Some Desperate Glory is an emotional rollercoaster of a book, but it’s a ride readers will be glad they’ve taken when all is said and done. It is a fast-paced, action-packed space story. You will laugh. You will cry. You will question what you’re willing to do when the world is dependent upon you. More importantly, though, this book will break your heart and somehow put it back together at the same time.
Some Desperate Glory by author Emily Tesh tells the story of a young girl named Valkyr, aka Kyr, and her life aboard Gaea Station. Earth as we know it is long gone, and Kyr and the rest of Gaea Station are humanity’s only hope at survival in an ongoing war against an alien race. It sounds like a simple premise, but there’s so much more to this story.
Kyr is, admittedly, a pretty unlikable character for most of the book. She’s stubborn, unrelenting and gullible. It can be frustrating as the entire book is told from her point-of-view, but we get to see her grow and became something more. Is she likable in the end? Yes and no. She’s still an incredibly frustrating character, but there’s so much growth by the final pages, that her issues are easy to forgive. She’s a perfectly flawed character who is forced to learn how to live when faced with the possibilities of a world beyond what she knows.
While a strong story, though, there are some hiccups in the book. The worldbuilding can be lacking occasionally, and sometimes, the way the story jumps around can make it difficult to follow. (This is an issue that happens later in the book.) But Tesh’s writing makes up for any shortcomings. She knows how to tell a fascinating story with complicated characters that you’ll both love and hate.
