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The Dragonfly Gambit
After a career-ending injury, a military pilot plans her revenge against an empire that made her a soldier in the first place. Now, she will lie, cheat, and seduce her way to the very top, to destroy the fleet she was once a part of.
142 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2024
22 people are currently reading
1256 people want to read
About the author
A.D. Sui
2 books96 followersA.D. Sui is a Ukrainian-born, internationally raised speculative writer, Nebula winner, and Aurora, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist. They are the author of The Dragonfly Gambit (2024), The Iron Garden Sutra (2026), and more than two dozen short stories. A failed academic and retired fencer, they spend their days wrangling their two dogs and tending to a myriad of tropical plants. You can find them on most social media platforms as @thesuiway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
June 26, 2025
The Dragonfly Gambit is now a 2025 Nebula Award winner! Congrats A.D. Sui!
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Inez is a former space pilot of The Rule, a colonizing force in the galaxy that took her and her friends in before their homeworlds were burned to ash. After an accident, Inez is left for dead and spends a decade stewing in resentment and hate until she is dragged back by the Rule and forced to work for them - but she wants to destroy them instead.
Sui approaches this story from a perspective that isn't seen all too often. Yes, it is a revenge story and yes, it is about one person fighting against a larger fascist military rule, but she's no hero. She's a person barely holding it together. The story follows her as she deals with seeing her ex-girlfriend, ex-best friend (who is now sleeping with her ex-girlfriend), and the Third Sister, one of the ruling family of the Rule. Toxic relationships and bad decisions abound.
This is more of a character study in the end; while Inez is driven by revenge in a way that you may often see in grander space opera stories, there's not a ton here to be said about fascism, about colonialism, about revolution or society. And that's not really the point, I think? It's Inez's story as one person facing her own demons. It's a powerful story about a broken person facing her past and trying to burn it all down because she has nothing left to give.
It's certainly an interesting story as a whole, and I liked this glimpse into the world. I wish it had done a little bit more to make the world feel more whole, but I did like how close it was to Inez as a character and thus seeing the world through that lens.
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Inez is a former space pilot of The Rule, a colonizing force in the galaxy that took her and her friends in before their homeworlds were burned to ash. After an accident, Inez is left for dead and spends a decade stewing in resentment and hate until she is dragged back by the Rule and forced to work for them - but she wants to destroy them instead.
Sui approaches this story from a perspective that isn't seen all too often. Yes, it is a revenge story and yes, it is about one person fighting against a larger fascist military rule, but she's no hero. She's a person barely holding it together. The story follows her as she deals with seeing her ex-girlfriend, ex-best friend (who is now sleeping with her ex-girlfriend), and the Third Sister, one of the ruling family of the Rule. Toxic relationships and bad decisions abound.
This is more of a character study in the end; while Inez is driven by revenge in a way that you may often see in grander space opera stories, there's not a ton here to be said about fascism, about colonialism, about revolution or society. And that's not really the point, I think? It's Inez's story as one person facing her own demons. It's a powerful story about a broken person facing her past and trying to burn it all down because she has nothing left to give.
It's certainly an interesting story as a whole, and I liked this glimpse into the world. I wish it had done a little bit more to make the world feel more whole, but I did like how close it was to Inez as a character and thus seeing the world through that lens.
April 13, 2024
The phrase “burn it all down” is a popular one, but how many people really mean it? What would that look like? A.D. Sui explores this in The Dragonfly Gambit, a revenge novella featuring a former fighter pilot with nothing to lose, an empire staving off a rebellion, and a small cast of supporting characters caught in the middle. I received a review copy.
Inez Kato was a hot-shot pilot for the Rule—until an accident changed her life. Tossed aside, bitter, and on the wrong side of the Rule’s fascism, Inez hatches a plan to take down the empire from the inside. Bringing this plan to fruition will require her to work with her ex, as well as the Rule’s new hot-shot pilot, and the general who oversees it all. Inez has no one she can trust, no one to back her up, and as she wrestles with her attraction to the general, she realizes she is running out of time.
As it is, this book is about power. Who wields it. What they do with it. Inez is nominally powerless, a prisoner, conscripted to win a war she is opposed to. Yet she tells us she is the one with all the power, that she has a plan to win the war—for the other side—and destroy the Rule. Is she delusional? Will she be found out? Or will her plan succeed?
There are some good sapphic elements here—the sexytimes stuff doesn’t do that much for me, and I don’t entirely understand the appeal of “enemies to lovers,” but if that is your thing then Sui does it well. There’s a good kind of love (or at least attraction) triangle going on here, limited only in the sense that, as a novella, there isn’t much time to fully develop the relationships.
