In theory, this should have really worked for me. Blind priestesses that navigate space ships with their mind? Women turning into lizards and eating people? Space cults? Sapphics? Sadly, I found the execution lacking and the prose was very clunky. The book suffered the most from having a weak protagonist and a lacklustre romance. The most interesting aspect was the worldbuilding to me which was well done, so I'm looking forward to what the author does next, but this one was a miss for me. 2.75/5 stars.

⭐⭐⭐💫
🌶️🌶️
🌌🚀✨🐍🗡️

Redsight is a sapphic space pirate horror science fiction novel that is both intriguing and horrifying at the same time. Three goddesses. Three priestesses. Three women are drawn together with opposing aims: the Lightbringer engineer, the blind navigator, and the star eater space pirate.

This book is full of self-sacrifice, spaceship invasions, saving entrapped goddesses, and changing the way the space world works. There is a sapphic romance, a very opposites collide, with a thousand-year-old age gap, one seeing, one not, one who literally sheds their skin to navigate spaceships with tactus, and one who turns into a serpent and eats stars.

The one flaw I had with this book was that it was quite long and drawn out. But otherwise, I really liked it, despite the gorry stuff.

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion/Solaris for a copy of the ebook. This review is left voluntarily.

I am dnfing the book 28% in - it's not holding my attention, the plot feels boring and simultaneously confusing.

'Redsight' is a space opera packed with action and interesting plot-twists. When I read that this title was perfect for Gideon the Night fans, I knew I had to give this book a try. I had high expectations and it delivered. I can't say much without spoiling the plot, but I loved the characters, especially Korinna, and their development, the queerness, the setting and the in-depth themes the book explores. All in all, a must read for sci-fi lovers!

*Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

The writing was good - but unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I was late for reviewing the arc, so borrowed it from the library and just couldn’t finish it.

I felt like this story had a really cool premise, but not as good an execution. the worldbuilding is so complex, so intriguing, but it took me a long, long time to feel like I understood it (and the plot, since they're so connected). I also found the writing repetitive, particularly when the main character bled, it felt like the same expressions were repeated over and over again for something the reader knew already. The ending was also confusing and rushed for me. Another thing that bothered me was the relationships outside of the romance - like they were just forgotten by the main characters. What I did enjoy was the romance, it's very intense and it moves the reader to the core. The emotions of the characters are very strong and vivid, I believe that's the best part of the book! Especially when talking about trauma, the pain is just... visceral. Really well done.

What is it about nuns? This book played into the DnD monk paladin trope that just makes reading about warriors devoted to a higher power too much fun. At first glance, this had all the elements to be a great read; queer-normative space opera featuring blood magic and own-voices disability rep. Count me in.

This was a sturdy premise and had the potential to be great but unfortunately too much was squeezed into too little time. This could have easily been stretched into three books, giving readers more time to get to know the characters and the significance of the world around them. As it is, we barely scratched the surface of the greater world and the side characters didn’t exist as more than cogs to serve the protagonists’ demands.

In the first third of the book, I found the characters to be more reactive than active, especially in the case of the primary protagonist, Korinna. Life just happened to her and she went along with it. This remedied a little as the novel went on but the majority of the plot unfolded in the last fifty pages and threw off the pacing of the whole thing.

Korinna reads very young in the early chapters and it could almost be considered YA until the obsessive romance and the bloody deterioration of her entire body kicked in. The detailed descriptions of how Korinna’s body reacted to her magic were wild, evocative, and by far the strongest part of the text. Similarly, I was drawn in by the unhinged jaws and I think Mooring should have leant into that horror element more.

In the end, Redsight was filled with space travel and intergalactic warmongering with a great magic system curled around its centre. I wasn’t as taken with it as I wanted to be, but I’m looking forward to see what Mooring writes next.

eeehhhhh. i simply don't think the writing is very strong. boring and kind of dry. premise is good but that's not enough to make a good story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for sending me an early copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

What a gorgeous story absolutely full of the beauty of humanity and the universe at large! The symmetry of this book left me in awe, and I adored watching everything unfold and fall into place. It was so satisfying to watch all the pieces fall into place like it was ordained by one of the goddesses themselves.

It started off pretty slow for me, but the uniqueness of the worldbuilding and the issues within kept me hooked. Korinna was intriguing from the start and was so easy to root for. Then you add in the other main characters and the intrigue just grows. It was so fun to watch them come together but it was also wonderful to watch them grow and learn from the universe around them and the powers within them.

There was plot twist after plot twist. There was morally gray characters and decisions that had to be made for the good of the universe. There was unique magic that was both science and physically/medically based that was so fun to learn about. Not to mention the magic being disability based with the Redseers! (And own voices for Mooring). There was such a heartwrenching sapphic love story. This book has it all and then some!

Definitely get your hands on this book, you will not regret it!

The idea of a sapphic sci-fi with a disabled underdog MC had me running for the ARC of this. However, the execution has a lot left to be desired. The magic system and world building as a whole was barely explained and it felt like even up to halfway in the book that I was just supposed to accept whatever it was that they were doing. The pacing felt off that my interest waned constantly no matter how much I tried. Additionally the first sapphic romance with the MC felt contrived and the scenes came out of the blue while the second romance the MC had felt completely out of place. I just decided to drop it after reaching the halfway point. It's just not for me

DNF @ 13%

This was just such a disappointment for me. Conceptually it’s cool, but in reality it’s just all info-dump and flat characters, thought I admit that I couldn’t get far into it at all, so maybe it gets better? It was just that every time I picked this up, I would read a page, then immediately put it back down and not want to read any more of it ever again.

Sapphic space pirates!

Unfortunately this started out great, got a little shaky in the middle, and ended kind of meh.

The good:

I am obsessed with the worldbuilding in Redsight, it's just fantastic! The three goddesses, their priesthoods, the associated powers and specialties - it was so fascinating and fun! It gave the world shape and purpose in a very tangible way, providing social and political context and all that good stuff. I was immediately taken with Litia and Sahar. Come on, a political aide who REDACTED and a judge who can tell if you're lying who might be about to commit a little bit of treason? So good, so much fun!

The bad:

Unfortunately, I found our protagonist Korinna frustrating and boring a lot of the time, especially compared to the other two central women. Her blunt narration style made sense based on her background, but after a while it got a little tiresome. Her moral and political struggles throughout the narrative were logical, but felt repetitive. I think it didn't help at all that the other two main characters were so much more interesting to me in personality, background and motivations.

The plot was good, it had a lot of promise, but the pacing was so fast I struggled to emotionally connect with the characters. The ending was really nice, I could see what the intention was, but it felt like the climax was on fast forward so it didn't have the emotional weight it could have had.

I'd honestly read a whole book about the history of this universe, the goddesses and their lives, but unfortunately Redsight didn't really work for me as a whole.

The plot of Redsight was really interesting to me. The idea of 3 sealed Goddesses and the worshiper's who use the gifts and powers of those Goddesses. Set in space, powerful women, body horror and a sapphic romance? Sign me up! Except...it went downhill very quickly.

This is definitely a case of too many ideas, no consistency, continuity errors running wild and just poor writing choices. Also way too much explaining and repeating the same things over and over. None of the characters have proper motivation for any of their choices and they pivot so fast I never had any idea why they were doing what they were doing. They would suddenly be so trusting, then betrayed, then they understand, then they trust again, they're betrayed again...my head was spinning. All the characters are incredibly selfish, and so so naïve and they're always so shocked when things don't turn out the way they intended but then somehow things actually do turn out as they intended. It's wild. For example, a MC releases two people from prison and gives them instructions to go do things and of course both those people don't actually leave and do as she says but come right back to try again to commit the act they were imprisoned for the first time and somehow this is very surprising to our MC.

My biggest takeaway from this book is: no more picking up books that are marketed as "for fans of Gideon the Ninth".

I loved this book! The worldbuilding is immaculate, the characters are brilliant and multidimensional, the romance is natural, and the author uses their point of view to draw together a grand tale of power, perserverance, and faith. In particular, Mooring has a gift for prose; their descriptions are out of this world, pun unintended. If you're a fan of action and science fantasy and cosmic consequences, this one is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for a copy of this book.

Honestly have mixed feelings. I feel like I was thrusted into a world without knowing anything about it. Very detailed with world building, but much too fast.
Did get better reading more.

A loooot of similes.

One single spicy scene. Wanted more. Really wish there was more with Sahar. I felt there was no chemistry.

The ending was meh. Mostly everything was tied up in a neat bow. I wonder what happened with Korinna and Therisa.

-Three point of views
-Queer
-Space pirates
-Witches
-Blood sacrifices
-Blind
-Poly(?)
-Blind author!!

This is an interesting novel with a plot that kept your attention throughout. I didn't fully find a captivating draw from the protagonist, but it was a good read and suggested some really challenging questions about religion and society.

This was an interesting read set with a very intriguing magic system in a totally different type of world than I’ve read before.

The writing was sometimes confusing, but that was rare. The character development was well done and the world building was great.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who like magical space operas.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Solaris for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

..............I was sold on the whole blind priestess who can control space and time........

Redsight by Meredith Mooring is a YA science fiction novel about a blind priestess who can control space and time. Yes, you read that right. Korinna has simple priorities: stay on the Navitas, stay out of trouble, and stay alive. She may be a Redseer, a blind priestess with the power to manipulate space-time, but she is the weakest in her Order. Useless and outcast. Or so she has been raised to believe. As she takes her place as a navigator on an Imperium ship, Korinna’s full destiny is revealed to her: blood brimming with magic, she is meant to become a weapon of the Imperium, and pawn for the Order that raised her. But when the ship is attacked by the notorious pirate Aster Haran, Korinna’s world is ripped apart. Aster has a vendetta against the Imperium, and an all-consuming, dark power that drives her to destroy everything in her path. She understands the world in a way Korinna has never imagined, and Korinna is drawn to her against her better judgment. With the Imperium and the justice-seeking warrior Sahar hot on her heels, Korinna must choose her side, seize her power and fulfil her destiny--or risk imperiling the future of the galaxy, and destroying the fabric of space-time itself.

Ok, going into this book I had so many high hopes. And some of those hopes were met, while others just kinda flopped. And I blame on the vibes being generally like other science fictions novels I've read, but Redsight didn't hit all the right notes to be an exact copy. In that, there was no realy development. I feel like this book was planned to be a series (or maybe it will be) and that lead to the author rushing through character points and plot details, with the hope that there would be more room to add them later. But even if it is a standalone, there was too many pages for too little information. Yet, it's still a decent read.

I loved this book. I will admit I do not love science fiction books. They are not my favorite and yet I couldn't stop coming back to finish this book. Also, I love the sapphic representation.

Three diverse women, each strong in their own way, worshipers of their own deity and followers of their own sect converge throughout the book Redsight. Each follows their own very different path based on the god they follow. Karinna is a part of the Order, worshipper of a god whose powers are based in blood. She is passive in her approach, but holds an ability that has been held secret to both those she follows and herself. Aster is desperate for revenge and to free her dark god. And then there is Sahar, a student of light who love of science and desire for knowledge is laden with guilt and regret as she follows a god whose power is light. Set in outer space, the three hold the key to the future of the ongoing war and the universe.

Redlight is one of my rare dips into reading scifi. I think what I really liked that even though it was scifi, it read heavily of fantasy. At times, I had to remind myself the setting was in the stars, different planets and even war ships. I enjoyed the characters and dynamic relationship. I enjoyed the world building as well. There was enough to give me a glimpse into the world without being overbearing and all consuming the story. The characters help to mirror the world building and created enough interest that I looked forward to following the story. There is a lot of blood and gore, but while violent, I didn't feel it was overdone. There is a romance through the story. It isn't the primary point of the story, but compliments the progression, and ultimately is tied to the final revelation. I had to suspend my belief a few times in the romantic part of the story, as any conflict was quickly resolved with in the relationship. The story feels as if it takes place over a series of weeks or months. This makes the quick to resolve conflict a stretch.

Despite the quick conflict resolution, I really liked Redsight. It was a one day read for me. When I put it down, I looked forward to picking it up again. I will say the ending is a good conclusion but is a bit lack luster due to the build up; however, I do understand the direction Mooring was going and it feel it was a fitting ending regardless. Overall, an enjoyable read. It surprised me how much enjoyed my reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC and the opportunity to read and review Redsight by Meredith Mooring.