Name: Didi Chanoch's review of Persephone Station by Stina Leicht
Item: Persephone Station
Rating: 5
Author: Didi Chanoch

Stina Leicht

Hugo Award–nominated author Stina Leicht has created a “thoroughly enjoyable” (NPR) take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure. Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has been largely ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit. Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk’s bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who sought to employ them. Angel—ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed-up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will affect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlove Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t damned well try.

Persephone Station

Hugo award–nominated author Stina Leicht has created a take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure. Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit. Rosie—owner of Monk’s Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynner, caters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drank at Monk’s back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who sought to employ them. Angel—ex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thing is asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will effect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesn’t mean she can’t damned well try.

Kwan Ann Tan

Kristen Claiborn

Didi Chanoch

Disclaimer: The author is a friend. 

I've seen Persephone Station called a space opera, and I think that's inaccurate. To me, it's more of a space operetta. While it is a part of a greater world of humanity and other species in space, most of the novel takes place on a single planet, with a single human city. Still, Leicht packs a lot of action and a lot of heart into that one planet. This is a rollicking, rambling adventure with some pretty big ideas and a group of compelling, well drawn characters. I enjoyed it a lot!

Chariah

The beginning is very slow but the rest makes up for it. Also the ending had me in TEARS

Stark Koenig

I really loved the concepts in this book. I only wished all of these really cool idea threads weren’t jammed into one book because they all deserved more flesh. I would have liked some of these stories to have been expanded, maybe spread into another book or two even. Which is to say I wanted more, so it’s still an excellent book. Just some of the threads were left straying or tied up in unsatisfying ways. 

Lillie Anthony

Very average. I was honestly expecting more. Great idea though!

Sheila

3.5 stars. 

This book had great characters, but the story suffered from pacing issues. Leicht wrote an ensemble cast that worked best when working off each other's vibes, but for the first half of the book they are mostly separated. It wasn't the best way to set up and introduce this ensemble, and that slowed down the pace of the story. Once they were together and working as the badass mercenaries as advertised, things came together much better. 

Some events lacked explanation and the main villain was cartoonish, but I did like the vibe that Leicht was trying to encapsulate. This story could have shone if the plot pacing was more efficient and the cast weren't separated for so long.

Sahi K

I was supposed to have read this book a long time ago but I’m still not very comfortable with sci-fi and I need to be in the right mood to appreciate it. I finally felt it was time and I’m glad I did. 

This one took a while to get into, not that it’s the book’s fault - it’s just me always needing some extra time to get used to the sciency and techy stuff in a sci-fi novel. But the characters more than made up for the initial hiccup - the author has created an amazing found family here, some old friends and some newly made, but seeing this wonderful group of women and non-binary folks kick ass was pretty satisfying to read. Also the whole idea of good mercenaries helping an indigenous species defend themselves against a greedy corporation and it’s maniac head is very fascinating, and the unexpected help that our main group of characters receive was so cool. The pacing wasn’t always consistent, with a more exciting beginning and ending alongwith a languishing middle - but the last 20% full of tense and nonstop action made up for any lack previously. 

I don’t know why but I didn’t actually expect to enjoy this much, but I’m so happy I turned out wrong. Maybe if the book was only mercenaries and crime lords fighting against evil corporations and an artificial intelligence capable of empathy (and believe me all of this is present), I might not have liked it so much. But the strength of this book lies in the bonds these characters share with each other and the cause for which they are fighting. Definitely an interesting addition to my read pile.

Toni Turner

I really adored all of these characters and they are going to live in my heart now forever. I have a sneaking suspicion this will turn into a go-to re-read.

ghost girl in satin

(Cette couverture omg ♥) 
Je suis un peu déçue par ce roman. Les scènes d'action étaient certes très sympathiques, mais le world-building était trop vague, les personnages pas assez creusés (sauf Rosie ♥) et j'avoue avoir été confuse pendant ma lecture. 
Peut-être que ça passerait mieux en film?

