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The Kindom Trilogy #1
These Burning Stars
A dangerous cat-and-mouse quest for revenge. An empire that spans star systems, built on the bones of a genocide. A carefully hidden secret that could collapse worlds, hunted by three women with secrets of their own. All collide in this twisty, explosive space opera debut, perfect for readers of Arkady Martine and Kameron Hurley.
Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.
Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.
But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.
It's a game that could destroy their lives and devastate the stars. And they have no choice but to see it through to the end.
Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.
Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.
But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.
It's a game that could destroy their lives and devastate the stars. And they have no choice but to see it through to the end.
465 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2023
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29547 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,089 reviews
September 17, 2024
These Burning Stars was the perfect book to finally break my no-five-star streak. Filled with complex political scheming, deep-rooted corruption, morally grey women, and a manhunt across a galactic empire, this book immediately captured my attention.
This book delivers an incredible cast of morally grey, ambitious, scheming women. Each character is so fascinating and complex. It was so interesting to watch the toxic, obsessive relationship between these characters play out. Every chapter slowly reveals how one choice has shaped the empire. Esek is a particularly fascinating character. She is cruel, brutal, and evil, and yet she is charming and beloved. Many try to write characters like Esek Nightfoot, but These Burning Stars absolutely nails it.
With a high-stakes galactic manhunt and rich politics, there is not a single dull moment in These Burning Stars. Jacobs expertly weaves together past and present timelines, slowly revealing the intricate cat-and-mouse hunt that has haunted these characters for decades. It was so satisfying to see how all of the threads came together. I was so impressed by how Jacobs used the two timelines to create a subtle sense of uncertainty and unease. The plot reveals when all of the pieces fall together will blow you away.
I have tried to write this review for days and I cannot seem to find the words to convey how much I enjoyed this book. The only thing I can say is… holy shit.
Links to my TikTok | Instagram
This book delivers an incredible cast of morally grey, ambitious, scheming women. Each character is so fascinating and complex. It was so interesting to watch the toxic, obsessive relationship between these characters play out. Every chapter slowly reveals how one choice has shaped the empire. Esek is a particularly fascinating character. She is cruel, brutal, and evil, and yet she is charming and beloved. Many try to write characters like Esek Nightfoot, but These Burning Stars absolutely nails it.
With a high-stakes galactic manhunt and rich politics, there is not a single dull moment in These Burning Stars. Jacobs expertly weaves together past and present timelines, slowly revealing the intricate cat-and-mouse hunt that has haunted these characters for decades. It was so satisfying to see how all of the threads came together. I was so impressed by how Jacobs used the two timelines to create a subtle sense of uncertainty and unease. The plot reveals when all of the pieces fall together will blow you away.
I have tried to write this review for days and I cannot seem to find the words to convey how much I enjoyed this book. The only thing I can say is… holy shit.
Links to my TikTok | Instagram
August 5, 2024
Status: It's complicated.
I feel like the story was built mostly around a slight-of-hand (waves at Anthony Horowitz) and the rest of the narrative/structure had to be hammered into place to make that happen. This plot point explains the long time span of the story (which didn't work for me in many respects) and the limited 3rd-person narrative used to conceal an unreliable narrator. It also explains, to me, why some characters feel complete and complex, and why others do not. Personally, any author that chooses the route of magic trick and unreliable narrator better do it well, because the one thing I hate is attempts to manipulate me. It is not a consensual experience. Jacobs partially succeeds, but only partially.
I am finding this current sci-fi trend of multiple sexualities intriguing, but so far, few have managed to do it well (waves at The Left Hand of Darkness). Anyway, I'm down with the trend of multiplicity and Jacobs is one of the few that weaves it in a relatively organic way (waves at Suzanne Palmer; pointedly ignores A Pale Light in the Black). I mean 'organic' except for the completely out-of-place, explicit lesbian love scene, including dildo. /eyeroll. This is why we can't have nice things.
Some of my reaction is clearly personal; I hate stories when they give specifics as chapter headings and then later it becomes clear that they are super important. Kindle makes 'flipping back' awkward, so by the time I realized we weren't just doing a background 'how did we get here' kind of thing, I was mostly lost in time. So, hint for potential readers, time matters in this book.
Do I recommend it? With reservations. Many of my friends loved it. It hit a couple of my triggers badly enough that I can't forgive the experience of confusion.
I feel like the story was built mostly around a slight-of-hand (waves at Anthony Horowitz) and the rest of the narrative/structure had to be hammered into place to make that happen. This plot point explains the long time span of the story (which didn't work for me in many respects) and the limited 3rd-person narrative used to conceal an unreliable narrator. It also explains, to me, why some characters feel complete and complex, and why others do not. Personally, any author that chooses the route of magic trick and unreliable narrator better do it well, because the one thing I hate is attempts to manipulate me. It is not a consensual experience. Jacobs partially succeeds, but only partially.
I am finding this current sci-fi trend of multiple sexualities intriguing, but so far, few have managed to do it well (waves at The Left Hand of Darkness). Anyway, I'm down with the trend of multiplicity and Jacobs is one of the few that weaves it in a relatively organic way (waves at Suzanne Palmer; pointedly ignores A Pale Light in the Black). I mean 'organic' except for the completely out-of-place, explicit lesbian love scene, including dildo. /eyeroll. This is why we can't have nice things.
Some of my reaction is clearly personal; I hate stories when they give specifics as chapter headings and then later it becomes clear that they are super important. Kindle makes 'flipping back' awkward, so by the time I realized we weren't just doing a background 'how did we get here' kind of thing, I was mostly lost in time. So, hint for potential readers, time matters in this book.
Do I recommend it? With reservations. Many of my friends loved it. It hit a couple of my triggers badly enough that I can't forgive the experience of confusion.
January 31, 2024
I'm not sure I have words for how good this book was, but here we go.
This is for the people who like COMPLEX POLITICAL SCHEMING and EVIL WOMEN and GORY FIGHT SCENES and ALLEGORIES ABOUT AMERICA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH OIL and TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS and GENDER and A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE, BUT MORE EVIL.
These Burning Stars is a space opera about two government employees, a hacker, and the person chasing them down. It is one of the best space operas I have ever read, and it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. Jacobs introduces a complicated and rich world, with a heavy focus on interplanetary politics, history, and religion. However, the star of the show here is the characters. These Burning Stars does not shy away from a morally grey and irredeemable cast, while also managing to make them unique and charismatic.
We have Esek Nightfoot, a cleric and dubious mentor, set on claiming her family's mining legacy. Many books have tried to pull off an Esek Nightfoot - someone smart, charming, and utterly ruthless without feeling cringey or heavy-handed - but this one actually does it!
We have Chono, a former novitiate under Esek who finds herself working alongside her again. She provides a stoic foil to Esek's loudness, if only externally. I liked her perspective the most, I think, as her rich inner monologues reflect someone who wants to be better, who wants to be good, but mistakes hate for love, and regularly finds herself condemning Esek for the same choices she makes.
Finally, we have Jun, a "caster" (read: hacker) targeted by Chono and Esek for the knowledge she possesses, which may threaten the tenuous peace within the planetary system. Jun is fiery and passionate, and I adored her relationship with ex-assassin and cool butch woman Liis.
These Burning Stars grapples with questions of colonialism, community, and what happens when the person you are obsessed with doesn't care about you, and it does so brilliantly. Everything here is shown through the narrative choices instead of told to us directly, and while I think that may confuse some readers who aren't used to being dunked into the narrative, it allowed Jacobs to slowly reveal character traits while trusting the reader - and build up to an excellent plot twist near the end of the book that's been signaled from the start.
I don't really know how to talk about how much I enjoyed These Burning Stars, except that I finished the last 150 pages in nearly one sitting and that the scenes of characters sitting around talking were just as fascinating as the action sequences. It is a crime that this book isn't more popular, and I will be throwing myself at the feet of Bethany Jacobs for the next in the series.
This is for the people who like COMPLEX POLITICAL SCHEMING and EVIL WOMEN and GORY FIGHT SCENES and ALLEGORIES ABOUT AMERICA'S RELATIONSHIP WITH OIL and TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS and GENDER and A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE, BUT MORE EVIL.
