Format: ebook
Published: January 25th, 2022
Age: Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating: 5/5 Stars
I adored Seven Devils, so I was very excited to dive back in with the rebels for the duology’s conclusion. This is a feminist space opera, about the Novantae resistance fighting against an evil empire. Following the events of the first book, the rebellion is fractured and scattered, with the Devils, at least, together. For a short time, anyway.
Usually, I’d struggle with so many different POVs, but here it works – there’s enough distinction between them that I enjoyed diving into each character. It’s handled pretty well. Each character is different enough, with various backstories, personalities, and even slight dialects, that it was good to get the chance to find out more about them.
The evil they’re fighting against shifts slightly in this book. The Empire is still the Big Bad, but here the Oracle – the AI which controls everything within the Empire – does whatever One can to ensure the safety of One’s ‘daughter’, Ariadne. The AI has developed a way to mass convert the population into mindless, controllable drones that will have no free will of their own. The Devils each play a part in the plan that comes next, coming together again to rescue one of their own and hopefully bring down the whole Empire.
This does exactly what a second book in a duology should do – it expands the scope, widens the world we’re in, and gives you more details about the characters we’re following, while concluding the story as a whole. I won’t go into the ending to avoid spoilers, but I do think this ends in quite a satisfactory way – each character kind of has a slightly different ending from the other, but it works and really suits their various character arcs.
I quite enjoyed the romance between some characters, whether these were expanded on or sparked off here, but my standout, favourite characters were definitely Eris, formerly Princess Discordia, and Kayla, the leader of the resistance. These two especially – both leaders – compliment each other really well, and even when they might disagree there’s a lot of respect between the two for their skills, including knowing when to make the tough choices.
Overall, this is a really satisfying conclusion to the duology, a world (worlds?) I really enjoyed venturing through, and I was quite sad at the end of the book to leave these characters behind. I definitely recommend this one if you’re looking for queer space opera!
Reading Challenge
Musicals Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt: Bonnie & Clyde – The World Will Remember Me – Outlaws
Progress: 1/24
Unwrapping Words 