Synopsis
First Sister has no name and no voice. As a priestess of the Sisterhood, she travels the stars alongside the soldiers of Earth and Mars—the same ones who own the rights to her body and soul. When her former captain abandons her, First Sister’s hopes for freedom are dashed when she is forced to stay on her ship with no friends, no power, and a new captain—Saito Ren—whom she knows nothing about. She is commanded to spy on Captain Ren by the Sisterhood, but soon discovers that working for the war effort is so much harder to do when you’re falling in love.
Lito val Lucius climbed his way out of the slums to become an elite soldier of Venus, but was defeated in combat by none other than Saito Ren, resulting in the disappearance of his partner, Hiro. When Lito learns that Hiro is both alive and a traitor to the cause, he now has a shot at redemption: track down and kill his former partner. But when he discovers recordings that Hiro secretly made, Lito’s own allegiances are put to the test. Ultimately, he must decide between following orders and following his heart.
The Bad
A. Expectation that it came from it being pitched as The Handmaids Tale and the premise that it would be more of a commentary. Also, there was an expectation/hope that it would be a more dystopian world.
-How the overall story went bothers me because this has such a interesting premise and could’ve gone off on gender/sexuality and done so much.
-It put into perspective a thought that has been needling for awhile which is how we deal with “timely” issues = my issue is not that authors are dealing with sexuality, gender, or other “timely”. Is it done well? How is it done? What are they saying? Those are my questions.
I kept thinking other authors have or are currently writing about the things that are supposed to be addressed in this book in more compelling, thoughtful, deeper ways.
B. Generic science fiction – it just felt very generic.
-It had all the average scifi beats and did not distinguish itself in terms of the world. Neither did it have compelling characters. I kept feeling for awhile that there was other experiences/characters that would have been more interesting to follow.
C. Never connected or got interested in the story possibly because it felt like the story never started in a way. It is a first book so everything could have been like a prelude.
– Telling not showing- another reason why I could have felt story never started. Did it have the flow of a story?
D. The romance- it felt at times that the telling (not showing) of romance was taking over the story.
The Meh
There was genuine surprises here and there but I was not excited about them.
Thoughts
-Stories that have matriarch/female deity at the head of pantheon that still oppresses women specifically (I’ve been seeing a lot of stories that has this and its not commented on or explored) while I was reading the story I wondered how the conversation about sexual assault, sexism, and more would change with having female at the helm of things. (I’m getting more excited about possibility of exploring this than the story I actually read…)
Recommendations
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Do You Dream of Terra Two? by Temi Oh
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
*None of these stories deal with sexuality/gender from my recollection but deal with different issues in a compelling way (The Best of All Possible Worlds has a non-binary character if I am not mistaken). Dark Orbit and The Best of All Possible Worlds has interesting worlds*
(all images and the synopsis are from goodreads)
*I won this book in a giveaway from Saga on Goodreads*
themollyweather 