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Ancestral Night

(White Space #1)

Elizabeth Bear (Goodreads Author)

3.78 · Rating details · 4,311 ratings · 680 reviews

Haimey Dz thinks she knows what she wants.

She thinks she knows who she is.

She is wrong.

A routine salvage mission uncovers evidence of a terrible crime and relics of powerful ancient technology. Haimey and her small crew run afoul of pirates at the outer limits of the Milky Way, and find themselves on the run and in possession of universe-changing information.

When authoriti ...more

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Paperback, 512 pages

Published March 2019 by Gollancz

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Mar 14, 2019 Gary rated it really liked it

An early moment in Elizabeth Bear’s expansive new space opera Ancestral Night has narrator Haimey Dz offer a meta-commentary on the ancient, 19th century novels she reads during the long hours spent drifting through space: “They’re great for space travel because they were designed for people with time on their hands. Middlemarch. Gorgeous, but it just goes on and on.” Ancestral Night is a busy and boisterous novel, complex and beautifully composed, but also has a tendency to labor its points.
Hai An early moment in Elizabeth Bear’s expansive new space opera Ancestral Night has narrator Haimey Dz offer a meta-commentary on the ancient, 19th century novels she reads during the long hours spent drifting through space: “They’re great for space travel because they were designed for people with time on their hands. Middlemarch. Gorgeous, but it just goes on and on.” Ancestral Night is a busy and boisterous novel, complex and beautifully composed, but also has a tendency to labor its points.
Haimey and her team of salvagers spend their time searching for derelict ships and abandoned tech in “white space”, ripples in space-time that enable faster than light travel. On their latest job, a nano-parasite created by a mysterious, long vanished race called the Koregoi infects Haimey, guiding her mind to an advanced Korogoi ship hidden inside a black hole. They aren’t the only salvagers who know about the ship, and Haimey finds herself on a collision course with some very dangerous revolutionaries willing to use the ship to settle their score with the far-reaching galactic society known as the Synarche.
Recalling the Culture novels of Iain M. Banks, Bear depicts a space-faring civilization made up of a multitude of alien cultures and intelligences that uses advanced technology to care for its citizens needs. Differences compound the deeper Bear takes us into her world: unlike the Culture with its artificial Minds, the Synarche chooses its civil servants by draft lottery, doing away with the corruptible governing elites that less enlightened societies create.
Bear also takes technological augmentation to a new level. Haimey, like most of the Synarche’s citizens, has implants that allow her to interface with technology as easily as most of us breathe. These implants also allow her to turn emotions on and off and even alter her personality and psychological makeup at will. The cultish creche that raised her used them to brainwash her and make her complicit in their crimes, and later the Synarche uses them to remove her memories of those crimes. Bear highlights the philosophical conundrums inherent in these technological and social innovations and the complicated notions of consent that attend them.
Ancestral Night is saturated with moral and political ambition. Rich with conflict and action, though often slowed down by explication and discourse, the story sometimes loses its momentum. I look forward to the second volume in this planned duology with the hope that it moves at a more studious pace. ...more

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Dec 04, 2020 J.L. Sutton rated it really liked it

“What would it do to your psyche if this were your sky? What would it do to the racial awareness of your species if this were their memory of their dirt-bound cradle, before they stepped out into the great emptiness beyond?”

Elizabeth Bear (Creator) - TV Tropes

Elizabeth Bear's Ancestral Night is a giant space opera featuring an engineer with a parasite inside of her that grants her unique abilities, a ship AI, the salvage operation of an alien ship that doesn't go quite as planned and galactic pirates. Lots of action and intrigue- ...more

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Mar 21, 2019 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2019-shelf, transhumanism, sci-fi, space-opera

I had some really good fun with this book. The transhumanist elements, from all the various augs for the mind, body, and all the relevant lock-ins required to pilot, communicate, or engineer spacecraft is something I always tend to enjoy. It's realistic. After all, our bodies are such weak meat sacks. :)

In this case, our MC is got at from several directions all at once. Memory, behavior modification, social and political nastiness, all the way up to full and voluntary body control for the Space ...more

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Mar 25, 2019 Peter Tillman rated it liked it

