderful ice-water experiment (“When More Pain is Preferred to Less”, also called the peak-end rule), the one where victisubjects opted for a longer (90s vs 60s) painful experience if the last few seconds were less painful. I love that result. I’ve found it invaluable for reframing life situations.

This is a 436-page book, of which the first 220 or so pages are excruciating. Oh, how I wanted to toss it away! But I was encouraged to stick with it. I did. And I’m glad.

Halfway through, it took an interesting twist, and yes it was foreshadowed but no, not the directions it took after the midpoint. That was thoughtful, creative, nuanced, suspenseful, engaging, and even sweet; and it just kept getting better. A whole lot of Did Not See That Coming, even when you think you see what’s coming, and damn, I …

You’re almost certainly familiar with Kahneman’s and Fredrickson’s wonderful ice-water experiment (“When More Pain is Preferred to Less”, also called the peak-end rule), the one where victisubjects opted for a longer (90s vs 60s) painful experience if the last few seconds were less painful. I love that result. I’ve found it invaluable for reframing life situations.

This is a 436-page book, of which the first 220 or so pages are excruciating. Oh, how I wanted to toss it away! But I was encouraged to stick with it. I did. And I’m glad.

Halfway through, it took an interesting twist, and yes it was foreshadowed but no, not the directions it took after the midpoint. That was thoughtful, creative, nuanced, suspenseful, engaging, and even sweet; and it just kept getting better. A whole lot of Did Not See That Coming, even when you think you see what’s coming, and damn, I really loved it. Solid 4.5 stars, but rounding down because even with all that praise it was still objectively heavyhanded (I know, it’s YA, I should be more forgiving); because of the eyeroll-worthy dei ex machina and other wildly convenient coincidences; and finally because I can’t objectively be sure if the last half was truly-actually good or if I was swayed by the peak-end rule. What I can say is, I’m really glad to have read this and can highly, highly recommend it but only to those who promise to persevere through the first half. Tesh took a big risk in writing the book that way, and I’m sure it cost her sales and readers. If she decides to go for the adult reader market, I’m looking forward to seeing her future work.

Phil in SF reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Most excellent book

4 stars

This has a whole bunch of elements that i loved, but mostly a great plot and clear character arc. At the start of the book, Kyr is an about-to-graduate cadet on a asteroid bound space station that houses the last few thousands of humanity after an alien civilization has destroyed Earth.

Things are not as they seem, which Kyr finds out by getting assigned to Nursery to bear children for humanity, despite her top scores, and her brother refusing assignment and deserting.

A word of warning that there's some intense cult-like abuse in the pages.

I read this on the recommendation of @charliejane@wandering.shop in her Washington Post column on SF. You should read her columns too.

www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/08/nick-harkaway-bina-shah-moniquill-blackgoose/

mouse reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

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.

Julie R reviewed Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

substantial themes to discuss

5 stars

This will probably be my book of the year choice. I loved the themes and potential discussions in this one, and there's not a whole lot I can say in a review without either spoiling it or setting up a new reader to see things a certain way. I don't want my own biases to influence someone coming to this fresh. I think who you are and what you believe will drastically change how you perceive this book, and that's kind of fantastic to me. I will say, I borrowed this from the library but will be buying a permanent copy to own. I think I'll see and feel different things on subsequent re-reads. I will also say this is a completely different flavor from her fantasy duology.