Genre: Sci-Fi
LGBTQ+ Category: Lesbian
Reviewer: Beáta
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About The Book
After the events of the previous book, Lucy and Moira find themselves headed in different directions. Lucy is sent to the cloud cities of Venus and finds herself ensnared in a diplomatic incident and investigating a murder. Moira visits her family on Mars, where a populist revolution is heating up and violence becomes a regular occurrence in the capital city. Will the common people finally make their voices heard, or will it all end in blood?
The Review
The Sea of Clouds is the second part of Sheila Jenné’s Imperial Mars series. It continues the story of Lucy and Moira, going further into the class struggles on Mars (which are leading to a situation that is more and more explosive), and introducing the society on Venus, which is an absolute democracy.
This series has quickly catapulted itself to my “top books” mental box (I never quite manage a list, so, box). I have read and reviewed the first book in January. I requested permission to do the second book when the ARC became available. I have written multiple emails to check in and make sure that I would definitely be the one to get it. I have drawn fanart of the main character and emailed it to the author… You know. Normal things you do when you review a book.
This series is often marketed as “lesbian space pirates”, which I don’t agree with. While it is not wrong, per se, the piracy part is so minor that I really wouldn’t want to call it a pirate novel. Instead, it is a space opera built on exploring different systems of government, and the flaws of each one. Mars is feudalist, Earth is capitalist, and Venus an absolute democracy. All three planets have got very different cultures, values, and ways to use their technology. And then there are of course the pirates, who are trying to get away from all three, and establish their own society, which is trying to be both free and open to everyone. Far from sticking to simplified stereotypes, Jenné goes all the way of making these societies complicated and nuanced. People disagree both with each other and their respective systems of government, and struggle where to place their loyalties, when to speak up against injustice and when to keep their heads down.
The two main characters, Lucy and Moira, are both delightfully flawed, and caught up in the system to a point that it is questionable, if they ever will be able to untangle themselves. Childhood best friends, they have since grown apart, and now they are exactly at the “lovers who will literally rather topple the government of an entire planet than talk to each other” state of dysfunction. It’s great. I also very much enjoy how neither of these girls know what they are doing, they just keep improvising their way through every turn of events, and are brutally effective because their improvisation includes some batshit crazy moves that nobody in their right mind would try, and therefore nobody sees coming.
10/10, both of these books, I can only recommend. And sit here, looking forward to the next…
The Reviewer
Beáta Fülöp is an aspiring filmmaker and writer. She identifies as aromantic and asexual, and has an autistic Special Interest in the representation of minorities. One day, she will use this knowledge in her own stories. Until then, she is happy to sit here and give her opinion on other people’s hard work.
