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

When I was younger, I absolutely loved reading. I would always be borrowing books from my school and local library, I would read Darren Shan books in a day because I’d do nothing else, I received the English award at my 8th grade graduation because I would write the most extensive book reports (especially if I had enjoyed it), and it was even a running joke in my high school theatre class that I would go to the library every weekend. Sure, some may have called me a nerd, but reading for pleasure was never something I was ashamed of. Books teleported me to fantastical lands with fierce beasts and ruthless rulers when I needed to fully escape reality, or served to show me that happy endings are a possibility when my pessimism set in.

Though it seems as though when I needed the most distraction and all the positivity I could get, aka when I was at college, those fantastical lands were traded unfairly for calculus, chemistry, and biology textbooks. Happy endings slowly seemed to get farther and farther away. Besides my first semester, when I was enrolled in an introduction to science fiction class to fulfill a school requirement, I hardly found time to sleep and eat let alone pick up a book for pleasure. My roommate was an English major, and while I do not envy her sleepless nights writing and re-writing papers and preparing for in-depth class discussions, some of the books she was required to read intrigued me. I know it doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, but sometimes not being able to just drop what I was doing, snuggle up under my covers, and fall asleep with my glasses on reading a good book upset me, even though I knew this was only temporary.

Even after I had graduated, I still couldn’t celebrate my four-year break from books with a readathon just yet. The week after graduation I started an internship at a lab (that would later become my place of employment) and I had to study for the most important test of my life. And while I was no longer expected to sit through 8am classes or complete homework assignments, from July 1st to August 24th, 2018, my nose was buried deep in notes to help me pass the test that would determine if the last two years of my life were worth it. No pressure. So as soon as I hit the submit button and saw the word “pass” on my computer screen, do you know what the first thing I thought I would do when I got home? Take a nap. But do you know the second thing that came to mind? Read a book.

I made it my new years resolution in 2019 to read more, to explore how my reading tastes have changed over the years and rediscover a passion that has faded a bit in the past few years. I even treated myself and bought a Kindle for Christmas. So far, my reading year has been pretty successful; I’ve read almost 50 books already and it’s only the middle of June. I’m also planning to participate in a pretty big readathon in July, which would add another sizable amount to read pile. All in all, I’m really happy that reading has become a more important part of my life again. I can’t wait to look back on everything I’ve read in 2019 at the end of the year and see if I fall back in love with any old favorites, or if some new players will gain the spot on the top of my list.