Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May

This first book in a feminist space opera duology follows seven resistance fighters who will free the galaxy from the ruthless Tholosian Empire--or die trying. When Eris faked her death, she thought she had left her old life as the heir to the galaxy's most ruthless empire behind. But her recruitment by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire's voracious expansion, throws her right back into the fray. Eris has been assigned a new mission: to infiltrate a spaceship ferrying deadly cargo and return the intelligence gathered to the Resistance. But her partner for the mission, mechanic and hotshot pilot Cloelia, bears an old grudge against Eris, making an already difficult infiltration even more complicated. When they find the ship, they discover more than they bargained for: three fugitives with firsthand knowledge of the corrupt empire's inner workings. Together, these women possess the knowledge and capabilities to bring the empire to its knees. But the clock is ticking: the new heir to the empire plans to disrupt a peace summit with the only remaining alien empire, ensuring the empire’s continued expansion. If they can find a way to stop him, they will save the galaxy. If they can't, millions may die.

Rebel against an evil empire! Sound familiar? There is definitely a clear influence on this story and it hangs like a shadow over everything. This is classic space opera territory. Whilst this may sound cliched it does however create its own niche and own world in impressive style.

We are largely following two characters. One is your typical no nonsense working class rebel. The second is the daughter of the emperor who has been converted to the rebel cause in secret. Together they put together a crew in an attempt to try to stop someone disrupting a ceasefire agreement between the main powers in the galaxy.

Elizabeth and Laura have an engaging writing style. The characters are well fleshed out and have distinctive and interesting personalities. There is a slight overpoweredness to a couple of them (the supreme programmer and invincible warrior ninja) which gives a bit of a Mary Sue feel at times but there is always the sense of peril kept which helps to balance out some of the more extreme deus ex machina moments. The supreme AI controlling the empire is a great counterbalance to these overpowered characters. There is also a slight tendency to indulge in one of my pet peeves, which is made up curse words - if you need characters to swear just have them swear normally or it ends up sounding silly. This is somewhat forgiven by at least using the worlds own mythology to create the curses. Other than these few minor things, this book is great fun with a well crafted cast, a well built world and smoothly written style.

This does pretty much what it says on the tin, and delivers a fun and epic space opera type adventure. I do look forward to following this crew's adventures further.

I really enjoyed this book, and it's a nice change to have the main protagonists female. Reasonably light SF, with some strong messages and morals, a diverse set of characters, and a satisfying unresolved ending.

Tried, but couldn't finish this book. Too predictable and lost interest. Just not my cup of tea.

I enjoyed this though it took me a bit to finish. There was some dragging in the middle but if you want a group of kick-ass ladies trying to take down an evil empire in space, this is for you!