Machine’s Last Testament

Well-paced, a tight and coherent narrative that doesn’t sacrifice world building or the expansiveness that draws you into an unfamiliar world piece by piece, constructing and deconstructing it with fabulous results. It challenges the stranglehold of misanthropy on contemporary works about the human condition, presenting instead a chance for readers to explore humanity’s futures from a place of brutal but loving insight.

I absolutely loved this trans-inclusive, unapologetically lesbian book. The characters, the setting, Benjanun's masterful prose, the 6'6" beautiful lesbian domme, all of it. The sex wasn't as graphic as Benjanun's other recent stories but I'll forgive her for that. I'm impressed at how well the plot hinged on these specific characters, how Benjanun tied everything together and resolved the conflict in a way I did not anticipate. I fell in love with Suzhen and Ovuha and I'm almost sorry to say goodbye. This is a book that will be staying with me for a long time, both because of the characters and because of the world it depicts, and I'm certain I will find myself rereading it multiple times.

It’s not necessarily a surprise that Sriduangkaew as an author writes stories that are brutally tender and very sapphic. What she lends to science fiction is a fresh outlook. New imagery. Love and love interests that matter. Sriduangkaew tells a tale as stunning as her others, but with a new spin on AI, their identities, and the citizens they keep wrangled. Her surprising plot lines never cease to amaze as much as her characters and their memorable personalities. For a book much like a sapphic take on Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch/Ancillary Justice series, look no further!