TBR Pile Review: August Kitko and the Mechas from Space, by Alex White

When an army of giant robot AIs threatens to devastate Earth, a virtuoso pianist becomes humanity’s last hope in this bold, lightning-paced, technicolor new space opera series from the author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe.

Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rockstar Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards–ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine. 

But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens–the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus’s swan song becomes humanity’s encore, as he is chosen to join a small group of traitorous Vanguards and their pilots dedicated to saving humanity. 

My Review

I heard about this book when I read the first chapter in the back of Ocean’s Echo, by Everina Maxwell. I enjoyed that so much that I immediately bought a copy of the book and started reading it at the beginning of the month. I read about half and then got interrupted by blog tours. Once this month’s blog tours were done, I read the rest, last night.

Gus meets Ardent Violet at the end of the world. The world doesn’t quite end though, and Gus isn’t the same as he was before. He’s become a Conduit, the human who can interface with a Vanguard, Greymalkin, the ‘mecha from space’ of the title. He goes into battle to save Earth and the one remaining colony, New Jaladhar (sp?). In the India/Mongolian colony he meets Nisha and HjSj, also Conduits.

Gus is a sweet, anxious jazz pianist, who accidentally meets and falls in love with an incredibly famous pop singer, Ardent Violet. Ardent is a bit of a narcissist but they begin to care for Gus, especially after he almost dies. Ardent shows their love by breaking multiple laws and helping Gus escape government control, before heading out to look for a Traitor Vanguard for themself. Together Nisha, Gus, HjSj and Ardent fight to save Earth from a final Vanguard called Harlequin, two ship eaters and the sentient AI behind them all. It’s a highly musical novel, because music is the language Vanguards use to communicate, and the Conduits are all musicians. The four have to learn to play together in harmony in order to fight together.

Ardent is flamboyant, colourful and deliberately provocative in their actions and as a character. We learn late on in the novel that Ardent has a penis, (in the only sex scene) but they are very definitely non-binary. Over the course of the novel Ardent develops some self-insight, realising that they treated their agent badly, that they needed to do something more with their life, and that they were in love with Gus.

I would have liked more from Nisha and HjSj, they seem like interesting characters who could have been developed more. Hopefully, that’ll happen in The Starmetal Symphony #2, which is supposed to be out in 2023. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next. The writing is as brash and bouncy as the cover, and the plot barrels along taking us from Earth to deep space and back again, through battles and love. I enjoyed the pace and plot. Definitely recommend this book if you enjoy a space opera.