''An Unkindness of Ghosts'' is a 2017

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by

Rivers Solomon Rivers Solomon is an American author of speculative and literary fiction. In 2018, they received the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award in Fiction for their debut novel, '' An Unkindness of Ghosts'', and in 2020 their ...

, exploring the conjunction between

structural racism A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

and generation ships. Solomon's first book, it was published by

Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher. Akashic Books' collection began with Arthur Nersesian's ''The Fuck Up'' in 1997, and has since expanded to include Dennis Cooper's "Little House on the Bowery" series, Chris Abani's Blac ...

Synopsis

On board the generation ship ''Matilda'' (named for the '' Clotilda''), where the passengers have formed a society stratified along racial lines such that those with dark skin are relegated to lower-deck lives of servitude and harsh behavioral restrictions, Aster Gray is a lower-decks healer who must discover the hidden connection between her mother's suicide decades ago and the mysterious death of the ship's Sovereign.

Reception

''An Unkindness of Ghosts'' was a finalist for the 30th

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, and led to Solomon being shortlisted for the 2018

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

. '' Kirkus Reviews'' considered the book "entertaining", calling the ''Matilda'' a "well-crafted world" and noting that the "refreshingly visible and vital" diversity of its population lessens the extent to which the dictatorial Sovereignty "feels like a familiar

dystopic A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

trope." ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' called it "stunning", but stated that the "

worldbuilding Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task f ...

by poetry" and "many layers of metaphor" may disappoint readers seeking

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

. In ''

Locus Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Entertainment * Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front * ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine ** ''Locus Award' ...

'', Gary K. Wolfe commended Solomon's depiction of shipboard society as "sharply detailed and viscerally realized", with "characters so closely observed" and "individual scenes so tightly structured" that the book "achieves surprising power and occasional brilliance", and underlined Aster's " Heinleinesque" competence. At ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', Amal El-Mohtar lauded Solomon's use of different

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

s on each deck of the ''Matilda'', and conceded that —although she "loved the book for what it did to (her)" and "for having made (her) feel stronger and more sure in a nightmare world" — it is "not a happy book". ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in September 2000, and ...

'' observed that the book's "

Afrofuturist Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocultur ...

premise" is shaped by its "queer neuroatypical worldview" in that "all of the central characters are both gender-variant and neurodivergent", emphasizing that Aster's inability to understand figurative language and deception — and subsequent insistence on clear and unambiguous communication — "disrupts some of the more expected tropes of SF adventure narratives."

References

External links

''An Unkindness of Ghosts''
on Akashic Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Unkindness of Ghosts, An 2017 American novels 2017 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Fiction about generation ships Akashic Books books 2017 debut novels Afrofuturist novels