Persephone Station

Stina Leicht

O.R.S.

A space opera-esque, Hans Solo rogue adventure featuring an artificial general intelligence, a space captain, and a few other characters, involved in a kind of defense of space alien vs. humans xeno-colonial struggle. It is told through multiple third person perspectives

How much did you like it overall?

I had a pretty hard time with Persephone Station. It seems to be so many words and stuff happening, possibly involving colonization and xenobiology. Yet, despite the length of the book and the staggering amount of description, I had very little feel for the characters, didn’t really understand what was at stake, and, unlike other books which starts in media res, didn’t really care to follow. The biggest issue for me was the clunky, diagetic writing and dialogue, often It felt as if being told a story by a third grader. “This happened, and then this happened, and then this person said this.” Now, all books are kind of like that, but the ones that are more enjoyable make this less noticeable. Without one of these four to lock in with: plot, writing, character, conceit, it wasn’t something that propelled me forward

What did you like most?

I really liked the idea of an AGI as a character, and I was intrigued by Angel, the mercenary with a heart of gold, and Rosie, the Emissary’s rep (I think?) But man, it’s really tough to pick a moment that resonated. Maybe the combat scenes? There are mechs! I think.

What did you not like about it?

I’ll try to keep this brief, as I don’t think it makes sense to hammer things too hard. I believe the author felt earnestly for these characters, and that there was a point to all of this. But honestly, the previous book I read, Situation Normal, felt like a more evolved version of Persephone Station–characters more quirky, plot more invested.

Any favorite moments?

I’m going to go with combat scenes again. These were written as if one was reading a screenplay, lots of action>action>action, but at least one can make sense of it all.

Where do I put it on The Shelf?

Possibly bottom, possibly to give to a lending library

Any closing thoughts?

I had a tough time with Persephone Station. And upon reading some other reviews, I realised that my challenges with it were not unique. That said, many others noted the LGBTQ+ reframing of the Hans Solo trope. If that floats your boat, perhaps this will work for you, in the way that any hacker/cyberpunk book, just about, floats mine. But otherwise, perhaps go in search elsewhere I will.

512p