Dreams bigger than heartbreak

Gr 9 Up--Tina Mains has joined the Royal Space Academy, but she's neither the heroine they were expecting nor as center stage as she was in Victories Greater Than Death. Rachael Townsend, Tina's best friend and an accomplished artist, took control of an alien weapon with her mind which has left her unable to create art. Elza, Tina's trans love interest, is determined to enter the Palace of Scented Tears and leave it a princess. With the worldbuilding established, Anders here sets a larger plot in motion, and readers will be pleased to find that while everyone is preparing for war, our queer heroes are determined to find joy in their lives. VERDICT Anders improves upon her first installment with tighter writing and deeper characters; recommended for general purchase.

Tina and friends continue their space-faring adventures in Anders' Unstoppable series. In Victories Greater Than Death (2021), alien clone Tina Mains and her wholesome crew from the Indomitable faced immense evil and survived, but not without consequences. Tina's best friend, Rachael Townsend, was once a talented artist, for example, but after using her mind to control "an ancient super-weapon at the head of a butterfly made of starlit threads," she's unable to draw a single image. A mysterious box might very well be the answer to her woes, but how? Meanwhile, Elza Monteiro is in the running to become a princess, but her journey is derailed by a familiar face. Tina, while not the sole protagonist of this installment, still features as she navigates the Royal Space Academy as a budding cadet. Fans of the first entry will certainly enjoy this sequel with its improvements in pacing and characterization and stronger writing; additionally, since she doesn't need to introduce an entire cast and world, this time around the author can plunge directly into the action. White-presenting (when she appears as a human) Tina is dating Elza, who is Black and travesti, or trans. Queer identity is front and center as before, and a wide variety of life experiences and ethnic backgrounds play into the perspectives of the characters as they try to prioritize joy and growth in the midst of intergalactic war. A queer space odyssey that avoids the sophomore slump. (Science fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.