Seven Mercies

Ich war mal wieder im Weltraum unterwegs! "Seven Mercies" von Laura Lam und Elizabeth May ist eine Space Opera mit viel Action, interessanten Themen und viel diverser Repräsentation. Ich bin der siebenköpfigen Rebellengruppe gerne gefolgt, die es mit einem Imperium und dessen AI aufnimmt. Es werden moralische Fragen aufgeworfen und es geht um Themen wie Gehirnwäsche, Genmanipulation, Selbstbestimmung, Einsamkeit, Gedankenkontrolle und noch vielem mehr. Die Diversität ist gut in die Geschichte eingebunden. Ein Punkt, der mir sehr gefallen hat, ist, dass hier Freundschaft und Zusammenhalt eine große Rolle spielen.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC! Since this book concludes the Seven Devils-duology, I was very excited about it. I enjoyed the first book a lot! I'm not entirely sure why the book description already spoils a plot-point from way later in the novel, because the story starts out in the aftermath from the first book. While the rebels are trying to pick themselves up while being hunted not only by the Tholosian Empire, but also their new allies, the Evoli, two of the Devils get ready for a risky undercover mission to the planet of the Evoli, while the others try to rescue their team members from the Empire. Even though it has been a while since I read Seven Devils, I felt immediately back at home when I started reading this book. It kicks off with action and keeps throwing new obstacles at the characters. All seven of them have their own problems and developments that interact seamlessly with the plot and with each other. It is impossible to feel bored with the book, because there is suspense in every single POV! There aren't a lot of calm moments, which isn't bad at all, at least for me. However, sometimes I did wish for more moment of reflection in between the action. That is mostly because the purely emotional events that we do receive are written fantastically and I would have loved more of them. The authors are very talented not only with writing various high-stakes heists and fights, but also with writing gut-wrenching and genuine portrayals of the consequences of the characters' trauma. It was so beautiful that I almost cried in the first half of the entire book. Seven Mercies is the perfect conclusion to the duology. It combines fast-packed action with great diverse characters and the most hopeful impossible fights I have seen in a while. I wholeheartedly recommend this book (together with the first one) to whoever likes adult queer science fiction with rebels fighting against all odds.