Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak

Unstoppable #2

by Charlie Jane Anders

From internationally bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) comes the sequel to Victories Greater Than Death in the thrilling adventure Unstoppable series, set against an intergalactic war.

They'll do anything to be the people they were meant to be ― even journey into the heart of evil.

Rachael Townsend is the first artist ever to leave Earth and journey out into the galaxy ― but after an encounter with an alien artifact, she can't make art at all.

Eliza Monteiro is determined to be the first human to venture inside the Palace of Scented Tears and compete for the chance to become a princess ― except that inside the palace, she finds the last person she ever wanted to see again.

Tina Mains is studying at the Royal Space Academy with her friends, but she's not the badass space hero everyone was expecting. Soon Rachael is journeying into a dark void, Elza is on a deadly spy mission, and Tina is facing an impossible choice that could change all her friends lives forever.

Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, LGBT, Queer, Audiobook

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2022

About the author

My latest book is Victories Greater Than Death. Coming in August: Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories.

Previously: All the Birds in the Sky, The City in the Middle of the Night, and a short story collection, Six Months, Three Days, Five Others.

Coming soon: An adult novel, and a short story collection called Even Greater Mistakes.

I used to write for a site called io9.com, and now I write for various places here and there.

I won the Emperor Norton Award, for “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” I've also won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, a William H. Crawford Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, a Locus Award and a Lambda Literary Award.

My stories, essays and journalism have appeared in Wired Magazine, the Boston Review, Conjunctions, Tin House, Slate, MIT Technology Review, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Tor.com, Lightspeed Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, ZYZZYVA, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, 3 AM Magazine, Flurb.net, Monkey Bicycle, Pindeldyboz, Instant City, Broken Pencil, and in tons and tons of anthologies.

I organize Writers With Drinks, which is a monthly reading series here in San Francisco that mashes up a ton of different genres. I co-host a Hugo Award-winning podcast, Our Opinions Are Correct, with Annalee Newitz.

Back in 2007, Annalee and I put out a book of first-person stories by female geeks called She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology and Other Nerdy Stuff. There was a lot of resistance to doing this book, because nobody believed there was a market for writing about female geeks. Also, Annalee and I put out a print magazine called other, which was about pop culture, politics and general weirdness, aimed at people who don’t fit into other categories. To raise money for other magazine, we put on events like a Ballerina Pie Fight – which is just what it sounds like – and a sexy show in a hair salon where people took off their clothes while getting their hair cut.

I used to live in a Buddhist nunnery, when I was a teenager. I love to do karaoke. I eat way too much spicy food. I hug trees and pat stone lions for luck. I talk to myself way too much when I’m working on a story.

Reviews

[Dr. Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rep: white pansexual cis female alien MC, Black Brazilian trans-nonbinary bisexual femme MC, white fat cishet female MC with anxiety, Indian cis female side character in a QPR with a female alien, achillean Black British genderfluid side character, Chinese cishet male side character, queer and nonbinary alien side characters.

CWs: Death, gun violence, murder, injury/injury detail, mental illness (anxiety). Moderate: genocide recounted, war themes, xenophobia, sexual content. Minor: Abandonment.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the sequel to Victories Greater than Death and follows immediately on from events in book 1 with our characters facing a new threat, as well as old enemies. We mainly follow Racheal, Tina and Elza and their friends as they go on their next adventures. Racheal is grappling with the fact she can’t make art anymore (her life’s passion) after her mysterious contact with an alien species. Elza is competing to become a princess and there encounters someone she never wanted to see again. And Tina is studying at the space academy trying to live up to being the hero everyone thinks she is, while facing a very difficult choice.

I had pretty similar feelings on this book as book 1 - it’s a fun sci-fi adventure with some great characters (although they are not all time faves they are very likeable) and I think it would be great for sci-fi beginners. However I don’t think it’s anything super unique or special and doesn’t really stand out to me, it’s the kind of book you enjoy while reading it but then never think about again.

There is a lot of queer rep in this book which is great! I also thought the relationships were cute even if some of the conflicts were a bit rushed. I also thought it was slightly redundant to have the character pronouns in brackets straight after their name is introduced (not verbally, which would have made sense if that’s how characters introduce themselves to each other but it was just in the text which to me was completely pointless as they would just then use the pronouns in the prose so the reader can easily pick them up that way? Idk lol).

