The Genesis of Misery
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4.3 • 9 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Goodreads Best Science Fiction Choice Award Nominee
A New York Public Library Top 10 Book of 2022
An immersive, electrifying space-fantasy, Neon Yang's debut novel The Genesis of Misery is full of high-tech space battles and political machinations, starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs.
"This is Joan of Arc meets Gideon the Ninth with a touch of Pacific Rim thrown in as a treat. A mind-blowing rollercoaster ride of a space opera, propulsive and strange in the best way."—Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling author
It’s a story you think you know: a young person hears the voice of an angel saying they have been chosen as a warrior to lead their people to victory in a holy war.
But Misery Nomaki (she/they) knows they are a fraud.
Raised on a remote moon colony, they don’t believe in any kind of god. Their angel is a delusion, brought on by hereditary space exposure. Yet their survival banks on mastering the holy mech they are supposedly destined for, and convincing the Emperor of the Faithful that they are the real deal.
The deeper they get into their charade, however, the more they start to doubt their convictions. What if this, all of it, is real?
A reimagining of Joan of Arc’s story given a space opera, giant robot twist, the Nullvoid Chronicles is a story about the nature of truth, the power of belief, and the interplay of both in the stories we tell ourselves.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this vibrant tour de force, Yang (The Black Tides of Heaven) presents a simultaneous embrace and inversion of Chosen One narratives. Misery Nomaki, an apparently unremarkable resident of a down-and-out mining planet, is able to shape and manipulate holystone, a skill only available to two classes of people: saints of a holy order and those in the lethal throes of voidmadness. Misery's unsure which they fall into. As the increasingly powerful voice of the angel that Misery hears in their head draws them into a galaxy-wide political conflict, they must decide whether to trust new allies, including the intense and magnetic royal renegade Lady Lee Alodia Lightning, and determine whether their purpose is truly divine—or irreversibly damned. Yang's prose is lush and gripping throughout, and they accomplish the tall order of seamlessly weaving worldbuilding into the dynamic motion of the story, incorporating fascinating details without ever risking expository fatigue. Themes of faith, suffering, queerness, and duty are given plenty of room to breathe as Misery and their ragtag gang of friends struggle to navigate a universe as complex and gorgeously rendered as it is hostile to those on its margins. This is a triumph. Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly noted that the author had won a Nebula award.
Customer Reviews
Decidedly Different Space Fantasy!
“The Genesis of Misery” is the first novel-length work by the author Neon Yang. They are probably best known for their Tensorate Series of silk-punk fantasy novellas. This is an entirely different sort of work. It’s an epic space-fantasy with political intrigue, religious fervor, battling mechs in space, and the personal journey of the protagonist from backwater dust-rat to a messiah.
The majority of the story focuses on Misery Nomaki, orphaned child from a backward planet. She starts the tale being brought to the Capitol due to her surprising actions in repelling a Heretic attack on her world. She believes she may be falling victim to the void-madness that eventually killed her mother. She sees what she believes is a delusion known as Ruin, whom her mother might have referred to as an Angel. She’s a sarcastic bitter survivor who is just trying to make it through each day alive.
Events sweep her along with them, and as things progress, Misery’s faith grows. Eventually, she begins to believe in her role as an agent of her God, the Larex Forge. Her story rises to a crescendo through page-turning action. People around her are swept up into religious devotion, as she leads the Faithful in the battle with their long term enemies, the Heretics.
The world building in this novel is very different and interesting. The humans in this portion of the galaxy arose from a sleeper ship which departed from the “Old Planet whose name has been forgotten.” After a clash with their ship AI, they encountered an alien being called the Demiurge, who represented a divine power called the Larex Forge. This being introduces them to holystone, different types of which have various powers. This stone forms the basis of their new technology. Their religion is now based around this alien divinity.
I have read other reviews which describe this novel as a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc. This is true to some extent. It’s a modern, fast paced story, with lots of LGBTQ+ characters who all introduce themselves with their preferred pronouns. So, maybe it’s a queer Joan of Arc story in space with alien technology and battling mechs? It’s decidedly different, and blew my mind in good ways.