Diversity Spotlight Thursday: Space Opera

Diversity Spotlight Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Aimal from Bookshelves & Paperbacks. Each week you come up with three book for three different categories: a diverse book you’ve read and enjoyed; a diverse book that’s already been released and is in your TBR; and a diverse book that hasn’t been released yet.

This week’s topic is space opera!

 

Warchild by Karin Lowachee

It kills me that this book isn’t more widely known. Over the course of three books, Karin Lowachee tackles space warfare in a way I’ve never seen before, by swiveling the focus onto the foremost victims of any war: the children. Warchild can be read as a coming-of-age story about an orphaned boy named Jos who gets trained to become an assassin spy. It can also be read as a story of a young survivor suffering from PTSD who finds himself getting used by two opposing factions of a war. Lowachee examines the horrors of conflict, both psychological and physical, with a deft yet unflinching eye. The fact that it also features LGBTQ themes and some of the most complex side characters I’ve ever come across, makes Warchild one of my all-time favourites of any genre.
 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet has been compared to Firefly and Mass Effect and  been recommended to me more times than I can count. It features interspecies relationships, queer characters, and racial and species diversity. So of course I’ll read it. The only question is when. Sometime this summer, probably, as it seems perfect as a light summer read.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

Boots Elsworth was a famous treasure hunter in another life, but now she’s washed up. She makes her meager living faking salvage legends and selling them to the highest bidder, but this time she got something real–the story of the Harrow, a famous warship, capable of untold destruction.

Nilah Brio is the top driver in the Pan Galactic Racing Federation and the darling of the racing world–until she witnesses Mother murder a fellow racer. Framed for the murder and on the hunt to clear her name, Nilah has only one lead: the killer also hunts Boots.

On the wrong side of the law, the two women board a smuggler’s ship that will take them on a quest for fame, for riches, and for justice.

~
The premise sounds like something straight out of Borderlands, so count me in! This book promises fun space adventures, treasure hunting, and some f/f romance between two interesting characters.

Releases June 26th, 2018