I did enjoy this book, but pacing felt off at times. The found family aspect was very well done! I loved alll the dialogue and dynamics between the characters.

There are seeds of a brilliant story in this one, but the writing style was not quite able to get me to where I thought we could go. There are 5 POV characters and while each of them has a distinct voice and personality, it was almost too much to see it through everyones perspective. I think this could be improved by being 3rd person with a focus on each character in the various chapters. Also somewhat implausible that these characters are all like 20 years old?? Petition to let characters with crazy skills actually have the time to develop them. I guess many of them were supposed to be prodigies but like everyone is a prodigy??

There is a lot to like here, there is a lot of great representation and complicated, interesting relationships. But for all the "dazzle" of the casino setting, it doesn't really come across as much as it could. I have so many more questions about this world that were not only unanswered, but didn't feel as though there were answers at all. The magic of a well realized setting is not necessarily that everything is fully explained within the pages, but that it could be. That you could turn a corner and it would be fully realized universe even if the author never takes you around that corner.

As compelling as this was in the beginning it gets very repetitive and the end is remarkably rushed for how much set up we sat through.

Overall this is fun, but felt unfinished.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy*

I…don’t know how to rate this, so for now, it’s going to sit at 2.5 stars.

This is a queer sci-fi heist novel set in a place called The Casino that has a sentient AI running it. The book follows 5 queer women; Finley (card counter who changed her identity after getting sober with the help of Kiyo), Kiyo (daughter of the CEO of a major gemstone company who is rich af), Illaria (a Jewish woman who faked her death on her home planet to escape her horrible abusive husband and has a bi-awakening), Psalome (Dazzler, aka a dealer, who is trying to pay off her fathers massive debt by working at The Casino), and Psylina (Psalome’s sister who is dating the AI running the casino, and is also the mastermind behind Psalome’s work).

It was nice having so many characters, but at times, their voices felt too similar to distinguish. Especially for the first 35%, I would easily forget whose POV i was reading because they felt soooo similar for so long. Once they started to have their distinctive voices, it became easier, but still…it should be distinctive at the beginning, NOT 35% through!

Other than the characters voices, my biggest issue with this was how the casino was described/the heist itself. It felt glossed over for so long, and by the end when shit happens, it felt rushed. Like chapters 22-26 were the climax, and then the last chapter was the wrap up of the story. It felt too rushed. I still have questions about what Finley and Kiyo are going to do now. Is she going to become CEO?? Is Finley going to stay with her? Who the fuck knows?!?!?!?

Anyway, to sum up my feelings in a few words; this book was okay.

found this book on NetGalley and I didn't even have to get all the way through the premise before I was already clicking "Request". How could I not when it's a sapphic Ocean's 11?
When I started the book, I did not expect it to have five POVs but I found myself really impressed by the switch between the characters and getting to see their different perspectives. Resnick does a good job of making each point of view distinct and different. I began to love the characters and all of their quirkiness, especially Ilaria and Finley. I feel like my younger self identified a lot with llaria, so it was cathartic to see her growth.
This was a great book to read, and it was over way too fast.
I hope that there is another book coming in the future set in this universe. I'd love to see cameos of these characters and get to learn more about what's outside of The Casino.
Though, we do completely 100% stand on The Casino's rules for consent and protection of all of their workers. I mean, who wouldn't want to go visit a luxury space casino that doesn't let creeps do whatever they want and has very strict boundaries?
I highly recommend that get this book immediately. You won't regret it!
Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.

The Elysium, a galaxy known high class casino, is the scene for our story as we follow five individuals who are trying to pull off the heist of a lifetime. In the walls of the casino is the best kept security system, the richest of the rich, and jewels to be won in more ways than you may think. With our protagonists coming from all ways of life, and all wanting to achieve their own goals, can they work together long enough to succeed?

I went into this book with some very high hopes. I loved the intriguing plot ideas, and when meeting the characters we follow through the story I was delighted at the representation and the voices they brought to the story. Sadly this did not last very long as I was reading. The writing felt a little lacklustre, and the longer we spent with our characters in the first “scene” the more I felt like there wasn’t an actual plot. There was a lot of exposition in that initial scene, and it felt like it lasted so long as we jumped from one character’s point of view to the next. It really dropped me off the hook, which is not what you want at the beginning of the story.

I think the amount of point of view’s we get in this short novel is a bit of a detriment to it. Perhaps two or three, but all five of our main characters getting to show their voice made me feel like I was dragged around in the writing. Not only that but with so many characters trying to have their spotlight, I feel like we did not get the development for them that they deserved. I noticed I didn’t feel anything for these characters and none of them interested me. There was a moment part way through the novel where we got more moments between Finley and Kiyo that I really enjoyed and started to feel for, but even then the writing moved on to other characters too fast for that to become anything.

Beyond the characters of this book, I was disappointed by the overall plot as well. We get this long introduction to this heist plan in the first third of the book, but it leads to nothing in the end. There’s really no action to be had and the resolution feels hollow. Most of the mastermind behind it happens off screen, and while it’s not a terrible thing to leave your audience in the dark, it did just feel like we missed the actual heist (especially as we didn’t see a heist at all). The novel was named for this, and it doesn’t even happen on page? Perhaps the novel should have been named something else.

I did really want to like this book, but with plot falling short and the relationships not gripping me, I grew bored by the end of it. This felt like a book that was a few drafts short of being ready. I feel the author just spread themselves too thin for the amount they wanted to do in the space that they had. I hope they take this as some feedback to consider for their next novel.

Thank you again for the review copy to read.

Thank you to Solaris for my review copy.

2.5 stars.

This book was enjoyable, nothing monumentally groundbreaking, but something to read to pass the time.

The plot was typical of what you would expect from a heist novel.

If you're looking for a light book to read to, this is a book you should consider.

This didn't quite live up to its full potential. A rag-tag crew of women, two of whom are victims of the same man, plan a heist to humiliate him and regain their own agency and power. [While their plan is good, two side players-- the sister of the 4th group member and her AI boyfriend-- go behind their backs and fix the problem without the group's direct help. Not only was this a big let-down, it doesn't allow the women to regain control. It fixes the immediate blackmail problem, but none of the women were their own source of rescue. It's a very disappointing end. (hide spoiler)] There were elements of the universe that could have been explored in more depth, to add weight to the way the characters were all trapped, but these were sacrificed to keep the pace moving quicker-- unnecessarily so, when slower-paced character-focused sci-fi like Becky Chambers' work can be so successful. The writing also seemed to indicate that maybe (?) the story was originally supposed to take place over a longer period of time-- characters frequently said or narrated thoughts about how that one "always" did this, or that other one did such-and-so "every day"-- but these characters had only known each other two days. Bad writing, or poor editing after a timeline change?

It may be worth checking on this author in the future-- hopefully with a better beta and editing team; there's potential here. eARC from NetGalley.

Meh. This book fell somewhat flat for me. The dual POVs all felt the same, and made it so there was little suspense in the romantic relationships. Every character was so young and pretty uninteresting. The heist itself was short and unmemorable. I think maybe if this book was more advertised as a romance I would feel differently?

Thank you to NetGalley, Rebellion, and Solaris Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Elysium Heist is billed as a sapphic Ocean's Eleven, a sort of sci-fi heist story with plenty of drama and romance. For me, the book didn't really deliver on the promises that it made, though there is definitely a lot to enjoy. If you're expecting a traditional casino heist setup, it definitely isn't that. The casino is a character in and of itself, artificially intelligent, and the "heist" has more to do with securing freedom for a woman who has been trapped in a predatory debt scheme than stealing priceless art or something of that nature. While that premise is interesting, the story itself felt like it didn't explore it to its themes in a rewarding or emotionally resonant way.

It's a multi-POV story, but the voices weren't particularly distinct for me. The author did do a good job at conveying misunderstandings and the ways that different characters can perceive the same events, which served the story well in numerous areas. However, the actual tone and phrasing and inner monologues between the characters weren't different enough to give me a clear idea of who all of them were. Psalome gets the most airtime in terms of having her personality and backstory fleshed out, and I thought the best writing was generally in her POV chapters, but I wanted to feel more connected to Kiyo and Finley in particular and I never felt like I understood them or who they were.

One thing that made me uncomfortable is the casual way characters treat Ilaria, who is presented as supposedly having escaped an extremely repressive and restrictive Jewish sect, and also as a romantic lead in the book. There are a lot of off-color jokes about her shyness and her sexuality from the other characters that felt tonally bizarre and insensitive, considering the level of trauma she would presumably have been dealing with in that situation. Religion also isn't discussed in a serious way in the rest of the narrative. I honestly wish this plot point were left out of the book, because it succeeds most when it is leaning in to being an over-the-top, silly sci-fi romp.

It's not a bad book at all, it can be very entertaining and it contains some really unique world-building and a different take on some traditional concepts within the genre. But at the end of the day, I liked the idea and the concept more than I liked the experience of reading the book itself.

Hm. Ok. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to rate this one.

I'm here for a sapphic space heist. I just read Hammajang Luck and was excited for another heist (especially since the comp mentioned Oceans) but the end just petered out for a quick ending? This was generally very fun and a quick read, but the pacing, especially at the end, feels like this is a debut. Which is fine, but I'm disappointed to feel like this kind of plateaued at the end.

An heiress hires the most beautiful dealer at a space casino to help her and her friends rob the man who's blackmailing her. Meanwhile, she and her best friend (a brilliant recovering alcoholic gambler) are in love but insist that it's unrequited, the dealer is crushing on the ex-wife of the blackmailer (and neither woman knows how to flirt), and the dealer's sister is dating the very casino AI they need to trick to get away with this.

Characters (this is multi-POV so we get each person's thoughts)
- Finley- A recovering alcoholic and a famous gambler who can count cards as easily as breathing.
- Kiyo- An heiress who is being blackmailed by the man who owns her sex tape. If it gets out, she'll lose her company.
- Psalome- The most beautiful "Dazzler" casino dealer who is working to pay off her father's debt to the Casino. She is known for not sleeping with clients.
- Casino- The casino is run by an AI that is in love with Psylina.
- Psylina- Psalome's younger sister who is brilliant with technology, fiercely protective, and in love with Casino/El.
- Ilaria- The ex-wife of the blackmailer, or she would be if he'd give her a divorce. She is from a very Orthodox Jewish planet and only just learned what bisexuality is.

The heist disappointed me, but if you like dumb lesbians who don't realize they're in love, well, this book has two couples for you. The only couple of lovers who actually talk to each other are the asexual tech girl and the AI.

Idk I just wanted more from the heist. Maybe I should be thinking of this as more of a romance? All the couples get a happily ever after.

I think that this might be a fun book if you like hot lesbians in space/at a casino getting what they're owed. I was dissatisfied with the heist! But the rest was good. And the Ilaria/Psalome romance was very sweet.

Thanks to Netgalley and Solaris Nova for the ARC.

1/5 stars: This is Resnik's stand-alone 2SLGBTQIA+ Science Fiction Thriller Romance that features a decadent, artificially intelligent, space casino's highest earning hostess, who's stuck working endless hours to pay off the debt she inherited from her deadbeat, gambler father, her little sister who is dating the casino's artificial intelligence, a disgraced heiress seeking to rescue her family business, a recovering alcoholic card counter and a religious Jew whose husband refuses to grant her a divorce as they join together to rob the casino. When relationships start getting messy, loyalties are tested and everyone starts falling apart, the hostess will have to find a way to keep this heist from imploding or she can kiss her freedom, her girlfriend and her sister’s trust, goodbye. Resnik touches on some sensitive topics; so take care and CWs. This book's written in multiple POV and while Resnik's writing and character work are well done and this is an intriguing plot this just wasn't a book for me; leading me to DNF it at 11%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion | Solaris Nova in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

A sapphic heist novel in space, The Elysium Heist unfortunately failed to steal my attention.

This book sounded right up my alley, and I wish I could say I loved it. Unfortunately, one of my biggest reader failings is that I have trouble connecting with young adults. I’m not sure why two of the characters in this had to be 20. In truth, this lessened the tension for me, because when you’re 20 you have your whole life ahead of you, so this feeling like a sort of last stand to get what they want fell flat for me. I would have been more behind it if they were like anti-rich activists wanting to cause shit and, because they’re young, feel they are invincible.

It could also be the point of view that left me cold, because we have multiple first-person point of view - probably my least favourite point of view - and all of them sounded the same, so I was constantly forgetting who was who. It also didn’t help that they fell into friendship/being a team right away under the original plan - there isn’t much of the actual heist planning or any sort of getting to know you bits. It’s just here’s the team and this one loves this one and that one loves this one (despite knowing one another for a few days). When you have a team of characters who don’t know one another, giving every character a POV really deadens the tension because there’s no “will this person backstab the others” or “does this person have hidden motives”? For a heist story, I don’t think this was the way to go.

There was a lot of insta-love in the novel, which is not a trope I gravitate to, so the constant pining was annoying. The one thing I did enjoy was the AI/human love story.

I’m really struggling here to say something I enjoyed, but I had a hard time with this one. I don’t think it was poorly written or something like that - it just wasn’t for me. It does move at a fast pace, and there is a great energy about it. I think if you really enjoy heists, you might still get a kick out of it!

The Elysium Heist has a good story nestled inside its pages, but for me, the marketing does it no favors. There is no actual heist, and no one ever intends to rob the casino. Like Ocean’s 8 it therefore is not.

And that’s what I expected going into this: a fun idea in a cool sci-fi setting with some intricate heist stuff as love blossoms between 2 or more characters. What I found was emotionally repressed characters, none fully sure of themselves and living out their insecurities as they seek to carry out their sting op, which itself isn’t very intricate or grand. Still, the character setups should be a solid platform for some interesting solo and pair arcs, but aren’t, alas, much realized until a rapid wrap-up ending. And of the 6 characters in the story, I found I was only able to bond with Finley. She’s cool and interesting, and I’d love to read another story featuring her. Damaged Ilaria comes close to being interesting but I needed more backstory to more closely feel her: too much telling about how bad her husband was and is without scenes to show us that. The relationship one girl has with the sentient AI casino isn’t too bad, but not enough page time can be given over to it since she has to hide her actions from her AI partner, which means little truth between them most of the time.

I found the pages filled with each character’s narrative angst repeating over and over while I waited for the heist the title promises to properly get going and characters to leave bedroom suites and spaceships. Which barely happened, unless you count the cargo bay. Even the casino environs were underutilized. I felt little sense of place. Which for a sci-fi novel is usually going to be a problem.

There are, though, a few good things here that readers should enjoy. The idea is good. Just don’t expect what the blurb promises. And you might feel differently about the characters than I do. I hope so because their traits are promising, and if there is another book featuring any of them, I would be interested in reading it, looking for what I feel is missing here. The last twenty percent or so picks up well and speeds towards its climax, which I enjoyed (although not the public declarations—a modern-day Netflix streaming style that’s filtered down from rom-coms)

I really wanted to like this and I’d be very happy to read anything that comes next if a series is developed. There is promise here, but, ultimately, The Elysium Heist promises much but finds it difficult to focus on anything enough to deliver. Reach exceeding grasp. It’s a story with more ideas and character traits than its pages are able to fully develop. If it becomes the first entry in a series, and we know that going in, we can set expectations accordingly, that arcs and reveals will develop over a course of books. I’d like to see that.

Thank you to the author and publisher and to NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

This was a fun enjoyable read with a cool premise and an engaging cast of characters. I loved the setting, and the concept of Elysium and the AI mechanics and definitely felt a sense of being there amongst it all.

The reason this wasn't a higher rating is that I did go into this expecting a little more from the heist, and I ended up feeling a bit lost with some of the plot and plausibility with what was happening there, as so much of the book was focused on the relationships. I'd have liked to see more detail on the mechanics and interplay of the plan, and I struggled to suspend my disbelief at the ending as a result.

That said, the relationships between the characters kept me engaged enough throughout, and I enjoyed the interplay between them. I also appreciated the exploration of future indentured work, bodily autonomy and identity, as well as different kinds of loving relationships and intimacy. Sometimes, with the switch between POVs I did find some of it a little repetitive, and I would personally have liked to spend more time in the action but possibly this was slightly influenced by a preconceived idea of the book based on the description.

Thank you to Solaris/NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

2.25 stars. I was prepared to give this 3 stars and just say that it wasn't wholly for me, but some of the choices at the end were so egregious that it dropped it. First of all, I think the comp to Ocean's 8 is misleading. Sure, superficially, the characters in this book talk about a "heist," but there's no real grand plan and no competency around all their skills and I wouldn't even call stealing some earrings a heist, just a robbery- and it could have been done way more easily in a completely different scenario. But I was willing to go along for the ride until the ride actually started.

This book isn't a heist, it is a romance novel. And honestly, that's fine! I actively want more sci-fi romances, and a queer one is even better! But it's a bad romance book. There are 3 different romantic relationships, and none of them were satisfying or believable.

Something I did like: I thought all of the different dynamics within the relationships were very interesting and had a lot of potential. But, the author didn't trust us to see any of that complexity, so it was explained over and over in every single character's thoughts, in the most repetitive and irritating way. Almost every scene and every different POV is just that person sitting in one place, THINKING about something. There is so little action that it becomes tedious. And that is action in the heist (there are maybe 2 scenes where they actually do something heist-y) and also action towards each other.

None of the characters spend enough time together developing relationships in a believable way. Kiyokimora and Finley are supposedly best friends who are in love with each other. Why? I think some flashbacks would've been helpful here, but even without that, neither of them seem confident that the other one even likes them. I thought the scene where Kiyo accuses Finley of falling of the wagon and Finley is upset by her lack of trust really interesting and complex because that IS addict behavior and Kiyo's lack of trust is warranted and that could've been explored. But then Finley just storms off and Kiyo just thinks to herself (once again) that Finley only ever liked her for her money and the wheel turns.

Psalome and Ilaria, again, had potential. But they literally never speak to each other. That was an almost endearing thing at the beginning- Psalome, the famous Dazzler, not being able to speak to someone she actually likes is adorable and then that leading Ilaria to get defensive. That's a good set up. But we never see them overcome this. We only ever see them actually saying words to each other when they fight. The chapters speak in summary about completely silent dinners together and times when they play the piano together, but they never communicate and get to know each other in a posititive way. They're still hurling uninformed insults at each other like, a chapter before they hook up and are talking about how important the other one is. WHY are they important to each other? We don't get to see it.

I don't believe Ilaria is deconstructing from an intense Jewish cult. I just don't believe it. Nothing in the way she acts does the work to show that. The Yiddish words just seem sprinkled in to give her POV some interest. In her first POV chapter, she thinks (to herself, of course) in many flowery metaphors and I was thinking that would be the thing that separated her POV from the others, but not really- they all think in a very similar tone. I do believe that she has been traumatized by a past relationship. BUT! This just makes the ending, where they completely take away all of her agency even worse!

I do like the relationship between Psylina and El because we actually get to see them saying nice words to each other and communicating and trying to work through things. I think flashbacks to the beginning of how El started developing emotions would have added a lot, but the few scenes we get of them are nice. And, their relationship does add a lot of complexity to the Psalome and Psylina relationship.

As for the sisters, once again, the audience is not trusted to understand the feelings they have, so they're repeated several times throughout the book. Psylina has some really weirdly aggressively negative views of sex work and in my view, the narrative agrees with he. I found it so off-putting that any time she and Psalome were discussing that, I wanted to stop reading. Psylina was too involved and judgmental of Psalome's life and choices and it just felt like a young person's take on the world and it was not challenged by the narrative.

Anyways, I thought that this book had a lot of potential, but in the end, it was just not for me.

I had a fun time with this book! It was easy to root for the characters and even easier to hate the villain. He was real in a way that made my skin crawl. I thought the concept of the Casino being in a relationship with Psylina made both the heist and interpersonal dynamics more complex and juicier, and appreciated the ace representation in her character.

As far as heist stories go, this one had all the elements that I usually look for: a well thought-out plan, characters who are a mess on a personal level but experts in their fields, and the moment where it seems everything could go wrong.

I did find it hard to invest in any one character too deeply since there were so many POVs to juggle, but that’s a common outcome with an ensemble cast. Would recommend!

Disaster lesbians in space doing crimes is obviously my jam. The world is dazzly, the characters are fun and flawed, and the vibes are great. But the heist is borderline nonsensical and the resolution, while satisfying in the end, was not exactly what was promised by the book premise. Its definitely a shut off your brain and enjoy the ride type of read.

Also, I'm sorry but 5 POVs all using first-person is really tough. The author did a surprisingly good job distinguishing the voices but it was still not the best reading experience.

Thank you to Rebellion and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

An emotion-heavy casino heist novel featuring a diverse cast of queer women.

A satisfying plot with lots of twists!

I respect a book that is exactly what it says it is. This book is about a crew of lesbians robbing an AI casino. Do you think you want to read about lesbians robbing an AI casino? If you do, you’ll like this book, if not, you’re right! I went in expecting this book to be a good time and not that serious, and I got what I was looking for. I wanted to read about attractive women in pretty clothes stealing things, and I got to do that. This book is not, and does not claim to be, literature, or about anything deep. It’s a heist novel. It’s about heists and jewelry and people looking hot and palming id cards.

Don’t think about it too hard. Unlike the characters, this book isn’t trying to con you, deceive you, or make you think it’s something its not. This book is exactly what you expect, and I find that refreshing. Given the state of the news these days we could all use some attractive-people-being-competent style escapism.

Recommended for people who support women’s rights and women’s wrongs, anyone who has a be gay do crimes sticker, and fans of The Last Hour Between Worlds.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for this honest review.
(will add links when they go live closer to the date)

I really wanted to love this bc it seems like it should be exactly my thing. But all of the five first-person PoV characters have the same voice, which made it v difficult to remember whose chapter I was reading without flipping back to the beginning.