These Burning Stars is a space opera about two government employees, a hacker, and the person chasing them down. It is one of the best space operas I have ever read, and it is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. Jacobs introduces a complicated and rich world, with a heavy focus on interplanetary politics, history, and religion. However, the star of the show here is the characters. These Burning Stars does not shy away from a morally grey and irredeemable cast, while also managing to make them unique and charismatic.
We have Esek Nightfoot, a cleric and dubious mentor, set on claiming her family's mining legacy. Many books have tried to pull off an Esek Nightfoot - someone smart, charming, and utterly ruthless without feeling cringey or heavy-handed - but this one actually does it!
We have Chono, a former novitiate under Esek who finds herself working alongside her again. She provides a stoic foil to Esek's loudness, if only externally. I liked her perspective the most, I think, as her rich inner monologues reflect someone who wants to be better, who wants to be good, but mistakes hate for love, and regularly finds herself condemning Esek for the same choices she makes.
Finally, we have Jun, a "caster" (read: hacker) targeted by Chono and Esek for the knowledge she possesses, which may threaten the tenuous peace within the planetary system. Jun is fiery and passionate, and I adored her relationship with ex-assassin and cool butch woman Liis.
These Burning Stars grapples with questions of colonialism, community, and what happens when the person you are obsessed with doesn't care about you, and it does so brilliantly. Everything here is shown through the narrative choices instead of told to us directly, and while I think that may confuse some readers who aren't used to being dunked into the narrative, it allowed Jacobs to slowly reveal character traits while trusting the reader - and build up to an excellent plot twist near the end of the book that's been signaled from the start.
I don't really know how to talk about how much I enjoyed These Burning Stars, except that I finished the last 150 pages in nearly one sitting and that the scenes of characters sitting around talking were just as fascinating as the action sequences. It is a crime that this book isn't more popular, and I will be throwing myself at the feet of Bethany Jacobs for the next in the series.
November 17, 2023
4.0 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/8VKj00tz9b0
This is a solid science fiction debut. I loved the politics parts of this story which were the most fascinating aspect for me. I found the narrative quite gripping in places.
I also enjoyed the imaginative worldbuilding. I loved some of the creative ideas explored in this imagined future.
I defintiely interested in continuing on with this series which shows a lot of potential. I would recommend it to readers looking for a new science fiction story.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/8VKj00tz9b0
This is a solid science fiction debut. I loved the politics parts of this story which were the most fascinating aspect for me. I found the narrative quite gripping in places.
I also enjoyed the imaginative worldbuilding. I loved some of the creative ideas explored in this imagined future.
I defintiely interested in continuing on with this series which shows a lot of potential. I would recommend it to readers looking for a new science fiction story.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
November 18, 2023
this was incredible
November 18, 2023
Debut novel, a space-set fantasy novel (ahem, I was promised science fiction, publisher says so but more on that later) with adventure, several PoVs, a hunt for a hidden identity person who is playing society changing political manipulation. And it is competently written, and it is telling precisely the kind of story I want to read and it is telling the story from a good place with sensitivity. But it did not quite pull it all off, at least for me and I ended up disappointed ..
My first issue with this book was the characters. We got 3 PoV characters plus another very important character, the one being hunted in the background and all 4 are all super-hyper competent special at whatever they do. Best of their world(s), generationally great/remarkable at whatever they do. (Same about a lot of secondary characters). Except when they are not competent, because plot must happen so yeah, not so smart or powerful then. And they are also quite flat personality wise, I never quite believed in any of them (or how they related to each other) or cared about any of them.
Then there is the rest: I called it space fantasy because it feels like a fantasy novel (kind of in the neighbourhood of The Mask of Mirrors or Jade City, this might appeal to fans of those), and all the tech and worldbuilding details are a stage set and not really examined or developed. There is a "magic" like material which is essential to power some kind of interstellar travel (these three systems seem completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy, ahem...), there is something a bit like the internet but not really explained with "code" thrown as if it were spells (digital copying data "weakens" Hood program?). There are quite a few inhabited planets and moons, 3 solar systems and some planets have radiation shields but there is no mention of say these planets having different gravities or rotation periods (that is day lengths), or different atmospheres, or how along they are in being terraformed and all that would affect humans living and growing up there. Planets are talked about as if they just got different landscapes (yeah, the whole planet!) and seem inhabited by different ethnicities each. Hence the fantasy feel.... I think a fast editing could easily make this a fantasy novel, rather than sf.... And that is not the sf I want to read, I like the what-ifs, the consistency of the world, rather than undistinguishable from magic tech which shows up as convenient. Incidentally, the tech mentioned all seems very low tech (blood transfusions , or even things waved off regarding the magical resource than jevite/sevite is and just variable, inconsistent levels of tech all round.
Some interesting elements in this book ended up falling a bit short of (my) expectations.
The structure is interesting, but and this might be spoilers for both books and I am going to put it as cryptically as possible for people who read this or the other and it might be spoilers to mention both books together .
This book addresses gender, in this society people use gender marks (not clear what they are) and they pick their gender and sometimes they change gender just because - that is a great idea but there is little insight or analysis or extrapolation of what gender is in that society or what are its roles. It is said great sf predicts not just the car but the traffic jam, this was a bit like being told there would be cars, but we are told nothing of roads nevermind traffic jams. Also the main language has precisely the same gender categories as English does (he/she/they and it and it is shocking when applied to living creatures) but without much thought to how language and gender are tied together. Also my own special bias because English is not my native language and gender does not work in my native language as it works in English, and I studied yet another language which does it totally different, so I am always curious to see how fiction will address that concept of how language and gender are processed in fictional universes (I admit Ancillary Justice, a truly interesting and important book, which I loved was in my mind and comparisons were inevitable and not in favor of Burning Stars. Martha Wells is doing interesting, even if subtle things in Murderbot and Witch King with it).
There is a theme here, where the plot ties to a past genocide and the truth about it and the minority people, who are the survivors of that and are being exploited and persecuted and scapegoated. That was truly interesting and relevant - but I thought the ending was, for lack of a better word, cheesy
This is getting compared to Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine (and I did personally compare it mentally to that other book, the one I am hinting cryptically about in spoilers hoping to not spoil either book), but I would not classify it in the same ball park of either writing (characterization matters a lot to me) or worldbuilding. But it is competent, it's ambitious and I think lots of people (particularly fantasy readers) will like it. Overall this is a recommendation - there are ideas, and a bigger scope of plot ongoing than apparent at first, and I love the themes. I am not planning to touch the sequels though.
My first issue with this book was the characters. We got 3 PoV characters plus another very important character, the one being hunted in the background and all 4 are all super-hyper competent special at whatever they do. Best of their world(s), generationally great/remarkable at whatever they do. (Same about a lot of secondary characters). Except when they are not competent, because plot must happen so yeah, not so smart or powerful then. And they are also quite flat personality wise, I never quite believed in any of them (or how they related to each other) or cared about any of them.
Then there is the rest: I called it space fantasy because it feels like a fantasy novel (kind of in the neighbourhood of The Mask of Mirrors or Jade City, this might appeal to fans of those), and all the tech and worldbuilding details are a stage set and not really examined or developed. There is a "magic" like material which is essential to power some kind of interstellar travel (these three systems seem completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy, ahem...), there is something a bit like the internet but not really explained with "code" thrown as if it were spells (digital copying data "weakens" Hood program?). There are quite a few inhabited planets and moons, 3 solar systems and some planets have radiation shields but there is no mention of say these planets having different gravities or rotation periods (that is day lengths), or different atmospheres, or how along they are in being terraformed and all that would affect humans living and growing up there. Planets are talked about as if they just got different landscapes (yeah, the whole planet!) and seem inhabited by different ethnicities each. Hence the fantasy feel.... I think a fast editing could easily make this a fantasy novel, rather than sf.... And that is not the sf I want to read, I like the what-ifs, the consistency of the world, rather than undistinguishable from magic tech which shows up as convenient. Incidentally, the tech mentioned all seems very low tech (blood transfusions , or even things waved off regarding the magical resource than jevite/sevite is and just variable, inconsistent levels of tech all round.
Some interesting elements in this book ended up falling a bit short of (my) expectations.
The structure is interesting, but and this might be spoilers for both books and I am going to put it as cryptically as possible for people who read this or the other and it might be spoilers to mention both books together .