Also something else that bugged me a bit was all the pop culture references - after book 1 I thought this was pure sci-fi but in this book at times it felt like reading a contemporary. Like why in this sci-fi space adventure are you taking about Ariana grande T_T

Overall I would recommend this book, especially if you liked the first one. It is well paced and addictive to read with a great found family in space and an entertaining plot.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the second installment within the Unstoppable series. Just like the first book, I absolutely fell in love with everyone's adventures throughout this. I was a little sad that they were on separate ones though for most of this book. Still, everything was completely magical and really fun to enjoy.

I honestly never expect to get so emotional when it comes to Tina, Rachael or Elza. Yet, I always do. Or maybe I just melted into an emotional puddle towards the end of this because so much was going on and I mentally couldn't take it. Either way, I also hoped for the best but expected the absolute worst.

That ending was so freaking good and I'm still not over it. Definitely can't wait for the next book to come out because I really need to know what is going to happen next. Again, I need good news but will probably learn to cope with whatever outcome I get. Seriously so happy that I got the chance to read this and can't wait for Charlie's next space adventure masterpiece!

[Emmalita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I read two of Charlie Jane Anders books, Victories Greater than Death and Never Say You Can’t Survive. Both were excellent and I recommend you read them. Dreams Bigger than Heartbreak is the sequel to Victories, so you really need to read that one first. Dreams is also closely related to Never Say You Can’t Survive, Anders’ book about writing.

In Victories, Anders plays with the Chosen One trope. Tina is a clone of a great warrior and she was created to allow them to come back and fight the enemy. But it turns out that Tina is a teenager, with some good instincts, but no answers. What she has is a chosen family of friends and together they fight and defeat the bad guy. In Dreams, Tina’s best friend and her girlfriend, Rachel and Elza, are more central to the story. It was Rachel, not Tina, who saved the day, but as a huge cost. Now it feels like the victory itself is unraveling as Marrant and The Compassion turn reality on it’s head.

Anders has distilled the terrors of the last few years, the terrors that we face right now, and put them into her book. How do you fight an enemy who can make love feel like hate and lies like the truth? In a challenging universe with an unnamed horror threatening, the teens are pursuing their own paths, but trying to stay connected. They struggle to be true to themselves when they aren’t always sure who they are. Still, the love between friends is what makes everything bearable.

I can’t wait for the third instalment.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Tor Teen via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

What’s that, did Kara wait four years to read a sequel again? Yes, yes she did. My bad. I enjoyed Victories Greater Than Death enough to buy Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak because the library didn’t have it. Clearly, though, I have dragged my feet on reading it, and I am regret. Charlie Jane Anders’s young adult science-fiction series about queer teenagers leaving Earth to discover an interstellar society at war is … wow.

This book picks up shortly after the first one. Tina, Elza, Rachael (whose name I spelled wrong in my first review, oops), Kez, and Damini are all back, having become interstellar news—and heroes, in a sense—for their adventure in the first book … which I do not recall at all, oops. I really wish there were a “previously” here! Anyway, Tina and Damini are excited to be in the academy, where Tina hopes to distance herself from the memory of Thaoh Argentian, the war hero from whom she was cloned. Elza trains to be a princess, a formal position that is more than just fetes and festivities. Kez has joined the diplomatic service. And Rachael … poor Rachael, who is the main protagonist of this book’s ensemble cast, struggles with how her role in the first book has rendered her seemingly unable to create any kind of art anymore.

I needed this book. Anders has deliberately stacked her cast full of diverse characters in terms of race, gender, sexuality, and ability, and I love it. She does it in a way that shows how natural it can feel. I love the society she has imagined here, as if she sat down and said, “OK, but how would a utopia made up of hundreds of distinct alien species really work?” At the same time, I appreciate how she highlights that even in utopia there are downsides—and people who will let down the side.

