Hello! I’ve been a bit behind on my arc reviews lately, so here’s one for an exciting sci-fi book I read back in September, but won’t be released until next April. **And as always, the work to support the Black community is not done, whether there is media coverage for it or not, so here is the link to click in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement in any way you can, and thank you to StarlahReads for compiling these resources.**
While scrolling through books being released through Tor / Tor Teen on NetGalley a few months ago, I came across Victories Greater Than Death, a new YA science fiction / fantasy novel written by Charlie Jane Anders. As someone who is still pretty new to the sci-fi genre, I’d say this was pretty easy to get through and by the time the ending sequence came and went I was already intrigued enough for the sequel, which at this point I’ll have to wait a few years for. I’m pretty excited to share my thoughts about it.
Tina has known since she was very young that she was different – after all, she has a rescue beacon that, once activated, will allow the aliens who left her on Earth sixteen years ago to find her again, bring her to space on an adventure of her wildest dreams. The only question: is she ready? With her best friend by her side, a faction of fellow Earthlings, and a crew of a Royal Fleet spaceship, Tina may find that all her preparation may not have been enough.
Again I’ll say as someone who does not often pick up science fiction novels, or particularly books set in space, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I will admit I was a bit confused about some of the plot points and characters, as this book is jammed packed full of action and an array of characters, both human and of varying alien species, but I caught a lot that I missed on a second read-through. A key thing I noticed was that almost every time a character is introduced, their pronouns are stated. This was cery helpful in keeping track of who was being addressed. Additionally, if they are from a new alien species, our narrator, Tina, will also give us some random factoids (as her knowledge from a past life truly makes her the queen of random factoids), which I also thought were fascinating and really helped with world building. Tina was such an interesting and relatable character to read from, because she’s felt so out of place her entire life, and when she finally gets to the one place she’s always known she belongs, she comes up short. Everyone’s expectations, including her own, get the better of her, and she often feels stuck in a rut. There is so much diversity, not only with the plethora of alien species but among the six Earthlings as well. I found the storyline surrounding the history of the Shapers to be extremely fascinating – beings that needed humanoid creatures to excel so they did their best to wipe out as many outliers as possible. What for? What were they planning? It certainly got me curious. And I really liked how the characters of Keziah and Elza, who both had issues in the past regarding parental figures, were able to strive everyday to prove that they are capable of receiving love and using forces other than violence to achieve their goals. I hope there is more character development for them, and the remaining group of Earthlings, in future installments.
There were a few aspects of the novel which I didn’t quite enjoy, but most of them can be chalked up to personal taste. I felt the pacing was a bit off, which might have been due to shorter chapters (there were about 55 in what I’m thinking is a 300-page book). Sometimes I felt that there was so much going on and that the book was trying to accomplish more than it could successfully do within its page count. And the topic of grief is handled in a very interesting way due to a specific way people die – I cannot explain too much without giving away spoilers, but I’m not entirely sure how I felt about it. And similar to my last point, sometimes I felt as though I didn’t have a connection to the characters, so when one would die I couldn’t quite grieve their death in the way I should have.
Overall, I was pretty pleased to find a YA space adventure sci-fi novel that caught my attention. I hadn’t heard of Charlie Jane Anders before finding this book, but now I am even more interesting to take a look at some of her earlier adult work. I can’t wait to see what readers think of Tina and her group of human + alien task force. Victories Greater Than Death will be released on April 13th, 2021, so please consider preordering a copy, because those sales greatly help the author in the long run (and support local indie bookstores, especially in these difficult times – find one near you here), or picking up a copy when it’s finally out in the world. I’m excited to hear what you think. **Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Tor Teen, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Places to find Victories Greater Than Death:
Amazon
Goodreads
Charlie Jane Ander’s Twitter
Macmillan
Thoughts About Things 