Ancestral Night

Elizabeth Bear

Mar 2019 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

“Outstanding . . . Amid a space opera resurgence, Bear’s novel sets the bar high.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

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 Hugo 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.

“Bear’s ability to create breathtaking variations on ancient themes and make them new and brilliant is, perhaps, unparalleled in the genre” —Library Journal, starred review

“Offers plenty of big, bold, fascinating ideas . . . Impressive at the core.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Richly textured. . . . [T]he profound connection between man and machine at its heart will keep readers turning the pages.” —Bookpage, starred review

Ratings and reviews

Though it sometimes devolves into the realm of preachy, Bear's first "White Space" novel is a tour-de-force of social commentary, as current as the cover of today's Times in spite of the futuristic setting. In fact, you might not notice the setting at all, if it weren't for the spaceships and advanced technology - the protagonist's internal dialogue is so grounded and relatable (and the hard-sf tech so realistic) that it's easy to forget the centuries-hence timeline and just go with the flow. And you get the impression Bear wants you to do just that, as she's clearly got a lot to say about today's social problems, both current and just-around-the-corner. Race, sexuality, identity, the politics of resource allocation, freedom of choice, echo chambers, gene editing (ala CRISPR), and programming a safe general-purpose artificial intelligence without creating a new class of slaves are all given a sharp and unflinching focus. Bear uses pretty simple tools to get her points across, and if it sometimes feels like she's beating you over the head with them, the enlightened and capable society she paints for us seems like such a nice place to inhabit that it's hard to mind. Bear's answers (or rather what the other side of a set of techy solutions might look like) mostly hinge on the development of a human ability to directly control one's own brain chemistry, in a "rightminded" way (and a post-humanist stroke). Much of the original _Star Trek_'s appeal was the premise that we'd made it through the other side of our admittedly-screwed-up predjudices and followed through on humanity's halting first steps toward true long-term survivability as a species. If you'd like to capture that feeling again, _Ancestral Night_ opens the passenger door and revs the engine, inviting you aboard. Recommended.

This book could have, and should have been about 100 pages shorter. The not-so-witty banter between shipmates, and the constant discussions on socio-political matters was brutal. The main character's incessant self reflection (read whining) was also unnecessary. I'm wondering if the author got a prize for using the word atavistic as much as humanly possible. Get a thesaurus! You are making words up anyway (sophipathic) just make something up and use that. The story is disjointed and strung together poorly as well. Won't be reading anything else from this author. Seriously, cats in space? Really?

A space opera of tortured introspection and conflict. It seemed to miss the mark so often.

About the author

Elizabeth Bear won the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer in 2005 and has since published fifteen novels and numerous short stories. She writes in both the science fiction and fantasy genres and has won critical acclaim in both. She has won the Hugo Award more than once. She lives in Massachusetts. Visit her on Twitter @Matociquala.