In the same way, I’d say that Sui makes good use of a lot of standard tropes in military science fiction: decrepit, fascist empire; a rebellion; war-weary soldiers. Yet I never really felt like the story was interested in saying anything about any of these things. This is very much a revenge plot through and through; if you are hoping for a deeper story about fascism, resistance, or war, then you won’t find that here.
That being said, while I won’t spoil it, I’ll say is that this is the most satisfying downer ending I have had in a while. The Dragonfly Gambit is a tragedy through and through, and I admire Sui’s commitment to the bit. I picked up heavy Battlestar Galactica vibes—maybe it was the discussion of fighter plots and hangar decks and the mention of how rundown the ship feels after Inez boards.
The Dragonfly Gambit is a pitch-perfect example of the pacing appropriate for a novella. Too long for a short story yet too short for a full novel, the plot here works perfectly for its length. I read the book in a single day, though not a single sitting, very much enjoying the steady elevation of tension as Inez worms her way deeper into the Rule’s hierarchy. Sui has a good grasp of when to sketch a character and when to fill them in, and it’s this careful awareness that makes this novella so tight and satisfying.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
Inez Kato was a hot-shot pilot for the Rule—until an accident changed her life. Tossed aside, bitter, and on the wrong side of the Rule’s fascism, Inez hatches a plan to take down the empire from the inside. Bringing this plan to fruition will require her to work with her ex, as well as the Rule’s new hot-shot pilot, and the general who oversees it all. Inez has no one she can trust, no one to back her up, and as she wrestles with her attraction to the general, she realizes she is running out of time.
As it is, this book is about power. Who wields it. What they do with it. Inez is nominally powerless, a prisoner, conscripted to win a war she is opposed to. Yet she tells us she is the one with all the power, that she has a plan to win the war—for the other side—and destroy the Rule. Is she delusional? Will she be found out? Or will her plan succeed?
There are some good sapphic elements here—the sexytimes stuff doesn’t do that much for me, and I don’t entirely understand the appeal of “enemies to lovers,” but if that is your thing then Sui does it well. There’s a good kind of love (or at least attraction) triangle going on here, limited only in the sense that, as a novella, there isn’t much time to fully develop the relationships.
In the same way, I’d say that Sui makes good use of a lot of standard tropes in military science fiction: decrepit, fascist empire; a rebellion; war-weary soldiers. Yet I never really felt like the story was interested in saying anything about any of these things. This is very much a revenge plot through and through; if you are hoping for a deeper story about fascism, resistance, or war, then you won’t find that here.
That being said, while I won’t spoil it, I’ll say is that this is the most satisfying downer ending I have had in a while. The Dragonfly Gambit is a tragedy through and through, and I admire Sui’s commitment to the bit. I picked up heavy Battlestar Galactica vibes—maybe it was the discussion of fighter plots and hangar decks and the mention of how rundown the ship feels after Inez boards.
The Dragonfly Gambit is a pitch-perfect example of the pacing appropriate for a novella. Too long for a short story yet too short for a full novel, the plot here works perfectly for its length. I read the book in a single day, though not a single sitting, very much enjoying the steady elevation of tension as Inez worms her way deeper into the Rule’s hierarchy. Sui has a good grasp of when to sketch a character and when to fill them in, and it’s this careful awareness that makes this novella so tight and satisfying.
Originally posted on Kara.Reviews.
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June 16, 2024For fans of Transformers, Fast and Furious, Gundam, Top Gun. A fast-paced, action-packed, tense novella filled with messy and complex characters and toxic relationships with disability rep, exploring trauma, closure, betrayal, love, fear, and what it means to leave a legacy.
June 11, 2025
A fairly readable queer novella that bites off more ideas than it manages to chew. The ingredients are very interesting (queerness, disability, empire, rebellion, sacrifice), the result does not quite cohere for me. This is largely because the suspension of disbelief this relies on is too intense - the empire is both vast and completely small (so that everyone can know - and sleep with - everyone else who matters to the plot). Characters' motivations don't quite manage to make sense. The rebellion is completely individual (and the protagonist is a specialist in everything).
The voice is very assured and interesting, and the story is spiky and dynamic. I hope the author's plotting and character work in the future matches the vibes and ideas.
In short, an iteresting, maybe even promising debut, but underbaked and (YMMV but to me, the publisher didn't quite copyedit as they should have) underedited.
The voice is very assured and interesting, and the story is spiky and dynamic. I hope the author's plotting and character work in the future matches the vibes and ideas.
