The Genesis of Misery

CW: mass murder, religious extremism

I'm a huge fan of Neon Yang's Tensorate series and have always wished the author would write more stories in that world. But I was still delighted when this first full length novel of theirs was announced and I've been eager to get to it. Despite getting the arc though, my reading slump prevailed and it's only now when I managed to get my hands on the audiobook did I finally finish the book, and I think my wait was worth it.

This is a space opera set in a far futuristic world with quite a few intense action sequences, but ultimately it feels like a personal story of our main character - which makes the scope of the story wide as well as small, and I loved this dichotomy. The framing device used here with someone else narrating this story to others in the future is something I've come to enjoy, and I particularly liked getting to know the narrator's opinions in some of the brief interludes. I know that this book is promoted as a queer Joan of Arc retelling but I know nothing about the Saint, so I will refrain from commenting about it. But the religious elements are definitely very strong here and I think that's what made this a very unique experience for me. And it's also such fun to see a very religious world, with almost a Christianity like religion, but in a very queer normative world where every character is introduced along with their pronouns, and gender and sexuality atleast are not the basis for any bigotry.

While having only a single character and their journey being a focal point of the story might have put me off coz I love having a huge cast of characters to love, I actually liked Misery. They are someone who just wanted to escape from their remote mining town and have a life of independence, hopefully, but are thrust into a centuries long religious war between the Faithful and the Heretics. They can't be sure if they are going voidmad or are an actual prophecied Messiah - and if their constant companion Ruin is an Angel or a figment of their imagination - but they go along with it so they can survive. They are either hindered or helped in their endeavors by various people, one of whom becomes their lover but I don't wanna spoil much, except that it's a very intense and meaningful relationship for the both of them.

But where religion and messiahs are a thing, we can clearly see what will follow. While we get our action set pieces featuring spaceships and mechs and very advanced technology, the heart of this story is about what happens when religious fanaticism meets a very quick thinking, self assured person like Misery Nomaki; what happens when one person's hubris borne out of the need for survival combines with the (maybe misguided) righteousness of a religious cause, and is equally hailed by others as a messiah and savior. It ends in messy confusion and destruction, but not necessarily enlightenment, but that's what makes this a compelling story.

In the end, I don't know if I can call this story enjoyable but I was engaged all through and loved following along with Misery on her journey towards greatness or infamy. This is definitely a story for those who love exploring religious themes through the lens of sci-fi, and I thought making it a queernorm world makes it's a much more unique experience. This book feels very self contained, even if there are quite a few loose ends and I liked that. But I remember the author mentioning that the next book would be told through a new character's POV, so now I'm eager to explore more of this world through another person's eyes and hope we'll still get glimpses of Misery and the others.