Review of "Revenant Gun" by Yoon Ha Lee

As a big fan of Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire, I got an early copy of this book from Netgalley and was able to review it before it was officially published. This made my month, but I did my best to remain objective in my review.

It’s hard not to have mixed feelings about what is almost certainly the last time I’ll see characters I’ve gotten tremendously attached to, at least in full-length novel format. It’s especially hard when the ending is on the bitter side of bittersweet on the personal level, even if not on the societal one. That aside, Revenant Gun delivers in the same style as Ninefox Gambit and Raven Strategem, providing a conclusion that fits the tone of the rest of the series while still pushing in different directions. We still don’t get to look directly in Jedao’s head, but Revenant Gun gets us as close as we can be to the inner thoughts of Jedao and Kujen. Their love-hate, same-but-different relationship is really at the heart of Revenant Gun in the same way Cheris-Jedao and Jedao-Khiruev were for the previous two. The dynamic between them provides the emotional high points on the novel, while the backdrop of Kujen fighting to retake the hexarchate offers the opportunity for more space battles, intrigue, and plot twists. Speaking of plot twists…they’ve been a defining feature of this series, though they are definitely more well-foreshadowed than you might realize the first time through. I’ve been happy to see that I can be surprised over and over without the author having to resort to deus ex machina, and despite some of the twistiest plot twists yet, Revenant Gun feels consistent with the rest of the world it exists in. It’s hard to say goodbye to Cheris, Jedao, Mikodez (maybe not to Kujen as a person, but probably as a character), but this is the best goodbye they could have asked for.

Overall takeaway: "Revenant Gun" is a worthy end to my favorite work of 2010s science fiction. It continues to push big, bold concepts but always remains focused on the personal, intimate consequences of doing whatever it takes. With bold images, moving conclusions to character arcs, and a little more math for this math enthusiast, Yoon Ha Lee succeeds again.

4.5 out of 5.

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