FORMAT/INFO: The Two Lies of Faven Sythe was published on June 3rd, 2025 by Orbit Books. It is 352 pages long and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Faven Sythe's mentor is missing. Her only clue to her location? A starpath leading to the Clutch, a floating graveyard of ships, full of dangerous debris, supposedly haunted by a mysterious ship known as the Black Celeste. With seemingly no one else concerned about her mentor's absence, Faven has no choice but to investigate the Clutch herself. Fortunately, she knows just the pirate for the job: Bitter Amandine, one of the few people to have ever visited the Clutch and survived. Unfortunately, Bitter has also sworn never to return there. But when Faven makes an offer too good to refuse, Bitter and her crew buckle up for a daring trip across the galaxy. They'll soon discover, however, that some ghosts are best left undisturbed...

The Two Lies of Faven Sythe is a delightful mashup of classic pirate tropes and fresh sci-fi ideas. The pirates running around this story are very much direct descendants of their eighteenth century brethren, from the way they talk (savvy?) to their weaponry (shotguns apparently are much better at getting past shields than modern laser guns). And yes, there is a main port of call that all the pirates like to go to, a futuristic hidden station in the vein of Tortuga, where all pirates can resupply, make deals, and generally hide away from the law.

But all of these familiar elements are nestled together with original sci-fi elements. First and foremost of these are the crystborn. This species is essentially an offshoot of humanity created when some humans centuries in the past volunteered to blend with ancient alien tech so that they could interact with the lightdrives that allow faster than light travel. Crystborn are capable of weaving a starpath into a lightdrive, essentially giving it a safe route to travel from one point to another. But every path woven shortens a crystborn's lifespan, making the starpaths extremely hard to come by, frequently costing a fortune.

Of course, where did that ancient alien tech that created the crystborn come from? What caused them to die off? That's just one of the mysteries to dive into this book, as Faven tries to look for her lost mentor. Being a standalone book, you'll have the answers you're looking for by the end of the tale, making this a nice contained swashbuckling adventure into mysterious ruins at the edges of the galaxy.

I will say, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe is definitely a plot-forward book. Faven Sythe, with her mixture of naivete about how the galaxy works but her daring to keep asking questions and plunge into the unknown, is definitely a standout character; pirate Bitter Amandine is also fun to watch, strutting about with her larger-than-life pirate personality. The rest of the supporting cast, however, is fairly forgettable. I couldn't tell you much about the crew to differentiate them from each other, aside from remembering that one tends to sport a very cool pair of sunglasses. This book may be a fun ride, but it is not particularly packed with memorable characters.

CONCLUSION: The Two Lies of Faven Sythe is definitely an adventure worth checking out. If you're looking for a thrill ride close to a summer blockbuster, this is the book for you. An engaging mystery, seedy pirate dens, high stakes adventures at the fringes of the galaxy, it's all here in one nice neat standalone package.