In short, an iteresting, maybe even promising debut, but underbaked and (YMMV but to me, the publisher didn't quite copyedit as they should have) underedited.
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June 24, 2025This book is poorly edited. It’s disappointing because there is some great stuff in here (sexy lady general exhausted, panting, bloody, hot as fuck? sign me up) but it’s all such a mess I can’t even focus on the good stuff. I know “bad editing” is the standard complaint these days but it’s tough to see an author that has potential be so let down.
The first major issue is the first-draftiness of the writing on a sentence level. May I present for your review this punctuation: “she is limited not only by her reaction time but also the time it takes for the signal to run from her pretty little eyes to her, what I only assume is a walnut suspended in fluid brain, back to her hands to fire.” That comma between “her” and “what” is making *my* brain melt. (And the comma after “brain.” And the lack of any other punctuation that could clarify that “walnut suspended in fluid” is, against all evidence to the contrary, an adjective.)
The thing is, I get that the idea is for the MC’s voice to come through in the narration. But that’s not what this is - I couldn’t even focus on the walnut insult line because the sentence just plain doesn’t parse when you read it with your eyes. And while this is an extreme example there are a lot of these little issues peppered through what I read. They all should have been caught and fixed on a basic read-through.
Here’s a slightly different issue: “I drown in Rezál’s ice-like eyes. Her glare drills through me, pins me to the back of my chair like butterfly to cork. Even her slender frame is imposing, towering over me as I’m confined to my chair.”
How can you drown in ice? Are Rezál’s eyes icy, or glaring hot? Is her glare like a drill (twisty, destructive) or a pin (straight, incisive)? Is the MC pinned down and dead (like a butterfly), or alive but confined to an enclosed space (like, say, an animal in a cage)? And if you’re confined, and therefore inside something, how can you see a tower rising high above you? The metaphors are mixed, is what I’m saying. And I get how this happens… in the draft. But I just don’t get how this makes it through an *actual* edit.
There are also some story aspects that don’t work. My petty SF complaint is about how the lady general doesn’t know the kill stats of her star pilot - really?? Of course it’s possible that this is all of a smokescreen for the lady general’s secret plan, but that’s really not how it reads. And how it reads is - a lot of yanking to pull it all together so the gaps aren’t obvious. Except they are, because this book is clearly going for lady general competence porn and this kind of easily fixable detail makes the whole thing collapse. Similarly, our MC confronts her Emily-Blunt-in-Edge-of-Tomorrow war icon ex by bringing up a lot of messy baggage… in front of a huge crowd of adoring fans. Who are rapt… but just hours later have apparently forgotten the whole thing so they can cheer the war icon on in some set-piece spaceship flying. It just Doesn’t. Make. Sense. And it didn’t need to be this way! Have their initial confrontation literally anywhere else! An easy fix which, again, someone with a fresh perspective could have easily pointed out.
And then there’s a lot of exposition which is doing the same yanking, just as unsuccessfully. Take this: “When Morningstar pulls into the hangar alongside Iron Fox, the hangar erupts in cheers. I’m not surprised. To the spectators, Rezál has demonstrated why she is the Third Daughter and why she is in charge of all of them. She is superiority. She is grace. To Kaya she has demonstrated benevolence.”Those last four sentences should be unnecessary, because the preceding scene should have shown you that already, and it didn’t. But it could have! Showing those things was SO within reach. But rather than take this book from mediocre & messy to phenomenal, they just printed what should have been a draft. (Again, you could argue that this is about the MC’s voice - but this kind of exposition pops up multiple times and it’s clearly just summarizing what the author *wanted* to accomplish with the scene, but hasn’t - yet.)
(Note also the totally unnecessary “the hangar” repetition in the first sentence. That should have been an easy fix, but no one made it.)
I’m DNFing at the end of chapter 5.
This book was published by Neon Hemlock. I read the 2024 paperback, which is designed beautifully and has a fantastic cover illustration by Katherine Lam. I know it’s hard out here for an indie publisher. But you’re doing your authors a disservice by publishing these gorgeous editions of great stories… chock-full of basic, easily fixable errors.
The first major issue is the first-draftiness of the writing on a sentence level. May I present for your review this punctuation: “she is limited not only by her reaction time but also the time it takes for the signal to run from her pretty little eyes to her, what I only assume is a walnut suspended in fluid brain, back to her hands to fire.” That comma between “her” and “what” is making *my* brain melt. (And the comma after “brain.” And the lack of any other punctuation that could clarify that “walnut suspended in fluid” is, against all evidence to the contrary, an adjective.)
