August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

This read like an anime series, which is great for me because I love mecha anime. Yes, it has pacing problems, and the ending was a little anti-climactic, but I had so much fun reading it that those things became minor quibbles for me. I was definitely the target audience for this book: anime fan, musician, and book nerd. I can't wait to read more of it. I just wish that a bit more of the music connection between the humans and Vanguards was explored a bit more. The reasoning for the Vanguards turning traitor was a bit weak, but I still went along with it. I would have loved to see a more compelling reason for it.

A mixed bag of a space opera about giant mechas from space threatening to destroy humanity. There’s not a lot of backstory to explain the history of these mechas; we’re just plunged into a party for the end of the world at which August “Gus” Kitko, jazz pianist, has been invited to play, as has pop megastar Ardent Violet. The plot itself is sort of all over the map; I’d call it zany if it weren’t also so grim, most of humanity having already been killed, including Gus’s family. There’s way too much description of interminable space battles for my taste, when it’s the characters that are so much more interesting. It’s clearly a setup for a series, though most of the plot threads are resolved.

I listened to the show more audiobook and felt the producers missed a huge opportunity to incorporate music, which is so significant to the characters and the plot.

I boosted my rating an extra half star because Ardent Violet is such a fabulous character. show less

White, Alex. August Kitko and the Mechas from Space. Starmetal Symphony No. 1. Orbit, 2022.
Alex White’s vision of life in the twenty-seventh century is passing strange. Humanity is at war with some gargantuan sentient war machines called Vanguards. We seem to have no hope. People are sadly celebrating one last time before the end. August Kitko, a down-and-out jazz pianist, starts an unlikely affair with Ardent Violet, a pop music star who uses ungendered personal pronouns. But then, moved by Kitko’s music, a Vanguard calling itself Greymalkin changes sides and does a mind med that makes Kitko its pilot. It seems that even huge robots can be moved by music. The novel bends genders and blends genres. At times one is reminded of Iain show more M. Banks in The Hydrogen Sonata, but at other times it is pure Stan Lee. Four stars. show less

Going into this novel I had a number of basic expectations, which mostly boiled down to whether this book read like its cover! My overall impression is mission accomplished, in that I got my delirious anime-influenced space opera. Moving forward, my question is whether White can maintain the tone of the story without losing control of his material, but I'll be around to find out.

Me ha gustado mucho, pero me ha costado cogerle el punto.

Kitko y Violet son personajes a los que coges mucho cariño pero inicialmente cuesta entrar en el ritmo y la sinfonía que desprenden. Eso sí, la mezcla de musica, mechas y space opera ha sido un aperitivo excelente y un modo de abrir el apetito a la futura segunda parte.

Aiiieeeeee, this was so good! My daughter was one of White's beta-readers and having loved the Salvagers trilogy, I had to read this as soon as I could.

Dive in, you won't regret it.

Like a 4.55. Looking forward to finding out what happens next.