Since earth has been destroyed, humans, cyborgs and aliens have to life together in space. But for some it’s harder to get along or call it a home. Not only are aliens and cyborgs seen as a lower race, but at some places old traditions from centuries ago are revived. For Trystan this has been a struggle, as his body or name never felt as his own. At the other end of the galaxy Malek is brewing in escaping the inescapable prison, Helios 2. While on Kirillion, the city as big as a planet, thief Làhn has to flee from his home when a job of his go south.

When somebody tells me a book is a combination between Firefly meets Guardians of the Galaxy, I’m instantly drawn to it. Add to the mix that it’s an indie, queer, found family sci-fi with a space-opera adventure and I’m sold.

And this didn’t disappoint one bit. As Cristea created not an average sci-fi, but a warm, thrilling, diverse and amazing novel set in space. It’s filled with wonderful and vivid images of ships, galaxies, aliens, big city’s, neon planets, trade stations and even scrumptious descriptions of fried street food. It completely drew me into space.

The only minor issue I had was the somewhat inconsistent pacing. It had some major fast paced action scenes, combined with some slower parts of reflection. But it felt a little off in the middle.

But well fleshed out characters with real, tangible emotions made up for that. Cristea didn’t scare away of discussing themes like disability, discrimination, trauma or struggles with finding your own identity. I highly recommend it if you’re into sci-fi or in search for an amazing queer read with wonderful characters.