The thing is, I get that the idea is for the MC’s voice to come through in the narration. But that’s not what this is - I couldn’t even focus on the walnut insult line because the sentence just plain doesn’t parse when you read it with your eyes. And while this is an extreme example there are a lot of these little issues peppered through what I read. They all should have been caught and fixed on a basic read-through.
Here’s a slightly different issue: “I drown in Rezál’s ice-like eyes. Her glare drills through me, pins me to the back of my chair like butterfly to cork. Even her slender frame is imposing, towering over me as I’m confined to my chair.”
How can you drown in ice? Are Rezál’s eyes icy, or glaring hot? Is her glare like a drill (twisty, destructive) or a pin (straight, incisive)? Is the MC pinned down and dead (like a butterfly), or alive but confined to an enclosed space (like, say, an animal in a cage)? And if you’re confined, and therefore inside something, how can you see a tower rising high above you? The metaphors are mixed, is what I’m saying. And I get how this happens… in the draft. But I just don’t get how this makes it through an *actual* edit.
There are also some story aspects that don’t work. My petty SF complaint is about how the lady general doesn’t know the kill stats of her star pilot - really?? Of course it’s possible that this is all of a smokescreen for the lady general’s secret plan, but that’s really not how it reads. And how it reads is - a lot of yanking to pull it all together so the gaps aren’t obvious. Except they are, because this book is clearly going for lady general competence porn and this kind of easily fixable detail makes the whole thing collapse. Similarly, our MC confronts her Emily-Blunt-in-Edge-of-Tomorrow war icon ex by bringing up a lot of messy baggage… in front of a huge crowd of adoring fans. Who are rapt… but just hours later have apparently forgotten the whole thing so they can cheer the war icon on in some set-piece spaceship flying. It just Doesn’t. Make. Sense. And it didn’t need to be this way! Have their initial confrontation literally anywhere else! An easy fix which, again, someone with a fresh perspective could have easily pointed out.
And then there’s a lot of exposition which is doing the same yanking, just as unsuccessfully. Take this: “When Morningstar pulls into the hangar alongside Iron Fox, the hangar erupts in cheers. I’m not surprised. To the spectators, Rezál has demonstrated why she is the Third Daughter and why she is in charge of all of them. She is superiority. She is grace. To Kaya she has demonstrated benevolence.”Those last four sentences should be unnecessary, because the preceding scene should have shown you that already, and it didn’t. But it could have! Showing those things was SO within reach. But rather than take this book from mediocre & messy to phenomenal, they just printed what should have been a draft. (Again, you could argue that this is about the MC’s voice - but this kind of exposition pops up multiple times and it’s clearly just summarizing what the author *wanted* to accomplish with the scene, but hasn’t - yet.)
(Note also the totally unnecessary “the hangar” repetition in the first sentence. That should have been an easy fix, but no one made it.)
I’m DNFing at the end of chapter 5.
This book was published by Neon Hemlock. I read the 2024 paperback, which is designed beautifully and has a fantastic cover illustration by Katherine Lam. I know it’s hard out here for an indie publisher. But you’re doing your authors a disservice by publishing these gorgeous editions of great stories… chock-full of basic, easily fixable errors.
December 16, 2024
First and foremost, this is a story about revenge. It's a tragedy, so don't go into this expecting a happy ending. This doesn't go beyond surface level when talking about empires and colonialism and war, which I think is a mistake. I get that it's a novella, though, focused on Inez's journey, but it's still a bit of a missed opportunity.
I liked Inez. I liked her voice, and I liked the twists that, despite this being in first person, she managed to keep from the reader.
I wasn't all that bothered about the side characters of Kaya and Shay. I liked the complexity of Ennis, the Third Daughter and one of the rulers of the Rule, the galaxy spanning empire, but I didn't really like her, and I think we're not supposed to.
I'm ultimately not sure how I feel about this. It was well written, and both worked well as a novella and also left me wishing it was a full-length novel. Hmm.
I liked Inez. I liked her voice, and I liked the twists that, despite this being in first person, she managed to keep from the reader.
I wasn't all that bothered about the side characters of Kaya and Shay. I liked the complexity of Ennis, the Third Daughter and one of the rulers of the Rule, the galaxy spanning empire, but I didn't really like her, and I think we're not supposed to.
I'm ultimately not sure how I feel about this. It was well written, and both worked well as a novella and also left me wishing it was a full-length novel. Hmm.
November 8, 2025
All empires fall. It’s only natural.
