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Stargun Messenger #1
Stargun Messenger
Astra Idari is a mess.
She drinks too much, remembers too little, and barely pays for it all as a Stargun Messenger. She hunts down thieves who steal filamentium, the fuel that allows for faster-than-light travel. When Idari meets Gen Emera, she meets the girl of her dreams and the last living star. There’s just one problem.
Filamentium is only found in the blood of living stars.
Everyone wields knives and justifications for butchering the living stars to get around, but once Idari knows the truth, she faces a stark choice. Either she turns Emera over to her employers who control the filamentium monopoly, or risks everything to help Emera fulfill her quest to save her people.
The choice should be simple, but it’s not losing her life that terrifies Idari. It’s finally living. Idari knows she’s human despite outwardly appearing to be an android with a failing memory stitched together by her ship's irascible AI, CR-UX. She’s been just getting by for longer than she remembers, assured in her humanity, but not enough to risk it.
Idari has lived her entire life in darkness. The dark comforts and shields. The dark preserves in its cold, and Idari may not be able to keep her star out of her shadow.
She drinks too much, remembers too little, and barely pays for it all as a Stargun Messenger. She hunts down thieves who steal filamentium, the fuel that allows for faster-than-light travel. When Idari meets Gen Emera, she meets the girl of her dreams and the last living star. There’s just one problem.
Filamentium is only found in the blood of living stars.
Everyone wields knives and justifications for butchering the living stars to get around, but once Idari knows the truth, she faces a stark choice. Either she turns Emera over to her employers who control the filamentium monopoly, or risks everything to help Emera fulfill her quest to save her people.
The choice should be simple, but it’s not losing her life that terrifies Idari. It’s finally living. Idari knows she’s human despite outwardly appearing to be an android with a failing memory stitched together by her ship's irascible AI, CR-UX. She’s been just getting by for longer than she remembers, assured in her humanity, but not enough to risk it.
Idari has lived her entire life in darkness. The dark comforts and shields. The dark preserves in its cold, and Idari may not be able to keep her star out of her shadow.
413 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2023
About the author
Darby Harn
17 books192 followersDarby Harn is the author of the SPSFC quarterfinalist Ever The Hero, which Publisher's Weekly called "an entertaining debut uses superpowers as a metaphor to delve into class politics in an alternate America." His short fiction appears in Strange Horizons, Interzone, Shimmer, and other venues.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 16, 2023
I received this book from Escapist Book Tours, as part of the, you guessed it, book tour! Thank you so much to the tour organizers and the author!
If there’s one book I would compare this to, it’s Nophek Gloss. The story is nowhere near the same, but it shares the same complex and, at times, demanding prose, and dark and gritty tone. While it took me a bit to really get into it, I ended up really enjoying this book and kind of love it.
While the prose isn’t the most approachable - it’s at times verbose and sometimes too lofty - this book has so many unique concepts and plot twists. Of course, those are all spoilers so I can’t get into them, but I promise the novel goes in so many directions you don’t expect. It has a lot of common sci-fi tropes, too, including an A. I wishing to be a human. There’s also a romance, people being exploited by others for monetary gain, time dilation, fun fights, sentient spaceships, and aliens. Lots of aliens.
We also have a badass but emotionally wrecked main character. This is part of why it’s hard to get into the book at first - I felt like the initial action started too quickly before we came to know Idari and cared about her fate, but if we spent too much time with her before the real plot too off we might not have carried on with it. She’s hard to like at first because she’s prickly and depressed and an alcoholic. I understand the latter two aren’t her fault, but it’s a bit of a downer in terms of mood. CR-UX - the AI of her ship - really helps even this out, as he’s hilarious. Crux was my favourite character by far.
After the story gets going, Idari’s main deal, emotionally, is her memory gaps from being a proxy-netic, which is a body that her programming or consciousness (or combination of both, her code, basically) is uploaded into. She’s like a replicant with flash imprints (a favourite trope of mine). If she dies on a job, she simply uploads to a new body from her backup. But if she doesn’t synch to the backup system, whatever she had learned and experienced between synch and death is lost. This makes her feel less than human, which is a major component of her identity issues. It also doesn’t help that others don’t think of her as human either and she gets a lot of mistreatment from that.
The love story is the one area of the novel that was a little bit meh for me. It’s very much insta-love, and I wondered what the two of them had to talk about, given one of them is a literal STAR and the other an android. While I liked both of them, I would have preferred a bigger build-up to their love story.
There are some really cool worlds in the book, as well as space pirates. There’s this great line about proxy-netics, “Usually, rich people bored with their lives, use them to pretend to be other people, which is odd, considering how enamored they are of being themselves.” I laughed at that. I actually laughed a lot, as this book has some moments of comedy, mainly of the absurd variety, that really help to break up some of the seriousness. Lines like, “I’d have better luck finding where I left my common sense.” I mean, I can identify with that.
The prose, as I said at the start, is lofty and verbose at times, almost as if mimicking Idari’s confusion or overload of data in her brain. There are some lovely turns of phrase, though, such as, “The light of dead stars travels forever, chasing immortality as it chases the unattainable horizon of the ever-expanding universe” and “Shadows of moons race across the cloud tops of a gas giant. All periods of sentences in search of a desperate stop.” It sometimes takes a moment to grasp what he means, but if you’re okay with and/or love this kind of wordplay, you will really enjoy this.
What Stargun Messenger is not, though, is a typical sci-fi by any means - it’s an attempt at something deeper than pure entertainment, and the literary fiction lover in me appreciated that quite a bit. It has a bit of an Iain Banks feel, a dash of Samuel Delany, and quite frankly, a book I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did.
Highly recommended!
If there’s one book I would compare this to, it’s Nophek Gloss. The story is nowhere near the same, but it shares the same complex and, at times, demanding prose, and dark and gritty tone. While it took me a bit to really get into it, I ended up really enjoying this book and kind of love it.
While the prose isn’t the most approachable - it’s at times verbose and sometimes too lofty - this book has so many unique concepts and plot twists. Of course, those are all spoilers so I can’t get into them, but I promise the novel goes in so many directions you don’t expect. It has a lot of common sci-fi tropes, too, including an A. I wishing to be a human. There’s also a romance, people being exploited by others for monetary gain, time dilation, fun fights, sentient spaceships, and aliens. Lots of aliens.
