Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jdiannedotson 's review for:
Embers of War
by Gareth L. Powell
Through my own, personal, shattering grief until now, I could not read any other fiction aside from this remarkable book. May 2020 to August 2021, I read in fits and starts, my mind and soul trying to make sense of heartbreak. Sometimes I could only read a page or two. Then, long droughts. It turns out this was the perfect book to bring me out of that darkness.
In Gareth L. Powell’s EMBERS OF WAR, we experience life through the lens of multiple characters. The sentient former warship, the inimitable Trouble Dog, was a bit of a wild card for some time. Her jaded Captain Konstanz maintained a mutual respect for the ship. But echoes of the past, the very embers left from catastrophic battles, all simmer just below the surface.
Every character feels it: a muffled drumbeat threatening to burst into the cacophony of suffering they’d all somehow escaped from alive, but not unmarked.
These are tired, disillusioned people, and a restless ship looking for a new purpose. I felt a kinship with many characters because of what I’d been through. That unsettling feeling that another shoe was about to drop.
Powell threads the needle with his beautiful prose, his nuanced characterization, and his staggering world-building. I’ve not read anything more suited to our moment of history right now.
Even if you’ve never read science fiction before, read this.
Forget the next Asimov. Turns out he was the proto-Powell.
In Gareth L. Powell’s EMBERS OF WAR, we experience life through the lens of multiple characters. The sentient former warship, the inimitable Trouble Dog, was a bit of a wild card for some time. Her jaded Captain Konstanz maintained a mutual respect for the ship. But echoes of the past, the very embers left from catastrophic battles, all simmer just below the surface.
Every character feels it: a muffled drumbeat threatening to burst into the cacophony of suffering they’d all somehow escaped from alive, but not unmarked.
These are tired, disillusioned people, and a restless ship looking for a new purpose. I felt a kinship with many characters because of what I’d been through. That unsettling feeling that another shoe was about to drop.
Powell threads the needle with his beautiful prose, his nuanced characterization, and his staggering world-building. I’ve not read anything more suited to our moment of history right now.
Even if you’ve never read science fiction before, read this.
Forget the next Asimov. Turns out he was the proto-Powell.