Indeed, if I had to level a criticism here, it’s that the villains feel very two-dimensional in their desires and actions. They aren’t quite cartoonish; Anders ascribes motives to them beyond nefariousness. However, those motives are … shall we say … a bit shallow. Their actions—especially Marrant’s—are also melodramatic. I could easily see him on a Disney channel cartoon show, palling around with Dr. Drakken. Sorry not sorry. Now, since the book is YA, I can let this slide: part of a YA novel’s remit is showing us how it’s OK to feel big feelings but, if you don’t process them, they will eat you up inside. That’s definitely what has happened to the antagonists here.

The protagonists’ relationships, on the other hand, are so good. I love the complexity and nuance here, the way that they navigate drifting apart as they pursue their own paths while still coming together to help one another. Rachael and Damini have a tough time because of her struggle processing her new disability and connecting with her boyfriend. Tina and Elza have the shadow of Thaoh hanging over them. While I hate what happens with that latter plotline by the end of the book (and found it extremely predictable), I understand and respect Anders’s decision. It makes a lot of sense, plotwise, and it also gives Elza the opportunity to shine.

The princess shenanigans are definitely my favourite part of the book. I enjoy the glimpses we get of the ineffable Ardenii, the supercomputers that are observing everything everywhere all at once. I love Princess Constellation’s tutelage, and the mysterious actions of the queen. When I read the third book, this is the part of this universe I am most excited to read about!

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is notable for not succumbing to middle-book syndrome. It’s better than the first book (inasmuch as I can remember the first book), and it left me aching for the third book. If you like space opera, especially YA space opera, you need to read this series.

Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.

[Jos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounding down. Because I didn't realise until the last 10% that the other person on the cover was Rachael as she looked very different in my head and what I recall from her description in Book 1.

I think the story was going well until somewhere after 50%. I felt like the pace started to slow, and some concepts were reiterated a few too many times. I was expecting this since it is book 2 of 3, and sometimes the setup can't be appreciated until later in the series.

If you liked book 1, then I think it is worth it to continue with the series.

[Debbie Notkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel to Victories Greater than Death continues the extreme fast pace, high adventure, imaginative scope, and complex relationships of the first book. It's a roller-coaster ride of near-death experiences, completely crazy people (far from all of whom are human), and strange alien landscapes. Rachael, the primary protagonist, is suffering from artist's block and accompanying self-disgust, and yet she and her posse of abducted Earth humans insert themselves into the complicated word they've found, follow different paths, and eventually defeat all that stand in their way (so far, and not without significant consequences). Among the qualities of the book that stood out for me were Anders' intense descriptions of the life of an impoverished teenager in Brazil, the accounts of "princess school" in the civilization the book is set in, and the tribulations of a young person who has to decide whether or not to forego basically all of her own identity to make space for an ancestral hero with the potential to change the course of history. (And that's just the tip of the iceberg.)

Hang on to the handlebar; Book 3 will almost certainly be even wilder.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another sweet, funny, and imaginative gem from the ever-lovely Charlie Jane Anders.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, but the follow-up is even better. This charming and uniquely genre-bending space opera careens around the universe to all sorts of cleverly rendered worlds, while still feeling deeply evocative and relatable for us earthlings.

I was so pleased to see more of a deep dive into Rachel’s character in this book, as well as the further development of the rest of the series’ principal characters.

Anders does a wonderful job with representation, no small feat in a novel where the cast is a veritable kitchen sink of diversity. While that is always an appealing concept in theory, too often authors lean back into a checklist-style cast of characters, and the result feels more like tokenism than representation. Not so with Anders, who creates fully-formed, captivating characters of all types, making the book feel welcoming and inclusive rather than like an attempt to meet a baseline for diversity.

But it’s the humor and complex relationship dynamics of the story that really win over the reader. In a way, Anders has redefined the concept of superheroes in a way that the modern world desperately needs. And the writing, in addition to being thoughtful and well-plotted is (and I mean this as the utmost compliment) almost sneakily beautiful.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Felicia Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh that cover! I am in love!