We also have a badass but emotionally wrecked main character. This is part of why it’s hard to get into the book at first - I felt like the initial action started too quickly before we came to know Idari and cared about her fate, but if we spent too much time with her before the real plot too off we might not have carried on with it. She’s hard to like at first because she’s prickly and depressed and an alcoholic. I understand the latter two aren’t her fault, but it’s a bit of a downer in terms of mood. CR-UX - the AI of her ship - really helps even this out, as he’s hilarious. Crux was my favourite character by far.
After the story gets going, Idari’s main deal, emotionally, is her memory gaps from being a proxy-netic, which is a body that her programming or consciousness (or combination of both, her code, basically) is uploaded into. She’s like a replicant with flash imprints (a favourite trope of mine). If she dies on a job, she simply uploads to a new body from her backup. But if she doesn’t synch to the backup system, whatever she had learned and experienced between synch and death is lost. This makes her feel less than human, which is a major component of her identity issues. It also doesn’t help that others don’t think of her as human either and she gets a lot of mistreatment from that.
The love story is the one area of the novel that was a little bit meh for me. It’s very much insta-love, and I wondered what the two of them had to talk about, given one of them is a literal STAR and the other an android. While I liked both of them, I would have preferred a bigger build-up to their love story.
There are some really cool worlds in the book, as well as space pirates. There’s this great line about proxy-netics, “Usually, rich people bored with their lives, use them to pretend to be other people, which is odd, considering how enamored they are of being themselves.” I laughed at that. I actually laughed a lot, as this book has some moments of comedy, mainly of the absurd variety, that really help to break up some of the seriousness. Lines like, “I’d have better luck finding where I left my common sense.” I mean, I can identify with that.
The prose, as I said at the start, is lofty and verbose at times, almost as if mimicking Idari’s confusion or overload of data in her brain. There are some lovely turns of phrase, though, such as, “The light of dead stars travels forever, chasing immortality as it chases the unattainable horizon of the ever-expanding universe” and “Shadows of moons race across the cloud tops of a gas giant. All periods of sentences in search of a desperate stop.” It sometimes takes a moment to grasp what he means, but if you’re okay with and/or love this kind of wordplay, you will really enjoy this.
What Stargun Messenger is not, though, is a typical sci-fi by any means - it’s an attempt at something deeper than pure entertainment, and the literary fiction lover in me appreciated that quite a bit. It has a bit of an Iain Banks feel, a dash of Samuel Delany, and quite frankly, a book I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did.
Highly recommended!
May 18, 2023
This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Stargun Messenger
Thank you to Escapist Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book! I voluntarily leave this review!
Idari is an android Stargun Messenger with an AI named CR-UX inhabiting her spaceship. Together they travel the systems chasing down stolen space fuel called filamentium. Until one such heist puts them face to face with a living star named Emera. It’s then they learn the terrible truth about filamentium. It’s made from the blood of stars, and Emera may be the last one. Idari and CR-UX have a choice, turn Emera in and receive the largest reward they’ve ever seen, or help her reach the one place where Emera can save her dying race.
The dynamics between Idari and CR-UX are sure to entertain any reader. CR-UX is like an extension of Idari’s conscience and is constantly urging her to make what it deems are the correct decisions. And Idari is quick to shoot CR-UX down and sarcastically reply to the AI’s logic. And as the story progresses, so too does their relationship to one another. While they create a wonderful atmosphere of sarcastic humor, they’ll also latch onto the reader’s heart as well.
And then there is Idari’s battle with her self-image and humanity. As an android, she’s able to back up copies of herself, but would a copy truly be Idari? Memory space is finite and CR-UX is constantly picking which memories to keep for her. But what truly makes a person human? Is it the memories they carry? Their actions? The body they wear? Emera’s journey forces Idari to confront her inner feelings and identity. The path to Idari’s self-discovery is messy and filled with poor choices, but each choice helps solidify who Idari is as a person.
The backdrop of space travel and visiting distant planets accompanies the characters. And Darby Harn does a fantastic job showing the wide array of settings and races in the universe. My favorites were Gilf and Kibir, brother Kibuts who traveled for a time with Idari and crew. They spoke in their native tongue, but there was no need for a translation. The writing was cleverly built to allow readers to understand them with both dialogue queues and reactions from the characters.
Stargun Messenger is a book for readers who enjoy space heists and exploring the concept of what makes us human. There’s also a dash of romance and complicated relationships, where not everything is entirely as it seems. Space opera sci-fi readers, give this one a try.
Thank you to Escapist Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book! I voluntarily leave this review!
Idari is an android Stargun Messenger with an AI named CR-UX inhabiting her spaceship. Together they travel the systems chasing down stolen space fuel called filamentium. Until one such heist puts them face to face with a living star named Emera. It’s then they learn the terrible truth about filamentium. It’s made from the blood of stars, and Emera may be the last one. Idari and CR-UX have a choice, turn Emera in and receive the largest reward they’ve ever seen, or help her reach the one place where Emera can save her dying race.
The dynamics between Idari and CR-UX are sure to entertain any reader. CR-UX is like an extension of Idari’s conscience and is constantly urging her to make what it deems are the correct decisions. And Idari is quick to shoot CR-UX down and sarcastically reply to the AI’s logic. And as the story progresses, so too does their relationship to one another. While they create a wonderful atmosphere of sarcastic humor, they’ll also latch onto the reader’s heart as well.
And then there is Idari’s battle with her self-image and humanity. As an android, she’s able to back up copies of herself, but would a copy truly be Idari? Memory space is finite and CR-UX is constantly picking which memories to keep for her. But what truly makes a person human? Is it the memories they carry? Their actions? The body they wear? Emera’s journey forces Idari to confront her inner feelings and identity. The path to Idari’s self-discovery is messy and filled with poor choices, but each choice helps solidify who Idari is as a person.
The backdrop of space travel and visiting distant planets accompanies the characters. And Darby Harn does a fantastic job showing the wide array of settings and races in the universe. My favorites were Gilf and Kibir, brother Kibuts who traveled for a time with Idari and crew. They spoke in their native tongue, but there was no need for a translation. The writing was cleverly built to allow readers to understand them with both dialogue queues and reactions from the characters.
Stargun Messenger is a book for readers who enjoy space heists and exploring the concept of what makes us human. There’s also a dash of romance and complicated relationships, where not everything is entirely as it seems. Space opera sci-fi readers, give this one a try.
Read
January 18, 2024[This review can also be found on my BLOG]
**I read this book as a judge for the third annual Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), this review is solely my own and does not reflect the opinions of the whole team**
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, murder, death, confinement, transphobia, alcoholism
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Being a space opera this was the book that I was looking forward to the most in my lot but unfortunately I found it to be my hardest read predominantly because I didn’t get on with the writing style.