This book addresses gender, in this society people use gender marks (not clear what they are) and they pick their gender and sometimes they change gender just because - that is a great idea but there is little insight or analysis or extrapolation of what gender is in that society or what are its roles. It is said great sf predicts not just the car but the traffic jam, this was a bit like being told there would be cars, but we are told nothing of roads nevermind traffic jams. Also the main language has precisely the same gender categories as English does (he/she/they and it and it is shocking when applied to living creatures) but without much thought to how language and gender are tied together. Also my own special bias because English is not my native language and gender does not work in my native language as it works in English, and I studied yet another language which does it totally different, so I am always curious to see how fiction will address that concept of how language and gender are processed in fictional universes (I admit Ancillary Justice, a truly interesting and important book, which I loved was in my mind and comparisons were inevitable and not in favor of Burning Stars. Martha Wells is doing interesting, even if subtle things in Murderbot and Witch King with it).
There is a theme here, where the plot ties to a past genocide and the truth about it and the minority people, who are the survivors of that and are being exploited and persecuted and scapegoated. That was truly interesting and relevant - but I thought the ending was, for lack of a better word, cheesy
This is getting compared to Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine (and I did personally compare it mentally to that other book, the one I am hinting cryptically about in spoilers hoping to not spoil either book), but I would not classify it in the same ball park of either writing (characterization matters a lot to me) or worldbuilding. But it is competent, it's ambitious and I think lots of people (particularly fantasy readers) will like it. Overall this is a recommendation - there are ideas, and a bigger scope of plot ongoing than apparent at first, and I love the themes. I am not planning to touch the sequels though.
May 28, 2025
i'm glad i started this book on a whim because it ended up being a pretty impressive debut - an intricate, ambitious space opera carried by a strong writing style. if you're into insane, twisted, maddeningly obsessive characters and complicated, messy relationships, i cannot recommend this enough.
esek was such a despicable character to follow but also uncomfortably compelling, a train wreck you couldn't look away from. chono gave me mixed feelings - i felt for her and liked her natural compassion but some of her choices and uncertainties did frustrate me (even though i understood them). six remained the most fascinating figure and i loved how the plot slowly uncovered the mysteries shrouding their character. some of the side characters could've used more depth but i still liked them all (and the bonus lesbian relationship of course).
six and esek's wild, revenge-fueled cat-and-mouse chase across planets was so gripping to read, and the way chono was caught in the middle. i also liked that the complex, obsessive relationships they all had with each other were platonic.
the worldbuilding was really good - the only thing that bothered me was the futuristic tech (or casting). it was rather vaguely described and hard to picture most of the time, but didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
the non-linear plot going back and forth in time was utilized surprisingly well here - in retrospect, all the pieces of the story were arranged in the most perfect way to slowly lead us to a truly incredible plot twist. i really enjoyed how the intrigue and anticipation kept building with each chapter, culminating in an explosive, satisfying climax and resolution.
in fact, this almost reads as a standalone since it pretty much wraps up the main conflict, only with an ending that sparks quite interesting possibilities for the rest of the trilogy. needless to say, i'm very much looking forward to the sequel.
esek was such a despicable character to follow but also uncomfortably compelling, a train wreck you couldn't look away from. chono gave me mixed feelings - i felt for her and liked her natural compassion but some of her choices and uncertainties did frustrate me (even though i understood them). six remained the most fascinating figure and i loved how the plot slowly uncovered the mysteries shrouding their character. some of the side characters could've used more depth but i still liked them all (and the bonus lesbian relationship of course).
six and esek's wild, revenge-fueled cat-and-mouse chase across planets was so gripping to read, and the way chono was caught in the middle. i also liked that the complex, obsessive relationships they all had with each other were platonic.
the worldbuilding was really good - the only thing that bothered me was the futuristic tech (or casting). it was rather vaguely described and hard to picture most of the time, but didn't affect my enjoyment too much.
the non-linear plot going back and forth in time was utilized surprisingly well here - in retrospect, all the pieces of the story were arranged in the most perfect way to slowly lead us to a truly incredible plot twist. i really enjoyed how the intrigue and anticipation kept building with each chapter, culminating in an explosive, satisfying climax and resolution.
in fact, this almost reads as a standalone since it pretty much wraps up the main conflict, only with an ending that sparks quite interesting possibilities for the rest of the trilogy. needless to say, i'm very much looking forward to the sequel.
Read
December 22, 2024Ohh, that was excellent. Great world, great characters, and a Fifth Season/Ancillary Justice style twist.
Read
May 16, 2023If I were to say that this was the best debut novel I've read in a long time, I would be doing it a disservice. It's more than that -- it's one of the best SF books I've read period. End of sentence. It has it all: Jump off the page action, wild twists, superb world building. But the characters! They make it all work. It's rare that an author can make you care about so many different characters the way that Jacobs does here. So good. Even after the story's climax, I wanted to keep reading because I was so invested in these people and wanted to know where they were going next.
This is the first book in a trilogy, but it absolutely stands on its own. Satisfying ending? I don't know that a book could have one that is more complete than this. I don't envy the author as she tries to follow it up with a sequel. It is so good that it's going to be hard to top.
Go ahead and pencil Jacobs in for your Astounding Award ballot next year (For best new author).
This is the first book in a trilogy, but it absolutely stands on its own. Satisfying ending? I don't know that a book could have one that is more complete than this. I don't envy the author as she tries to follow it up with a sequel. It is so good that it's going to be hard to top.
Go ahead and pencil Jacobs in for your Astounding Award ballot next year (For best new author).
December 15, 2024
4.75⭐️
“If I was drowning, I would use my last strength to pull my enemy under with me. If I was burning alive, I would run into their arms like a lover. If I was bleeding to death, I would bite out their throat. I am not one to die with dignity and temperance. I will be vindictive and selfish to my last breath”
The best, most under-hyped space opera I’ve ever read! Better than Sun Eater, The Expanse, Red Rising, and Teixcalaan’s debut novels in my opinion.
“All she wants is to crawl into her lap, to crawl inside her, to be subsumed.”
These Burning Stars is the first novel from debut writer, Bethany Jacob’s, Kingdom trilogy. I’m obsessed with the characters in this expansive and volatile world. Their personalities are so explosive, especially Esek Nightfoot who you just can’t help but love to hate.
“He believes she feels guilty because she has been the tool of a monster. But Chono feels guilty because she has loved the monster, and loved the strength she drew from her.”
I annotated the hell outta this book while reading it and immediately had the urge to start all over and read it again once I’d finished. That’s highly unusual for me but this book had me helpless in its clutches! I’m officially a Bethany Jacob’s cheerleader, she’ll be on the automatic buy list from here on out. Can’t wait to start reading the second book, On Vicious Worlds. The final installment of the trilogy, This Brutal Moon, is due for release on 11/11/25.
“Storms may trouble the water, but no one can defeat an ocean! So, either you learn to ride the waves, or you drown!”
“If I was drowning, I would use my last strength to pull my enemy under with me. If I was burning alive, I would run into their arms like a lover. If I was bleeding to death, I would bite out their throat. I am not one to die with dignity and temperance. I will be vindictive and selfish to my last breath”
The best, most under-hyped space opera I’ve ever read! Better than Sun Eater, The Expanse, Red Rising, and Teixcalaan’s debut novels in my opinion.
“All she wants is to crawl into her lap, to crawl inside her, to be subsumed.”
These Burning Stars is the first novel from debut writer, Bethany Jacob’s, Kingdom trilogy. I’m obsessed with the characters in this expansive and volatile world. Their personalities are so explosive, especially Esek Nightfoot who you just can’t help but love to hate.
“He believes she feels guilty because she has been the tool of a monster. But Chono feels guilty because she has loved the monster, and loved the strength she drew from her.”
I annotated the hell outta this book while reading it and immediately had the urge to start all over and read it again once I’d finished. That’s highly unusual for me but this book had me helpless in its clutches! I’m officially a Bethany Jacob’s cheerleader, she’ll be on the automatic buy list from here on out. Can’t wait to start reading the second book, On Vicious Worlds. The final installment of the trilogy, This Brutal Moon, is due for release on 11/11/25.
“Storms may trouble the water, but no one can defeat an ocean! So, either you learn to ride the waves, or you drown!”
August 15, 2024
cannibalizing myself again and again and again so that i may read this in one bite over and over and over.
June 11, 2024
Twisty, vicious, and unrelenting: These Burning Stars is a book that's as clever and as merciless as the fucked up characters populating its pages. It's a searingly good and uncomfortably timely space opera about colonialism, diaspora, culture, religion, and state violence.
