Constelis Voss Vol. 1 — Paperback Direct

Loved it… the story, the colour and rhythm of the language, fantastic … definitely going in for Vol 2

Where do I start? Reading Vol. 1 was absolute blast to read through! It felt like I was a reading a manga and gave me a sense of nostalgia too. The writing was phenomenal! The descriptions of the book’s lore & concepts were spectacular and vivid. The characters were dynamic and real. I found myself emotionally connected to all the characters, especially the antagonist as well. I felt like a companion to their story, watching it unfold. The book also explores the relationships the characters have with each other. The more I read, the more gritty & gut wrenching it became. This book is subversive and queer as hell. I definitely recommend this amazing sci-fi novel. Kira has made a wonderful book!

Amazing writing, dynamic characters, intriguing plot line, vivid descriptions. This book has everything a reader could be looking for, but that's not why I love it. The emotional connection I had with the characters felt like a gun shot wound, and I mean that in the best way. It touches on feelings that we are often scared to look at, let alone put into words and I adored ever moment. This book is subversive, gorgeous, gut wrenching, and feels more personal then book I've read from a larger publisher, and the authors input makes it feel like taking a journey with a companion rather then braving the complex world of Constelis Voss alone. This book is the best example of why "industry standard" isn't the best approach to writing.

Colour Theory is the debut novella of K Leigh, an autistic trans-masculine sci-fi
writer from Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The story is about an android with a
mysterious human past living on a fascist generation ship.
The book is fast-paced and kaleidoscopic. Reading it feels very much like being
dropped mid-season into a sci-fi cartoon or TV show from the 90s, while the story
refuses to subscribe to the heteronormativity and unselfconscious regurgitation of
genre tropes and character archetypes that often coloured fiction from that era.
It makes you feel nostalgic for a story that you’ve never heard, or a time that
didn’t actually exist. This approach to media is common for songwriters in the
contemporary hyperpop genre, whose music tends to evoke a set of sounds and
images from the popular culture of an earlier era (most likely the 80s, 90s, or the early
2000s), then mixes them up with newer, or more politically subversive sounds or
images to create a queer, compelling hybrid.

But you don’t see this hybrid, nostalgic approach in literature as much. K Leigh
uses it to great effect in this story, which doesn’t focus as much on the narrative, but
more on the emotions and psychology of its protagonists, while shamelessly deriving
its aesthetic influences from our cultural understanding of what popular (and populist)
media says is ‘space opera’.
The technology is more of a backdrop for the characters and their relationships,
and gets a little messier towards the end.
But the story never stops being visually dynamic or compelling. The hints about
the underlying narrative and wider universe that Leigh builds in his future books are
fascinating too. Readers on the autism spectrum will probably feel most at home here,
but anyone prepared to sink into the setting and trust the vibe to carry them along will
most likely enjoy their time with this novel.

This book is amazing. I’m what people call and otaku so I read manga on a daily basis. Constelis Voss made me feel like I was reading a manga except with out the drawings. The detail is so vivid and clear. Alex definitely hits hard to home for me. Abusive relationships aren’t as easy to get out of as some might think. But he’s got a fighting spirit and isn’t about to give up. I’m excited to jump right in to volume 2. Leigh has definitely written a masterpiece with this series.