We could always use a little SF in our lives and I’ve got a post featuring some fun ones to end 2023. I feel like there’s always a perfect SF read for you and if you love SF or are looking for the one, then keep reading! I’m featuring mini reviews of Under This Forgetful Sky, Stars, Hide Your Fires, and Kingdom of Without.
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Under This Forgetful Sky by Lauren
Sixteen-year-old Rumi Sabzwari has spent his entire life behind the armored walls of St. Iago, which protect citizens of the Union of Upper Cities from the outside world’s environmental devastation. But when rebels infect his father with a fatal virus, Rumi escapes St. Iago, desperate to find a cure.
In the ruined city of Paraíso, Rumi meets fifteen-year-old Paz, who agrees to guide him on his journey. As they travel together, Rumi finds himself drawn to Paz—and behind her tough exterior, she begins to feel the same way. But Paz knows more about Rumi’s father’s illness than she’s saying and has her own agenda. With the powerful forces at play in their cities putting them at odds, can the two learn to trust in each other—enough to imagine a different world?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Under This Forgetful Sky underscores how so many stories start off with fear. With citizens who are living in such different worlds on the side of arbitrary walls. For fans of dystopias and rebellions, Under This Forgetful Sky has to be your next read. With no easy answers, it’s a story about violence, resistance, and freedom. About wondering if violence always begets other violence and where does peace lie? The horrors of what we are willing to do, only to even the score.
Within the pages, Under This Forgetful Sky illustrates how it is all connected in a game of betrayal, ‘diplomacy’, and double agents. How leaders in power systems care about the power. And in this world of the power of love, fear, forgiveness, and anger, where does our power lie? Find Under This Forgetful Sky on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best
As an expert thief from a minor moon, Cass knows a good mark when she sees one. The emperor’s ball is her chance to steal a fortune for herself, her ailing father, and her scrappy crew of thieves and market vendors.
Her plan is simple:
1. Hitch a ride to the planet of Ouris, the dazzling heart of the empire.
2. Sneak onto the imperial palace station to attend the emperor’s ball.
3. Steal from the rich, the royal, and the insufferable.
But on the station, things quickly go awry. When the emperor is found dead, everyone in the palace is a suspect—and someone is setting Cass up to take the fall. To clear her name, Cass must work with an unlikely ally: a gorgeous and mysterious rebel with her own reasons for being on the station. Together, they unravel a secret that could change the fate of the empire.
Review
Stars, Hide Your Fears is 100% a book I picked up just because I saw that Natalie Naudus was the narrator. I am a huge fan of Naudus as a narrator and will listen to basically anything and everything she narrates. And Naudus does such a phenomenal job at bringing the charm, the wit, and the fear. It doesn’t hurt that this YA SF delivers a Knives Out science fiction heist story. Stars, Hide Your Fears begins by examining the classes and political ramifications. With the galaxy hanging in the balance, Stars, Hide Your Fears blends mystery, science fiction, heists, and romance.
This queer science fiction story mixes characters who believe in a cause and characters who don’t believe in the empire. I’m a sucker for characters who have to persuade someone to see that the empire, the big bad forces we are up against, are not forces without the possibility of change. That we can do something. Find Stars, Hide Your Fears on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, Libro.fm, and Google Play.
Kingdom of Without by Andrea Tang
When Zhong Ning’er takes the job, she expects a smash-and-grab burglary she’s doing to make rent and help out a friend. What she doesn’t expect: a sad-eyed army boy who dreams of insurrection, a former rebel leader trapped inside a secret lab, a group of aspiring revolutionaries who are first collaborators, then compatriots, and then, perhaps, friends.
But this is Beijing, nearly a hundred and fifty years after General Yuan Shikai successfully declared himself emperor in 1915. His descendants rule the country from their seat in the imperial city, their gendarmerie—the Beiyang Army—run the streets, aided by cyborgs and the Brocade Guard. Walls have risen, dividing the city into districts called Rings—nominally only by geography, but in truth by class. Earthquakes devastate the northern farmlands, crops drown in the southern typhoons, and all over the country people are hooked on a drug they call Complacency.
As a Sixth Ring girl who watched previous uprisings crushed brutally by the court, Ning’er isn’t much of an optimist, and she’s certainly no revolutionary. But that might not be up to her—as the stakes get higher, the time for passivity is quickly running out, and she must decide if she wants to sit idly in her cynicism, or embrace the breathless, terrible possibility of hope.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Andrea Tang is an author I associate with unique SF worlds and concepts and Kingdom of Without is no exception. While the Les Mis elements are pretty subtle – you have rebellion and class struggles – Kingdom of Without tells a story about bodies and what we use ours for. It’s about the relationships we have all combined with a found family heist vibe. Kingdom of Without examines who we are behind the masks and personas. And while I enjoyed the bare bones of this, there was just a little bit missing.
For me, I think Kingdom of Without moved just a bit too fast. I know that most of this story relies on this quick pacing to force these questions of trust, betrayal, and rebellion. A story of hope and resistance. Like The Hunger Games it has this vibe of the fact that symbols of resistance, being one, is often pretty thankless. Within the story, the characters are forced to choose between their lives versus the cause, the hope, the escape. And all of this has exactly what I’m always looking for, but because of the pacing I felt like we didn’t get to sink too deeply into it.
To really have to look at the costs of revolution, change, disruption. To feel the stakes sink into us. Maybe I also wanted a bit more introspection and space to also look deeper into the side characters of the heist, but I just wish Kingdom of Without took up a bit more space, fleshed out certain elements I enjoyed and just wanted to see a bit more. That being said, if you love the premise of SF and cyberpunk Les Mis and you like the idea of cynical loners meeting up with a group crew, this is a great fit. Find Kingdom of Without on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.