Nearly ten years after Inez Kato sustained a career-ending injury during a military exercise gone awry, she lies, cheats, and seduces her way to the very top, to destroy the fleet that she was once a part of, even at the cost of her own life.

Ennis Rezál, Third Daughter of the Rule, has six months left to live. She is desperate to end the twenty-year war she was birthed to fight. But when she brings Inez aboard the mothership, a chess game of manipulation and double-crossing begins to unfold, and the Rule doesn’t stand a chance.

Wow! No wonder this won the Nebula Award for Best Novella (2024). It’s intense, inventive, tricky, edgy and written with an effortless immediacy that leaves almost no gap between the protagonist, Inez, and the reader. I felt as if Inez was standing so close to me I could feel her heat and smell the sweat in her hair. Yet, Inez was so complex, so secretive, and so intense that even with that proximity, it took the whole novella to unwrap her desires and discover her true intent.

‘The Dragonfly Gambit’ is a perfect example of how intensely powerful a Science Fiction novella can be. This is a story powered by the bone-deep, all-consuming rage of a brave, ruthless, gifted woman, irreparably damaged by loss and physical injury, who is completely focused on revenge. Th

The prose is precise, muscular and emotionally nuanced. The world-building is rapid, credible and disturbing. Best of all, the story is propelled by the personalities, passions and ruthlessness of three main female characters. 

This isn’t a gentle novel. No one in it is nice. Violence, cruelty, deception and betrayal are the taken-for-granted requirements for gaining, keeping or destroying power. 

It is a subtle novel. The characters, their motivations and their interactions are complex. None of the main characters is where they are by choice, except perhaps Inez, who has chosen to do whatever it takes to get her revenge. The plot has numerous twists and unexpected shifts in power. It’s a story where violence, hatred, and sexual desire are often inseparable but never exploitative. 

I was deeply impressed by this novella. I’m sure that A.D. Sui is a talent to watch. I’ve already bought their latest novel, ‘Iron Garden Sutra’ (2026), the first book in their Cosmic Wheel series.

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