"Because the unjust society of the generation ship Matilda--divided by race, class, and religion--is deeply detailed, and uncomfortably close to home." -- Barnes & Noble "Solomon''s evocation of this society is so sharply detailed and viscerally realized, the characters so closely observed, the individual scenes so tightly structured, that the novel achieves surprising power and occasional brilliance.Aster [is] one of the more memorable characters in recent SF, and it''s enough, in the end, to make An Unkindness of Ghosts among the most provocative and fiercely passionate of recent generation starship tales, and Solomon among the most distinctive new voices to emerge this year." -- Locus "Solomon''s big, unflinching and poetically detailed sci-fi debut tells the story of Aster Grey, an orphan raised on the slavery deck of a starship called the HSS Matilda as she searches for answers to her mother''s death and the mystery of the forces who control the starship. Aster is both neuroatypical and queer, and these elements of her characterization work seamlessly and nonexploitatively into a plot that mirrors so many of our own world''s greatest injustices, probing at our ideas about classism, racism, abuse and tyranny. A stunning first novel by a writer I can''t wait to see more from." -- Them, included in 10 Books That Stole Our Queer Hearts in 2017 Included in a roundup of the Reading Women Podcast, Must-Read Fantasy Novels by Women "This striking debut novel, set aboard a generation ship where white supremacists enslave black laborers, combines sharp allegory with poetic metaphor. Aster Grey, a literal-minded medic, hopes to undermine the ruling Sovereignty with the help of notes left by her mother, but decoding them is an almost impossible challenge.
Solomon addresses numerous daunting topics with incision and insight in this stunning achievement." -- Publishers Weekly, Best Book of the Year, Science Fiction/Fantasy "Harrowing and beautiful, this is SF at its best: showing the possible future but warning of the danger of bringing old prejudices and cruelties to that new world. While a story about enslaved people in space could be a one-note polemic, the fully rounded characters bring nuance and genuine pathos to this amazing debut." -- Library Journal, Starred Review "Solomon''s distyopian fantasy stars quietly rebellious Aster, whose family has lived for generations in the hold of the creaky HSS Matilda, putatively carrying the last of humanity to a Promised Land." -- Library Journal , Included in Barbara Hoffert''s Debut Novels spotlight "Solomon debuts with a raw distillation of slavery, feudalism, prison, and religion that kicks like rotgut moonshine.Stunning." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Infused with the spirit of Octavia Butler and loaded with meaning for the present day, An Unkindness of Ghosts will appeal to a wide variety of readers. Solomon''s impassioned, speculative, literary book is sorely needed on library shelves.
" -- Booklist "Rivers Solomon is a bold new voice in speculative fiction. This startling debut delves into issues of class, race and gender on a futuristic spaceship whose society mimics the antebellum American South.Though shaped like the past transported into the future, Solomon''s narrative seethes with underpinnings of the present carried to the extreme, a police state where women have lost reproductive rights and people of color face servitude and constant brutality. Complex and prophetic, An Unkindness of Ghosts will have readers cheering Aster as she fights for her freedom." -- Shelf Awareness "With An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon inarguably shows themselves to be a literary child of genre leader Octavia E. Butler.Suffused with the past, the present, and the future of human experiences in its events, An Unkindness of Ghosts launches the career of a brilliantly gifted and important new writer in science fiction." -- Foreword Reviews, Starred Review "The HSS Matilda is a well-crafted world, and.
the diversity of the people who inhabit it--their various sexual and gender identities, physical abilities, and psychological burdens--is refreshingly visible and vital even as they face brutal discrimination for their differences. An entertaining novel that does not neglect the vitality of its story while probing society''s assumptions." -- Kirkus Reviews "The HSS Matilda is a generation ship organized much like the antebellum South. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer and sowing the seeds of civil war, sharecropper Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she''s willing to fight for it." -- Publishers Weekly; included in Fall 2017 Adult Announcements, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror "A Generation Ship story like no other.Remarkable." -- Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog "Transposing the cruelties of a Southern plantation to outer space, this book was the best debut I read this year. The white people on the massive spaceship Matilda''s upper decks live in luxury and keep the black people on the lower decks enslaved.