[Matthew Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the first book in her Unstoppable trilogy, Charlie Jane Anders introduced six kids from Earth to a galaxy of possibilities through the Royal Fleet and the destiny of first-person narrator Tina Mains. In book two, Dreams Bigger than Heartbreak, we meet these teens again, struggling with all the disappointment and struggles that come with growing up. Tina takes a backseat to let her best friend Rachael and girlfriend Elza lead separate narrative threads. Elza has entered the Princess program - training to be one of the few who could connect to the massive AI computer that helps the "Queen" of the Royal Fleet govern. Rachael, meanwhile, ended the last book connecting to an ancient species of aliens that committed atrocities trying to save the universe from a greater threat; now she must try to repair the damage done to her brain however she can.

While I liked Victories Greater Than Death, it was not my favourite Charlie Jane Anders novel, and to begin with I suspected I would feel similarly about Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak. I did find the first third or so of this novel slow going, although I found myself really drawn to these characters as we got to spend more time with them. But by the final fifteen percent, it required actual physical effort for me to tear myself away from my kindle screen so that I could actually get on with my life. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book, even a book I’ve loved, that I’ve found this difficult to get out of. And that slow-going start? Absolutely essential set-up.

When I think about trilogies I tend to think of them in terms of the three-act structure: part one is your set up, giving you the world and its basics; part two, the complication, taking the established elements of the world and giving them a twist; and part three is the resolution. This means that Dreams Bigger than Heartbreak does not offer many resolutions, but it does show us the world of this space fantasy in a more complicated light. We see the cracks in the benevolent façade of the Royal Fleet as it fails to use its resources to effectively help those in need; we see groups reject the idea of helping those less fortunate than themselves in order to live a more selfish existence; we see the unscrupulous take advantage of the situation for their own dubious means. And there is heroism, and heartbreak, as the title promises. I really can't wait for part three.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well done series so far, the characters are fun and interesting which helps to pull you along when the action gets bogged down every now and then. The series reminds me of the Mass Effect games in that you have no doubt that the heroes will succeed; rather you worry about the sacrifices they must make in order to win. As the second in a trilogy the book sets up a seemingly impossible task… Something that to me is a little too impossible.

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. I really liked this one. It's the middle book of a trilogy, so I was a little worried that there wouldn't be a satisfying plot arc, but Rachael & Elza's journeys were both really compelling. The whole Scoobies Do Space Opera thing is still fun, if simplistic, but the YA theme of figuring out what YOU want to do with your life, regardless of others' expectations, works well. I loved the plot twists, btw. I'm absolutely looking forward to the final book in the series.

Age range maybe 12 and up? There's some mild gore, but I don't recall anything needing a content warning.

ARC

[capricornreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

you know those fake tumblr posts people used to make about going somewhere in public and doing something amazing and/or embarrassing and how absolutely everyone stared at them and then it culminates in everybody clapping

reading this book felt very much like those vibes

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I will unchoose all your choices. Unthink all your thoughts."

After saving millions from the Shapers' death machine, Rachael has lost her ability to draw and paint. A gift from the cyborg queen leads her to a new artist mentor Nyitha, a woman hiding a dark and shameful past…

Elza has entered the Palace of Scented Tears to connect to the most powerful Artificial Intelligence ever known, but becoming a princess does not mean what she thinks…

After killing enemy combatants to save her friends, Tina takes a vow of nonviolence, but she wonders if she should allow the personality and memories of the war hero she was cloned from take over her body…

The second volume in the Unstoppable trilogy is another breezy, fun space opera brimming with imaginative scenarios. Readers learn more about the Shapers, an ancient race that called themselves the Vayt. They manipulated evolution in order to seed the universe with humanoid life forms, but it was only because they needed to create swarms of bipeds they could sacrifice as living weapons against an even more sadistic enemy.

An unexpected love triangle from the past between hero Thaoh Argentian, the villain Marrant, and his wife Aym has new implications in the fight against the terrorists known as The Compassion.

