SI CLARKE reviewed Seven Devils by Laura Lam
Review of 'Seven Devils' on 'Goodreads'
I don't know how to rate this book, so I'm not going to.
Clo is a gifted mechanic who's tired of being kicked around. Eris is a soldier who's tired of killing. The Tholosian Empire is a merciless, brutal regime controlling half the galaxy – emphasis on the controlling. The Oracle is an AI that speaks directly to people's minds, telling them what to do, what to think, how to be. Clo and Eris are part of the resistance.
The universe-building in this story is phenomenal. The world the women inhabit is nothing like our own (on the surface at least). But it is intense. The world is exquisitely built – but it's a lot. There's so much to establish that it sometimes gets in the way of the story.
The characters – and there are five at the heart of this story – are all flawed, multi-dimensional, and wonderful.
The story is fascinating and intricate. Though, again, it sometimes gets lost in the world-building.
The pace is break-neck – except when it reverses to give the reader a view of the past. Expect literary whiplash.
The ending… What the frack is that? I get that the authors are setting up for a sequel – but I expect some things to be resolved. I expect each book to exist on its own, at least to a degree. To end the book just when absolutely everything that can possibly go wrong has seems cruel.