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Queen of the Corpsepickers
Beginning a new series of standalone novels set in the Primaterre universe, Queen of the Corpsepickers is the two-fisted, twisted tale of Vanessa 'Mist' Northrup, a ruthless RebEarth pirate. Strap in and brace for cutthroat deep space skulduggery packed with murder, mayhem and maximum energy for the Mother Spirit!
While Joy Somerset sleeps dreamlessly in stasis, Vanessa Northrup dreams of a big score; a chance to prove herself.
Andromeda dreams of resurgence, but Captain Zotic Vlachou has even greater, obsessive goals.
Whose dreams will come true?
While Joy Somerset sleeps dreamlessly in stasis, Vanessa Northrup dreams of a big score; a chance to prove herself.
Andromeda dreams of resurgence, but Captain Zotic Vlachou has even greater, obsessive goals.
Whose dreams will come true?
567 pages, Paperback
Published March 15, 2022
3 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2022
Queen. Of. The. Corpsepickers.
How cool is that?
Does the book stand up to the promise of the title?
Oh Yes.
And then some.
The story takes place in S.A. Tholin's "Primaterre" universe and it's set chronologically before the events in her first novel, Iron Truth. So you can read this without knowing anything beforehand.
This is the "origin" story of Vanessa 'Mist' Northrup, a ballsy RebEarth pirate who plans to steal her way to fame & glory with the most audacious heist imaginable. And it really is. This book is nothing if not wildly imaginative and absolutely bonkers.
It is said that there's a fine line between insanity and genius, but Tholin takes a flamethrower to it and obliterates that line completely, then nukes it just to make sure (from orbit, of course). This is pure, unadulterated crazy genius poured onto the page and straight into your head.
Love, sex, murder, brutal war, bad guys and even badder guys, and a healthy flavour of Norse & Greek mythology; in deep space, on far-flung planets, war-torn battlegrounds and a hostile water world. Featuring characters brought to the page so fully formed, so flawed and heroic and doomed. So human.
If you only read one book this month, it should be this one. Twice.
How cool is that?
Does the book stand up to the promise of the title?
Oh Yes.
And then some.
The story takes place in S.A. Tholin's "Primaterre" universe and it's set chronologically before the events in her first novel, Iron Truth. So you can read this without knowing anything beforehand.
This is the "origin" story of Vanessa 'Mist' Northrup, a ballsy RebEarth pirate who plans to steal her way to fame & glory with the most audacious heist imaginable. And it really is. This book is nothing if not wildly imaginative and absolutely bonkers.
It is said that there's a fine line between insanity and genius, but Tholin takes a flamethrower to it and obliterates that line completely, then nukes it just to make sure (from orbit, of course). This is pure, unadulterated crazy genius poured onto the page and straight into your head.
Love, sex, murder, brutal war, bad guys and even badder guys, and a healthy flavour of Norse & Greek mythology; in deep space, on far-flung planets, war-torn battlegrounds and a hostile water world. Featuring characters brought to the page so fully formed, so flawed and heroic and doomed. So human.
If you only read one book this month, it should be this one. Twice.
July 22, 2025
At it's heart, QOTCP it is a very dark rom-com, an impossible/improbable heist, a coming-of-age of an extremely damaged sociopathic young girl and an incredible cyberpunk/space opera epic crammed with AMAZING three dimensional diverse characters. I loved it to bits, and this might even be better than the main Primaterre series, depending how much you enjoy this character and her antics.
In case you're unaware, a "Corpsepicker" is a Valkyrie, from Norse mythology. In this novel, Memory Black (a RebEarth pirate) uses this legend to mould her cadre of assassins / terrorists / infiltrators / thieves. We know that Vanessa Northrup is not the Queen of this group at the beginning of the book, so it's hardly a spoiler that .
So, the outcome is not really the subject of this book. It's all about the sweet (and sour) journey. This is less a genre book, more a coming of age story like Tom Jones, or David Copperfield - a bildungsroman novel, turned upon its head.
The antagonists of the main tale are the Andromedans, a multi-corporate society whose belief system is founded on Hellenistic myth. And this sets us up for a legendary Norse v Greek face-off - very rewarding for us mythology geeks who can see all this stuff lurking in the background - although it's not just served up, it's been filtered through millennia and the characters get the gist but have the details wrong, like a game of chinese whispers (AKA telephone) played over thousands of years. Hilarious! (erm... your milage may vary :)
Now, unlike another review, I would not recommend reading this book without having read the other Primaterre novels, because they set up who the "Primos" are and also introduce RebEarth, and the main star of this book: Vanessa "Mist" Northrup. Her appearances in the main books are priceless, especially her scenes with the Primaterre Medic, Rhys.