Some of the cool background concepts in the novel include:

A floatbeast that provides shade and blood-milk to a man's house breaks apart ("which sometimes happens") and the hindquarters attach to a neighbor's floatbeast. This leads to bad blood and lawsuits…

An alien society where money expires if it is not spent quickly enough…

A diamond-shaped alien falls in love with a sentient cloud, but the cloud does not know he exists. Literally, the cloud cannot see the light spectrum the diamond gives off…

The New Sun festival is a worldwide celebration wherein a man-made sun expires, the planet is plunged into darkness, then a new sun is ignited…

A black hole that turns white and, for a few seconds only, the laws of the physical universe no longer apply…

As with the first volume, however, the writing is also significantly flawed for a few reasons:

The LGBTQ representation is over the top. For example, in the first book Kez was a gay teenage boy. Now, Kez has adopted a gender fluid lifestyle. He/she/they cycles through different pronouns in every scene. I think this is meant to be uber-inclusive, but it comes across as satire. How could anyone take a diplomatic ambassador seriously who changes gender every day? In one instance, Kez changes gender twice in a single day.

The author does a great job at world building and plotting. However, she still struggles at scene-setting and conveying physical action. Often, she will insert a single sentence into a passage of interior monologue meant to alert readers to the fact a change of scene has occurred or a character has taken action of some sort. This probably works better on the printed page, but when listening to the audiobook, it is awfully hard to keep up with what is happening.

The book ends on several cliffhangers: Thaoh is returned to her clone body; can Tina be saved? Elza becomes a princess but the palace is overrun and the whereabouts of the queen unknown. The Vayt are dying in a pocket universe but their old enemies have unleashed sun-eating weapons that will decimate the entire universe. Stay tuned for the conclusion in Promises Stronger than Darkness.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first book, Tina the Chosen One and her friends fought space nazis to a draw and learned that galactic civilization was both more awesome and more terrible than any of them could have imagined. The galaxy is in a war, cold and hot. On the one side, there's a happy bubbly pluralistic empire with non hereditary space princesses and abundant resources. They are they heirs to the horrifically brutal Seven Pointed Empire. On the other side is The Compassion, who believe that the bilaterally symmetrical are the best, all those other species are the worst, and bilaterally symmetrical folks need to do the compassionate thing and end them. After all, The Shapers, who worked hard to make sure the bilaterally symmetrical evolved into space faring nations, must have known what they were doing, right?

As it turns out, the Shapers were fighting a war and were turning sentients into forms that could be used in the end game. When The Compassion try to trigger the Shapers to return, people all over the galaxy are sucked away and incorporated into brutal structures for . . . reasons.

In this, the second book of the trilogy, we find out the reason. I'd been toying with the idea that The Shapers - who called themselves the Vayt - were a metaphor for white supremacy and the patriarchy, brutalizing both those it favors and those it doesn't. I think there's some of that there.

But as it turns out the Vayt were trying to protect life in this galaxy from extinction. There's a bigger war than the galactic government (who seem an awful lot like the political class here in the US) have any ability to fight. Kinda like patriarchy, white supremacy, environmental collapse, or the coming planet-killing comet. Our plucky heroes can see the truth and fight the future -- if they aren't taken down by baddies or their own anxieties. Also, someone just elected Trump -- I mean, let the bad guy take the palace.

Good read. I really wish it came with illustrations. There are about 20 more characters in the book than I can keep in my head without a program. But I'm old and kids today probably won't have that problem.

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak was even better than the first book in the Unstoppable series by Charlie Jane Anders. In the first book, Chosen One Tina Mains, her best friend Rachael, and a cast of earthlings chosen to help save the universe all battle the devastatingly terrifying villain Marrant, a leader under the fascist Compassion. The gang is now in Wentrolo, the capital of the Firmament, and trying to figure out their place in the continuing fight against the Compassion as well as the new existential threat of the Vayt. This volume focuses on Rachael, who just saved the world but lost her ability to make art, struggling under the pressure of people who expect her to save it all over again, and Elza, a trans hacker who is auditioning to become a Princess and help save the universe.

"When you know the answer, it becomes your responsibility," a small mouse tells Elza in the Palace. This book is a fantastic tome about what knowledge actually means, about its ugly side. When you know of a lurking evil or of corruption beneath the institution you once believed in, you now have a responsibility to tackle it. It confronts privilege, power, prejudice, and the intricate workings of friendship and romance. This book is emotional, uplifting, and action-packed. The world-building was exquisite: I'm obsessed with the nonsensical Princesses in their computer-hive-mind magical Palace. This novel covers art and survival in gorgeous ways. I can't wait for the next volume in this exciting, queer, delightful space opera series by Anders.