It follows Astra Idari, an android with a faulty memory who is going through an identity crisis. Her role as a Stargun Messenger (the title for bounty hunters in this universe) often has her recovering Filamentium – a fuel for faster-than-light travel – from thieves however, one particular job has her crossing paths and falling in love with Gen Emera, the last living star. This chance meeting also uncovers a sinister truth about Filamentium and her employers, putting Idari at a crossroads of choosing between her head or her heart.
Now don’t get me wrong Harn’s prose is beautiful. However, I found that it clashed with all the intricacies of the worldbuilding and character work and when the plot progressed onto the wider conflict within the story I found myself more confused than anything else.
The pacing is quick and engaging but action scenes are super chaotic or over within a few sentences and I was finding it difficult to fully follow how we were getting from one point to another. There is also a fair bit of backstory and jargon constantly being thrown at you that isn’t always fully explained. It just made the worldbuilding overall feel very disconnected to me and though the descriptions of specific settings were great none of it felt particularly distinct. Plus scattered throughout the book are these data sheets which contain details about stuff like social hierarchies and society and I think it may have helped if they had maybe been there for reference from the beginning.
Some of the elements of the book that I did really enjoy though had a lot to do with the characters, who were an interesting bunch. I was particularly intrigued by all the commentary around personhood since Idari has this inner conflict about her humanity and sense of self since she has a mechanical body but regards herself as human. (She also shares her mind with her ship’s AI which further adds to this.
The dynamic between the AI, CR-UX and Idari was great but the fault memory side of things did mean there was a lot of back and forth and their conversations started feeling a little repetitive. Lastly I’m all for a bit of romance in Sci-Fi but I can rarely get myself fully invested when insta-love it involved.
There were some good final twists but I’ve got to admit that I ended up skimming a lot towards the end so sadly this one wasn’t for me.
**I read this book as a judge for the third annual Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC), this review is solely my own and does not reflect the opinions of the whole team**
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, murder, death, confinement, transphobia, alcoholism
--
Being a space opera this was the book that I was looking forward to the most in my lot but unfortunately I found it to be my hardest read predominantly because I didn’t get on with the writing style.
It follows Astra Idari, an android with a faulty memory who is going through an identity crisis. Her role as a Stargun Messenger (the title for bounty hunters in this universe) often has her recovering Filamentium – a fuel for faster-than-light travel – from thieves however, one particular job has her crossing paths and falling in love with Gen Emera, the last living star. This chance meeting also uncovers a sinister truth about Filamentium and her employers, putting Idari at a crossroads of choosing between her head or her heart.
Now don’t get me wrong Harn’s prose is beautiful. However, I found that it clashed with all the intricacies of the worldbuilding and character work and when the plot progressed onto the wider conflict within the story I found myself more confused than anything else.
The pacing is quick and engaging but action scenes are super chaotic or over within a few sentences and I was finding it difficult to fully follow how we were getting from one point to another. There is also a fair bit of backstory and jargon constantly being thrown at you that isn’t always fully explained. It just made the worldbuilding overall feel very disconnected to me and though the descriptions of specific settings were great none of it felt particularly distinct. Plus scattered throughout the book are these data sheets which contain details about stuff like social hierarchies and society and I think it may have helped if they had maybe been there for reference from the beginning.
Some of the elements of the book that I did really enjoy though had a lot to do with the characters, who were an interesting bunch. I was particularly intrigued by all the commentary around personhood since Idari has this inner conflict about her humanity and sense of self since she has a mechanical body but regards herself as human. (She also shares her mind with her ship’s AI which further adds to this.
The dynamic between the AI, CR-UX and Idari was great but the fault memory side of things did mean there was a lot of back and forth and their conversations started feeling a little repetitive. Lastly I’m all for a bit of romance in Sci-Fi but I can rarely get myself fully invested when insta-love it involved.
There were some good final twists but I’ve got to admit that I ended up skimming a lot towards the end so sadly this one wasn’t for me.
April 5, 2023
I'm giving this fast-paced space adventure a 4.5/5!
Reality, memory, and time are slippery things for the main character Astra Idari, a netic who takes on jobs as a stargun for hire. Her mechanical body is at constant odds with her sense of humanity, and even though she tries to cut herself off from her past, parts of it seep through. Not helping is CR-UX, her ship's AI and the voice in her head, a familiar presence that she can't live with but can't live without. But when Emera, a living star on the run from those who would use her blood for fuel, enters Idari's life, Idari faces a life-changing choice: turn her in for the paycheck, or help Emera save her people from annihilation.
With a vivid, space-sprawling epic style reminiscent of Samuel R. Delany, Harn creates a unique cyclical narrative that brings Idari's destructive habits and yearning for a better life to the surface. The setting is always changing, the action sequences are punchy, and the slippery dream-like sense of reality readily pulls the reader into the exact moment of the story. And with each encounter, Idari learns a little bit more about who she is and what she wants for her future. But can a netic become fully human?
It took me a couple of chapters to find the rhythm of the book, but Harn's style is so imaginative that it was worth the little bit of extra work. Ultimately, Idari's struggle to fully become who she is and her relationship with CR-UX kept me engaged in the story right until the end. There are incredible set pieces throughout, a loveable untrustworthy pirate, a sapphic love story, and introspective themes about identity and belonging. Highly recommended for science fiction fans who are looking for a fresh take on the space opera genre!
Reality, memory, and time are slippery things for the main character Astra Idari, a netic who takes on jobs as a stargun for hire. Her mechanical body is at constant odds with her sense of humanity, and even though she tries to cut herself off from her past, parts of it seep through. Not helping is CR-UX, her ship's AI and the voice in her head, a familiar presence that she can't live with but can't live without. But when Emera, a living star on the run from those who would use her blood for fuel, enters Idari's life, Idari faces a life-changing choice: turn her in for the paycheck, or help Emera save her people from annihilation.
With a vivid, space-sprawling epic style reminiscent of Samuel R. Delany, Harn creates a unique cyclical narrative that brings Idari's destructive habits and yearning for a better life to the surface. The setting is always changing, the action sequences are punchy, and the slippery dream-like sense of reality readily pulls the reader into the exact moment of the story. And with each encounter, Idari learns a little bit more about who she is and what she wants for her future. But can a netic become fully human?