Anyway, my favourite chapters in this book are the ones that take us away from the main plot - because, as I've stated,
So my favourite bits are the flashbacks and set pieces - the painstaking, character building moments of our main players. The tragic xeno-archeologists, the horror of being a grunt in a high tech war where the other side is tactically leagues ahead of you, and death is all around - Jose's flashbacks are absolutely gut-wrenching. And then there's the "origin" chapter of the main adversary, Captain Zotic Vlachou, which is a massive fall from privilege & entitlement into absolute madness - this chapter alone is glorious!!!
Weirdly enough, another "reviewer" says that the book could have done with being in two parts - which is a surprising comment, when it is actually in THREE PARTS. There's full page headings, and a bit of ancient Norse poetry for each break! I'm not sure why that reader couldn't stop themselves from continuing... Although, really, I know why - it's because you cannot put this book down!
For me, it could have been twice as long again and I'd still not be satisfied. I devoured this book, being such a fan of the original series, and Tholin's expansive writing style - but there is a lot of breathing room too. There are lots of chapters and lots of breaks in those chapters, too. Plenty of chances to put the book down to make a cup of tea and digest all the stuff that just happened. Because a lot does happen. S.A Tholin's books are dense with content and double meanings.
So, if you couldn't already guess, I wholeheartedly recommend this book (for those who enjoyed The Primaterre series - read those first!!).
TLDR: It is a Norse v Greek myth slugfest, the 21st Century version of Fielding's Tom Jones if he was an amoral space pirate - a sociopathic wannabe-Valkyrie space pirate suffering a bad break-up and engaging in the most unlikely heist ever!
In case you're unaware, a "Corpsepicker" is a Valkyrie, from Norse mythology. In this novel, Memory Black (a RebEarth pirate) uses this legend to mould her cadre of assassins / terrorists / infiltrators / thieves. We know that Vanessa Northrup is not the Queen of this group at the beginning of the book, so it's hardly a spoiler that .
So, the outcome is not really the subject of this book. It's all about the sweet (and sour) journey. This is less a genre book, more a coming of age story like Tom Jones, or David Copperfield - a bildungsroman novel, turned upon its head.
The antagonists of the main tale are the Andromedans, a multi-corporate society whose belief system is founded on Hellenistic myth. And this sets us up for a legendary Norse v Greek face-off - very rewarding for us mythology geeks who can see all this stuff lurking in the background - although it's not just served up, it's been filtered through millennia and the characters get the gist but have the details wrong, like a game of chinese whispers (AKA telephone) played over thousands of years. Hilarious! (erm... your milage may vary :)
Now, unlike another review, I would not recommend reading this book without having read the other Primaterre novels, because they set up who the "Primos" are and also introduce RebEarth, and the main star of this book: Vanessa "Mist" Northrup. Her appearances in the main books are priceless, especially her scenes with the Primaterre Medic, Rhys.
Anyway, my favourite chapters in this book are the ones that take us away from the main plot - because, as I've stated,
So my favourite bits are the flashbacks and set pieces - the painstaking, character building moments of our main players. The tragic xeno-archeologists, the horror of being a grunt in a high tech war where the other side is tactically leagues ahead of you, and death is all around - Jose's flashbacks are absolutely gut-wrenching. And then there's the "origin" chapter of the main adversary, Captain Zotic Vlachou, which is a massive fall from privilege & entitlement into absolute madness - this chapter alone is glorious!!!
Weirdly enough, another "reviewer" says that the book could have done with being in two parts - which is a surprising comment, when it is actually in THREE PARTS. There's full page headings, and a bit of ancient Norse poetry for each break! I'm not sure why that reader couldn't stop themselves from continuing... Although, really, I know why - it's because you cannot put this book down!
For me, it could have been twice as long again and I'd still not be satisfied. I devoured this book, being such a fan of the original series, and Tholin's expansive writing style - but there is a lot of breathing room too. There are lots of chapters and lots of breaks in those chapters, too. Plenty of chances to put the book down to make a cup of tea and digest all the stuff that just happened. Because a lot does happen. S.A Tholin's books are dense with content and double meanings.
So, if you couldn't already guess, I wholeheartedly recommend this book (for those who enjoyed The Primaterre series - read those first!!).
TLDR: It is a Norse v Greek myth slugfest, the 21st Century version of Fielding's Tom Jones if he was an amoral space pirate - a sociopathic wannabe-Valkyrie space pirate suffering a bad break-up and engaging in the most unlikely heist ever!
October 10, 2023
Tholin is a hidden gem. Her writing is better than many of the popular SF writers. I'm surprised her books aren't at the top of SF book recommendations.