Content warnings for death, racism, torture, xenophobia, panic attacks/anxiety.

[amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Macmillan-Tor for the ARC for review!

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the second in the Unstoppable series by Charlie Jane Anders, and her second foray into YA fiction. I wrote a review for the first in the series back when it came out, and I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t the biggest fan. The parts were there, but it didn’t coalesce into a complete whole yet, at least in my opinion. The first book in the series focuses almost completely on Tina, and this sequel has three POV characters: Tina, Elza, and Rachel. Tina is grappling with living up to the legacy of Captain Argentian, Elza is trying to become a princess, and Rachel is attempting to gain back lost skill, while also trying to avoid the role that is being thrust upon her by everyone else. It seemed in my reading that Elza and Rachel got more page time, but that might be incorrect if you averaged it all out. To me, Elza and Rachel are more compelling characters whose character arcs I enjoyed watching unwind throughout the novel. In fact, almost every character in this sequel has a more compelling arc than in the first book. There are still moments in this one that I feel lean a little too heavy on pop culture references, in a way that feels kind of “how-do-you-do-fellow-kids”-esque, but I feel the story this time around really justifies it. All in all, I find myself excited for the third and final book in the series!

[Celia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big thanks to Edelweiss for the e-galley.

This anticipated sequel lived up to the hype I built up in my own head. Sequels are so hard to read and to write (I know this) and very rarely do the sophomore books live up to their predecessors. The unique characters continue their separate journies after the events of the first book. What I loved about this book was that we get a deeper look into their personalities, their dreams, their hopes etc, but also how their lives have changed.

Tina takes a backseat in this one, but she is still a vital character. We focus a lot on her girlfriend Rachel and fellow Earthling Elza. The beginning of the story is a lot of build-ups where we get a look at their new lives and I'm grateful for the deeper look into these characters. Rachel gets the agency she so wholly deserved.

I am patiently waiting for book three. But that ending though....GAH

Bookstagram

[Norman Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book finalist

The middle book of a trilogy is hard to pull off, and this is no exception. It doesn't really stand on its own without having read the first book, and it ends without a true resolution. The first half of the book is a lot of moving the chess pieces around the board to get set up for the endgame. The second half of the book is much better, with a lot of fast paced action combined with some heavy emotional punches. The cast of characters is very large and often hard to keep track of, especially since many of them are unusual aliens. I wish there were some illustrations to show what some of them look like. If you like to read old-fashioned space operas, though, this series is for you, albeit with much more modern sensibilities towards gender identity and inclusivity than do most of those old-fashioned space operas. This book is probably more of a 3.5 star rating, but not quite a 4.0, and I look forward to reading the concluding volume.

[Charlie Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Victories Greater than Death, the first book in the series, quite a bit, but felt more than anything that I'd like the second book even more-- and I was right. With less need to frantically worldbuild, Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak focuses more heavily on characters and relationships. Where it does expand the universe, the basics are covered, so we get to see the cool corners and idiosyncracies of the world(s).

A couple favorite things:

-a VERY good identity reveal
-a great heist
-Rachael got the agency she deserved in this book, and more
-Elza kicks a whole lot of butt
-lots of different kinds of relationships (romantic/otherwise) are explored and valued

This is a bit of a soapbox I like to get on but this is a highly successful middle book of a trilogy- it has its own plot that builds and resolves nicely, but in a way that leaves me extremely excited for the conclusion.

[Allie // Kitasai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thankyou to the publisher for giving me an e-book copy of this arc.

I didn't love the first book and I had already requested this before I read the first book, which was my first mistake.
This picks up right after the first book, and although I only read that about a month ago, everything had left my brain.

I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style throughout either of these, and I found this one had a lot of "this thing happened" without an indepth explanation, before moving onto the next thing.

2/5 - not for me unfortunately. I also unhauled the first book.

[Lovely Loveday]

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the second book in the Unstoppable series by Charlie Jane Anders. This young adult sci-fi fantasy is full of twists and turns. It is well-paced and addictive to read with a great found family in space and an entertaining plot.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read DREAMS BIGGER THAN HEARTBREAK by Charlie Jane Anders if you love princesses, rebirth, videogames, artistic blocks, recovering from trauma, friendship, mentors, mysteries, consentual support, cartoon mice, body horror, graffiti, black holes, heists & reclaiming your narrative.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed but as a whole, the story was hard to follow.