The plot of this story hinges on an interplanetary manhunt in a spacefaring empire built on genocide and exploitation. It's about several inextricably entangled characters: two clerics, the missing person they've been hunting for years, and a hacker who has come into possession of a secret that could tear the empire apart. This handful of people orbit one another over the course of decades in a shifting web of allegiance, murder, toxic obsession, and conspiracy. I recommend going into this book without reading the blurb, if you can.
Simultaneously an intricately crafted puzzle box and an explosive, bloody, no-holds-barred brawl.
Featuring:
-Blistering allegorical critique of America's dependence on oil and relationship with the Middle East
-Multiple timelines carefully woven together at key moments
-A fundamentally queer universe and gender as a vehicle for worldbuilding
-All-consuming obsession and way it blurs the lines between love and possession, between possession and destruction
"If I was drowning, I would use my last strength to pull my enemy under with me. If I was burning alive, I would run into their arms like a lover. If I was bleeding to death, I would bite out their throat. I am not one to die with dignity and temperance. I will be vindictive and selfish to my last breath."
Recommended to anyone who loved A Memory Called Empire or Dune. Also, this is literally nothing like the Locked Tomb except that it's making me similarly insane about toxic evil gay people and their weird fucked up interpersonal dynamics. So recommended if you enjoy that, as well.
The plot of this story hinges on an interplanetary manhunt in a spacefaring empire built on genocide and exploitation. It's about several inextricably entangled characters: two clerics, the missing person they've been hunting for years, and a hacker who has come into possession of a secret that could tear the empire apart. This handful of people orbit one another over the course of decades in a shifting web of allegiance, murder, toxic obsession, and conspiracy. I recommend going into this book without reading the blurb, if you can.
Simultaneously an intricately crafted puzzle box and an explosive, bloody, no-holds-barred brawl.
Featuring:
-Blistering allegorical critique of America's dependence on oil and relationship with the Middle East
-Multiple timelines carefully woven together at key moments
-A fundamentally queer universe and gender as a vehicle for worldbuilding
-All-consuming obsession and way it blurs the lines between love and possession, between possession and destruction
"If I was drowning, I would use my last strength to pull my enemy under with me. If I was burning alive, I would run into their arms like a lover. If I was bleeding to death, I would bite out their throat. I am not one to die with dignity and temperance. I will be vindictive and selfish to my last breath."
Recommended to anyone who loved A Memory Called Empire or Dune. Also, this is literally nothing like the Locked Tomb except that it's making me similarly insane about toxic evil gay people and their weird fucked up interpersonal dynamics. So recommended if you enjoy that, as well.
March 30, 2024
I really enjoyed this. A deeply angry book about how absolutely wrecked everything gets when crimes against companies and religion are the things that are policed by the military. A few surprising and cinematic twists as well.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things that were great:
-Truly unhinged characters. Charismatic cult-like leaders who do terrible things and somehow make those who gravitate to them culpable for their leader's actions. Met and matched with a true genius assassin, and a godly woman who forgives the sins of monsters.
-Terrifying future. Some have said that they didn't like the "worldbuilding" because the actual planets were nothing special, and space travel was not explored. But what was cool was the structures in place, the systems and their ramifications.
-Didn't take the easy road. There's often a cadence to stories that are aiming at revolution. I liked that this didn't have teenage children singlehandedly take anything down, or even lead. I'm underselling it, but I don't want to do spoilers.
What I didn't love:
-Rape as backstory. There's so so many abuses by power that aren't rape, as this book explores. Can we please, for the love of puppies, just not use rape in one gorram story.
-Plot armor. Some things just happened because the author wanted them to, and it was fine, but given how much atrocity there was, the easy wins felt cheap.
I think some of the themes could have been tightened a bit, but overall, this one was a good blend of frenetic pace and confident storytelling that told a story that I don't see as often as I'd like.
CONTENT WARNING:
Things that were great:
-Truly unhinged characters. Charismatic cult-like leaders who do terrible things and somehow make those who gravitate to them culpable for their leader's actions. Met and matched with a true genius assassin, and a godly woman who forgives the sins of monsters.
-Terrifying future. Some have said that they didn't like the "worldbuilding" because the actual planets were nothing special, and space travel was not explored. But what was cool was the structures in place, the systems and their ramifications.
-Didn't take the easy road. There's often a cadence to stories that are aiming at revolution. I liked that this didn't have teenage children singlehandedly take anything down, or even lead. I'm underselling it, but I don't want to do spoilers.
What I didn't love:
-Rape as backstory. There's so so many abuses by power that aren't rape, as this book explores. Can we please, for the love of puppies, just not use rape in one gorram story.
-Plot armor. Some things just happened because the author wanted them to, and it was fine, but given how much atrocity there was, the easy wins felt cheap.
I think some of the themes could have been tightened a bit, but overall, this one was a good blend of frenetic pace and confident storytelling that told a story that I don't see as often as I'd like.
January 8, 2024
DNF @ 51%
This is a political fantasy set in space. It is not sci-fi, it's not space opera.
Beyond that, it's just boring. Yawn inducing characters who are the bestest ever best that's ever been, yet somehow get out maneuvered? I could go on, but it would be as tedious as this book.
This is a political fantasy set in space. It is not sci-fi, it's not space opera.
Beyond that, it's just boring. Yawn inducing characters who are the bestest ever best that's ever been, yet somehow get out maneuvered? I could go on, but it would be as tedious as this book.
November 19, 2023
Let live the one who fights corruption, and protects the child in the dark.
this is such a hard review to write because this book was so easily a 4 star candidate right up until the climax. not to be crass but this is the literary equivalent of a disappointing orgasm after drawn out foreplay.
due credit to jacob for really committing to her depiction of morally ambiguous female characters. its a rare feat - so often, female characters are invariably softened because it strays too far from acceptability for women to be depicted as self-interested and unconcerned with approval/empathy.
esek nightfoot is a refreshing nightmare in that regard - she's brash, capricious, unrepentantly amoral and self serving. (what's more - jacobs avoids the trap of the Token Tragic Backstory That Made Her A Crazy Violent (redacted). she just is, end of story.) her former protege chono's a walking contradiction - tightly wound, infernally righteous yet devoted to precisely the wrong things. she's the perfect foil of dutiful order to esek's strategic chaos. (there's also jun - scrappy righteous underdog blah blah nothing we haven't seen in a million YA novels before. i didn't find her compelling but i suspect she exists to give the average reader someone to root for - esek and chono are likely too unpalatable for most audiences.)
the tension of esek and chono's tortured mentor-protege bond threads the narrative together beautifully as does their shared obsessiveness with six. there's moments of esek's odd regard for chono, chono's desperate desire for her approval - both of them equally in thrall of their entirely weird relationship for reasons neither of them are consciously aware of. what can i say, i love complex fraught relationships between female characters.
then the final act shits all over this
i don't know if i will pick up the sequel. i really did not enjoy the pivot from morally grey character driven soap opera about obsession and revenge into sweeping milquetoast political commentary. another reviewer wrote that they are excited "now that all of our Team Not Evil is all together" and this is precisely what has obliterated my interest. i suppose its possible jacobs will surprise us, but the element of moral ambiguity seems to have been rather conclusively rendered unambiguous by the final chapter so i'm not holding my breath. but on the whole, its commendable work for a debut author, and solid stuff up until the last hundred pages.
January 17, 2025
i’ve said this once and i’ll say it again … sapphic scifi books are SUPERIOR ‼️‼️
March 16, 2024
3.5 stars
It felt as if the character of Esek could have been lifted straight out of the pages of Red Rising. Violent, scheming and full of her own brand of disturbing charm, she was a complicated character, but I liked her.
Then we have Chono, a stoic believer of traditions, Esek’s shadow and right hand.
June is a grifter, a conman and this time she bit off way more than she could chew.
And through out the story hangs the shadow of the mysterious Six. A former school friend of Chono and Esek’s arch nemesis.
The crucial point the whole story hinges on is the feud between Esek and Six and the author didn’t fully convince me. This animosity between them felt a bit overblown and their motivations not fully fleshed out. There is also a twist, which although very surprising, I suspect has some plot holes in it.
The sub-plot of a past genocide, the truth about it and the minority survivors that are still being exploited, was very interesting and kept me reading on.