Nickie Mohler

I loved this. A space opera with an all female flight crew? I'm in.

Persephone Station is a small out of the way planet. So why would a big corporation like Serrao-Orlov want to set up there? Angel and her crew are about to find out since Rosie, the local crime boss has hired them for a very important job.

I loved the story, and I loved the characters. Hopefully this will be a series. I would especially like to read more about the Emissaries. They are very interesting to me.

I received a copy from Net Galley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Jales

the tragic story of a book i started reading and thought 'this is a solid 5 stars' cause the plot is cool. BUT the writing got me so irritated. i tried to get used to it, but just couldn't. in my opinion it was kinda weak, and i'm so sorry for that. 

loved the friendships tho.

2.5

Heather Harrington

As planets in the United Republic of Worlds go, Persephone Station isn't a top priority and is largely ignored. That is until the Serrao-Orlov Corporation sets its sights on it. The planet seems to have a few secrets that the corporation will do whatever it takes to exploit to their advantage. Angel, an ex-marine and head of a semi-organized crew of washed-up criminals, is tasked with what at first glance seems to be a very routine mission. What Angel and her crew quickly learn is that this job will not only affect Persephone's livelihood but also puts her squad up against an army they are woefully unprepared for. Despite the stacking odds against them, Angel knows there's no honor is giving up, and she'll be damned if she's going down without a fight.

This had so much going for it: the premise, the diverse cast of characters, the setting, and it was all wasted. There's so much action in this that you're off and running from the very first page, and usually, that can be great if handled correctly, but this was to the point where it couldn't catch its breath. You've got so many different things happening at once it makes it hard to focus or get fully invested in the plot. I think if the author focused more on just one specific plot thread, it would've made this more digestible and not so disjointed. The one thing I did like, however, was the characters. Angel and her crew were fun to follow and gave me almost a Firefly vibe with their banter. Other than that, this didn't have a lot going for me.

Jasmin Rogalla

Kristin Hamill

I received an e-arc copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them, the publisher, and the author for the chance to review the book.

This is the first sci-fi I have read in a while so it took me a little while to get used to the mechanics of the world. I thought that this was a good story, but it fell a little flat for me. I felt that there was very little character growth and there was definitely room for it within the plot. The main premise is that this band of mercenaries is hired to protect an indigenous species on Persephone Station from being taken over by an evil corporation. It is an interesting premise and there is so much room within it to discuss real world issues, but the focus seemed to be primarily on the action and fighting, and gloss over any moral or emotional conflict.

Even with the lack of growth, I did like the diversity and the inclusion of lesbian, bisexual, and non-binary characters. I liked that the cast of characters was almost all female, which is rare in a sci-fi book.

The writing was repetitive as well. It seemed as though whenever a character spoke, the author used the word said, even after a very short bit of dialogue. It was very noticeable and continuously drew me out of the story.

Solange Bello

Thank you so much to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for this review copy of Persephone Station that I was provided with in exchange for an honest review.  

First I want to point out - if you are a YA reader and are a fan of Aurora Rising this Adult Scifi is for you. This book was such a fun scifi adventure filled with a misfit band of ass kicking characters, gender inclusivity, witty banter, and the coolest world building I have read in a very long time. 

I usually struggle a lot when it comes to science fiction (mainly because I prefer watching it) 
but Persephone Station captured my attention in a way that even when I wasn't able to read it - I was thinking about it. 

The entire world building in this book was so intricate with its ecosystems, artificial intelligence, hell even the whole government set up. As the story goes on and the plot unfolds the world building just gets better and better once more characters are introduced. 

 Also that cover?? Gorgeous  

I seriously hope they do an audio of this book when it comes out in 2021 because I absolutely plan on reading it again.

Kristen Claiborn &
Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

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Kristen Claiborn &Persephone Station by Stina Leicht

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Kristen Claiborn &
Persephone Station by Stina Leicht