Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Mausoleum’s Children by Aliette de Bodard
On returning to a 'prison' to help your friends escape.
3 stars
The story of a person who escaped from a mausoleum many years ago, and now returns to free her childhood friends. The mausoleum is actually an ancient spaceship downed after a battle that left parts of it functional but in an unknown fashion. A group called the Architects have been trying to discover its secrets, but doing so involves the use of children who 'interface' with the remains of the AI of the ship. And the Architects jealously guard the ship and attempt to kill all who try to escape from it; she was seriously wounded in her escape.
After many years, the person returns to see who she can save: but things have changed and now the only way she can save the children is to activate the ship and, hopefully, use it to save herself and end the work of the Architects.