Where Peace Is Lost

A damn good mystic sci-fi. Best sci-fi I've read in 2023.

Valdes has amazing world building, knows how to switch pacing, and writes romance very well.

The MC, Kel, has a secret past and is looking to not share it on the planet Loth. She has a call to action with her local friend, Lunna, and is thrust into a mission to deactivate technology from the Pale Empire.

The sci-fi is written to ‘just work' so not the most technical of science fiction but that doesn't take anything away for me as everything is still cool. There was so much depth in the 380ish pages that I'm hoping this turns into a series.

An easy 5 star read for me!

I think I kind of hate this book. I just want to get that out of the way first.

I once said - about a tv show, but the point stands - that if I like the characters enough, I'd be happy just watching them eat and listening to their conversations. These characters, I do not like. At all.

Kel, as our main character, has a dark and troubled past ™. She is, throughout the story, hugely pacifistic - even when her perpetrating violence would actually save lives in the long run. She constantly goes on about how if she acts in violence, it means she failed. (This is her second most common refrain. More on the first, later.) She is also in turns wracked by survivors guilt, suicide seeking and a lusty horn-dog. (More on that later, as well.) She come off as very holier-than-thou and as though her pacifism is the only decent way to be. She is somewhat judge-y.

What about our supporting cast, you ask?

Well, Dare had the potential to be an interesting character, despite his brooding AND his dark and troubled past ™ - unfortunately it became apparent very early on that his whole personality was designed as an ‘object of lust' with his every interaction to attract the straight female readers. (And Kel, but more on that later.)

Lunna is...a naïve child. Really, they are a one note character and their whole character is ‘naïve child that must be protected from reality'. (Which was a thought, distilled down, that Kel had at least once. Possibly more.)

Savvy is probably my favorite - not that that says much. She is, at least, willing to call people out when she disagrees with them, and because we don't actually learn her past, we can't discover how doubtlessly trite it is. (After all, Kel and Dare's backstories read like a trope-fest, so I'm sure hers would as well.)

The plot is...Oh dear. The plot is barebones, could have told the same exact story to at least as much affect if not more has it been cut down in size for bloat. And by bloat I mean... get rid of half to two-thirds.

The synopsis sounds rather...lacking, but I assumed that was because it was going to serve as a jumping off point in the story where it wasn't exactly a lie, but more was discovered as the story progresses and it would gradually build. ... It isn't and it doesn't. This story is 100% confined to the synopsis. Nothing else happens or is discovered. There is no twist. There is no getting to know you period before the book takes off. The whole book is a getting to know you period that mostly feels like an overlong act 1. (More like half an act, really.)

Nothing happens. I have read mysteries and romances and even recently discovered cozy fantasy books, but this is the first book I've read in a very long time that nothing happens in. Not really. There's three minor skirmishes including the final ‘big battle' that still felt like a minor skirmish. There is no forward momentum, we are constantly stuck in neutral. To play on the classic story structure, the entire book is exposition with no rising action nor climax nor anything else.

Well, that's a lie. There is one thing that this book does often. I mean besides the navel gazing. And that is the neigh constant lust that pours out of Kel whenever Dare is around - or when she merely thinks of him.

(‘He smells good, I wonder what I smell like.' ‘Is he flirting with me?' ‘Am I flirting with him? I've never been good at it.' ‘Was that innuendo?' ‘Oh, he makes me blush.' ‘He's so handsome.' ‘I've never seen eyes that color before, they remind me of an ocean that I loved.' ‘None of this matters because he'll be leaving in a weak and one night stands have never been my thing.' ‘Let me just stand here and admire him as he walks away.' ‘I'm going to get all fluster/blushy, too, when I have to check his unconscious form for injuries.') Yes. All of these things actually happened, or were paraphrased, and all before the halfway point of this book.

Honestly, girl, go take a cold shower. This is like fem!shep coming to life - and just as appealing. (Which is not at all, just so you know.)

I think I maybe could have...not hated the book if it wasn't for Kel's constant lusting and obsession. As it was, though, this was just an exercise in frustration for me because every time I turned around, she was getting all - Look, if I remember rightly, she's supposed to be 34 years old, not a hormonal teen.

I was expecting a solid book, with how well liked it seems to be, even if it isn't exactly popular. What I got, though, was a total lack of anything really happening - but a whole lot of navel gazing and Kel gazing at Dare's navel and just generally lusting after him. And shoehorned pacifism and survivors guilt and, over all, this was a very, very not enjoyable book for me. (Even removed from any expectations, this book was just destined to be something I wouldn't enjoy.)