Hardcover, 400 pages
Published Sept. 21, 2020 by Del Rey.
A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever.
I expected many things from this trip. I did not expect a family.
A ship captain, unfettered from time. A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. A millennia-old woman, haunted by lifetimes of mistakes. In this captivating debut of connection across space and time, these outsiders will find in each other the things they lack: a place of love and belonging. A safe haven. A new beginning.
But the past hungers for them, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.
Sweeping space opera, buddy adventure, close meditations on time and distance and chosen family, epic struggle for the galaxy, didn't all gel for me but still accomplishes more than mismatched genre.
"There is no assuaging the fear that things end and people leave."
Wow. I'm not sure how to properly review this, and hope that a simple 'wow' will convey the feeling I have upon finishing this book.
The story... hm. The story revolves around a boy and his found-family. In this universe where travelling long distances in space is done through jumps and lost time (weeks/months/years) for the crew, Nia Imani crosses paths with a boy whose appearance on a backwater planet was sudden and mysterious. He can't speak, has no memory of how he got there, crash landed and naked in a field. The inhabitants of the planet are unsettled, and send the boy off with Nia to find where he belongs. Where he ends up belonging is...complicated. Within him, his bone, his blood, are secrets that put him and everyone around him at risk, and Nia is tasked …
"There is no assuaging the fear that things end and people leave."
Wow. I'm not sure how to properly review this, and hope that a simple 'wow' will convey the feeling I have upon finishing this book.
The story... hm. The story revolves around a boy and his found-family. In this universe where travelling long distances in space is done through jumps and lost time (weeks/months/years) for the crew, Nia Imani crosses paths with a boy whose appearance on a backwater planet was sudden and mysterious. He can't speak, has no memory of how he got there, crash landed and naked in a field. The inhabitants of the planet are unsettled, and send the boy off with Nia to find where he belongs. Where he ends up belonging is...complicated. Within him, his bone, his blood, are secrets that put him and everyone around him at risk, and Nia is tasked with keeping him safe as he comes of age. Things get...complicated.
Interspersed with this story are other points of view from other people important to the overall story. Chief among them is the story of Fumiko Nakajima, starting a thousand years before the time of Nia and the mysterious boy, as she develops space travel, folding space, entire space stations, and all sorts of advances that completely alter the landscape of humans in space. High on her accolades, she thinks she can do no wrong as her story intersects with the story of Nia and the boy.
Let's be frank here -- there's no big space battles. No dramatic escapes. No last-second rescue attempts. Nothing here that really could be considered Star Wars material. This is very much a character-driven family story, in hard sci-fi space. But what a story. It is beautiful. It is horrible. It is heartwarming. It is heartwrenching.
Wow.
Still mulling over this one. I loved the prose and narrative structure of the first two-thirds, but can't decide if I loved or hated the ending.
This was a surprisingly entertaining and interesting read. The plot is unique, the characters uncommon. It is rare to read a tale where the heroes are as 'exceptional' as these. If you are a fan of space operas, as I am, then this should provide you good solid, enjoyment.