It took me a couple of chapters to find the rhythm of the book, but Harn's style is so imaginative that it was worth the little bit of extra work. Ultimately, Idari's struggle to fully become who she is and her relationship with CR-UX kept me engaged in the story right until the end. There are incredible set pieces throughout, a loveable untrustworthy pirate, a sapphic love story, and introspective themes about identity and belonging. Highly recommended for science fiction fans who are looking for a fresh take on the space opera genre!
June 29, 2023
Review originally published on Jamreads
Stargun Messenger is the first book in the eponym space opera series, written by Darby Harn. Space Opera is one of my favourite subgenres in science fiction, so picking this book was kinda a no-brainer, but I didn't expect to be so emotionally destroyed at the end of this book, a story that revolves around the nature of our identities.
Our main character, Astra Idari, is a mess; she works as Stargun Messenger, trying to recover Filamentium (a sort of fuel for faster-than-light travel) from thieves that steal it, barely being able to pay for all the drink she consumes to deal with life. She's an android, but she feels like a human for some reason, bringing even more problems to her.
But when Idari meets Gen Emera, the last of the stars and a girl that appears in her dreams, she discovers the awful truth about the origin of Filamentium; it is got from the blood of stars. Idari has two options: bring Emera to her employers, or risk her life to help Emera in her quest.
A choice that will unleash a torrent of thoughts inside Idari, shattering her own beliefs; Astra believes her to be a human, despite her android origin. Now that she's living up to her own ideas, risking all to help Emera can break everything; her failing memory stitched by the help of CRUX, the AI of her ship, is a difficult-to-deal problem for Astra.
With this cast of characters, Harn has created a beautiful space opera that mixes a compelling story with a cast of characters showing the great spectrum of the multiple problems that can appear trying to conciliate your identity with your own body: Astra is the best example of this, especially if you add to the mix she being a neurodivergent character. Without entering to spoil the story, the origins of Astra were extremely impactful.
If you like space operas focused around characters, you will certainly love Stargun Messenger. Harn has shown his ability to create a character-driven story with big stakes included, and can't wait to see what more adventures Idari lives.
Stargun Messenger is the first book in the eponym space opera series, written by Darby Harn. Space Opera is one of my favourite subgenres in science fiction, so picking this book was kinda a no-brainer, but I didn't expect to be so emotionally destroyed at the end of this book, a story that revolves around the nature of our identities.
Our main character, Astra Idari, is a mess; she works as Stargun Messenger, trying to recover Filamentium (a sort of fuel for faster-than-light travel) from thieves that steal it, barely being able to pay for all the drink she consumes to deal with life. She's an android, but she feels like a human for some reason, bringing even more problems to her.
But when Idari meets Gen Emera, the last of the stars and a girl that appears in her dreams, she discovers the awful truth about the origin of Filamentium; it is got from the blood of stars. Idari has two options: bring Emera to her employers, or risk her life to help Emera in her quest.
A choice that will unleash a torrent of thoughts inside Idari, shattering her own beliefs; Astra believes her to be a human, despite her android origin. Now that she's living up to her own ideas, risking all to help Emera can break everything; her failing memory stitched by the help of CRUX, the AI of her ship, is a difficult-to-deal problem for Astra.
With this cast of characters, Harn has created a beautiful space opera that mixes a compelling story with a cast of characters showing the great spectrum of the multiple problems that can appear trying to conciliate your identity with your own body: Astra is the best example of this, especially if you add to the mix she being a neurodivergent character. Without entering to spoil the story, the origins of Astra were extremely impactful.
If you like space operas focused around characters, you will certainly love Stargun Messenger. Harn has shown his ability to create a character-driven story with big stakes included, and can't wait to see what more adventures Idari lives.
February 5, 2024
To start with, the concept of this book is really cool. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers here, so in generalizations: I love the idea of living stars. I am fascinated by how a society would work if you can take someone's name—and take over their life—when you defeat (read: kill) them. And I adore snarky AI characters. There's so much in Stargun Messenger that works really well for me.
However, there's also some stuff that doesn't work for me personally. For starters, Astra Idari is a very unreliable narrator, which is a trope that doesn't usually work for me. Between her memory getting deleted to make space for more back-ups, CR-UX not always telling her everything (and Idari forgetting some of what CR-UX does tell her), and bouts of forgetfulness brought on by drinking binges, it's really hard to be sure when someone is lying vs. when Idari just forgot something. And that's another thing that I didn't really go for much: Idari drinks a lot, often with the goal of getting blackout drunk. I'm not against drinking and getting drunk, either in real life or fiction. But Idari takes it to the extreme and I got uncomfortable with it before reaching the halfway point of the book.
Luckily, before I got too uncomfortable with the drinking, the fun-but-sometimes-strange plot took a turn for the even more confusing. I enjoyed the weirdness, and the pacing worked well to give me breathing spaces between action scenes to try to figure out just what was going on, but I have to admit that the story lost me somewhere out in the desert and it took me a while to get my bearings. Dialogue tags were also few and sometimes far between, so I wasn't always clear who was speaking. I did wonder after a while if that was intentional, since it was mostly during the non-verbal sections between Idari and CR-UX or Emera when I was confused about who was speaking. If that was done on purpose, it worked quite well, though it was still frustrating.
I think my favorite aspect of this book was all the discussion about humanity and identity. There were a lot of quotes that I highlighted, especially once Idari started commenting on the Pujar religion. I don't want to go into details because of spoilers, but I greatly enjoyed the way this book blends science fiction with philosophy. There were some not-quite-twist reveals that I enjoyed a lot as well, whether or not I saw them coming. Most of my favorite parts of the book started around the halfway mark, though, and so they ALL involve spoilers. I'm glad I didn't get annoyed enough with Idari's excessive focus on drink to stop reading the book, because I really liked where this story went.
Overall, I think this is a good read and I do recommend that you check it out if it sounds interesting to you, especially if you enjoy unreliable narrators. Just be prepared to spend a chunk of the book confused about what's going on and you should be fine.
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I read this book as a judge for the 3rd Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), and while I was provided a review copy for judging purposes I read the book using the version available on Kindle Unlimited. My opinions are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of my SPSFC3 team or the competition as a whole.
