 | Some Desperate Glory is an intense space opera featuring a totalitarian Spartan-like culture that exists to avenge the destruction of Earth by an alien superpower. The main character, Valkyr, is a would-be warrior who devotes herself whole-heartedly to the cause. The characters make this story: Valkyr is laser-focused, driving herself and everyone around her to unrealistic perfection. Her talented, athletic brother Magnus—whom she idolizes—turns out to be more emotionally sensitive and “unheroic” than she imagined. Snarky, self-centered Avi, the tech wiz, provides a nice contrast to Valkyr’s focus on duty and honor, as does the alien Yiso, who is terrified by Valkyr’s anger and aggression. |
We spend the first eight chapters on Valkyr’s homeland, the space fortress Gaea, an asteroid converted into a habitable world through human ingenuity. The survivors on Gaea escaped the destruction of Earth in four dreadnought spaceships, which have been largely repurposed to make the asteroid habitable.
 | Valkyr trains incessantly in a holographic environment that creates scenarios nearly impossible to survive. She is ultra competitive and the undisputed leader of her age cohort of girls, pushing them as hard as she pushes herself (and is universally despised for it). Part of her competitive drive is to try to match her peerless brother Magnus, and to live down her older sister Ursa’s defection (she fled Gaea and hasn’t been heard of since). Valkyr's dreams are destroyed when she's sidelined from the warrior class to breed the next generation of warriors. Then she discovers her brother Magnus has been sent away on a suicide mission and she decides to go after him. |
The second four chapters take place on the planet Chrysothemis, which has been colonized by hundreds of thousands of human survivors. Here we watch Valkyr warm to a precocious child, who turns out to be her older sister Ursa’s son.
Valkyrie learns an alternate version of the history she’s always been told (in which her beloved Uncle Jole is not a war hero but a criminal traitor) and shares an unsettling conversation with her brother, Magnus, who confesses that he’s gay and in love with Avi. Valkyr, who's essentially asexual, doesn't understand why it's such a big deal to him.
Valkyrie learns an alternate version of the history she’s always been told (in which her beloved Uncle Jole is not a war hero but a criminal traitor) and shares an unsettling conversation with her brother, Magnus, who confesses that he’s gay and in love with Avi. Valkyr, who's essentially asexual, doesn't understand why it's such a big deal to him.
 | The planet Chrisothemis is beautiful and we experience it with Valkyr: The wind blew, disturbing the shadowy fronds of the native vegetation . . . Rain stop-started with pattering sounds, which had different qualities, depending on whether the droplets hit the trees, or the soil, or the rock overhang [Valkyr] was sheltering under, or the surface of the stream that ran nearby. Whenever the rain stopped, bugs appeared, seeming to sprout out of the moist air. There were several different kinds, but all of them glowed with some inner luminescence, creating little trails of light when they flew into the shadow under the overhang; and they made whining and wiring sounds as they flew, almost but not quite like the distant whines and whirrs [Valkyr] was used to, the hum of a working space fortress. |
The next seven chapters involve Valkyr, her brother Magnus, and the tech wiz Avi. They’ve infiltrated a node on Chrysothemis of the alien sentient technology called Wisdom, which was used to destroy Earth. Magnus is trying to protect Valkyr and is mortally wounded in the process. Avi wants to turn the technology against the aliens, which Valkyr wholeheartedly supports until the implications of genocide sink in. The ending of this section is horrific—until Valkyr bargains with the sentient Wisdom directly.
The next five chapters take place in an alternate timeline where the Earth was never destroyed. Instead, humans have turned the entire galaxy into a totalitarian state where aliens are little more than chattel slaves. Valkyr is graduating from the university, about to embark on a stellar career and in love with another woman. Her brother Magnus is part of a rebel underground that includes the alien Yiso; they're trying to destroy Wisdom to keep its secrets safe from Jole, who is the supreme dictator in this timeline (and Avi is his fascist sidekick).
The final chapters of the book takes place back on the space fortress Gaea in the original timeline, with Uncle Jole preparing a dreadnought to conquer the nearest human settlement: Chrysothemis. Valkyr is promoted to command, her dream job, as Jole’s personal assistant. The stakes rise higher and higher, with Yiso, Magnus, Avi, and Valkyr all putting their lives in jeopardy in this final timeline.
The final chapters of the book takes place back on the space fortress Gaea in the original timeline, with Uncle Jole preparing a dreadnought to conquer the nearest human settlement: Chrysothemis. Valkyr is promoted to command, her dream job, as Jole’s personal assistant. The stakes rise higher and higher, with Yiso, Magnus, Avi, and Valkyr all putting their lives in jeopardy in this final timeline.
 | I don’t usually enjoy time-travel stories, but in this novel, the what-if-I-could-do-it-all-over-again trope worked well. The idea of reliving the past, only better, was explored theatrically in Peggy Sue Got Married and altering timelines was theme in Back to the Future. This novel explores the theme with nuance and depth: What if “fixing” the past made things different, but not in the way you expected? What if things worked out the way you always wanted, but it wasn't satisfying? |
The author also uses the alternate timelines to deftly explore characterization: Valkyr suppressing all emotions, Valkyr with confused emotions, Valkyr in love, Valkyr filled with compassion and kindness. Or, Magnus in conflict with his sexuality and society’s expectations, Magnus distraught; timid Magnus; brave, self-sacrificing Magnus.
The book begins with a fairly extensive list of potential triggers including sexual assault (offscreen), genocide, and suicide. I found all of the potential content warnings were handled well in the narration: nothing was gratuitous or melodramatic. The ways abusive perpetrators groom acquiescence in their victims was especially impactful, and I appreciated how this even affected a normally aggressive and confident character with profound effects on the plot.
Some Desperate Glory is an exciting space adventure with unusual depth. Themes of community, found family, and the power of forgiveness play out against a background of revenge and domination.
Highly recommended.
Some Desperate Glory is an exciting space adventure with unusual depth. Themes of community, found family, and the power of forgiveness play out against a background of revenge and domination.
Highly recommended.
Read other space operas/sci-fi: Ancillary Justice; Behind the Throne; Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet;
A Closed and Common Orbit; Light from Uncommon Stars
A Closed and Common Orbit; Light from Uncommon Stars
