Ancestral night

Title:

Ancestral night

Author:

Bear, Elizabeth, author.

Personal Author:

Bear, Elizabeth, author.

ISBN:

9781534402980

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

502 pages ; 24 cm

Series:

White Space ; book 1

White Space ; bk. 1.

Abstract:

"Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence--with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big--just once--to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about a long-thought-dead alien species, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into war"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Alien artifacts -- Fiction.

Antiquities -- Fiction.

Human-alien encounters -- Fiction.

Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction.

Salvage vessels -- Fiction.

Space vehicles -- Fiction.

Technological innovations -- Fiction.

Genre:

Fantasy fiction.

Science fiction.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Belmont	Book	SF BEAR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... East End	Book	SF BEAR	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Main Library	Book	SF BEAR	Searching... Unknown
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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from multi award-winning author Elizabeth Bear.

Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence--with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big--just once--to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into full-out war.

Energetic and electrifying, Ancestral Night is a dazzling new space opera, sure to delight fans of Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, and Peter F. Hamilton.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

From the author of The Stone in the Skull (2017, etc.), the first of a space opera trilogy featuring gabby pirates, a giant intelligent mantis, and a narcoleptic cat.The galaxy is governed by the multispecies Synarche, though we're told little of how it operates. Operating on the economic fringes are engineer Haimey Dz, her partner, pilot Connla Kuruscz, and their spaceship/AI, Singer, who make a living by locating and exploiting space wrecks. Their latest acquisition, horrifyingly, turns out to be the murdered remains of a vast, ancient spacegoing alien. Human pirates have stripped the corpse of its advanced technology, but after investigating, Haimey finds she's acquired a nonsentient parasite that occupies her skin and confers strange new abilities to sense and manipulate gravity fields and navigate in hyperspace. This, we'll eventually learn, is part of an elaborate piratical scheme to force Haimey to face the past she's suppressed and divulge a secret she doesn't know she knows, resulting in a confrontation between Haimey and sociopathic pirate Zanya Farweatherclearly the intent all along. Their opposing views on just about everything form the centerpiece of an extended debate contrasting immature and irrational human sociopolitical mores with, ultimately, the mature, reasoned forbearance displayed by powerful aliens. Bear, then, offers plenty of big, bold, fascinating ideas in a narrative that culminates in a double showdown with a dazzling array of said thoughtful beings, but to get us there the plot has to wheel through highly improbable convolutions. The main charactersMacGyver-ish Haimey with her angst-y self-censorship, absurdly dull Connla, a chirpy know-it-all AI that natters on about politicsannoy more often than they appeal. The whole package contrasts somewhat unfavorably with Bear's fantasy works, where the characters realistically inhabit fanciful landscapes and stories grows organically from their interactions with it and each other.Impressive at the core. Readers who relished the Jacob's Ladder trilogy will certainly enjoy this one. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.