SEVEN DEVILS

RELEASED OUT NOW! 456 pages | Hardback/ebook/ audiobook

Authors Laura Lam, Elizabeth May

Publisher Gollancz

Seven Devils began life as a dream one of its two authors had about Mad Max: Fury Road being set in space, though it actually feels more like a feminist revision of Blake’s 7, with a plucky band of (mostly) female outlaws smashing an intergalactic patriarchy.

Joyously embracing its pulpy roots along with its unapologetic womanifesto, the load-of-old-trope plot has an ever-growing, increasingly motley group of rebels – a kick-ass princess, a reformed solder, a super-tech brain, an empathic “companion”… you can probably fill in the rest – planet-hopping in a desperate mission to overthrow a totalitarian regime. Led by men. Of course.

It’s not subtle. The women are all multilayered, intriguing characters while the men are all stupid or evil (except one, who’s basically deprogrammed by the women to be a good guy). But neither is that gender balance a mere gimmick. It’s refreshing to have so many scenes – action scenes especially – featuring only women; crucially, it never feels forced or contrived. It’s just a space opera with occasional lesbian snogging.

In SF terms, there’s little new here, the climax is a mess (basically a cliffhanger for the concluding second volume) and there are way too many “making plans” scenes. But it’s also a good, old-fashioned sci-fi B-movie romp where the girls get to have some fun. Dave Golder