I liked the start and the end of the story so maybe I will try book 2 when it comes out, but its only a maybe.
It felt as if the character of Esek could have been lifted straight out of the pages of Red Rising. Violent, scheming and full of her own brand of disturbing charm, she was a complicated character, but I liked her.
Then we have Chono, a stoic believer of traditions, Esek’s shadow and right hand.
June is a grifter, a conman and this time she bit off way more than she could chew.
And through out the story hangs the shadow of the mysterious Six. A former school friend of Chono and Esek’s arch nemesis.
The crucial point the whole story hinges on is the feud between Esek and Six and the author didn’t fully convince me. This animosity between them felt a bit overblown and their motivations not fully fleshed out. There is also a twist, which although very surprising, I suspect has some plot holes in it.
The sub-plot of a past genocide, the truth about it and the minority survivors that are still being exploited, was very interesting and kept me reading on.
I liked the start and the end of the story so maybe I will try book 2 when it comes out, but its only a maybe.
August 16, 2023
I’m quite picky about science fiction, but I chose well with this one! A complex storyline and characters; politics, intrigue, double crossing, secrets; this one has it all! Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1645808644i%2F7494844._UX200_CR0%2C6%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
January 9, 2024
I'm glad I pushed through what I was thinking would be a DNF.
This twisty-turny sci-fi political thriller is real good. Lots of First Sister types of twists and turns and political machinations, and I think I will stick around to book 2 to see where the hell it's going to go from here.
I received an ARC from NetGalley
This twisty-turny sci-fi political thriller is real good. Lots of First Sister types of twists and turns and political machinations, and I think I will stick around to book 2 to see where the hell it's going to go from here.
I received an ARC from NetGalley
need-to-finish
August 14, 2024save me lesbian sci-fi save me
July 9, 2024
A space opera with a heartbreaking villain, fiery sidekicks and childhood bonds that stretch across galaxies and years.
This was a wild ride and while it took me a while to get the hang of the timelines and world-building on the audio version, I eventually settled in as the story crashed and pirouetted its way to the inevitable conclusion.
This was a wild ride and while it took me a while to get the hang of the timelines and world-building on the audio version, I eventually settled in as the story crashed and pirouetted its way to the inevitable conclusion.
April 19, 2024
3.5* rounded up cos 3* would be overly critical and unfair. I actually had this on NetGalley in October and for some reason completely missed it. So here we are.
I almost DNF’ed this, but plodded on, but then something happened towards the end that completely 180’ed my single reason for the cause of the massive criticism of the book. I will not say more for spoiler reasons.
This year, I wanted to read works from more diverse authors or novels with more diverse stories, and this one very much leans into the LGBTQIA+ category. I’m not even sure it’s right to categorise it in this manner, but that’s how I originally found it. But more on that at the end of the review.
Essentially, the world is ruled by a mix of aristocratic families and a religious organisation (the Kingdom) split into 3 ‘kins’: cloaksaan (enforcers) secretaries (bureaucratic judiciary) and clerics (spiritual).
Esek, a member of the aristocracy and Hand of Kingdom (senior cleric) visits a school where students are being trained to join the kin. She singles out an impressive genderless trainee simply known only as number six, and wrecks their prospects and future (because of…stuff. Not going to spoil anything), setting in motion all that follows.
The plot follows a future Esek and a fellow cleric Chono (also one of those in the same class of students and a previous mentee of Esek) as they hunt Six and the aftermath of that earlier decision, while working in parallel to retrieve evidence that may prove the Kingdom responsible for genocide, culminating in one of the best twists I have read for a long, long time. I always catch onto twists very early on, but I wasn’t even close to spotting this one. Brilliant!
This was a good, if at sometimes, laborious read (took 2 weeks to read it). It is well written, but with some obvious first novel stuff that can be overlooked: various exposition dumps early on, some clunky modern dialogue (that didn’t work for me personally), etc. but for the most part the world-building is good, with enough intrigue to keep me interested enough to reach the end.
It is written from 2 timelines: past and present (in past and present tense respectively) that work brilliantly well; with each one leading into the other to move the plot forward. At no time did I groan when we went back in time to provide necessary context to further the next part of the present story. It was cleverly laid out and adds layers to the mystery of what is going on.
Characters are…OK, but I struggled to reconcile how the 2 leads act towards one another. Esek is a violent psychopath to the point of parody; she is cruel, manipulative, indifferent and murderous. I think there was a desire for us to feel some “empathy” for Esek, but she has absolutely zero redeeming qualities. She’s abhorrent! Chono on the other hand is the moral counterpoint to that behaviour, and yet is besotted by her former mentor, and who has been witness to and been the subject of that violence. But it’s not written as a trauma response or social conditioning, she just is. Any conflict is surface level, and not really explored in any detail so for me it made no sense.
The characters in general are the most skittish beings I have ever read. Every…single…chapter has varying descriptions of someone “staring, silently…taut or coiled” with varying levels of “shocks, shivers, or electricity” or voices “startling or cracking back to awareness” with an ensemble of similes. With the amount of things that went down someone’s spine you could turn it into a drinking game.
CH1: “…sent a thrill down her spine”
CH2: “…shivers runs down her spine”
CH12: “…echoing down her spine”
CH13: “…coiling down her spine”
CH16: we have a shiver rolling down and another shiver later on that same chapter.
CH17: “…a shiver went up [her] spine” at least it’s a change of direction.
CH18: introduced us to Icy fire travelling down
CH19: just a simple shiver
CH21: we had chills at one point, and shivers racing at another
CH26: we had some tunneling. Can one tunnel down one’s spine?!
CH27: we finish off with a last shiver.
By the end it was getting really tiring. Again, that’s first novel stuff, but I’m surprised editing didn’t pick it up.
Now onto the use of gender and pronouns. Jacobs often uses gender-neutral pronouns when describing characters we don’t know yet. What this does is disguises who a character may be until that gender is known. I am being overly simplistic as this usage adds both relevance and depth to the world building, but it’s a superb plot device (intentionally I hope?) that keeps the mystery and tension up.
However, what it also does on some occasions is make it difficult to picture the character you are reading about. As the saying goes, reading is staring at marked slices of tree for hours on end, while hallucinating vividly. I found myself finding it difficult to get an image of a character, in both look and personality because the character on the page is presenting as neutral with no description. Now I am willing to submit that it is perhaps my own failings in this space that, regardless of how little I care about what gender or pronouns one uses, it still plays a critical role in how I see the world. And perhaps the point is that it doesn’t matter, but I get the feeling Jacobs wants it to. Like many things, perhaps I simply need more exposure to it for it to become the norm. It’s an intriguing concept in literature that I’ve never come across and one that merits further consideration.
In summary, this is solid sci-fi with some good world building, and a belter of a twist. I hope when the next book comes out, I’m still of the frame of mind to continue the story. If it was out now, I’d definitely read it.
I almost DNF’ed this, but plodded on, but then something happened towards the end that completely 180’ed my single reason for the cause of the massive criticism of the book. I will not say more for spoiler reasons.
This year, I wanted to read works from more diverse authors or novels with more diverse stories, and this one very much leans into the LGBTQIA+ category. I’m not even sure it’s right to categorise it in this manner, but that’s how I originally found it. But more on that at the end of the review.
Essentially, the world is ruled by a mix of aristocratic families and a religious organisation (the Kingdom) split into 3 ‘kins’: cloaksaan (enforcers) secretaries (bureaucratic judiciary) and clerics (spiritual).
Esek, a member of the aristocracy and Hand of Kingdom (senior cleric) visits a school where students are being trained to join the kin. She singles out an impressive genderless trainee simply known only as number six, and wrecks their prospects and future (because of…stuff. Not going to spoil anything), setting in motion all that follows.
The plot follows a future Esek and a fellow cleric Chono (also one of those in the same class of students and a previous mentee of Esek) as they hunt Six and the aftermath of that earlier decision, while working in parallel to retrieve evidence that may prove the Kingdom responsible for genocide, culminating in one of the best twists I have read for a long, long time. I always catch onto twists very early on, but I wasn’t even close to spotting this one. Brilliant!
This was a good, if at sometimes, laborious read (took 2 weeks to read it). It is well written, but with some obvious first novel stuff that can be overlooked: various exposition dumps early on, some clunky modern dialogue (that didn’t work for me personally), etc. but for the most part the world-building is good, with enough intrigue to keep me interested enough to reach the end.
