Cat's trademark lush description and scrappy characters make a seamless transition from short form to long. Quirky AI and cyborg personalities are an easy way to my heart, but these are magnificent. A glorious oil painting of a novel.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Cat is my dear friend and mentor; this review is of a pre-publication version that I obtained for free (unless you count my ceaseless pestering).

Centuries ago, wars ruined the earth, destroying cities and wrecking the environment. But humanity remains as people struggle to survive in the harsh world that remains. But an ancient and powerful war machine, Lotus Blue, has awaken in the desert, and what’s left of the world may be at risk.

Lotus Blue has a variety of POV characters, but the protagonist is clearly Star, who has far more sections than anyone else. Star and her sister Nene live and travel with a caravan of traders, heading up and down the Sand Road. But unfolding events have a cataclysmic effect upon the caravan, drawing Star into the quest to stop Lotus Blue.

Here’s the biggest problem with Lotus Blue: Star had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the book. She could have died in the very beginning and the ending would have been the same. I noticed about half way through that Star was a passive protagonist who lacked agency – she tends to react rather than be proactive. But I’d assumed that in the end she would make some plot relevant action. I assumed wrong.

When I said there were a lot of POV characters, I meant it. First off, there’s Star. Then there’s Kian, a boy trying to find Lotus Blue for his one glory. His cousin also gets sections. Same goes for a wealthy merchant’s daughter, an aging female super solider, a battle scared male super solider, Lotus Blue itself, a random girl in a watchtower, and a scrappy stowaway. Here’s the thing… all but two or three of them could have disappeared from the book and the end result regarding Lotus Blue wouldn’t be much different.

Having such a mass of characters negatively impacted characterization. I never really connected with any of them. At one point a side character died, and it was being treated like an emotional moment. Only I actively didn’t care because he had no characterization or personality.

One other disappointment was that I picked up Lotus Blue because I saw it on a list of SFF about sisters. It’s not really a book about sisters. Nene disappears halfway through and never returns.

On the bright side, I did enjoy the setting. The world Cat Sparks imagines is one of an ever growing desert, with mad mechas blazing through the sand and reckless humans hunting them for parts. There’s a certain Mad Max feel to it, helped by the post-apocalyptic Australian setting. The world really came alive, and I loved the details such as the sand ships, towers, and immortal super soldiers.

If there’s a there’s a sequel to Lotus Blue (and based on the ending, I think there will be), I am not going to read it. While I liked the world building, it was not enough to make up for the problems in structure and characterization.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Mentions salted roo, but never any note of actual kangaroos. Probably this bothers me more than it should.

Liked the world-building and overall concept but the multiple POVs (sometimes only once or twice in the book) weakened the flow of the story for me. Descriptions of the physical movements of the characters was often confusing. And the book lagged --or just my interest?-- 2/3 of the way in, just as I was getting excited to see how everything would end.

Easy reading with a very cool take on the post-apocalyptic story. Sparks is an accomplished writer with an imagination that is a treasure-trove of ideas and the chomps to mark her as an Aussie writer to watch.

The melding of superstition, religion and left over technology as magic was brilliant and evocative, I wanted to dive right into that world and learn everything I possibly could about it. But Sparks knows quite well how to dole such wonders out and tease the reader along as the story progresses. I felt the ending was a little rushed but that has less to do with the author and more to do with me. There IS an ending but some threads are still left hanging. Which is good.

I want more.

When is the next book due, Cat? Is there a title yet? :D

Slow to get started, but featuring engaging world-building and a diverse ensemble of characters. It's one of the best books I've read this year, and I recommend it to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic fiction at all.

It's not Louts Blue's fault for not being Mad Max meets Zero Horizon Dawn. Still, I found it to be incredibly slow until the very end, none of the characters were given much description, and I had trouble caring about any of them, especially Star herself who was unapologetically selfish. The reveal of Star's nature seemed to come out of left field, and her abrupt personality change towards the end of the book felt unearned.

Mad Max meets Terminator with a picaresque quest adventure thrown in for good measure.

The main character is as much the post-apocalyptic setting as the protagonist caught up in all the events beyond her control.

Overall a fun ride.