Aster is black, neuroatypical, ambiguously gendered according to her society''s mores, and an orphan of the lower decks. While an outsider in her social groups, she is also a medical genius, and with the support and friendship of a light-skinned surgeon from the upper decks, she navigates Matilda''s horrors to bring succour and healing where she can." -- NPR, Book Concierge Best Books of 2017 "In Rivers Solomon''s An Unkindness of Ghosts, a generation starship has left the ruined Earth behind: the senior crew are all white supremacists, while dark-skinned people are kept below decks as slave labor. In this unflinching debut Solomon invites comparisons with Octavia Butler." -- The Guardian, Best Book of the Year / Science Fiction and Fantasy "Solomon''s strong characters, led by Aster herself, make this a deeply affecting tale that is far more than a simple allegory of injustice." -- Chicago Tribune "Rivers Solomon''s debut makes for a stellar gift for readers looking for an intensely thoughtful meditation on race, class, and humanity''s future." -- Bookish, Best Books to Give in 2017 "This debut novel will absolutely take your breath away." -- Bustle, Best Fiction Books of 2017 "Here is a novel that puts non-binary and multiracial identities at the forefront of a violent future we may all too easily recognize today.
Solomon''s fascinating and deeply realized novel joins the imaginative ranks of Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson, each of whom carved out unique places in the largely white male world of sci-fi as black women writers. Solomon, who is non-binary, enters the world of sci-fi with their own revolutionary debut, which should appeal to avid and first-time sci-fi readers alike." -- Literary Hub, Included in "15 Books You Should Read This October" "In this debut, Rivers Solomon transports readers to a spaceship bound for a new world but very much trapped in the past. When the Earth began to die, humans decided to flee. It''s been over 300 years since the original group boarded the HSS Matilda, and in that time a white-supremacist cult known as the Sovereignty has seized power. Aster Grey was born on the ship and into slavery, but a new discovery leads her to believe that she might be able to break free." -- Bookish , Included in "Best Book Club Picks for October 2017" "A debut work of speculative fiction features a spaceship with a white supremacist cult at the helm, making a generations-long trip to a new world via the labor of a group of enslaved black people living belowdeck." -- The Millions , Included in "October Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated List" "A truly extraordinary and compelling read from cover to cover, An Unkindness of Ghosts showcases author Rivers Solomon''s impressive flair for originality and master of the science fiction genre.
A simply riveting read from cover to cover, An Unkindness of Ghosts is a ''must'' for the personal reading lists of dedicated science fiction fans." -- Midwest Book Review "Solomon''s exploration of a futuristic yet all too familiarly repressive society is highly recommended for anyone interested in the ever-growing field of SF which is invested in engaging with race, gender, and sexuality as an integral part of any vision of the future." -- IndiePicks Magazine "The sci-fi debut by Rivers Solomon takes place aboard a spaceship named Matilda, and features a teased and taunted main character named Aster, described as ''odd-mannered, obsessive, withdrawn,'' who is on a mission to discover the potential connection between the deaths of her mother and the Matilda''s potentate." -- Bay Area Reporter "Slavery, racial segregation, and resistance, all set in outer space." -- Nylon "What Solomon does brilliantly in this novel is in the creation of a society in which dichotomies loom over certain aspects of the narrative, and are eschewed by others.Hearkening back to the past in visions of the future can hold a number of narrative purposes.The past offers us countless nightmares and cautionary tales; so too, I''m afraid, can the array of possible futures lurking up ahead." -- Tor.
com "This hard sci-fi novel that parallels our history in post-Civil War America, but is set aboard a spaceship. The Earth can no longer support life, and survivors fled aboard a spaceship. That ship, the Matilda, is now a colony, and segregation is a way of life. Anyone with.