It is written from 2 timelines: past and present (in past and present tense respectively) that work brilliantly well; with each one leading into the other to move the plot forward. At no time did I groan when we went back in time to provide necessary context to further the next part of the present story. It was cleverly laid out and adds layers to the mystery of what is going on.
Characters are…OK, but I struggled to reconcile how the 2 leads act towards one another. Esek is a violent psychopath to the point of parody; she is cruel, manipulative, indifferent and murderous. I think there was a desire for us to feel some “empathy” for Esek, but she has absolutely zero redeeming qualities. She’s abhorrent! Chono on the other hand is the moral counterpoint to that behaviour, and yet is besotted by her former mentor, and who has been witness to and been the subject of that violence. But it’s not written as a trauma response or social conditioning, she just is. Any conflict is surface level, and not really explored in any detail so for me it made no sense.
The characters in general are the most skittish beings I have ever read. Every…single…chapter has varying descriptions of someone “staring, silently…taut or coiled” with varying levels of “shocks, shivers, or electricity” or voices “startling or cracking back to awareness” with an ensemble of similes. With the amount of things that went down someone’s spine you could turn it into a drinking game.
CH1: “…sent a thrill down her spine”
CH2: “…shivers runs down her spine”
CH12: “…echoing down her spine”
CH13: “…coiling down her spine”
CH16: we have a shiver rolling down and another shiver later on that same chapter.
CH17: “…a shiver went up [her] spine” at least it’s a change of direction.
CH18: introduced us to Icy fire travelling down
CH19: just a simple shiver
CH21: we had chills at one point, and shivers racing at another
CH26: we had some tunneling. Can one tunnel down one’s spine?!
CH27: we finish off with a last shiver.
By the end it was getting really tiring. Again, that’s first novel stuff, but I’m surprised editing didn’t pick it up.
Now onto the use of gender and pronouns. Jacobs often uses gender-neutral pronouns when describing characters we don’t know yet. What this does is disguises who a character may be until that gender is known. I am being overly simplistic as this usage adds both relevance and depth to the world building, but it’s a superb plot device (intentionally I hope?) that keeps the mystery and tension up.
However, what it also does on some occasions is make it difficult to picture the character you are reading about. As the saying goes, reading is staring at marked slices of tree for hours on end, while hallucinating vividly. I found myself finding it difficult to get an image of a character, in both look and personality because the character on the page is presenting as neutral with no description. Now I am willing to submit that it is perhaps my own failings in this space that, regardless of how little I care about what gender or pronouns one uses, it still plays a critical role in how I see the world. And perhaps the point is that it doesn’t matter, but I get the feeling Jacobs wants it to. Like many things, perhaps I simply need more exposure to it for it to become the norm. It’s an intriguing concept in literature that I’ve never come across and one that merits further consideration.
In summary, this is solid sci-fi with some good world building, and a belter of a twist. I hope when the next book comes out, I’m still of the frame of mind to continue the story. If it was out now, I’d definitely read it.
May 27, 2024
Oh, I really liked this one.
I'm not much for space opera usually, but I think Bethany Jacobs does a great job of providing just enough information that I never felt like I was drowning, but I did always feel a half-step behind any revelation or twist. I did not predict the ending whatsoever, which was a fun little treat for me. I found all of the characters interesting, especially Esek, and the depth of the political intrigue and bone-deep queerness reminded me of maybe my favorite science fiction book of all time, The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.
If you read one queer space book this year (and are sick of the trend of super tender/gentle SF, like I am), try this one out.
edit: I forgot to give a little credit where it's due--Orbit has been putting out consistently interesting titles lately, the way Tor did from like 2017-2020 or so. This book would have been an absolute no-brainer for 5-years-ago Tor, but they have been completely shitting the bed recently. Have they had a single memorable (or even just non-shitty) title in the last two years? Orbit, while not batting .300 or anything, have at least been giving us SOMETHING, and this is an example of the kind of work I'd love to see more of.
I'm not much for space opera usually, but I think Bethany Jacobs does a great job of providing just enough information that I never felt like I was drowning, but I did always feel a half-step behind any revelation or twist. I did not predict the ending whatsoever, which was a fun little treat for me. I found all of the characters interesting, especially Esek, and the depth of the political intrigue and bone-deep queerness reminded me of maybe my favorite science fiction book of all time, The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.
If you read one queer space book this year (and are sick of the trend of super tender/gentle SF, like I am), try this one out.
edit: I forgot to give a little credit where it's due--Orbit has been putting out consistently interesting titles lately, the way Tor did from like 2017-2020 or so. This book would have been an absolute no-brainer for 5-years-ago Tor, but they have been completely shitting the bed recently. Have they had a single memorable (or even just non-shitty) title in the last two years? Orbit, while not batting .300 or anything, have at least been giving us SOMETHING, and this is an example of the kind of work I'd love to see more of.
July 21, 2025
Take my rating with a grain of salt since this is very much not my thing (I read it for Hugo voting). It’s a space opera through and through, akin to watching a sci-fi movie: dramatic and visual and over-the-top, all violence and intrigue and big reveals and nefarious power players and scrappy well-meaning space pirates and down-at-heel trading stations and chases and double-dealing and major characters all being superhumanly good at things except at key plot moments when they aren’t. You know how it goes.
What sets it apart a bit is the welcome lack of any romance arc, plus all three main characters being women who are morally compromised to varying degrees. One, Esek, is a monster, but charismatic and entertaining to read about. Another, Chono, is Esek’s former protegee, who gets dragged into her mission after attempting to leave and start a more peaceful life, and who is the most conflicted and thus interesting and sympathetic of the bunch. The third, Jun, is a scrappy space pirate/hacker who is pretty boring and standard-issue. Esek also has a nemesis, Six, who roams the galaxy causing chaos as an eyeroll-worthy mastermind.
Once I got into it, it was entertaining enough. There’s a lot going on, and it was interesting to have POVs on different sides of a conflict (for a good chunk of the book, Chono is hunting Jun). It was also interesting to read about so many messed-up characters who are all obsessed with each other, in non-sexual ways, which added welcome depth and complexity to their relationships. Unfortunately I was spoiled for the big twist, which didn’t quite work for me as it invalidated much of one character’s arc, but overall the ending is satisfying and true to the kind of book that this is. While there is a sequel, this book provides a complete story.
That said, it did take a bit of getting into, largely because of what I think of as “Orbit house style,” where everything has to be a scene and so large amounts of exposition gets stuffed into every crevice of long, meandering dialogues, to the point you lose track of the actual discussion. And there are some plot points that struck a false note, most notably
Meanwhile, the book’s ideas about gender go entirely unexplored: it’s a world where everyone chooses their gender, which is treated as completely separate from sex, but at no point does the book even begin to address what gender does mean to them in that case. This is particularly relevant with Chono, who seems to have a male body and no intention of changing it (body modifications come easy in this world): what does identifying as female mean to her? I suspect this is deliberate (every setting I’ve seen with any variation on this idea takes care not to examine it), because if gender is fully decoupled from sex then it probably runs on stereotypes, and that wouldn’t be very progressive, would it. (It could also just become unimportant, but as these people tattoo their pronouns on their bodies, one presumes to them it is highly important. It could alternatively be both important and meaningless, like sports team affiliation, but then you’d expect to see strong in-group identification around it, which is absent.) At any rate, the book definitely does not think deeply about this in any way. Nor, despite two characters nominally being clerics, do we get any sense of the religion as an institution.
Finally, while the prose is generally solid (which is about as much as you can expect from an Orbit book), there are a handful of misused words, making me wonder what happened to the copyeditor. The most memorable example for me is toward when the end, when there are repeated references to the people Chono has “comported” with. Psst - you mean “consort”!
In the end, entertaining enough and I don’t regret trying something a bit different from my usual reading. Those who actually like space opera will likely enjoy it more than I did.
What sets it apart a bit is the welcome lack of any romance arc, plus all three main characters being women who are morally compromised to varying degrees. One, Esek, is a monster, but charismatic and entertaining to read about. Another, Chono, is Esek’s former protegee, who gets dragged into her mission after attempting to leave and start a more peaceful life, and who is the most conflicted and thus interesting and sympathetic of the bunch. The third, Jun, is a scrappy space pirate/hacker who is pretty boring and standard-issue. Esek also has a nemesis, Six, who roams the galaxy causing chaos as an eyeroll-worthy mastermind.