December 6, 2024
i loved mist's story so much. there were morsels in the main series that got me interested, but mist ended up being such a complicated, well-drawn character - while there's plenty of bad, there's also some good. with the history the author's drawn up for her, it's no surprise that she ended up the way she did, truly embodying the phoenix that is the symbol of the rebearthers.
otherwise, outside of mist herself, this book was such a fun sci-fi spin on the classic heist story, and truly a book that can stand on its own. i really adored this cast of characters and getting to explore the non-primaterre side of the galaxy. it's fascinating getting to see the primaterre from the outside; both because it makes sense why the primaterre's society (doctrine of purity, et cetera) was set up to function the way it does in opposition to the rest of the galactic community - particularly the hypercapitalist hellhole we get with the andromeda conglomerate - but also because it makes perfect sense why the rest of the galactic community hates the primaterre's guts. getting to see what a planetwide purging is like from the perspective of the planetary citizens getting purged is horryifying - in addition to the rest of the ways in which the primaterre isn't exactly squeaky clean. it's a great perspective to have in contrast to the blinders that the characters of the main series wear. hell, even joy, who's the clearest-eyed about the primaterre's flaws, seems to have absorbed some of their society's propaganda to a certain extent. it makes me look forward to seeing how that gets interrogated further in future installments.
and speaking of future installments, i have to know the conclusion to mist and josue's story. i wasn't expecting their relationship to win me over and capture me as much as it did, but... haha. this story also fleshes out mist's character arc so well that i wonder how the new plot with xanthe which was set up at the end of the main series' fourth book will go.
nevertheless, it makes me sad that this fictional universe isn't more popular - it really deserves more recognition in the sci-fi community, and i hope it eventually gets its flowers! in any case, i'm super excited to dive into the rest of the primaterre tales.
edit: the diagrams in this book were so helpful too! the ark ship description was so unique that yeah, only pictures could truly do it justice.
otherwise, outside of mist herself, this book was such a fun sci-fi spin on the classic heist story, and truly a book that can stand on its own. i really adored this cast of characters and getting to explore the non-primaterre side of the galaxy. it's fascinating getting to see the primaterre from the outside; both because it makes sense why the primaterre's society (doctrine of purity, et cetera) was set up to function the way it does in opposition to the rest of the galactic community - particularly the hypercapitalist hellhole we get with the andromeda conglomerate - but also because it makes perfect sense why the rest of the galactic community hates the primaterre's guts. getting to see what a planetwide purging is like from the perspective of the planetary citizens getting purged is horryifying - in addition to the rest of the ways in which the primaterre isn't exactly squeaky clean. it's a great perspective to have in contrast to the blinders that the characters of the main series wear. hell, even joy, who's the clearest-eyed about the primaterre's flaws, seems to have absorbed some of their society's propaganda to a certain extent. it makes me look forward to seeing how that gets interrogated further in future installments.
and speaking of future installments, i have to know the conclusion to mist and josue's story. i wasn't expecting their relationship to win me over and capture me as much as it did, but... haha. this story also fleshes out mist's character arc so well that i wonder how the new plot with xanthe which was set up at the end of the main series' fourth book will go.
nevertheless, it makes me sad that this fictional universe isn't more popular - it really deserves more recognition in the sci-fi community, and i hope it eventually gets its flowers! in any case, i'm super excited to dive into the rest of the primaterre tales.
edit: the diagrams in this book were so helpful too! the ark ship description was so unique that yeah, only pictures could truly do it justice.
October 17, 2022
This was so much book for so little enjoyment. Overkill is the theme.
So much was dedicated to rambling dialogue or flashbacks for so many characters - I quit enjoying it (that may be an overstatement as I really just wanted to see what this jumble could turn into) and just wanted it to be over already.
Of course the hidden little gems in other characters sequences were necessary to bring resolution to the story. But damn, it was tedious reading looking for the needles in the haystacks.
Maybe if this book were divided into two smaller stories. Or just edited down a lot.
The FMC was complicated, which I can appreciate. The story was overcomplicated to have come to such an abrupt payoff ending.
So much was dedicated to rambling dialogue or flashbacks for so many characters - I quit enjoying it (that may be an overstatement as I really just wanted to see what this jumble could turn into) and just wanted it to be over already.
Of course the hidden little gems in other characters sequences were necessary to bring resolution to the story. But damn, it was tedious reading looking for the needles in the haystacks.
Maybe if this book were divided into two smaller stories. Or just edited down a lot.
The FMC was complicated, which I can appreciate. The story was overcomplicated to have come to such an abrupt payoff ending.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews