Despite being comped to books I truly loved, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance really was not the book for me. The novel ended up having more A Little Life energy to me than Winter’s Orbit energy, and thus I DNF’d it around 30%.

 Tonally, I was expecting something more positive and uplifting from the blurb and cover copy. There is a content warning for sexual assault at the beginning of the novel (amongst others), but I do think readers should be advised that this novel centers Vel’s recovery from sexual assault, which is also graphically depicted on page. It plays a far more significant part in the narrative than I realized and I found it heavy-handed on the suffering and needlessly gratuitous; other readers may find it cathartic or healing.

Thank you to Tor Books and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.