Once I got into it, it was entertaining enough. There’s a lot going on, and it was interesting to have POVs on different sides of a conflict (for a good chunk of the book, Chono is hunting Jun). It was also interesting to read about so many messed-up characters who are all obsessed with each other, in non-sexual ways, which added welcome depth and complexity to their relationships. Unfortunately I was spoiled for the big twist, which didn’t quite work for me as it invalidated much of one character’s arc, but overall the ending is satisfying and true to the kind of book that this is. While there is a sequel, this book provides a complete story.
That said, it did take a bit of getting into, largely because of what I think of as “Orbit house style,” where everything has to be a scene and so large amounts of exposition gets stuffed into every crevice of long, meandering dialogues, to the point you lose track of the actual discussion. And there are some plot points that struck a false note, most notably
Meanwhile, the book’s ideas about gender go entirely unexplored: it’s a world where everyone chooses their gender, which is treated as completely separate from sex, but at no point does the book even begin to address what gender does mean to them in that case. This is particularly relevant with Chono, who seems to have a male body and no intention of changing it (body modifications come easy in this world): what does identifying as female mean to her? I suspect this is deliberate (every setting I’ve seen with any variation on this idea takes care not to examine it), because if gender is fully decoupled from sex then it probably runs on stereotypes, and that wouldn’t be very progressive, would it. (It could also just become unimportant, but as these people tattoo their pronouns on their bodies, one presumes to them it is highly important. It could alternatively be both important and meaningless, like sports team affiliation, but then you’d expect to see strong in-group identification around it, which is absent.) At any rate, the book definitely does not think deeply about this in any way. Nor, despite two characters nominally being clerics, do we get any sense of the religion as an institution.
Finally, while the prose is generally solid (which is about as much as you can expect from an Orbit book), there are a handful of misused words, making me wonder what happened to the copyeditor. The most memorable example for me is toward when the end, when there are repeated references to the people Chono has “comported” with. Psst - you mean “consort”!
In the end, entertaining enough and I don’t regret trying something a bit different from my usual reading. Those who actually like space opera will likely enjoy it more than I did.
September 21, 2023
Update, September 2023: I've just finished reading the publication version of These Burning Stars—thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the eARC. (Dear bookselling colleagues, if you're reading this: if you come across a physical ARC in the shop, please let me know!!)
Small disclaimer: I had the privilege of working with Bethany on this book during Pitch Wars 2020 (and what a joy and an honour that was), so my review is a little biased.
Anti-disclaimer: I guarantee you that even if I had no personal involvement with this book or its author, I would still be screeching about how amazing These Burning Stars is.
Despite having read the manuscript multiple times before, having peeked behind the scenes of this book, and having spent hundreds of hours thinking about it with my editing hat on, I am once again obsessed, blown away, and absolutely staggered by this book upon rereading it.
Where to begin...
THE CHARACTERS. The characters are the driving force of this book and they are so strongly written. They are nuanced and multifaceted, as are the relationships between them. They feel so real that they could step off the page into real life and I wouldn't blink (but I would run away very quickly from Esek!).
Multi-POV books can easily lose my interest if I don't care about all the POV characters—but every single chapter of These Burning Stars fully drew me in and deepened my emotional investment in the characters each time.
Also, did I mention the queerness, the moral greyness, and the sheer badassery of all the characters?? I love them all so much. Don't make me pick a favourite; even the side characters are properly rooted in my heart!
THE PLOT. Oh, the plot. (Don't worry, this is a spoiler-free zone.) What I will say about it is this: you can absolutely trust the author to take you on a wild ride. Just sit back and enjoy it. The structure, the narrative style, the elegant way that information is given to you—never overloading you, never being opaque—the LAYERS, my god, the layers. It is an astounding feat of story construction, presented with such skill and polish that it comes across as effortless. I am genuinely in awe.
THE WORLDBUILDING. The worldbuilding follows the same pattern that the characters and plot do: a vast expanse of creation that feels deep, layered, nuanced, authentic and lived-in... without ever being overwhelming to read about. From the highest levels of government and the whole pantheon of varied deities and religions, to the smallest details of everyday life and their cultural and linguistic subtleties... wow, just wow. What a feat. Also: it's set in a queernorm and non-cisnormative society where (nearly) everyone can choose their own gender—heck yes.
If you're a science fiction fan, a space opera fan, a fan of Yoon Ha Lee, Ann Leckie, Arkady Martine, Seth Dickinson: These Burning Stars will become a new favourite of yours, I guarantee it.
===
Original review, June 2022:
THESE BURNING STARS is a queer-as-heck, character-driven space opera. Once it gets its claws in you, it won't let go.
May contain:
—murderous priests and brutal assassins
—sapphic con artists
—moral ambiguity
—political scheming and corruption
—burning feuds and long-awaited revenge
—a deliciously villainous POV character
—expansive worldbuilding
You won't want to miss this!
Small disclaimer: I had the privilege of working with Bethany on this book during Pitch Wars 2020 (and what a joy and an honour that was), so my review is a little biased.
Anti-disclaimer: I guarantee you that even if I had no personal involvement with this book or its author, I would still be screeching about how amazing These Burning Stars is.
Despite having read the manuscript multiple times before, having peeked behind the scenes of this book, and having spent hundreds of hours thinking about it with my editing hat on, I am once again obsessed, blown away, and absolutely staggered by this book upon rereading it.
Where to begin...
THE CHARACTERS. The characters are the driving force of this book and they are so strongly written. They are nuanced and multifaceted, as are the relationships between them. They feel so real that they could step off the page into real life and I wouldn't blink (but I would run away very quickly from Esek!).
Multi-POV books can easily lose my interest if I don't care about all the POV characters—but every single chapter of These Burning Stars fully drew me in and deepened my emotional investment in the characters each time.
Also, did I mention the queerness, the moral greyness, and the sheer badassery of all the characters?? I love them all so much. Don't make me pick a favourite; even the side characters are properly rooted in my heart!
THE PLOT. Oh, the plot. (Don't worry, this is a spoiler-free zone.) What I will say about it is this: you can absolutely trust the author to take you on a wild ride. Just sit back and enjoy it. The structure, the narrative style, the elegant way that information is given to you—never overloading you, never being opaque—the LAYERS, my god, the layers. It is an astounding feat of story construction, presented with such skill and polish that it comes across as effortless. I am genuinely in awe.
THE WORLDBUILDING. The worldbuilding follows the same pattern that the characters and plot do: a vast expanse of creation that feels deep, layered, nuanced, authentic and lived-in... without ever being overwhelming to read about. From the highest levels of government and the whole pantheon of varied deities and religions, to the smallest details of everyday life and their cultural and linguistic subtleties... wow, just wow. What a feat. Also: it's set in a queernorm and non-cisnormative society where (nearly) everyone can choose their own gender—heck yes.
If you're a science fiction fan, a space opera fan, a fan of Yoon Ha Lee, Ann Leckie, Arkady Martine, Seth Dickinson: These Burning Stars will become a new favourite of yours, I guarantee it.
===
Original review, June 2022:
THESE BURNING STARS is a queer-as-heck, character-driven space opera. Once it gets its claws in you, it won't let go.
May contain:
—murderous priests and brutal assassins
—sapphic con artists
—moral ambiguity
—political scheming and corruption
—burning feuds and long-awaited revenge
—a deliciously villainous POV character
—expansive worldbuilding
You won't want to miss this!
February 10, 2024
I enjoyed this overall, but I think it has some issues. I think the middle was a bit of a slog. I think the structure with the dual timelines was messy. I think it brings forth a lot of heavy themes (like genocide) but ultimately felt a little hollow or superficial in places, or maybe just too casual?
The worldbuilding was probably the most interesting aspect for me. I read the first chapter and instantly felt like I was reading about some new other world. There are still a lot of questions I have, mostly about religion and the Hand and how it all works, but I appreciate that it didn’t get too info dumpy, and hope it’ll become clearer in future books.
I also liked the characters. There are a few that are difficult to follow, because they are horrible, immoral people. I do think the characters could have used some work? There are two sides and they feel very much like one side is very good, and one side is very bad, without enough gray in between (on either side- I think both sides are probably too united in their view points, I’d expect there to be more diverse factions, given the world’s complex history).
