Killing Gravity is another relatively short book I got from the Tor.com newsletter a few months ago. It came together with Witches of Lychford, and I was happy to read both. Of the two, I think I prefer this one, but neither is bad. I found Witches a little lacking, but not in any drastic ways. And Killing Gravity is quite a solid science fiction novel, if a bit on the shorter side.
We have a main character, Mars, who escaped from military intelligence and experimentation when she was fairly young. She's been on the run since, wielding a telekinetic power with more than killing force. As in, crushing spaceships is not beyond her. We meet her stranded in a spaceship, losing air, after having fought off an attacking force with the power of her mind. We also meet her amazing pet, Seven, who is very endearing.
Mars is rescued by the motley crew of scavengers who come across her wreckage - a nonbinary captain, a former soldier, and his burly lover. Most of them hit on Mars within seconds, but don't take it personally when she doesn't reciprocate. They're mostly willing to welcome her as part of the crew, but Mars' deep-down knowledge that people are always trying to kill her leads her to push that overture away.
Then she finds out that the person who sent the most recent assassin after her was another girl from the military base she'd escaped from - the one who'd helped her escape, as a matter of fact, and whom Mars was pretty sure she'd seen die in front of her eyes. So after another attack, she heads for the last known location and finds her long-lost compatriot. And, it turns out, sister. But the family reunion is short-lived, and that sets up Mars for a showdown with the man in charge of the facility where she'd been kept, trained, and tortured.
Also, the crew she'd shipped with so briefly is taken in by the same guy, just to lay more bait, so of course she has to go in. The rest of the book is pretty bloody, but the whole thing holds together fairly well. It feels like it could have been the first act of a much longer book, but instead it's the first book in a series.
It is, of course, a riff on found family, the relationships you create with people who you find along the way. It reminds me a bit of Firefly, in tone - Mars isn't all that far off from River, just further along in figuring out who she is and what she can do. Seven is a really fun addition - I am often a sucker for pets in books, and Seven definitely ranks up there. I enjoyed the pre-existing relationships between the crew that Mars pointedly refuses to join, and that gender diversity was incorporated fairly casually.
It's not the greatest work I've ever read, but quite solid. If you like space-based stories of human finding homes while fighting off those who want to control them, this might be up your alley.
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