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A review by logarithms
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
4.0
3.5 methinks
I loved the characters in this (Aster, Giselle, and Theo are all incredibly interesting to read) and their relationships, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief for how this slavery-based society could function on a spaceship. A lot of it just felt like an extremely inefficient use of resources...I do appreciate the spaceship as the metaphor for an insulated/inescapable world, as well as the cyclical nature of unchallenged systemic racism (the past = the future = the present) but I feel I need a more realistic premise to fully get into a sci-fi book.
I also wish the pacing/story progression was better, certain parts dragged and others felt really rushed and glossed over.
It would've been nice to know more about why they left Earth in the first place as well. I think it could've been incorporated into the religion pretty well (a big event that changed the course of history)?
Tabs:
"This is where she was meant to be. Not a Q deck fieldworker, but a Y-decker tending to the sun."
"She'd gone looking for something that didn't exist and found it."
"People were so often mean that when they weren't, there was a tendency to bestow sainthood upon them. Aster did not reward common decency with her affection."
"We've all spent our whole lives believing this ship is it. If you knew it wasn't, wouldn't you give up everything too? I would cut out my own heart and throw it into the beyond for the split second it would beat somewhere other than this cursed fucking cage."
I loved the characters in this (Aster, Giselle, and Theo are all incredibly interesting to read) and their relationships, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief for how this slavery-based society could function on a spaceship. A lot of it just felt like an extremely inefficient use of resources...I do appreciate the spaceship as the metaphor for an insulated/inescapable world, as well as the cyclical nature of unchallenged systemic racism (the past = the future = the present) but I feel I need a more realistic premise to fully get into a sci-fi book.
I also wish the pacing/story progression was better, certain parts dragged and others felt really rushed and glossed over.
It would've been nice to know more about why they left Earth in the first place as well. I think it could've been incorporated into the religion pretty well (a big event that changed the course of history)?
Tabs:
"This is where she was meant to be. Not a Q deck fieldworker, but a Y-decker tending to the sun."
"She'd gone looking for something that didn't exist and found it."
"People were so often mean that when they weren't, there was a tendency to bestow sainthood upon them. Aster did not reward common decency with her affection."
"We've all spent our whole lives believing this ship is it. If you knew it wasn't, wouldn't you give up everything too? I would cut out my own heart and throw it into the beyond for the split second it would beat somewhere other than this cursed fucking cage."