Looking for a good book? (Who isn't, really?) We at the library love pointing out all the great books we have on our shelves for patrons to enjoy. For those of you who are in a hurry, on Wednesdays we wear pink love spotlighting a great book that's available on our New Release shelves right now - or, at least, available the last time we checked. Find a great book right here and right now that doesn't require you to be number on a long wait list! We call this #NoWaitWednesdays, and we hope it helps you find your next great read.
Some Desperate Glory isn't a debut, exactly, but it is Emily Tesh's first full-length novel, as she's the author of two critically-acclaimed novellas that got some attention in the publishing world. Here, we're introduced to Kyr, a young woman raised to be a warrior representing the last of humanity on a remote space station that's one of the last holdouts against the marauding majoda race. Due to the extreme circumstances, everything on the Gaea space station is extremely regimented and organized - children who come of age have their futures essentially assigned to them upon graduation. Kyr has some of the best warrior test scores ever recorded (rivaling only her older brother, who as the novel begins disappears for a very secret off-station assignment) however she is shocked to learn that when the time comes for her to fill the ranks of the soldiers she's looked up to all her life, she's instead assigned to the nursery, dedicated to raising future generations of soldiers. Rejecting her destiny, she flees the station, searching for her brother and seeking revenge on the leader of the alien race, plunging herself into a galaxy she's been told is against everything humanity stands for. On her own, however, she discovers that the universe is very different from what she expects it to be and after revelation piles on top of revelation, struggles with the possibility that she's been told lies her entire life.
These deep themes of radicalization and vengeance are presented in a space-opera package, with plenty of action scenes mixed in with the thoughtful reappraisal of life in the space station as opposed to life out in the wider galaxy. (Savvy readers might compare this to Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic "Ender's Game," and while there are some similarities, Tesh's version goes in some different and interesting directions.) The worldbuilding is a highlight here, as she must artfully construct this world that these characters fully believe in before questioning and chipping away at it. For readers who love Teen/YA novels, this should appeal as well.