There are few things more satisfying than watching a plan unfold with no hiccups—or with a few hiccups that get resolved in the most epic of ways. Heist plots are perfect for creating that irresistible balance of intrigue, action, and suspense that makes me keep on turning the page.
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto is a classic sci-fi heist novel. Set on the space station Kepler, we follow Edie, who has just been released from eight years in prison after they were betrayed by their partner in crime, Angel. Almost instantly, Angel is back, offering them one last job, and it’s a big one. Edie is torn between wanting to stay off the crime wagon in order to support their sister and her family, and knowing that they’ll be set for life if they can just pull off this one final heist.
The first part of the novel follows Angel and Edie recruiting other members of their team: a hacker, an acrobat, some con artists, an explosive expert—basically the Heist 101 starter pack. If you liked Ocean’s 8 but want more gender presentation diversity, this is the book for you. In one of the first scenes of the book, Edie is putting on a binder. A butch/femme couple gets recruited by Angel for the heist, and they actually use the words butch and femme on-page, which makes me very happy.
So if you wanted more lesbianism in your heists (and why wouldn’t you?), this book has it. Edie and Angel are trying to figure out where they fit in each other’s lives whilst trying to pull off a major operation that requires a lot of trust—trust that Angel broke between them eight years ago. I didn’t love the actual romance plot, but it wasn’t bad, because their up and down relationship and romance carries through the novel and drives a lot of Edie’s decisions so it is still extremely relevant to the rest of the story.
The only major complaint I have about the book itself is that the actual heist didn’t feel high-stakes at all. Typically, something goes wrong in a heist, and nothing of any importance went wrong here. Yes, there are some bumps in the road at each stage of the plan, but almost nothing hugely disruptive and plan-altering occurs. I do like it when things go wrong and the characters have to really dig themselves out of whatever situation they get themselves into so I was hoping to see more of that. (Spoilers, highlight to read) Edie was presented with the opportunity to pull an Angel and sell out her team, but after a certain point that thread ended up going nowhere and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any resolution for it. (End of spoilers)
Overall, I had a fun time with this book, even if it was a mostly surface-level amount of entertainment for me. At least, that’s true regarding the plot: there were other parts that definitely went farther than surface-level in depth with the themes of culture and capitalism, but when I read this my brain was switched into mindless entertainment mode, so I would have to read it again to get more intellectual thoughts out of my brain. I definitely think that if you enjoyed Metal From Heaven by August Clarke, you will probably enjoy Hammajang Luck based on the similar feelings I got from both books, and I think that even though I had some issues with it, I still think it’s a thoroughly enjoyable read. After all, it is still a heist novel, and one worth reading.