[Celadon Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ever–consistent component I encounter when reading Charlie Jane Anders’s works is an energy of love and whimsy. Her stories may falter in certain aspects, but it is always made up for by the weirdo found families that are spontaneously created and unwaveringly strong. Victories did that and now Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak continues the legacy.

After Rachael thwarts the Vayt’s plan to weaponize humanoids, she loses the very thing that saved everyone, her capacity for art-making. In the aftershock of this event, the whole gang is pursuing their dreams. Tina and Yiwei are learning at the Royal Space Academy as is Damini to become a pilot, Elsa is competing in the Palace of Scented Tears to become a princess, Kez is training to become a peace ambassador, and none of their plans are going as expected. Meanwhile, Marant and the Compassion are still spreading fascist beliefs and no one is trying to stop them.

At times I was pulled out of the story, either because there was so much going on–so many characters–that I lost the train of consciousness or that the transition between Elsa and Rachael’s perspectives was messy. I can see how a lot of people could be very frustrated and dislike this greatly, but I kept getting enthralled by the heart of the characters and the tone of the narrative. Having love as the central theme sounds pretty cheesy, but I learned from this book that kindness can be very compelling.

I felt like the general plot point of Marant coming back into power by people who would present themselves as humanitarian–while contrarily being duplicitous–is a very current issue. The emotions the leads go through: Feeling powerless, unheard, and confused because the same people that lauded them are now exalting the abuser, resonated with me and how marginalized people are pushed aside for a more palatable equivalent.

I felt so cheated when I finished Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak because it just came out and we ended on a devastating cliffhanger. It was wonderful to come back to this immaculately built world with new things tucked away on every page. I would love to live in a world that had the everspeak, a device that translates across languages and makes sure no one gets misgendered, there would be a ton of genderfluid people that would love changing pronouns at a whim just like Kez. I’m sure this series could be enjoyed by adults but it would definitely be the perfect bedtime story for a young one as well, besides you could get in some impressive vocal exercises with all the creative names! I hope more people read this series, it’s lighthearted for sure but it’s also the escape from reality we all need.

[Cassandra Roxburgh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is a dramatic, heart-wrenching sequel. Charlie Jane Anders has beautifully written her characters - they're given space to be flawed. The space to be fragile and messy and react to the world like the teenagers they are. The way they navigate an alien nation is inherently informed by their identity as the only representatives of Earth, and you see that reflected so often in the book. The characters are often found to be linking specific cultural and temporal moments to their life on earth.

The book has a tremendous depiction of the mental strain of living through the rise of fascism. She manages to render how xenophobic populist leaders use existential threats to their advantage to garner political favour. However, despite this, the characters are still shown to be hopeful - there is a strong focus on the value of rallying within a community to push back against dangerous narratives. It is a glorious and necessary hopepunk narrative in a grim world.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful entry in the Unstoppable series. Things pick up pretty much right where we left off from Victories Greater Than Death. Rachael is recovering from mind melding with that device and saving the galaxy, and everyone else is getting involved with their new lives.

A fun rollicking adventure that you never really know where it's going to go. Unlike the last book, much of this book separates our favorite characters and doesn't allow them to work together, but this allows new fun characters to be introduced. Including an elusive artist, who has secrets we learn about as the book goes on.

The book follows the point of view of two main characters (with some chapters here and there from Tina's point of view.) Rachael, and Elza are who we hear the story from the most part. Rachael is still working through what happened to her after the mind meld, and trying to figure out if she has lost her art permanently. Elza is working to become princess by going to princess school. (That sounds silly, but it is really like that in a good way.)

The cross galactic bad guys are on their way to destroy suns, while the interior threat is getting worse. The Compassion is taking over a once friendly planet, and Marrant has figured his way out.
And then of course there's Tina and the walnut (I Actually forget what it is. Something small) that will give all of Thoa's memories and personality back to her all at once, erasing Tina.

