Description

‘Masterful, audacious storytelling’
Tamsyn Muir, New York Times-bestselling author of Gideon the Ninth

‘An outstanding novel . . . one of the debuts of the year’ Locus

‘Deserves a space on shelves alongside genre titans like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler’
Publishers Weekly

A thrillingly told space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and the path you must forge when every choice is stripped from you. Some Desperate Glory is the highly anticipated debut novel from Astounding Award and World Fantasy Award-Winner, Emily Tesh.

All her life, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the destruction of planet Earth. Raised on Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet.

Then Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to the nursery to bear sons, and she knows she must take humanity’s revenge into her own hands. Alongside her brother’s brilliant but seditious friend and a lonely, captive alien, Kyr must escape from everything she’s ever known. If she succeeds, she will find a universe far more complicated than she was taught and far more wondrous than she could ever have imagined

‘A profoundly humane and brilliantly constructed space opera that will have you cheering, swearing, laughing, and ugly-crying. It’s perfect’ Alix E. Harrow, New York Times-bestselling author of The Once and Future Witches

‘This book is astoundingly good. An explosive and extraordinary story that I couldn’t stop reading and will never forget’ Everina Maxwell, author of Winter’s Orbit

Reader reviews:

‘Worth every page, every tear, every late night staying up to finish it. I hope you love this book as much as I do’

‘For the life of me I could. not. put. it. down’

‘As brilliantly plotted as Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, with characters as vivid as Martha Wells’ Murderbot’

‘I am legitimately not exaggerating when I say this may be my favourite book I’ve read in the last ten years’

‘HOLY MOTHER OF GOD I WAS NOT AT ALL PREPARED AND I AM ETERNALLY OBSESSED’

Publisher Review

This book hit me like a lightning bolt. From the destruction of Earth on the first page, to the human cult on a forgotten space station, to the indoctrinated teen soldier whose narrow worldview Tesh cracks open with pliers, this book is astoundingly good. An explosive and extraordinary story that I couldn't stop reading and will never forget Devastatingly entertaining, horribly funny, Some Desperate Glory swoops through space and time with effortless precision, never pulling a punch or settling for an easy answer. There's nothing else like it Masterful, audacious storytelling. Relentless, unsentimental, a completely wild ride. I had a time. Talk about Mass Effect beating up Brave New World in a dark alley Bound to make waves as one of the best SF novels of 2023 . . . [an] expansive story with an action-packed pace full of exciting battles and gut-wrenching twists -- BOOKLIST Raw and action packed . . . This riveting adventure deserves a space on shelves alongside genre titans like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review) It blew me away. Tesh unpeels the known world from around her young militants with flawless control, revealing the lies and atrocities beneath-but also the possibility of choice, and compassion. Kyr is a revelatory hero-never have I so fervently wished the worst for someone, only to end up cheering for them. . . . Fierce and heartbreakingly humane -- Shelley Parker-Chan, author of SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN A profoundly humane and brilliantly constructed space opera that will have you cheering, swearing, laughing, and ugly-crying. It's perfect -- Alix E. Harrow, NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling author of THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES This book will hurt you and you will say thank you. It has everything you'd want in a queer space opera - wit and imagination and adventure, all within a brilliantly constructed world . . . Reading this feels like bearing witness to something revolutionary . . . It will change you for the better -- Olivie Blake, NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling author of THE ATLAS SIX Tesh crams in enough wild inventiveness for an entire trilogy, wrapped around an emotional core that's powerful and urgent and unmistakeably real -- M. R. Carey, bestselling author of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS