🚀ULTIMATE SPACE OPERA☄️
Thank you for the free book Angry Robot Books @angryrobotbooks , Netgalley @netgalley , Ruby Oldroyd, and Tim Pratt @tim.pratt
“The Jewel and the Comet” by Tim Pratt ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Genre: Space Opera. A standalone story set within the universe of “The Knife and the Serpent”.
Location: The Multiverse. Time: Future. NOTE: DEI and LGBTQIA+ inclusive. Heat Level: Lots of talk about kinks and hi-jinks, but actual acts are BCD.

SYNOPSIS:
Glenn/Gwen is a normal genderfluid graduate student living a normal life (except when she’s a spy trainee in space) in Berkeley, CA with her normal girlfriend, Vivy (who also happens to be a high-level Interventionist space operative). Vivy heads to space on cranky, antagonist AI warship Hektor to stop a rogue comet and recover a jewel that can eat holes in our reality. Meanwhile, also in space, Gwen (and later Glenn) and snarky AI starship Eddie battle the Cutter (with her limitless supply of power). Is there a link?

FAVORITE BITS:
⭐️The Comet’s mashed-up metaphors (…home sweet home alone…)
(“On dasher, on tiny dancer, dancer for monkey, do what you want, what you really really want.”)
⭐️The Wreck of the Edmund Pevensie (Eddie), a sentient, sarcastic spaceship, and good friend.
⭐️The Interventionists’ mission to increase personal freedom for all oppressed peoples.

It’s alien encounters, mysterious cults, a race to catch a jewel thief, and it’s 5⭐️s from me 📚👩🏼‍🦳

This book was quite a surprise for me. It was advertised as "A quirky new space opera featuring charming characters and sarcastic spaceships" SIGN ME UP.

I am going to add in that this book also has quite a lot of reference to gendered-ness, pronouns and the kink community, which I did not expect from the description. (Why I didn't expect this, is a mystery, because it is in the description - so my expectation was, kind of ridiculous). I did not really expect it to be essentially the main focus at the beginning while we are also setting up the story. I especially didn't expect it to feature so heavily in most of the chapters. I think that this is mainly just sort of an expectation issue rather than it not working for the story.
Tim Pratt expands on his prior novel "The Knife and The Serpent" but this book can be read as a Stand-alone. Readers meet Vivy ( a super spy!) and Gwen/Glenn (a gender-fluid grad student who's perfectly normal, except for being trained for a super-secret society, and being active in the kink community.) While these two items don't readily pair up like Peanut Butter and Jelly, I feel that Pratt does make it work.

Glenn/Gwen and Vivy are dispatched on high stakes missions and separated from each other. For Vivy this is pretty standard, but for Gwen/Glenn, it is completely new and they only have a sentient space ship for help. Of course, the Space Ship is one snarky ship as well.

This is a wild ride- a character focused adventure where it seems like anything can happen. I did like that despite the heavy character growth focus, this isn't just a book using Space as a backdrop- the multi-verse is unique and fascinating, in fact I found the descriptions of the multiverse and it's workings to be my favorite part of the novel!

I appreciated they way Pratt draws a character and really brings the characters to life on the page. The plot moves at a very fast pace, and the story is well imagined. If you're interested in a futuristic story with a bite (a kinky bite that is) - this will eb one you'll want to put on your TBR.

I am so appreciative to Net Galley and Angry Robot for the Advanced Reader Copy for me to read and review.

3.5/5 stars

The Jewel and the Comet is a multiversal space opera by Tim Pratt and is technically a sequel to The Knife and the Serpent. Glenn/Gwen is a kinky, genderfluid grad student whose girlfriend and domme, Vivy, has been revealed to be both an alien and a spy for the Interventionists, an interdimensional anarchist agency. When two mysterious artifacts from the furthest reaches of the knowable multiverse arrive in theirs, Vivy and Glenn, now a junior probationary trainee, are sent on separate missions to investigate them. The jewel and the comet may become the greatest threats the multiverse has ever faced, and the Interventionists must recover them before they fall into the wrong hands.

Although marketed as a standalone novel set in the same universe as The Knife and the Serpent, this is essentially a direct sequel featuring mostly returning characters on a new mission. Since I hadn’t read the first book, I can confirm that it still works as a standalone. Glenn opens the novel with a brief recap of the previous story, which was enough to get me up to speed without any confusion. That said, I do think I would have appreciated this book more had I read its predecessor first.

Overall, I found the book to be just alright, though it ultimately wasn’t my kind of science fiction. Its brand of absurdity doesn’t always quite work for me, and the tone often felt less serious than the story needed. It was still a fun read, however, and I can see the humor landing well for readers who enjoy this style. I also appreciated the inclusion of Glenn (who spends most of the novel as Gwen) and their genderfluidity, which remains an underrepresented aspect of queerness in media. As for the kink elements, they were much less thoroughly explored here, though perhaps more so in the first book.

My biggest issue was that the plot felt underdeveloped. At just 264 pages, the novel moves at such a rapid pace that there’s little time to build tension or flesh out its new characters, especially the main antagonist, Cutter. Aside from a late reveal about her backstory, she never develops beyond feeling somewhat cartoonish. I also think making the artifacts effectively all-powerful was a misstep, as the story constantly has to invent ways to limit or negate their abilities. As a result, it became difficult to believe that Gwen, Vivy, and their allies ever had a realistic chance against such an overwhelmingly powerful foe, even with the restrictions placed.

The Jewel and the Comet is an imaginative multiversal adventure that was entertaining but also left me wishing it had been given more space to breathe.

*Thank you Angry Robot Books for the early copy!

Tim Pratt once again delivers a wonderfully imaginative fantasy filled with heart, adventure, and creativity. From the beginning, I loved how effortlessly the story blended wonder with thoughtful character development.

The world felt vibrant and alive, and each new discovery made me even more curious about the larger universe the author has created. I especially appreciated the balance between humor, emotional moments, and exciting adventure.

This is one of those books that reminds me why I love fantasy so much—it sparks the imagination while introducing characters you genuinely care about. By the end, I found myself wishing I could spend just a little more time in this wonderfully crafted world.

I’m going to presume (!?), prospective Reader, that you’ve read the publisher’s blurb and therefore have an idea of what Tim Pratt’s new sci-fi novel, "The Jewel and the Comet," is about. It may seem … familiar: unique characters, human and non-human; a shadowy organization operating in multiple dimensions; and a powerful Big Bad that must be stopped. What sets this particular story apart from the rest? In a word: heart. There’s a ton of heart in these characters, especially the couple taking turns telling us this tale: Gwen/Glenn and Vivy. Ultimately — to me — this is a story about trying to make a connection to someone (or thing) else, and recovering from the mistakes made in doing so. It was a fast-paced, fun, read that I enjoyed a lot.

This review is based on an advance copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for that purpose. The book will be available on August 18, 2026.

I’ve recently begun working my way through Iain M. Banks’ Culture books and found some distant parallels in this story, including sentient non-human intelligences operating as spaceships, exotic weaponry and implanted ‘upgrades,’ and the organization Gwen/Glenn and Vivy work for has a whiff of Special Circumstances about it, too. Banks was a bit more circumspect in describing the hedonistic proclivities of his characters, but one wonders if that would be true today if he was still alive and writing about the Culture. Too, although there is at times some humor in the Culture stories I’ve read, they have been much darker in tone than "The Jewel and the Comet."

About that blurb, which includes the words 'genderfluidity' and 'kink.' I’ll further presume (?!), Prospective Reader, if you’re here, scanning reviews, that you’re not put off by these terms. Gwen/Glenn (and why is ‘Glenn’ mentioned in the blurb when most of the book features Gwen?) provides an illuminating description of the former and how the latter factors into their relationship with Vivy. That they are, and do, brings nuance and a deeper understanding of who they are as characters, but the main storyline would be the same if they were not, and did not. In other words, this is an exciting and fun sci-fi tale whose characters happen to be … who they are.

Fast-paced action, nuanced characters — heroes and villains, humans and not — and an interesting multi-dimensional setting, make "The Jewel and the Comet a great read."

Entertaining, witty, and fast-paced space opera.

I received this book from NetGalley. Thank you to Tim Pratt and Angry Robot. All opinions are my own.