An Unkindness of Ghosts
ByPublisher Description
A breathtaking science fiction debut from a worthy successor to Octavia Butler.
—One of Esquire magazine’s 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
“Solomon debuts with a raw distillation of slavery, feudalism, prison, and religion that kicks like rotgut moonshine . . . Stunning.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.
Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot—if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities1101 Reviews
Nocorset
Created 2 days agothe_mad.s_hatter
Created 2 days ago
zpzpzp
Created 4 days agoThania Hernandez
Created 9 days ago
“This was an interesting story with many good ideas, but I also feel as if some of the world building didn't fully explain certain aspects of the story. The main character, Aster, is a medical provider considered different from others on account of her having a condition similar to being intersex. However, most of the oppression she faces is on account of living in the lower decks of a spaceship called Matilda, in which nearly everyone is black and treated similar to slaves by the whitepeoplein the upoer decks, and differences based on sexual and gender identity usually aren't tolerated. Some of the more confusing aspects included the differing positions of influence some people on the lower decks had over others and how Matilda's social order came about in the first place. I did like some of the explanations we do get of the world within this spaceship and what Aster discovers about her deceased mother. The conclusion feels a little uneven, but still seems to suit the story well.”About Rivers Solomon
Other books by Rivers Solomon
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