I read the audiobook of Ancestral Night last year and absolutely loved it, and thoroughly enjoyed Hammered – Book 1 of the Wetwired series. So when I saw this sequel was now available in the White Space series, it was a no-brainer that I’d treat myself to it…
BLURB: Meet Doctor Jens. She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee. But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away. Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths.
REVIEW: Another twisty mystery that starts in deep space. This time, however, the crew are expecting trouble, because Dr. Jens is a search and rescue specialist on the ambulance ship I Race to Seek the Living. She starts the story by getting ready to jump out of the ship, to gain entry into a lost generational ship from Earth. I loved her feisty, can-do attitude, and the fact that she suffers from chronic pain and is a lesbian. However, it’s just as well I strongly bonded with the main protagonist, because – like Haimey in Ancestral Night – she does do a lot of musing about life in general throughout all the action. For the first two-thirds of the story, I didn’t think this was a particular problem, but when the action started picking up, I do think we could have done without some of Dr Jens’ monologues, especially as towards the end of the book she frequently wasn’t saying anything new.
There are also some lovely shafts of humour – banter between the crew and also some of the moments between aliens that I thoroughly appreciated. Jens also has a nice way of describing the characters around her that were often amusing. It didn’t hurt that the narration by Adjoa Andoh was masterfully done. Her range of voices and accents were brilliant and she brought all the characters to life in a way that meant I wasn’t as troubled by the leisurely pacing as I think I would have been if I’d been reading the ebook. As for the mystery – the initial puzzle was utterly gripping and held me, so that once we got back to Core Central – the huge hospital that attends to every species’ needs, so they receive the very best medical care, I wasn’t quite as invested in the direction that the story then took. But, given Jens’ passion and commitment to her beloved hospital, I grew to care about that, too.
Overall, however, I love the world, the detail of Bear’s backdrop – listening to this one as I cleaned, there wasn’t any stage when I didn’t have a clear visual picture of what was going on. I also knew exactly what Jens was thinking, feeling and whether she was in pain, or not. So the worldbuilding and characterisation were brilliantly realised.
If you like your space opera full of details about everyday life and anecdotes on the philosophy, the history and the societal structure of the worldbuilding through the viewpoint of a singular main protagonist, then track down this series. No one else writes quite like Bear – and while she isn’t for everyone – her immersive, highly detailed world has stayed with me and I want to return. I particularly recommend the audio version – the narration is excellent.
8/10
Brainfluff 