The Fate of Stars by SD Simper

“I would rather die a thousand deaths than have never met you.”
★★★★★

I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself regarding this review. I’ve spent weeks hyping up The Fate of Stars almost daily on social media, hosted a giveaway for a special edition copy of it, and even conducted a Zoom interview with the author, SD Simper, to talk about it. After all that, I began to wonder if I could even come up with anything worthwhile to say that I haven’t already said. As it turns out, I needn’t have worried. 

The Fate of Stars by SD Simper is the first book in her sapphic mermaid trilogy, Sea & Stars. Let’s start with a refresher on the premise.

Synopsis:
“A devout mermaid. A disgraced princess. A feud as ancient as the gods.

Worlds collide when Tallora is kidnapped from her ocean home and forced to be a pet to a tyrannical foreign empire. Her only hope for rescue lies with a sworn enemy—Princess Dauriel, infamous for her stone heart and conflicted past. But when Dauriel’s kingdom comes to the cusp of war, could their uneasy alliance be the key to defeating a common foe? Or will their growing feelings for each other lead them to ruin?

From the world of FALLEN GODS comes a tale of ancient magic and cutthroat politics—and finding redemption through love.”

So, what happens when a bisexual mermaid and stone butch princess whose paths were never supposed to cross meet and fall in love? Read this book and find out! The Fate of Stars is everything I could’ve ever wanted in a f/f fantasy novel. Magic, mermaids, and enemies to lovers? Sign me the fuck up, honestly. I could write an essay length review of the banter alone, but I’ll spare you (for now). 

On a more serious note, I loved this book and story. One thing that really stood out to me was that the author handled the inherent power imbalance in the relationship with such nuance, and even had the characters explicitly discuss it between themselves! I’ve never seen that in a book like this, and it was much appreciated.

The Fate of Stars is available now on Kindle Unlimited! 

The other two books in the Sea & Stars trilogy, Heart of Silver Flame (Book 2) and Death’s Abyss (Book 3) are available for pre-order, and will be out in June & July, respectively.

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The Fate of Stars At a Glance:
Genre: High Fantasy, Lesbian Romance
Themes/Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Swords & Sorcery, Butch/Femme, Taming the Beast/Thawing the Ice Queen
LGBT Rep? Yep! The main character, Tallora, is a bisexual mermaid. Her eventual love interest is a stone butch lesbian.
Own Voices? Yes!
Content Warnings (CW): References to suicide, infertility (and trauma surrounding it), emotionally abusive parents, a few instances of graphic violence, threats of sexual assault (but no actual assault)

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I was a beta reader for the entire Sea & Stars trilogy, but I’d honestly be raving about The Fate of Stars just as much if I hadn’t been. 

Also, how gorgeous is this special edition alternate cover?

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir

“We do bones, motherfucker.” (★★★★★, 5/5)

Where to begin with Gideon the Ninth? Perhaps with its tagline: “Lesbian Necromancers in Space.” If that’s not enough to hook you, I don’t know what is.

Gideon the Ninth was one of the most unique, fun, and imaginative tales I’ve read in a long time. I started with the ebook, proceeded to become engrossed to the point I could accomplish absolutely nothing besides reading it, then decided to spend an Audible credit on the audiobook so that I didn’t completely wreck my GPA and could instead listen to the novel while working on graphic design homework.

I don’t buy many audiobooks, but Gideon the Ninth, narrated by Moira Quirk, was hands down the best one I’ve ever listened to! Quirk gives an amazing performance and really makes Muir’s words come to life. I’ve seen other reviewers say that they found Gideon to be dense and confusing for the first bit, but I honestly feel like listening to the book instead of reading it outright helped me circumvent that issue. It’s a lot easier to avoid getting bogged down by the spelling and pronunciations of complicated, fantastical names when someone else pronounces them for you.

That aside, I loved Gideon the Ninth to absolute (bone fragment) pieces. This imaginative tale fused two of my favorite genres (fantasy & sci-fi, aka “science fantasy”), and checked all of my boxes – lesbians, necromancy, political intrigue, witty repartee, enemies to lovers subtext, and sword play! There wasn’t a single thing about this novel that I didn’t like.

Gideon was so deliciously wild and complex that I won’t kid myself into thinking that any plot summary I could write myself could possibly do the book justice, so here’s the official blurb:
“Gideon the Ninth is the most fun you’ll ever have with a skeleton.
The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as necromantic skeletons. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.”

In closing: GO READ GIDEON THE NINTH!!! I don’t care who you are, or what sort of books you usually read – this is not one you want to miss. Though Gideon does include horror aspects, it isn’t particularly scary. Definitely creepy, but more fun than terrifying. This is important for me, as I’m generally not a fan of ‘scary’ books, because I’m kind of a giant weenie. So I would encourage my fellow weenies to give Gideon the Ninth a shot, because it’s seriously worth it.

If you’ve already read Gideon the Ninth and, like me, are chomping at the bit for Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #2) to come out later this year, Tor has your back! You can download the entire first act of Harrow the Ninth from their website, for free, here!

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Gideon the Ninth At a Glance:

• Genre: LGBT, Dark “Science Fantasy”, Action/Adventure
• Themes/Tropes: Reluctant Hero, Enemies to Lovers (Subtext), Thawing the Ice Queen/Taming the Beast, Swords & Sorcery
• LGBT Rep? Yes! The main character, Gideon, is a useless lesbian who essentially falls for every beautiful woman she comes into contact with.
• Content Warnings (CW): Graphic violence & gore, Death (like lots of death, but that’s to be expected in a book about necromancers), multiple conversations about suicidality, in depth discussions of trauma & grief, a few instances of self-harm (as a means for necromancy rather than for its own sake, if that helps)