by Yoon Ha Lee
First published 2017
Captain Kel Cheris made a fatal miscalculation. She summoned the ghost of General Shuos Jedao to crush a rebellion, but the long-imprisoned tactician broke free and possessed her body. Now Jedao controls General Kel Khiruev's entire fleet, the force meant to repel the invading Hafn. Khiruev finds herself trapped under the command of a brilliant but unstable mind who claims loyalty to the hexarchate. Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan appears immune to Jedao's mental influence, but his resistance may not be enough. The possessed general insists he wants to protect their civilization, yet his history of massacre makes trust impossible. Khiruev and Brezan face an impossible choice between following a madman and watching their people fall to foreign invaders. Meanwhile, the hexarchate's rulers consider destroying the entire fleet to eliminate the rogue Jedao, leaving thousands of loyal soldiers caught between annihilation from above and possession from within.
Genres: science-fiction, military-fiction, adventure, action
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hexarchate
Period: Future
355 pages · Paperback · Solaris
Content warnings: violence