I have to preface this review by saying that this is a good book, I am just the wrong reader for this book or I was in the wrong mindset which is just as likely.

While I do not always read blurbs or reviews ahead of reading a book for fear of spoilers in case of this one I should have done so. It might either have prevented me from reading this or giving me a better set of expectations.

I saw this filed under space-opera and both cover and title also suggest the genre. Which is misleading. It might take place in space (kind-of) and the title is reminiscent of space-opera but it is not. Not really. I think I‘d file this as feminist-military-space-bio-punk-exploration if such a genre existed.

Feminist: not sure about this part but there is not a single male in this book and it‘s not a trick of pronouns either, just no males, but lots of often-pregnant women (how they get pregnant without males remains a mystery though)

Military: a lot of this is about soldiers, battles and war. But the military element is later subsumed into the exploration and it only plays a major role at the start and end of the book. So... maybe not.

Space: there are space battles and space-„ships“ but generally not a lot of space, just like the military element

Bio: everything is made of bio-mass. Metal is rare. Everything is recycled - yes humans are recycled. The whole world is alive here and I would put this as the major genre element that one should know about. It is slightly reminiscent of an Octavia Butler story I once read from the [b: Xenogenesis|60929|Dawn (Xenogenesis, #1)|Octavia E. Butler|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388290339s/60929.jpg|1008111] series, but ... slightly. For the longest time I was wondering if the whole legion was some kind of metaphor for a human body, and the people being just cells...

Punk: it‘s not shiny, but dirty, slimy, angry and dark, both the world and the story. If you want shiny, utopian joy: this is not it. Everything is dying, or already dead and rotting.

Exploration: a major part of the story is spent by one of the two protagonists exploring the world/ship.

The story is certainly unique and the writing style is good. However, besides wanting/expecting to read something more space-opera, I have a major gripe with the plot and characters.

The story has two protagonists Zan and Jayd Katazyrna who are introduced to the reader as sisters who live on the Katazyrna world/ship, and we get to read the story from each of the POVs for half the book. But Zan has lost her memory and never really regains it and Jayd keeps referencing the mysterious plan the two of them made to „save the legion“ without ever really telling what it is. The book manages to keep the reader in the dark for most of the story, only giving out the most mysterious of clues and then tries for a big revealing ending. While I like reveals, I find it telling when the story has to resort to memory loss tropes to pull it off.

Add to this that Jayd is a cruel, untrustworthy, opportunistic, cold schemer and that even Zan is anything but a hero or a character I wanted to sympathize with. It takes until about 80% for me to start rooting for at least Zan to succeed.

The ending is good, the pace there is fast and Zan turns into a hero at last. But the big reveals aren‘t as big as I would wish after the whole setup and the mysteries created by the memory loss made me stumble through the first half of the book. When Zan is exploring the „lower levels“ of the world, that should be interesting but this is the middle of the book and the pacing is still off. Throughout the book, I am not anticipating stuff to happen just stuff to be explained and that really is not a plot at all then, or is it?

So if you enjoy elements of exploration, extensive world-building and bio-punk and don’t mind the dark and dreary sliminess of the world, this book offers a rather unique premise and is well-written. But if you are looking for a shiny fast-paced space-opera... this is not it.