However, there's also some stuff that doesn't work for me personally. For starters, Astra Idari is a very unreliable narrator, which is a trope that doesn't usually work for me. Between her memory getting deleted to make space for more back-ups, CR-UX not always telling her everything (and Idari forgetting some of what CR-UX does tell her), and bouts of forgetfulness brought on by drinking binges, it's really hard to be sure when someone is lying vs. when Idari just forgot something. And that's another thing that I didn't really go for much: Idari drinks a lot, often with the goal of getting blackout drunk. I'm not against drinking and getting drunk, either in real life or fiction. But Idari takes it to the extreme and I got uncomfortable with it before reaching the halfway point of the book.
Luckily, before I got too uncomfortable with the drinking, the fun-but-sometimes-strange plot took a turn for the even more confusing. I enjoyed the weirdness, and the pacing worked well to give me breathing spaces between action scenes to try to figure out just what was going on, but I have to admit that the story lost me somewhere out in the desert and it took me a while to get my bearings. Dialogue tags were also few and sometimes far between, so I wasn't always clear who was speaking. I did wonder after a while if that was intentional, since it was mostly during the non-verbal sections between Idari and CR-UX or Emera when I was confused about who was speaking. If that was done on purpose, it worked quite well, though it was still frustrating.
I think my favorite aspect of this book was all the discussion about humanity and identity. There were a lot of quotes that I highlighted, especially once Idari started commenting on the Pujar religion. I don't want to go into details because of spoilers, but I greatly enjoyed the way this book blends science fiction with philosophy. There were some not-quite-twist reveals that I enjoyed a lot as well, whether or not I saw them coming. Most of my favorite parts of the book started around the halfway mark, though, and so they ALL involve spoilers. I'm glad I didn't get annoyed enough with Idari's excessive focus on drink to stop reading the book, because I really liked where this story went.
Overall, I think this is a good read and I do recommend that you check it out if it sounds interesting to you, especially if you enjoy unreliable narrators. Just be prepared to spend a chunk of the book confused about what's going on and you should be fine.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I read this book as a judge for the 3rd Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), and while I was provided a review copy for judging purposes I read the book using the version available on Kindle Unlimited. My opinions are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of my SPSFC3 team or the competition as a whole.
April 9, 2023
Overall, I enjoyed the characters and plot in this book, but found the writing lacking in some areas. While the story was engaging and had me hooked from beginning to end, I felt like there were some gaps in explanation when it came to the characters' travels and escapes. The author seemed to skip over important transitions and left me wanting more details about how they managed to traverse light years and evade danger. Despite these flaws, I would still recommend this book to others who enjoy sci-fi adventures.
January 22, 2024
What an absolutely impossible-to-review book! :D I'm struggling so, uh, bear with me here. I'm gonna be honest and I hope I am allowed to.
I came for the snarky android and the cool space opera but I stayed for the existential crisis. Even though it took me until 40% to get used to this book. It was very hard to parse when I was first thrown into it, and I was scrambling a bit. I felt like the style, the plot, and the characters were all working against each other in frustrating ways, not letting me properly relate and understand (this kinda stayed that way the whole time). It was half-forgotten world-building, thrown together phrases as exposition without much detail and context, dialogues where the two sides barely even seemed to connect, and poetic language that was amazing but also obscured action heavily. And Astra Idari who is a robot woman of frustrating contradictions herself. But at that point there were finally a few scenes that kinda brought it together. It was a great moment. Which then promptly fell apart again when we barrelled ahead into the next impossible adventure. Then it came together again to kinda shatter again. The ending is satisfying, though, on many levels.
It was a lot. This book is not simple. Not easy. Even aggravating, sometimes! I don't regret for a moment that I read it, though.
My favourite parts were all about Idari and CR-UX. Their relationship, their crises and how they go through them together but also, separately, was so powerful. When I grasped the deepest depths of it, it was very, very relatable and...sad, while hopeful. That aspect alone was worth it.
Also, the blurb says Astra Idari is a mess but let me just say, Gen Emera is a mess. My goodness. Any chance to see the events of this book from her perspective, I'd go for it in a sec. Her storyline is very...anime. x) Bonkers, impossible, and sometimes coming from nowhere (I still don't think I entirely understand how everything worked and sometimes even what exactly happened). This was the part (her story and the love between her and Idari) where I felt everything working against what the author was trying to do with the character the most. It came together in the end, sort of, but I wish I could have related much earlier. I see what it was going for, though. And I honestly loved it. As ridiculous as it got sometimes. That was part of it, too. The Fun Pew Pew Space Opera never outweighed the melancholy this whole book was radiating, though.
So yeah. Don't expect an easy-to-read sci-fi romp, but also, I think it's absolutely worth to try whether it's your thing. Because if it is, you're gonna love it a lot and get something special out of it.
I came for the snarky android and the cool space opera but I stayed for the existential crisis. Even though it took me until 40% to get used to this book. It was very hard to parse when I was first thrown into it, and I was scrambling a bit. I felt like the style, the plot, and the characters were all working against each other in frustrating ways, not letting me properly relate and understand (this kinda stayed that way the whole time). It was half-forgotten world-building, thrown together phrases as exposition without much detail and context, dialogues where the two sides barely even seemed to connect, and poetic language that was amazing but also obscured action heavily. And Astra Idari who is a robot woman of frustrating contradictions herself. But at that point there were finally a few scenes that kinda brought it together. It was a great moment. Which then promptly fell apart again when we barrelled ahead into the next impossible adventure. Then it came together again to kinda shatter again. The ending is satisfying, though, on many levels.
It was a lot. This book is not simple. Not easy. Even aggravating, sometimes! I don't regret for a moment that I read it, though.
My favourite parts were all about Idari and CR-UX. Their relationship, their crises and how they go through them together but also, separately, was so powerful. When I grasped the deepest depths of it, it was very, very relatable and...sad, while hopeful. That aspect alone was worth it.
Also, the blurb says Astra Idari is a mess but let me just say, Gen Emera is a mess. My goodness. Any chance to see the events of this book from her perspective, I'd go for it in a sec. Her storyline is very...anime. x) Bonkers, impossible, and sometimes coming from nowhere (I still don't think I entirely understand how everything worked and sometimes even what exactly happened). This was the part (her story and the love between her and Idari) where I felt everything working against what the author was trying to do with the character the most. It came together in the end, sort of, but I wish I could have related much earlier. I see what it was going for, though. And I honestly loved it. As ridiculous as it got sometimes. That was part of it, too. The Fun Pew Pew Space Opera never outweighed the melancholy this whole book was radiating, though.
So yeah. Don't expect an easy-to-read sci-fi romp, but also, I think it's absolutely worth to try whether it's your thing. Because if it is, you're gonna love it a lot and get something special out of it.