Lots of fun things happen! And, then we get to the end that ends as any middle (middle? I would wish for more, but i am guessing this is just a trilogy) book should with a cliff hanger on several different fronts!

And, also like the first book there's so much more in these pages. Depression, anxiety, in love vs love, consent, and grief (so much grief!).

It's a wonderful book, and I'd recommend it to anyone who asks.

[Pippin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"But also...people fear knowledge. Knowledge is hard and grotesque, and messy, and it eats away at whatever you believe in. We cannot travel across the stars and keep worlds safe and well fed without knowledge, but nobody has to like it."

Another weird and wonderful installment in Charlie Jane Anders' romp of a space opera, the Unstoppable series, and this one is even better than the last! Her choice of dual perspectives, pairing Rachel (an artist) and Elza (a coder and aspiring princess) as narrators, fleshes out the ensemble in a way the last book couldn't quite swing, and sheds some light on two wildly unique––and wildly different––hero's journeys amidst a miasma of interstellar chaos.

The physics elements in this one were a tad cloudy, though. It also sometimes seemed like the plot couldn't decide whether or not to bring different sets of characters together: we'd get a team-up, only to have the new friends rocketed off in opposite directions for their respective missions. (And, though the multiple perspectives give Anders more room to introduce new characters, there are still way too many for most of them to get their due chance to shine!)

This ambitious, maybe even too-ambitious, book, though, uses its chaos much like the recent movie Everything Everywhere All At Once* does: the mess speaks volumes to our hyper-saturated, hyper-informed current moment. And for that, I think it's an important book––because through both of these delightful leads, we learn how to keep going through it all.

*If you like this movie, you are the target audience for this book. Likewise in the opposite direction––thank me later 😌
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(22/11/21)

I would gladly eat Cydoghian eggburst if it meant I could get my hands on this book early 😌

[Sam Veltre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie Jane does it again, no second book in a trilogy letdown here. Fast paced dual POV narrative style makes for lightning quick read. At first I was unsure about the switching of POV from Tina to Racheal / Elza but I quickly found I enjoyed these two characters' adventures and growth. Their internal dialogs are very sincere in their opinions, insecurities / trauma, and selfhood / identity. Many passages made me stop and interrogate my own or others' view of identity / gender which is what great Sci-Fi does; Anders writes these sections with empathy and understanding, making it very relatable to any aged reader. The other human characters are not forgotten about, are given lots to do and are complex individuals; in addition we meet several new memorable characters and see some returning ones.
The world building is expanded, introducing lots of fun new species or locations each uniquely and exquisitely detailing by Charlie Jane. The switching POVs provide new experiences in this world unlike many other YA trilogies where its much the same plot or settings but bigger. The raised stakes feel organic to the story as it plays out. I especially loved how Anders' weaves in current time allegories (access and control of information, protest movements, the insidious nature of politics and whom people turn to in states of fear, what is art at its truest sense).
I'll be honest, I have many love-expressing sections highlighted to say to my partner!
thank you to netgalley for an advanced copy in return for a fair and honest review. #netgalley

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but had a bit of trouble reading it. I didn't remember all the characters or the action from the first book, and it took a while to grok even Tina, Rachael, and Elza again. This time, they are deep into the galactic civilization that inlcudes various species (which they discovered in the previous book), finding out how it works. Elza is training to possibly be an uber-powerful "princess," and Rachael wants to recover her art skill, lost in an encounter with the evil Vayt. Tina, Yiwei, and Damini (I never remembered anything about her) are at the space academy; Kez (who I also never remembered) is training to be an ambassador.

So, the group of six Earth kids from the previous book are all having adventures, together and separately. There are new alien characters who are pretty interesting too. People go through internal crises, and there's a lot of teenage agonizing leading to personal growth. The action builds well. The nasty Compassion is still trying to take over, with help from narcissistic sociopath Marrant (who was previously very close with the military hero that Tina was cloned from). It's turning into a political crisis that threatens civilization. But then Rachael and crew uncover another crisis that threatens not only all sentients but the galaxy (universe?) itself. And then....cliffhanger! I can't wait for the third book.

Three and a half stars rounded up to four because I adore Charlie Jane Anders and because this is young adult space opera done right.