Shelves: at-slo-pa, science-fiction, award-win-nom, friend-recos

Slow start -- in fact, I kept dozing off* -- but she hits her stride around 100 pp. in. A scary sheriff who's a giant mantis! *Deep* space stuff, with the Synarche, Bear's take on IMB's Culture, and pretty well thought-out. Though the exposition took the form of college bull-session look-alikes, a fine sleep-aid. But now we're up to a Sexy Pirate babe with mystery Superpowers, and Our Heroine is discovering her own Superpowers too**, which she acquired investigating a horrible crime. And her sal Slow start -- in fact, I kept dozing off* -- but she hits her stride around 100 pp. in. A scary sheriff who's a giant mantis! *Deep* space stuff, with the Synarche, Bear's take on IMB's Culture, and pretty well thought-out. Though the exposition took the form of college bull-session look-alikes, a fine sleep-aid. But now we're up to a Sexy Pirate babe with mystery Superpowers, and Our Heroine is discovering her own Superpowers too**, which she acquired investigating a horrible crime. And her salvage-tug has (for now) escaped the Freeport freebooters (aka Pirates) and has just arrived at the giant Black Hole in the center of our galaxy.....

Oh, I almost forgot: Cats in Spaaace!

Well, this one *should* have caught me in its spell --I mean, they salvage (sort of) a giant ancient alien starship! Then I'd hit another stretch of BS philosophizing. Then some action again.... And it's Book 1 of 2 (I think), so not self-contained, and with an ambiguous ending. So, I'm left feeling grumpy, that she came so close, and kept missing the mark. This may just be me: I've been reading this stuff for a long, long time, and I'm easily disenchanted. And there is a lot to like here.... But, lumpy.

Overall, 3.3 stars? I'm still thinking about that. And there's very little new SF that demands thinking about. So you should probably read it, even with my caveats, if thinky-SF is your thing. Be prepared to skim.
----
* in fairness, I doze off a LOT these days, in my dotage....
** Physics-based superpowers, Bear assures us. Wisely, she is no more specific than that.

===============================
Author Bear @ Scalzi's, https://whatever.scalzi.com/2019/03/2...
"I had originally envisioned something much more along the lines of an epic space opera with multiple points of view and a lot of focus on the politics. The politics were the big idea around which the world was built, after all. The idea of a massive, multi-species, basically benevolent but imperfect post-scarcity bureaucracy devoted to maintaining peace and the well-being of its citizens, however imperfect it could sometimes be in implementation, was appealing in 2014. I feel like it’s even more appealing now, frankly: it would be nice to believe in functional governments again.

I was inspired by Iain Banks and his Culture novels, but I wanted more detail on how a post-scarcity society and a completely novel form of government might work. The best, most egalitarian, fairest systems of government we have now are based on structures that are millennia old at their core. Democracies and republics actually use a series of bronze-age technologies to approximate some of the better aspects of group decision-making protocols that science shows us are the most efficient known way of getting stuff done, but the technology exists to remove even more barrier to making those protocols work. ... " ...more

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Mar 02, 2019 Sarah rated it it was ok

Shelves: edelweiss, sci-fi, heptarchate-challenge

I’m stopping. I’m sorry. I made it to 70% and I don’t even have the desire to skip to the end and see how it plays out. I’m putting the content warnings up here in case you don’t want to read my spoiler laden review: (view spoiler)

This is not what I expected it to be. I saw space salvage and space pirates and expected a thrilling action filled plot. Maybe a cat and mouse game, mayb I’m stopping. I’m sorry. I made it to 70% and I don’t even have the desire to skip to the end and see how it plays out. I’m putting the content warnings up here in case you don’t want to read my spoiler laden review: (view spoiler)

This is not what I expected it to be. I saw space salvage and space pirates and expected a thrilling action filled plot. Maybe a cat and mouse game, maybe some subterfuge. Some twists and turns.

There are twists and turns, but they are not the kind you’re thinking. This is not an action driven plot. This is the character study of a woman who was raised in a cult. Turn back now if you don’t want spoilers because I can’t explain why I’m not finishing this without them.

It’s five hundred pages of mostly inner monologue: Haimey suffering anxiety from past trauma, second guessing herself every step of the way, and auto-tuning her brain chemicals as a form of medical treatment. I mean- it’s by no means my kind of book no matter how you look at that, and I was bored to tears, but even that was not why I quit reading.