May 20, 2023
🌟🌟🌟🌟✨️
𝘈𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘐𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯-𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘎𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘢, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.
𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴.
One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its world-building. Darby Harn has created a richly detailed universe filled with diverse planets, species, and cultures. Each world feels unique and realistic, with its own history, politics, and societal norms. The author's attention to detail is evident in every aspect, from the futuristic technology to the intricate interplay between different factions. The immersive world-building creates a sense of wonder and discovery, making it easy to lose oneself in the story.
Beyond the thrilling plot, Stargun Messenger explores deeper themes that resonate with readers. The novel delves into the consequences of choice, the weight of responsibility, and the search for redemption. Plus, queer representation so its a 💕 big plus
If there is one minor critique of Stargun Messenger, it would be that the ending feels slightly rushed. After a meticulously paced build-up, the final resolution comes together a bit too quickly. However, this does not significantly detract from the overall reading experience, and the book's strengths more than make up for this minor flaw
Thank you @escapistbookco @darbywritesbooks for an copy of this book in exhange for a review 🌟💕
𝘈𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢 𝘐𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳-𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯-𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘎𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘢, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.
𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴.
One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its world-building. Darby Harn has created a richly detailed universe filled with diverse planets, species, and cultures. Each world feels unique and realistic, with its own history, politics, and societal norms. The author's attention to detail is evident in every aspect, from the futuristic technology to the intricate interplay between different factions. The immersive world-building creates a sense of wonder and discovery, making it easy to lose oneself in the story.
Beyond the thrilling plot, Stargun Messenger explores deeper themes that resonate with readers. The novel delves into the consequences of choice, the weight of responsibility, and the search for redemption. Plus, queer representation so its a 💕 big plus
If there is one minor critique of Stargun Messenger, it would be that the ending feels slightly rushed. After a meticulously paced build-up, the final resolution comes together a bit too quickly. However, this does not significantly detract from the overall reading experience, and the book's strengths more than make up for this minor flaw
Thank you @escapistbookco @darbywritesbooks for an copy of this book in exhange for a review 🌟💕
Read
May 21, 2023 "ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴏ ɪ ᴀᴍ. ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ. ɪ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ...ɪ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs...ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴄᴏɴᴠɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴs ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ. ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ᴍᴇ. ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ."
Despite enjoying various genres and my eternal love for Fantasy and SFF, one thing that I subconsciously avoided was space opera. I read probably one book long back. I don't know. But I don't read it often.
Stargun Messenger was exactly what I stay away from. But being the crazy person I am. I am diving into stuffs I never have before. Be it wrestling or space opera.
It does have challenges. If you're someone like me, you won't instantly feel comfortable and that's okay. It takes time but you slowly grow.
While starting my writing journey, I had a friend to whom I would rush with all the problems. He would guide me and told me to develop a alter ego for my character. The story is long scrapped but the idea and lesson remained. We go through something distinctly different and similar. Our character, Astra Idari gave me that feeling.
The emotional impact was a huge hit. I love how Idari battled with things. Not just physically but mentally especially. The issues like humanity, self-image, self- conciousness; everything was just perfect.
My take on Romance is being a way too subjective these days but apart from that, I'm so glad I read this book, that I gave this book a chance because I ended up questioning a few things around and ponder over concepts of humanity.
Thank you to author @darbywritesbooks and @escapistbookco for the copy.
Despite enjoying various genres and my eternal love for Fantasy and SFF, one thing that I subconsciously avoided was space opera. I read probably one book long back. I don't know. But I don't read it often.
Stargun Messenger was exactly what I stay away from. But being the crazy person I am. I am diving into stuffs I never have before. Be it wrestling or space opera.
It does have challenges. If you're someone like me, you won't instantly feel comfortable and that's okay. It takes time but you slowly grow.
While starting my writing journey, I had a friend to whom I would rush with all the problems. He would guide me and told me to develop a alter ego for my character. The story is long scrapped but the idea and lesson remained. We go through something distinctly different and similar. Our character, Astra Idari gave me that feeling.
The emotional impact was a huge hit. I love how Idari battled with things. Not just physically but mentally especially. The issues like humanity, self-image, self- conciousness; everything was just perfect.
My take on Romance is being a way too subjective these days but apart from that, I'm so glad I read this book, that I gave this book a chance because I ended up questioning a few things around and ponder over concepts of humanity.
Thank you to author @darbywritesbooks and @escapistbookco for the copy.
October 9, 2023
I picked up this book almost entirely because of the review JamReads (https://jamreads.com/reviews/stargun-...), which is excellent and you should read if you are thinking about picking up this book. I was honestly kind of lost at times with what was happening. Living stars through me and I had at times had a hard time picturing the action, the characters and the general setting. Maybe that's just the way I read.
But here the thing... it didn't matter that much. This is so much a story about identity, discovering yourself, and loyalty to others. The character work, particularly with Astra Idari and CR-UX, is magnificent. There are layers to what is going on and the author does a great job building on them. I predicted one of those character twists pretty early, but I'd say that's because it made sense it the way the author was writing the book. It's not so much a "twist" as a character complication that is well set up and defines the novel.
The minor character work is also good, with complicated antagonists (and side characters) Idari must interact with and deal with. The a story of love and self discovery and its very well told. This is very different from many stories I've read, but a worthy choice if you're looking for great descriptive writing, and exemplary character work.
But here the thing... it didn't matter that much. This is so much a story about identity, discovering yourself, and loyalty to others. The character work, particularly with Astra Idari and CR-UX, is magnificent. There are layers to what is going on and the author does a great job building on them. I predicted one of those character twists pretty early, but I'd say that's because it made sense it the way the author was writing the book. It's not so much a "twist" as a character complication that is well set up and defines the novel.
The minor character work is also good, with complicated antagonists (and side characters) Idari must interact with and deal with. The a story of love and self discovery and its very well told. This is very different from many stories I've read, but a worthy choice if you're looking for great descriptive writing, and exemplary character work.
November 14, 2023
I read this as a member of a judging team for the third annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), where it is a quarterfinalist.
Stargun Messenger opens with an android trying to find her bearings after losing her memory. Apparently, it happens a lot, and plays a major role in the running theme of memory, identity, and what makes someone human. It’s an ambitious and interesting theme, not always clear, but delivering some truly poignant moments.