“The Dragonfly Gambit” deals with colonialism, queerness and disability and I loved it so much that I’ve already read it twice. Just from the first sentence of the prologue I was extremely hooked and knew I was going to love this story and the ending destroyed me as much the second time around as during my first read. I grew attached to both main characters and absolutely loved the sapphic enemies to enemies plot line with all the hatred, revenge and double-crossing as well as the world building.
Thank you to NetGalley and Neon Hemlock Press for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
actual rating: 4,5 stars
“The Dragonfly Gambit” deals with colonialism, queerness and disability and I loved it so much that I’ve already read it twice. Just from the first sentence of the prologue I was extremely hooked and knew I was going to love this story and the ending destroyed me as much the second time around as during my first read. I grew attached to both main characters and absolutely loved the sapphic enemies to enemies plot line with all the hatred, revenge and double-crossing as well as the world building.
Thank you to NetGalley and Neon Hemlock Press for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
actual rating: 4,5 stars
March 20, 2025
I read this novella as part of my reading of this year's Nebula Award finalists. It's far-future SF narrated by a woman disabled while training to be a fighter pilot for an empire she now opposes.
Near the start, I had fun reading this. But as the book progressed, I liked it less well. I found the characters and the situation abrasive, unsoftened by the milk of human kindness. This is likely as intended, but means I am not the right audience for this story.
On the plus side, I liked the twistiness of the plot. And there are moments within this that sing, lines that ask to be quoted. For instance, here's a seven-word sentence from chapter 10 that I love: "Time is linear, there's no undoing it."
Also on the plus side: I was very glad to see a queer disabled protagonist -- but I wanted to like her more than I ended up doing!
On the negative side, I found this unconvincing in various respects. For instance, the ruler of the empire spends scene after scene after scene alone with the untrusted, untrustworthy narrator: not an aide, nor a bodyguard, nor a deputy, nor a servant in sight, nor a mention of them being ordered off-stage. Large numbers of people do appear occasionally, but only when convenient for the story -- a group to cheer on a battle, a group to man the command deck of a spaceship.
As a second example, little justification is offered as to why three youngsters conscripted from an inconsequential system all turn up here in plot-pivotal positions.
As a third example, the computer technology seems implausibly unsophisticated, close to what we have now.
I'm griping because I wasn't swept up in this. If I had been, I'd have either been oblivious or unbothered by these things.
Three out of five vengeful stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Near the start, I had fun reading this. But as the book progressed, I liked it less well. I found the characters and the situation abrasive, unsoftened by the milk of human kindness. This is likely as intended, but means I am not the right audience for this story.
On the plus side, I liked the twistiness of the plot. And there are moments within this that sing, lines that ask to be quoted. For instance, here's a seven-word sentence from chapter 10 that I love: "Time is linear, there's no undoing it."
Also on the plus side: I was very glad to see a queer disabled protagonist -- but I wanted to like her more than I ended up doing!
On the negative side, I found this unconvincing in various respects. For instance, the ruler of the empire spends scene after scene after scene alone with the untrusted, untrustworthy narrator: not an aide, nor a bodyguard, nor a deputy, nor a servant in sight, nor a mention of them being ordered off-stage. Large numbers of people do appear occasionally, but only when convenient for the story -- a group to cheer on a battle, a group to man the command deck of a spaceship.
As a second example, little justification is offered as to why three youngsters conscripted from an inconsequential system all turn up here in plot-pivotal positions.
As a third example, the computer technology seems implausibly unsophisticated, close to what we have now.
I'm griping because I wasn't swept up in this. If I had been, I'd have either been oblivious or unbothered by these things.
Three out of five vengeful stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
May 13, 2025
This is a sapphic military SF novella. I read it as a part of the monthly reading for May 2025 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group. The book was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2025.
The book starts with the protagonist, Inez Kato, being taken from her flat by the Secret Police. She has expected such a raid for years… from the first pages, readers find out that she is a veteran soldier of an empire called the Rule, who, after an accident during her military career, got severe injuries (one of her arms still does not work), was left ‘ashore’. Ms. Kato isn’t taken to a prison, but to a mothership. There she meets her former love, Kaya, who is the best fighter pilot as well as the irresistible Third Daughter of the Rule Ennis Rezál.
It turns out that the Rule cannot overcome the resistance of rebels, so Kato has to find a way to improve the ships or pilots, give them their last notch. And she has an idea, based on her observation of dragonflies as a kid. She should implement it quickly, for the Third Daughter is mortally ill and wants to end her life with a loud victory. Kato falls in love with Rezál but at the same time hates her for the Rule destroyed her home planet and Rezál took Kaya as her lover… moreover, as noted above, Kato expected the raid and her new role, so she had prepared…
I feel that the story has potential, but it is rough around the edges. The author is clearly more interested in setting interpersonal tension and love triangles than giving readers details on the setting. Say, a lot of reviewers called the Rule ‘fascist’, but it is more of a synonym for bad than anything else. Yes, the Rule is brutal, it destroys whole planets and is full of arrogant bustards, who see themselves as better than rebels, but are rebels here good guys or a kind of space Taliban? And this doesn’t allow me to root for overthrowing the Rule.
