Stars and Bones by Gareth Powell
Reviewed By: Jeremy Zentner, Reference Assistant
Genre: Science fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is this book about? The world is on the run. Quite literally. Seventy-five years ago, humanity engaged in a nuclear war between the United States, Russia, and China, but when the bombs were about to drop, a benevolent creature of cosmic power saved humanity. This being was often referred to as the ‘angel’ and has been observing humanity for our entire existence. When it saw that nuclear war was about to occur, it decided to rescue humankind thanks to one scientist who managed to create wormhole technology. This advancement in what would become the key to faster-than-light travel was seen as reason enough to save humans from themselves. This salvation from nuclear fire came at a price, however. Humanity was evicted from earth so the remaining species could evolve without human dominion. Humanity left aboard nation-sized starships provided by the angel itself.
Fast forward seventy-five years and there’s a new threat on the verge of annihilating humanity and the fleet of starships they call home. This time the threat is not from within, but from outside the bounds of known space. Eryn is a navigator for a scout ship and when she and her crew look for her sister who went missing on mission, she discovers that an atrocious organism has killed her sister and everyone else caught in its sight. The creature follows her back to humanities’ fleet of arks and her home-ship is infected as the creature attempts to spread throughout the fleet, fixated on absorbing the billions of star-faring humans into a species of drone-like zombie puppets. Eryn and her rag-tag crew must find a way to stop this seemingly unstoppable menace. Their only hope is finding the one person who is known to directly speak with the “angel,” the scientist who discovered wormhole technology seventy-five years ago.
My Review: Well, this was quite a fun space adventure. Stars and Bones incorporates a great deal of sci-fi tropes, such as mysterious alien creatures like in 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as rag-tag space crew adventures that are akin to Guardians of the Galaxy. It also pushes some interesting questions on the totality of humankind when the ‘angel’ suddenly strips humans of their home planet. The descriptions of the evil organism makes for great horror that you may find in films like The Thing and Event Horizon. But don’t worry, the more terrifying scenes are just long enough to impose the gravity of the threat, not a saturation of blood and gore.
With witty banter and striking plot twists, I must say that I was consistently surprised where the author took me. What I especially enjoyed about the novel was Eryn’s journey through each massive starship of the fleet as she and her crew searched for the scientist who may be able to commune with the angel. They enter ships populated by Australians and talking robot sharks, to ships that are populated by human dissidents who don’t wish to obey the angel and their eviction from earth. What I also like about the book is that each starship has an AI that interacts with the crew via robots. These are beloved android characters that in many instances reminds me of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
There is a wealth of imagery and philosophy to feast your mind in this sci-fi epic.
Three Words that Describe this Book: funny, sci-fi, thriller
Give This A Try if You Like… Old Man’s War, The Expanse Series, Childhood’s End, Orion, The Watchmen, Mickey7, Fallen Dragon, 2001: A Space Odyssey
Rating: 5/5