But all of the interesting identity exploration is embedded within an epic plot with magic stars and dark armies from beyond the edge of the universe, and I didn’t find myself getting on so well with the overarching plot. It was at times hard to get a handle on key details, like just what sorts of magic were available, and how difficult it would be to navigate the space quest. There were some epic battles and staggering vistas that made me feel like the story was designed for a movie screen, with some of the details getting lost in a purely print narrative.
So overall, my feelings are somewhat mixed. The sentence-level prose flowed very nicely, and the main character journey was good. But the struggle to grasp the main plot made it hard to stay invested for the entirety.
First impression: 10/20. Full review and SPSFC score to come at www.tarvolon.com
Stargun Messenger opens with an android trying to find her bearings after losing her memory. Apparently, it happens a lot, and plays a major role in the running theme of memory, identity, and what makes someone human. It’s an ambitious and interesting theme, not always clear, but delivering some truly poignant moments.
But all of the interesting identity exploration is embedded within an epic plot with magic stars and dark armies from beyond the edge of the universe, and I didn’t find myself getting on so well with the overarching plot. It was at times hard to get a handle on key details, like just what sorts of magic were available, and how difficult it would be to navigate the space quest. There were some epic battles and staggering vistas that made me feel like the story was designed for a movie screen, with some of the details getting lost in a purely print narrative.
So overall, my feelings are somewhat mixed. The sentence-level prose flowed very nicely, and the main character journey was good. But the struggle to grasp the main plot made it hard to stay invested for the entirety.
First impression: 10/20. Full review and SPSFC score to come at www.tarvolon.com
August 26, 2023
I love the concept of the book. The character build up of Idari is fantastic, I love how we had a good idea early on in the story of who this character was along side her internal conscience/software CR-UX. Now that was a bit confusing at the beginning. Being able to tell there was a conversation between Idari and CR-UX, it's not written in the typical way I'm used to reading conversations. Once I noticed the format I had to go back a couple pages and I was able to get the hang of things.
Now, this is NOT a quick read in my opinion. There's a lot going on in the story at time where if you quickly go through the page you might miss details and feel lost for a moment. Sometimes I went back to find there was something of value I missed, most times I went back to find nothing constructive and that's my main criticism of the book. Al though I found it to be a fun read and very interesting concept I had to drag myself through many parts with what I found to be unnecessary conversations and details that could have otherwise been directed to leading the reader through the scene.
Now, this is NOT a quick read in my opinion. There's a lot going on in the story at time where if you quickly go through the page you might miss details and feel lost for a moment. Sometimes I went back to find there was something of value I missed, most times I went back to find nothing constructive and that's my main criticism of the book. Al though I found it to be a fun read and very interesting concept I had to drag myself through many parts with what I found to be unnecessary conversations and details that could have otherwise been directed to leading the reader through the scene.
October 31, 2024
Dnf at ~30%. I really, really wanted to love this, but I just don't. The word building is wonderful and I love the concept of the characters. The intro had me so excited!
But the narrative is difficult. It's either *so* introspective that I get lost in the muddle or it's 100% dialogue and I don't know what they're all alluding to and there's absolutely no thoughts from the mc to explain it. I can't follow what's going on and my tbr is too long to muddle through something I'm more puzzled about than enjoying.
The aesthetics of this book are amazing. If it was a comic or just a series of art pieces, I'd be in head first. But as words on a page, I'm lost. Which sucks. Because I really wanted to love this.
But the narrative is difficult. It's either *so* introspective that I get lost in the muddle or it's 100% dialogue and I don't know what they're all alluding to and there's absolutely no thoughts from the mc to explain it. I can't follow what's going on and my tbr is too long to muddle through something I'm more puzzled about than enjoying.
The aesthetics of this book are amazing. If it was a comic or just a series of art pieces, I'd be in head first. But as words on a page, I'm lost. Which sucks. Because I really wanted to love this.
November 4, 2023
Sharp, witty and whirl-wind paced
This book. This. Book. Idari and the characters she’s touched in her many lives as she evolves only remembering echoes of her incomplete past, Darby Harn paints them all masterfully. These are folks you want to drink with even though you know it will end in a galactic bar fight, folks who make you whole, even though they’re badly broken. A breakneck adventure on a galactic scale where darkness seems insurmountable, but stubborn hope prevails. An incredible examination of humanity in the face of pervasive evil. Epic battles, wit so sharp it cuts, massive alien landscapes. Stargun Messenger understands the assignment and then some.
This book. This. Book. Idari and the characters she’s touched in her many lives as she evolves only remembering echoes of her incomplete past, Darby Harn paints them all masterfully. These are folks you want to drink with even though you know it will end in a galactic bar fight, folks who make you whole, even though they’re badly broken. A breakneck adventure on a galactic scale where darkness seems insurmountable, but stubborn hope prevails. An incredible examination of humanity in the face of pervasive evil. Epic battles, wit so sharp it cuts, massive alien landscapes. Stargun Messenger understands the assignment and then some.
March 8, 2025
A great start, shaky middle, and a very boring/tough to get through 40%.
I found this book repetitive and the romance a bit lacking. Idari and CR-UX and Binja are great, the antagonists not so much, and Emera.. ehhh.
the designs of the characters, especially Emera, are great, but execution lacking. Plot seems formless at times, then overly complex at others. A lot of work needing to be done here.
The prose is very beautiful at times and some scenes will stick with me for a long time, but overall this one fell flat and I feel sad, I wanted to love this one. I was in love for about 30%.
I found this book repetitive and the romance a bit lacking. Idari and CR-UX and Binja are great, the antagonists not so much, and Emera.. ehhh.
the designs of the characters, especially Emera, are great, but execution lacking. Plot seems formless at times, then overly complex at others. A lot of work needing to be done here.
The prose is very beautiful at times and some scenes will stick with me for a long time, but overall this one fell flat and I feel sad, I wanted to love this one. I was in love for about 30%.
September 16, 2024
For me a breath of fresh air in the world of classical science fiction. I love the writing style, the characters, the inclusivity, the mix between emotions and actions.
I did have to reread some passages because the author jumped a bit too fast through the story for me to follow.
But I just hated having to read that last page because then I would have to let go and I wanted to stay in the orbit of Idari.
I did have to reread some passages because the author jumped a bit too fast through the story for me to follow.
But I just hated having to read that last page because then I would have to let go and I wanted to stay in the orbit of Idari.
September 12, 2026
"Someone should have told you. You steal nothing from the shadows but darkness."
This story grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. It is incredibly immersive, catapulting you to the stars and leaving you longing for more. The story is well constructed, the world-building is fantastic, and it made me realize I need a CR-UX in my life.