Esek is probably the most complex of the characters, but it’s hard to appreciate because she’s also like… a horrible person. There is one other character I think can be included, I’ll withhold the name in case it’s a spoiler.
Around the 3/4 mark the book picked up in a big way. The last quarter was much more difficult to put down than the rest. I thought it was paced well and concluded well, giving it closure but leaving enough to dangle a book two for fans.
Would I continue?
That is a great question, and the answer is… I don’t know.
There is a preview chapter in my book and it goes back to 1648 (present day in book is 1664 I think) and it was an immediate turn off. I didn’t read the chapter, I didn’t want to read the chapter. I don’t know if I care about the direction book two is going in? I’m pretty satisfied with this one book.
I really can’t fathom why, now that the story of how the characters got to where they are, has been laid out in full, we need to keep going back in time. The dual timeline was one of the weakest aspects of this book.
Again, despite all my complaining, I enjoyed this more than not, and would definitely read from the author again
The worldbuilding was probably the most interesting aspect for me. I read the first chapter and instantly felt like I was reading about some new other world. There are still a lot of questions I have, mostly about religion and the Hand and how it all works, but I appreciate that it didn’t get too info dumpy, and hope it’ll become clearer in future books.
I also liked the characters. There are a few that are difficult to follow, because they are horrible, immoral people. I do think the characters could have used some work? There are two sides and they feel very much like one side is very good, and one side is very bad, without enough gray in between (on either side- I think both sides are probably too united in their view points, I’d expect there to be more diverse factions, given the world’s complex history).
Esek is probably the most complex of the characters, but it’s hard to appreciate because she’s also like… a horrible person. There is one other character I think can be included, I’ll withhold the name in case it’s a spoiler.
Around the 3/4 mark the book picked up in a big way. The last quarter was much more difficult to put down than the rest. I thought it was paced well and concluded well, giving it closure but leaving enough to dangle a book two for fans.
Would I continue?
That is a great question, and the answer is… I don’t know.
There is a preview chapter in my book and it goes back to 1648 (present day in book is 1664 I think) and it was an immediate turn off. I didn’t read the chapter, I didn’t want to read the chapter. I don’t know if I care about the direction book two is going in? I’m pretty satisfied with this one book.
I really can’t fathom why, now that the story of how the characters got to where they are, has been laid out in full, we need to keep going back in time. The dual timeline was one of the weakest aspects of this book.
Again, despite all my complaining, I enjoyed this more than not, and would definitely read from the author again
October 9, 2024
Tried reading this again and definitely liked it a lot better the second time around.
Reminds me of the politics and characters from Andor, mixed with Dune House machinations. Confusing, ambitious, and space opera-y.
---
DNF@ 28%
Maybe I'll try this again later on down the road. But rn, I just don't care about the characters or the world building. Everyone sucks here and there's no one to root for.
Reminds me of the politics and characters from Andor, mixed with Dune House machinations. Confusing, ambitious, and space opera-y.
---
DNF@ 28%
Maybe I'll try this again later on down the road. But rn, I just don't care about the characters or the world building. Everyone sucks here and there's no one to root for.
December 5, 2024
my favourite kind of books are the ones that kind of go batshit insane during the 3rd act
December 22, 2023
3.5 stars.
The Kindom is a galaxy-spanning Empire, run by a religious order. They enforce laws, rules and piety with violence, often arbitrarily doled out. The clerics in the order are educated at an Academy where they are taught how to be good little psychopaths for this unsurprisingly repellent theocracy. Author Bethany Jacobs uses four characters to show the values and injustices of the Kindom, while setting the stakes for the story's conflict:
-Genius programmer, known as a caster in this world, and thief Jun Ironway gets her hands on information that could bring down the Kindom
-Incredibly calm, stoic and deadly cleric Chono, who has a long association with two other characters critical to the narrative: Esek and Six. Chono is accompanying Esek as she chases after Ironway, and is full of confusion about her former mentor Esek, and what is really the reason for they have been assigned to this chase.
-Esek is a newly head of her incredibly wealthy and influential family, who are inextricably linked to the power and financial health of the Kindom. Esek is volatile and vicious, and unrepentantly, gleefully, monstrous.
-Six trained alongside Chono, and the two became friends, or at least as friendly as was possible in the brutal environment of the academy. Six was challenged by Esek to impress the cleric while Six was still an adolescent at the school, and has spent years confounding and thwarting various of Esek's schemes.
Jun's theft sets off a planet hopping search for her, while Esek has a dual purpose in trailing after Jun, as Esek is tasked by Kindom higher ups to capture the thief, and Esek convinced Six is linked into the situation somehow. Chono is deeply conflicted while aiding Esek in the pursuit of both individuals; how do they feel about Six, and what will they do if they and Esek ever come face-to-face with Six?
The pacing is swift, and there is plenty of action and sudden violence. The Kindom is awful, full of nastiness and corruption. And I totally loved Esek, whose exuberant use of violence was so excessive and terrible, and yet I found her magnetic. Chono is wonderful also, with all their inner conflict and desire to do the right thing, but also knowing that they are complicit in countless atrocities by virtue of working with Esek for years.
I just wish I had enjoyed this book more. I wish I could put my finger on what didn't work for me, aside from Jun Ironway, who irritated me every time she appeared on page. The story is enjoyable otherwise, moving fast and giving readers a complex society and several morally ambiguous and compromised characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
The Kindom is a galaxy-spanning Empire, run by a religious order. They enforce laws, rules and piety with violence, often arbitrarily doled out. The clerics in the order are educated at an Academy where they are taught how to be good little psychopaths for this unsurprisingly repellent theocracy. Author Bethany Jacobs uses four characters to show the values and injustices of the Kindom, while setting the stakes for the story's conflict:
-Genius programmer, known as a caster in this world, and thief Jun Ironway gets her hands on information that could bring down the Kindom
-Incredibly calm, stoic and deadly cleric Chono, who has a long association with two other characters critical to the narrative: Esek and Six. Chono is accompanying Esek as she chases after Ironway, and is full of confusion about her former mentor Esek, and what is really the reason for they have been assigned to this chase.
-Esek is a newly head of her incredibly wealthy and influential family, who are inextricably linked to the power and financial health of the Kindom. Esek is volatile and vicious, and unrepentantly, gleefully, monstrous.
-Six trained alongside Chono, and the two became friends, or at least as friendly as was possible in the brutal environment of the academy. Six was challenged by Esek to impress the cleric while Six was still an adolescent at the school, and has spent years confounding and thwarting various of Esek's schemes.
Jun's theft sets off a planet hopping search for her, while Esek has a dual purpose in trailing after Jun, as Esek is tasked by Kindom higher ups to capture the thief, and Esek convinced Six is linked into the situation somehow. Chono is deeply conflicted while aiding Esek in the pursuit of both individuals; how do they feel about Six, and what will they do if they and Esek ever come face-to-face with Six?
The pacing is swift, and there is plenty of action and sudden violence. The Kindom is awful, full of nastiness and corruption. And I totally loved Esek, whose exuberant use of violence was so excessive and terrible, and yet I found her magnetic. Chono is wonderful also, with all their inner conflict and desire to do the right thing, but also knowing that they are complicit in countless atrocities by virtue of working with Esek for years.
I just wish I had enjoyed this book more. I wish I could put my finger on what didn't work for me, aside from Jun Ironway, who irritated me every time she appeared on page. The story is enjoyable otherwise, moving fast and giving readers a complex society and several morally ambiguous and compromised characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.
November 5, 2025
This book did Not work for me (DNF@50%). The biggest reason for that is I just did not connect to any of the characters; in fact, I hated them all (because they are pure evil). There is an unhealthy focus on violence, death and sex in this story that seems to preclude any character redemption and/or growth, making the world building the only element that could possibly save this hot mess … and it did have a lot of potential (with a tripartite ruling class of brute, priest and spy along with some gender/pronoun games); but in the end that too falls flat as none of the concepts are really explained well nor explored. While I applaud the avoidance of info dumping that seems to be common in the genre, the over reliance on made up words and redefined terms make it extremely difficult to get a bead on what is going on from the context. This is only exacerbated by the use of third person singular (present tense), which keeps the action moving but doesn’t allow much in the way of exposition.
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheseBurningStars #NetGalley
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#TheseBurningStars #NetGalley
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