How to Steal a Galaxy by Beth Revis: Review by Colleen Mondor
How to Steal a Galaxy, Beth Revis (DAW 978-0-756-41948-6, $23.00, 192pp, hc) December 2024.
Beth Revis follows up her decidedly enjoyable Full Speed to a Crash Landing with the second in the Chaotic Orbits trilogy, How to Steal a Galaxy. This time, the action surrounding protagonist Ada Lamarr is more compressed, with the bulk of the novella taking place over a single evening at the Museum of Intergalactic History. Ada, who excels at salvage and subtle thievery, attends a gala there with a plan to pull off a heist targeting trillionaire Strom Feter. Her potential love interest from the first book, security expert Rian White, is also there to make sure that no illegal activities occur. That they both expect to find each other at the party is no surprise but what happens after they do, and the mystery behind Ada’s plan, is what makes this sequel just as delicious as the first book.
First, of course, you have to read the books in order. There are many references to the events in Full Speed in How to Steal a Galaxy and all sorts of lingering feelings from the aftermath of that adventure. Second, it is very nearly impossible for me to review How to Steal a Galaxy without spoiling the heck out of it, so forgive what is going to be a somewhat opaque discussion of the plot. What I can tell you is that Revis gets much more into the history of Earth and the politics surrounding its devastation (after a climate catastrophe and the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano), in the second book than she did in the first. The reason for this is the introduction of the vapid, obnoxious, and gloriously horrible Strom Feter. The gala is supposed to be celebrating him and his plan to save Earth; you will not be surprised to hear that Feter cannot be trusted.
Ada is at the gala to conduct a negative operation against Feter, but she is also there to draw Rian out because, well, read the first book. And Rian has to stop whatever Ada is planning, but he also wants to see her and find some way to believe that she isn’t just a thief out to fill her own pockets because of all those feelings from the first book. Revis has much more than a witty heist caper here however because, of course, Feter has many enemies and there are a lot of players in the game surrounding Earth’s future. Landing in the middle of a potential terrorist attack is sort of to be expected at such a high profile gathering, but what Ada does, and where Rian ends up, shows just how good Revis is at plotting such high-stakes adventures.
The final book in the trilogy, Last Chance to Save the World, is due out in April. As How to Steal a Galaxy ends with a cliffhanger, I’ll be front and center to see how Revis addresses all the plates she has left spinning in the air including, most importantly, how Ada will win the day for not just herself but everybody who wants the good guys to succeed. Revis, of course, already has found her own victory by gifting readers with such a fun science fiction romp that includes a lively romance and totally timely narrative.
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This review and more like it in the January 2025 issue of Locus.
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