Also, Darby writes women like he IS a woman, which is a rare skill. There is no cliché, just a wonderfully written story. 10/10
This story grabs you and doesn't let go until the very end. It is incredibly immersive, catapulting you to the stars and leaving you longing for more. The story is well constructed, the world-building is fantastic, and it made me realize I need a CR-UX in my life.
Also, Darby writes women like he IS a woman, which is a rare skill. There is no cliché, just a wonderfully written story. 10/10
November 15, 2023
The fast-paced story and characters kept me engaged throughout the entire book. The beginning felt a bit murky with being thrown into the story, it was hard at first to fully be immersed in the setting and world of the story, but that issue soon faded. It is rare that I read sci-fi, but I found this to be a very worthy exception to my usual tastes.
September 2, 2026
I found this book at first to be confusing, but as I read more I became very intrigued by it. Now I’m gonna read the sequel.
October 13, 2023
I'll be honest here. The blurb didn't captivate me. But the book now! It was the best read of my lot and I'm so glad I got to read it. The character of Idari and her struggles with the dichotomy between her machine body and human heart is something that I found compelling. The snarky conversations she has with CR-UX are entertaining and the feelings she develops for Emera are as confusing as they are real.
I'm not a fan of insta love in fiction. Insta lust is more understandable, but love? Nope. Still, the way it was written, I barely noticed it till I had finished the book and thought about it. Idari's feelings for Emera at first are more than mere love. It's the awe of finding a living star, and something almost bordering on reverence. It morphs into love almost as quickly, but it is never untouched by that awe and reverence.
I found the side characters well fleshed out as well, and the overall plot was cohesive and well balanced. The prose was lush and flowing and very very beautiful. This is not an easy read or a short read, but it is a worthwhile read.
The different races and the world itself is fleshed out well, but there are no lengthy narrations. It's a deft hand that the author has and I admire their restraint.
There is nothing about this book I didn't love. If you love space operas, sci fi adventures, complex philosophical ruminations (which are buried under liquor and snark), and suprises galore which are foreshadowed with the lightest of touches, believable and memorable characters and great world building, this could be the book for you.
I'm not a fan of insta love in fiction. Insta lust is more understandable, but love? Nope. Still, the way it was written, I barely noticed it till I had finished the book and thought about it. Idari's feelings for Emera at first are more than mere love. It's the awe of finding a living star, and something almost bordering on reverence. It morphs into love almost as quickly, but it is never untouched by that awe and reverence.
I found the side characters well fleshed out as well, and the overall plot was cohesive and well balanced. The prose was lush and flowing and very very beautiful. This is not an easy read or a short read, but it is a worthwhile read.
The different races and the world itself is fleshed out well, but there are no lengthy narrations. It's a deft hand that the author has and I admire their restraint.
There is nothing about this book I didn't love. If you love space operas, sci fi adventures, complex philosophical ruminations (which are buried under liquor and snark), and suprises galore which are foreshadowed with the lightest of touches, believable and memorable characters and great world building, this could be the book for you.
July 28, 2023
There is SO much amazingness packed into this book — so much that it almost felt like too much, and often garbled by unnecessary jargon. The writing style was incredibly unique and beautiful, but in some places it made it very difficult to discern what was actually happening and the action got swallowed up by confusing verbiage. I don't think this falls into the "space opera" subgenre I thought it did, because it's definitely not an easy read.
Most compelling was Idari's internal plight regarding self-image and humanity — am I human? am I not? — but it never really came to a satisfying conclusion, even for a first book in a series. I wanted to know why she struggled with her concept of self, yet there was never quite a tangibility to it and the repetition of her struggles eventually just annoyed me.
However, the banter between characters (especially CR-UX and Idari) was fabulous, the lesbianness spectacular, and the telepathic communications wonderful. I enjoyed the worldbuilding, though some of it felt unnecessary, and the writing style again impeded the "realness" of the world. I didn't know what anything/anyone looked like or where we were most of the time . . . I sort of just imagined a fractal crystalline universe, lol.
Overall, I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did, and I skimmed a lot, but it was an intriguing read, and for free it was a steal!
Most compelling was Idari's internal plight regarding self-image and humanity — am I human? am I not? — but it never really came to a satisfying conclusion, even for a first book in a series. I wanted to know why she struggled with her concept of self, yet there was never quite a tangibility to it and the repetition of her struggles eventually just annoyed me.
However, the banter between characters (especially CR-UX and Idari) was fabulous, the lesbianness spectacular, and the telepathic communications wonderful. I enjoyed the worldbuilding, though some of it felt unnecessary, and the writing style again impeded the "realness" of the world. I didn't know what anything/anyone looked like or where we were most of the time . . . I sort of just imagined a fractal crystalline universe, lol.
Overall, I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did, and I skimmed a lot, but it was an intriguing read, and for free it was a steal!
April 21, 2023
2.5 A fun sci-fi adventure, Idari is a spunky protagonist, there's amusing back and forth between chararcters, insta-love happens but it's okay because they are lesbians, and interesting groups and conflicts are introduced.
Personally, I felt that the writing didn't provide a strong sense of space/setting for the events that were taking place and overall there needed to be more worldbuilding and exposition.
Though there were really cool concepts, it often felt like the grand far-reaching things explained didn't have any weight in this world outside of the scenes that they were explained in. Similarly, for the massive existential questions addressed here (primarily what makes you 'human'), there was a slight lack of dimension that additional chapters from idaris past could have provided.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc x
Personally, I felt that the writing didn't provide a strong sense of space/setting for the events that were taking place and overall there needed to be more worldbuilding and exposition.
Though there were really cool concepts, it often felt like the grand far-reaching things explained didn't have any weight in this world outside of the scenes that they were explained in. Similarly, for the massive existential questions addressed here (primarily what makes you 'human'), there was a slight lack of dimension that additional chapters from idaris past could have provided.
Thanks to netgalley for the arc x
March 26, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. Unfortunately I DNF’ed the book at 20%. The story follows a sentient robot with a second sentience within her brain. She drinks constantly and makes poor choices at every turn. I feel like she’s supposed to come off as a female Han Solo type but instead of fun and kinda hot in a rogue-ish way she just comes across as sad. The idea of her second sentience watching her sexual exploits is cringeworthy especially because it doesn’t seem like she’s up front about it. Overall I fell like the author used more sci-fi sounding terminology than world building. Overall the story felt weird and a little cringey.
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