Some Desperate Glory

Emily Tesh

Apr 2023 · Sold by Tordotcom

About this ebook

Instant National Bestseller and International Bestseller!

Hugo Award and Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist!

A thrillingly told queer space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find, and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you, Some Desperate Glory is Astounding Award Winner Emily Tesh’s explosive debut novel.

"Some Desperate Glory surprised me at every turn. At once a space thriller, a tale of deprogramming, and a missive on identity and meaning, the result is a vitally refreshing addition to the SFF genre. This book has earned a permanent place on my favorites shelf."—V. E. Schwab

"Masterful, audacious storytelling. Relentless, unsentimental, a completely wild ride."—Tamsyn Muir

"This is the sort of debut novel every novelist hopes to write."—John Scalzi

"Deserves a space on shelves alongside Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

National Bestseller | Sunday Times Bestseller | An Indie Next Pick | A LibraryReads Pick | a Goodreads Choice Finalist | With three starred reviews!

A Best Of Pick for The Guardian | GoodReads | Publishers Weekly | Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible | Gizmodo | Book Riot | LitHub | Financial Times | Discover Sci-Fi | Locus | NPR | Library Journal

While we live, the enemy shall fear us.

Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the majoda their victory over humanity.

They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to Nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.

Alongside her brother’s brilliant but seditious friend and a lonely, captive alien, Kyr escapes from everything she’s known into a universe far more complicated than she was taught and far more wondrous than she could have imagined.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

Despite a slow start, this book becomes deceptively insightful and complex starting 1/3 of the way in. While some of the character growth is contrived and required by the plot (and the points the author wants to make), it works well enough. Ultimately the book makes some insightful comments on race, gender, equality, and happiness, without being heavy handed about it. The second half of the book is truly an interesting and thoughtful read, while being entertaining. Well done.

Started slow, but once I got into it, it was hard to put it down. Some problematic areas for sure, but if you're not thinking too critically it can be a fun space ride.

Amazing experience reading this book. Many interesting plot twists and heartbreaking moments. A++++++++

About the author

EMILY TESH, winner of the Astounding Award and a Crawford Award finalist, is the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow Duology, which begins with the novella Silver in the Wood and concludes with Drowned Country. Some Desperate Glory is her first novel.