The book starts with the protagonist, Inez Kato, being taken from her flat by the Secret Police. She has expected such a raid for years… from the first pages, readers find out that she is a veteran soldier of an empire called the Rule, who, after an accident during her military career, got severe injuries (one of her arms still does not work), was left ‘ashore’. Ms. Kato isn’t taken to a prison, but to a mothership. There she meets her former love, Kaya, who is the best fighter pilot as well as the irresistible Third Daughter of the Rule Ennis Rezál.
It turns out that the Rule cannot overcome the resistance of rebels, so Kato has to find a way to improve the ships or pilots, give them their last notch. And she has an idea, based on her observation of dragonflies as a kid. She should implement it quickly, for the Third Daughter is mortally ill and wants to end her life with a loud victory. Kato falls in love with Rezál but at the same time hates her for the Rule destroyed her home planet and Rezál took Kaya as her lover… moreover, as noted above, Kato expected the raid and her new role, so she had prepared…
I feel that the story has potential, but it is rough around the edges. The author is clearly more interested in setting interpersonal tension and love triangles than giving readers details on the setting. Say, a lot of reviewers called the Rule ‘fascist’, but it is more of a synonym for bad than anything else. Yes, the Rule is brutal, it destroys whole planets and is full of arrogant bustards, who see themselves as better than rebels, but are rebels here good guys or a kind of space Taliban? And this doesn’t allow me to root for overthrowing the Rule.
April 19, 2025
I read this as part of the Nebula novella finalist packet.
This is an interesting take on the vengeance against evil space empires, something of a theme across finalists this year. The narrator is so intense and twisted by her goals, though, that I had a hard time being invested in her character, even as I was compelled to read onward because I wanted to see if/how she pulled it off.
This is an interesting take on the vengeance against evil space empires, something of a theme across finalists this year. The narrator is so intense and twisted by her goals, though, that I had a hard time being invested in her character, even as I was compelled to read onward because I wanted to see if/how she pulled it off.
March 15, 2025
The story feels very similar to the Imperial Radch, for what might be superficial reasons. A matriarchal society run by clones, a convoluted revenge plot, the colonialism and referring to others as "uncivilized."
There are a few odd anachronisms that don't fit into the setting. Seeing the word "cucked" twice in a story presumably set thousands of years in the future, and other turns of phrases from our time, was stupid.
The stakes never felt high to me, and I didn't care about any of the characters. Intellectually I understood what Nez was going through, but I never felt it from her narrative.
One thing that bothered me was Nez compiling and analyzing flight data by hand. Like, this is a super advanced, intergalactic society. Why isn't that data being automatically collected and processed? Why do your computers suck so much? Why the fuck do zip ties exist but bone china doesn't? Did bones go extinct?
The torture could have at least been interesting. Everything was so mundane.
I was expecting something faster paced with more tension. Instead the main character dicks around until the inevitable and predictable conclusion.
There are a few odd anachronisms that don't fit into the setting. Seeing the word "cucked" twice in a story presumably set thousands of years in the future, and other turns of phrases from our time, was stupid.
The stakes never felt high to me, and I didn't care about any of the characters. Intellectually I understood what Nez was going through, but I never felt it from her narrative.
One thing that bothered me was Nez compiling and analyzing flight data by hand. Like, this is a super advanced, intergalactic society. Why isn't that data being automatically collected and processed? Why do your computers suck so much? Why the fuck do zip ties exist but bone china doesn't? Did bones go extinct?
The torture could have at least been interesting. Everything was so mundane.
I was expecting something faster paced with more tension. Instead the main character dicks around until the inevitable and predictable conclusion.
September 3, 2024
I was so kindly gifted this book by the Author but I promised I’d give an honest review that is my own. I’ve never read anything from the author and honestly didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never read a SC-FI book before but I was happily surprised. I really enjoyed it. The writing was excellent and easy to understand. I’d have like a little more world building and explanation of The Rule and how it came to be but I did get into the swing of it.
It was so good to read disability rep to (as a disabled person myself, who suffers from shoulder dislocations! I felt Nez pain every time!) I loved the twists, turns and heartbreak. And that ending 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I look forward to seeing what else this author does in the future.
It was so good to read disability rep to (as a disabled person myself, who suffers from shoulder dislocations! I felt Nez pain every time!) I loved the twists, turns and heartbreak. And that ending 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I look forward to seeing what else this author does in the future.
May 23, 2024
What a powerful character Nez is! Beautiful story
September 20, 2024
Amazing!!!!
December 15, 2025
"[W]e were never meant to live in the future we were carving from the decaying carcass of your empire."
"Every empire falls. You can kick and scream, and whine, and plead, but every empire will have its fall."
"[She] is immortal in her beauty. In her zeal for victory she is as relentless and unyielding as the burn of a star."
"She's beautiful like a looming storm, or flash of a supernova; deadly and impassionate."
"And I want her then in the way a fire wants to burn everything in sight. I want her the way we all want to destroy beautiful things. To be her executioner, to be her salvation, I want it all."
"Every empire falls. You can kick and scream, and whine, and plead, but every empire will have its fall."
"[She] is immortal in her beauty. In her zeal for victory she is as relentless and unyielding as the burn of a star."
"She's beautiful like a looming storm, or flash of a supernova; deadly and impassionate."
"And I want her then in the way a fire wants to burn everything in sight. I want her the way we all want to destroy beautiful things. To be her executioner, to be her salvation, I want it all."
March 25, 2024
This novella certainly took me by surprise. For such a short length, it is packed full of revenge scheming, backstabbing, pining after the enemy, and several moments that I didn’t see coming.
The story is fast paced with just enough backstory and world building. It is perfect for readers who don’t typically reach for sci-fi. Even more perfect for sci-fi readers looking for something quick that still packs a punch.
There were a few moments of dialogue that didn’t work for me… but in the grand scheme of things, I have to stop and wonder if it was the dialogue I didn’t like or the character speaking. With that said, I absolutely loved how the story unfolded. The narration was clever and kept me hooked the entire time. The epilogue was *chef’s kiss* and immediately cemented A.D. Sui on my list of auto-buy authors.
I highly recommend checking this out if you enjoy the combination of sapphic sci-fi with overreaching military rule and characters that are in it to end it. 😏
The story is fast paced with just enough backstory and world building. It is perfect for readers who don’t typically reach for sci-fi. Even more perfect for sci-fi readers looking for something quick that still packs a punch.
There were a few moments of dialogue that didn’t work for me… but in the grand scheme of things, I have to stop and wonder if it was the dialogue I didn’t like or the character speaking. With that said, I absolutely loved how the story unfolded. The narration was clever and kept me hooked the entire time. The epilogue was *chef’s kiss* and immediately cemented A.D. Sui on my list of auto-buy authors.
I highly recommend checking this out if you enjoy the combination of sapphic sci-fi with overreaching military rule and characters that are in it to end it. 😏
March 22, 2025
3.75, rounding up.
I picked up this novella on a whim, not having heard of it, and I’m glad I did. I enjoyed a lot about this! The Dragonfly Gambit is action packed and fast moving, and kept my attention sufficiently for me to read it in one sitting. I’m glad I went into this novella with no real foreknowledge because I think the book’s description gives way too much away. I did see the twists coming but I appreciated Sui’s way of setting them up – a lot happens for a short book, and it feels very deliberately paced and structured. There was enough world-building to get a sense of the political stakes of the conflict. I like the writing style, I enjoyed Nez’ POV, and I feel like overall this novella works well in satisfying what one would want in a revenge story. I will 100% check out more of Sui’s work.
What didn’t work for me quite so well: It felt like there was maybe one too many intimate relationships amongst the main characters – it felt a bit ridiculous to have every character with any dialogue either be in or formerly in a sexual relationship with at least one other (mostly more than one), and some of the dialogue felt rather superficial. More editing would’ve been useful – there were enough typos in the e-book for me to notice them as a distraction.
Content warnings: blood, vomit, violence, murder, injury detail, terminal illness, torture, death
I picked up this novella on a whim, not having heard of it, and I’m glad I did. I enjoyed a lot about this! The Dragonfly Gambit is action packed and fast moving, and kept my attention sufficiently for me to read it in one sitting. I’m glad I went into this novella with no real foreknowledge because I think the book’s description gives way too much away. I did see the twists coming but I appreciated Sui’s way of setting them up – a lot happens for a short book, and it feels very deliberately paced and structured. There was enough world-building to get a sense of the political stakes of the conflict. I like the writing style, I enjoyed Nez’ POV, and I feel like overall this novella works well in satisfying what one would want in a revenge story. I will 100% check out more of Sui’s work.
What didn’t work for me quite so well: It felt like there was maybe one too many intimate relationships amongst the main characters – it felt a bit ridiculous to have every character with any dialogue either be in or formerly in a sexual relationship with at least one other (mostly more than one), and some of the dialogue felt rather superficial. More editing would’ve been useful – there were enough typos in the e-book for me to notice them as a distraction.
Content warnings: blood, vomit, violence, murder, injury detail, terminal illness, torture, death
May 16, 2024
The Dragonfly Gambit explores themes of queerness, disability and colonialism. Sui does an incredible job building dread throughout the story.
The story follows Nez, a former pilot of the Rule, who was disabled while in service. We learn about the history of her home planet, which was colonized by the Rule, leading to her and her friends, Shay and Kaya’s conscription. Despite their home planet’s compliance it is pulverized by the Rule, out of fear of dissension, leading to Nez’s radicalization against the imperial power.
This book has so many interesting twists. Nez is a complex and charismatic narrator, with conflicting motivations, she held my attention and would not let go until I had finished reading.
January 21, 2025
Novellas often feel a little under-baked to me, like they're short fiction stretched too thin or unfinished novels. This one, on the other hand, is a master class in how to get the absolute most out of just shy of 40,000 words without wasting a word or rushing the pacing. Most writers would have needed 500+ pages to tell the kind of twisty and ferocious story Sui has so masterfully folded into this slim novella. Very fun, very impressive.
Also *very* hot.
Also *very* hot.
November 8, 2024
The story isn't bad but the tone is not for me: full of clichés, making me feel like I'm watching children playing at being intergalactic empresses and spaceship commanders because they are too boastful and unfeeling and marvel-esque.
June 30, 2025
I would say short and sweet but that's not right...brief but intense? Honestly really capitaving and impressive how much the author fit into this novella!
April 23, 2025
I love a dark, anticolonialist revenge story, and this one with a queer disabled protagonist to boot. Inez is a promising pilot whose career is abruptly ended in a crash, leaving her with little else to do but plot to overthrow the system-spanning empire that blew up her home planet. I do wish we'd gotten to see a few other points of view, especially among the breakaways, because I grow tired of "solitary protagonist takes down a massive regime" as a plot, but the enemies-to-enemies-but-fucking plot and an ending that pulls no punches makes up for it.
July 30, 2024
this novella was exactly what i want a fall of empire book to be like: short, intense, and full of lesbian drama. these characters were giving me L word levels of evil crazy. normally I would resent that Nez loves everyone so much and no one loves her back in the same way but the book doesn't make you feel like that's on her, it's really on everyone else. great disabled main character. the description of the dragonfly implant technology felt very real and concrete without being techno-babble. the cat and mouse game was propulsive. overall really great !
November 16, 2024
A book that epitomizes all notions of self-destruction, a dark enemies to lovers that are still enemies focus on the enemies. While originally a little too fast paced and information-light for my liking, I really enjoyed the second half and ending.
January 17, 2025
I'm just sitting right now with a hysterical laugh thinking about the many ways this book just finished me
Oh my fucking god
Oh my fucking god
February 17, 2025
Good: sapphic rep. Questionable: disability rep. Derivative: much of the SF setting/worldbuilding. Not bad, but not great either.
April 21, 2025
Best "burn the world down" story I've read in quite a while. Ruthless, complicated characters, and more than one excellent plot twist.
September 1, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Neon Hemlock Press for the Advance reader copy.
The was a fun little sci-fi novella. It's short but impactful!
The main character Nez truely goes full throttle in her deceit and lies to bring down the Rule. It's incredible how much you learn about her and feel for her in such a small amount of time. I'd love to see more of her past in more works!
The was a fun little sci-fi novella. It's short but impactful!
The main character Nez truely goes full throttle in her deceit and lies to bring down the Rule. It's incredible how much you learn about her and feel for her in such a small amount of time. I'd love to see more of her past in more works!
September 1, 2025
This ripped from beginning to end. It's very tightly cooled, and the spring is just a hair shy, maybe two pages, from being perfectly satisfying.
December 13, 2024
We love mean lesbians! A thrilling space opera game of cat and mouse pitting a disaffected ex-pilot against a powerful scion of empire. Our drink, the Third Daughter, is a tropical dessert perfect for summertime sipping.
Hear my full review of THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT and see how the drink is made at Bar Cart Bookshelf on YouTube.
youtu.be/l5OjhaSeMXU
Hear my full review of THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT and see how the drink is made at Bar Cart Bookshelf on YouTube.
youtu.be/l5OjhaSeMXU
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