Bibliographic Information:
- Title: Victories Greater Than Death
- Author: Charlie Jane Anders
- ISBN: 1250317312
- Publisher: Tor Teen
- Copyright Date: April 13, 2021
Genre: Science Fiction/Space Opera/LGBTQ+
Format: Book
Awards/Honors: None as of May, 2021
Reading Level/Interest: Teen ages 13-18 (Goodreads.com, 2021)
Plot Summary: Tina Mains is you typical nerdy teen, except that she’s not. Tina has a rescue beacon implanted in her chest and is impatiently waiting for it to activate. The truth about Tina is that she is a clone of an alien with human DNA, who was hidden on earth as an infant until she is ready to save the universe. When the beacon finally activates, Tina and her best friend Rachael are chased by hostile aliens and eventually rescued by members of the Royal Fleet, who beam them up to their spaceship. Here, the girls encounter a large variey of aliens from all over the universe and beyond.
But nothing in space is as Tina had imagined it would be. She discovers that she is the clone of a famous leader, Captain Thaoh Argentian. Everyone is expecting Tina to step write back into Argentian’s shoes, but Tina is missing all of the captain’s personal memories. Meanwhile, the Royal Fleet (the good guys) is losing the war against the Compassion (the bad guys), and need her help. Tina and Rachael recruit four other human teenage nerds to help with the quest. Although their relationships are rocky at first, the group of six forms a close family and together they battle the forces of evil. Tina discovers that to succeed, she needs to be, and trust, herself instead of trying to fill Argentian’s shoes.
Author Background: Charlie Jane Anders is an American transgender author of science fiction and fantasy. She has written several novels, published magazines and websites, and hosted podcasts. She has recieved many awards, including the Lamda Literary Award in 2005 for work in the transgender category, the Hugo Award in 2012, the Nebula Award in 2017, among others. Anders co-founded Other magazine, the “magazine of pop culture and politics for the new outcasts”, with her partner, Annalee Newitz (Wikipedia, 2021). They also host the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Anders has organized many events, including a “ballerina pie fight,” the Cross-Gender Caravan, and a Bookstore and Chocolate Crawl in San Francisco. She emcees “Writers with Drinks,” an award winning monthly reading series (Wikipedia, 2021). Her TED Talk, “Go Ahead, Dream About the Future” got 700,000 views in its first week and has been viewed over two million times. (Charlie Jane Anders, N.D.).
Charlie Jane Anders was born and grew up in Connecticut. She studied English and Asian Literature at the University of Cambridge. She currently lives in San Francisco, California. Anders has been the partner of Annalee Newitz since 2000. Her novels include The City in the Middle of the Night (2019), All the Birds in the Sky (2016), and Victories Greater Than Death (2021). Her short story collection Even Greater Mistakes is due to be released in November 2021 (Charlie Jane Anders, N.D.)
Critical Evaluation: Victories Greater Than Death is a fast-paced, engaging, slightly humorous, queer space opera. The characters introduce themselve with their names, followed by their gender. The descriptions of the world and planets that are visited are very detailed and easy to imagine what they would look like. So are the various aliens. The cast of characters remind me of the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV, A New Hope), where the viewer is introduced to so many different aliens from different worlds. The book is very creative although it is reminscent of Star Wars and Star Trek. There are many battle scenes and some are a little violent but not out of control. The ending is somewhat predictable but not disappointing. It leaved the reader with feelings of hope and wanting more.
Creative Use for a Library Program: Space Themed Trivia! Teens can play trivia with a space theme. Categories could be Victories Greater Than Death, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, general outer space, NASA, and YA books with space themes.
Speed-Round Book Talk: Tina knows her destiny is to save the universe. But when the time comes and she is transported to an alien space ship, it is not what she expected! Tina discovers that she is the clone of a brilliant space commander and is expected to fill her shoes. The problem is that Tina is missing the commander’s personal memories. Accompanied by five other earthlings, Tina joins the Royal Fleet to help defeat the forces of evil and save the universe and in the process, discovers her true self.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense: Challenges for Victories Greater Than Death could arise due to its LGBTQ+ content. When the characters introduce themselves, they state their gender after giving their name. There are many characters that are nonbinary or members of other LGBTQ+ communities. SPOILER: There is a romance between Tina and one of her Trans crewmates. Defense to this is the same as to other books with LGBTQ+ relationships. It is the repsonsibilty of the library to have books that represent all patrons. It is important for teens to see characters like themselves present in literature.
Reason for Inclusion: I included Victories Greater Than Death because it is a fast-paced, engaging, humorous, space opera with a diverse cast of characters. The story is reminiscent of Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, with a little bit of The Raiders of the Lost Ark thrown in. The book is highly entertaining and hard to put down. Teens who are fans of space operas, science fiction, and LGBTQ+ fiction will enjoy this book.
References:
Charlie Jane Anders. (N.D.) About. Retrieved from https://www.charliejaneanders.com/about
TED. (2020, April 20). Go ahead, dream about the future-Charlie Jane Anders. [Video]. YouTube. Retreived from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7kz1THJPU&ab_channel=TED
Wikipedia. (2021, April 27). Charlie Jane Anders. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Jane_Anders
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