#bethany jacobs

[campyrrhic]

esek nightfoot and cleric chono. and six.

[aytmadashis]

love the way esek and six are obsessed with each other (antagonistic and all-consuming and with consequences for everyone around them) and the way chono and six are obsessed with each other (codependent childhood friendship turned reluctant but determined enemies) and even the way esek and chono are obsessed with each other (to some extent craves something the other provides in their lives even if it's toxic and even if they don't want to admit it)

[imjustheretomooch]

Rebel leaders and family heads: *fighting*

Chono, counting the rounds in her pistol: ok I have six shots and there are eight of you so at least two of you start at least pretending you want peace

[kintsugiris]

finished reading this brutal moon today and i am. destroyed from the inside HELLO. immediately went to ao3 AND THERE ARE NO SIX AND CHONO FICS WHAT?????

[orionlancasterr]

Rip Jun Ironway and Six you guys would have HATED merry Christmas please don’t call

[a-book-bug]

Recent Reads:

The Kindom Trilogy by Bethany Jacobs

These Burning Stars ★★★★★

On Vicious Worlds ★★★★★

This Brutal Moon (coming Dec. 2!)

SciFi : Political : Queer : Revenge

I don’t even know where to begin. Despite a slow start getting into These Burning Stars, the first 2 books of the Kindom trilogy absolutely blew me away. This complicated and high-stakes space opera has it all:

intriguing galactic politics

completely deranged and morally grey mcs

convoluted timelines

secret grudges, identities, and loves

queer identities galore 🏳️‍🌈

absolutely jaw-dropping plot twists

The story begins with brutal Esek Nightfoot, high-ranking cleric and heir to the most powerful family in the system, and reserved Cleric Chono, her former protege, being tasked by the Kindom government to retrieve some sensitive information. This information is in the possession of Jun Ironway, a legendary hacker with her own scores to settle. And in the background lurks a very mysterious figure called Six, with strong ties to every player and unfathomable intentions.

To me, the biggest strength is definitely the characters. Not a single person felt one-dimensional or static. As you learn more and more about each character, their every action comes in to clearer focus and you slowly understand their motivations and struggles (for better or worse!). You also start to unravel how these different storylines are all intricately woven together, which is executed so flawlessly.

The first book contains one of those delicious plot twists that has you gaping and suddenly trying to reframe the entire narrative in your head. I was worried that the second book wouldn’t live up to the hype of the first one (that too many secrets were revealed for it to have the same effect) but I was wrong! On Vicious Worlds was equally as exciting as the first book, with several other twists and turns to keep up the intensity.

I’m extremely excited for the third book, This Brutal Moon, to come out in just less than a month! I’m on the edge of my seat to learn what happens with these characters which I can’t get out of my head, though I will be sad to see the story end!

🪲

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fiction Free-for-All Book Bracket Tournament: Round 1A

Choose a book:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

These Burning Stars (The Kindom Trilogy) by Bethany Jacobs

Voting ended onFeb 15, 2025

Book summaries below:

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Historical fiction, 1950s, young adult

These Burning Stars (The Kindom Trilogy) by Bethany Jacobs

Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.

Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.

But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.

​It's a game that could destroy their lives and devastate the stars. And they have no choice but to see it through to the end.

Science fiction, politics, space opera, series, adult

[cleric-chono-is-my-everything]

Review of On Vicious Worlds by Bethany Jacobs (contains spoilers below the cut for the end of These Burning Stars)

Thank you to Orbit Books and Bethany Jacobs for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bethany Jacobs did it once again, her debut These Burning Stars was one of the best books that I have ever read and it is safe to say that On Vicious Worlds did not disappoint in the slightest. I had signed up for NetGalley precisely so that I could read this book as soon as possible, and it is definitely the best book I've read all year. Legitimately, I cannot praise this series enough and I am constantly baffled that it is not more popular than it is.

Picking up where These Burning Stars left off, On Vicious Worlds follows Chono, Six, and Jun into the Treble, a space system controlled by the three branches of the Kindom, both church and government in one, in the wake of the Jevenis' escape from the hands of those who would wish to enslave them or complete their genocide begun a hundred years earlier. While the first book was more action-packed, this sequel focuses more on interpersonal issues: who can you trust, what does it mean to be intimate with someone else, how far would you go for someone you loved and defined your life around? This is, of course, not to say there aren't intense action scenes where the characters lives are on the line and Jacobs gets your heart pounding and hurting for them, since that definitely happens, in fact, these relationships and themes developed add even more weight to these moments, for you begin to truly feel for the characters, as messy and often terrible as they are.

This leads me to one of my absolute favorite parts of Jacobs' writing, namely that she doesn't shy away from writing messy complicated women who are no paragons of virtue, but would even burn down the universe and destroy entire planets, betraying countless innocents, to protect someone that they love or an ideal that they hold. This leads to a constant theme of complete and utter devotion, bordering on obsession, that drives the plot and characters forward.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first book of the Kindom Trilogy, anyone who loves epic space operas full of characters that you love and hate in equal measure, morally grey women devoted to their causes, and anyone who is looking for the next best scifi series. I cannot say enough how much I love this book.