(Again, major spoilers ahead.) I quit reading because at some point the person holding Haimey convinces her to let her unblock memories that were “reconned,” (buried/blocked/written over). When Haimey remembers what actually happened she finds out her cult was a terrorist cult (I mean all cults are terrorists, but I’m referring specifically to the suicide bomber sort.)

Instead of allowing themselves to be separated and reconned themselves, they kill each other, and all the children.

That’s a hard pass for me. I’m sorry. It’s a hard pass for me in tv, in movies. I just don’t want to deal with it or think about it for any period of time.

I do have a lot of respect for Bear as an author, I think she is incredibly talented and imaginative. I liked her book Carnival for the society and world building. There was some cool tech, and some hints of societal structure here, but none of it was straightforward enough to really grasp and analyze which is what I was hoping for.

I don’t think it was all pointless. There is probably a very interesting discussion to be had about the implications of medicating or the possibility of overmedicating as a way to avoid confrontation and coping with life. (And I am not passing judgement on any of this- you’d have to read it to understand what I mean.)

So- I’m giving it two stars even though I didn’t finish. I think for someone that isn’t bothered by what I’ve stated above and goes into it expecting a character study will have a field day with this novel. It just isn’t for me.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Saga Press for providing me with an eARC to review. ...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Dave rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-have, netgalley-books, science-fiction-all, science-fiction-space-opera

Ancestral Night is a story set in the far reaches of outer space in some future time where most civilized entities have been engulfed into a loose organization ( the Federation, anyone), but on the outskirts are space pirates who shun artificial intelligence and group conformity as well as surviving remnants of ancient races barely recognizable as sentient beings. The star of the story along with her pilot and her AI shipmind work off their debts as a salvage crew. There are shades of 2001 Space ...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: sf, space-opera

Space opera is back, and at least in the hands of some female writers, it is not even remotely retrogressive in the ways that were standard some thirty years ago.

While portions of this book were claustrophobic in ways that usually lose me, Bear kept me reading as the questions opened outward, and I hoped to see more of certain secondary characters (two of them not human).

For me, space opera has to hit at least some of the following elements:

Larger than life characters with interesting exploratio ...more

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Nov 11, 2019 Ash rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Joss Whedon fans

Shelves: 3-stars, science-fiction, arcs, lgbt-main-character, read-2019

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes off running, offering little explanation and a lot of unfamiliar terms, but I know to expect that from science fiction and I vastly prefer it to pages of tedious infodumping. The world of Ancestral Night was introduced gradually and, for the most part, seamlessly. I often cringe when authors invent their own future slang because so few can pull it off effectively. Elizabeth Bear is Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book takes off running, offering little explanation and a lot of unfamiliar terms, but I know to expect that from science fiction and I vastly prefer it to pages of tedious infodumping. The world of Ancestral Night was introduced gradually and, for the most part, seamlessly. I often cringe when authors invent their own future slang because so few can pull it off effectively. Elizabeth Bear is one of the few; her future slang fits the tone of the book and clearly involved a lot of careful consideration. The names she comes up with for characters and species were appropriately strange without being unpronounceable.

I was ambivalent about the book’s protagonist, Haimey Dz. She had an extremely cliché personality for a female science fiction protagonist: She’s independent, she’s practical, she’s tough, she’s snarky, she’s got a rough past and emotional issues... she’s not anything I haven’t seen a million times before. Her first-person narration went off on tangents so frequently that it was difficult to follow what was happening at any given moment. I adjusted to her narration style after a few chapters, but I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if it had been more focused. I did appreciate the development Haimey goes through over the course of the plot; she becomes more relatable and less cliché.

I commend Bear on the diversity in her cast of characters. I don’t understand why anyone would even bother writing science fiction that wasn’t diverse; it’s just not believable. We start out the book with Haimey, a female human salvager and a black lesbian; her business partner, Connla, a pansexual male human salvager; and their “shipmind,” Singer, a male-identifying artificial intelligence. There are more exciting and diverse side characters introduced later in the story but I won’t give too much away. Bear’s dialogue left much to be desired, frequently spinning off topic and descending into philosophical, political, or scientific discourses that added little to the plot. Combined with Haimey’s narration, it made me want to scream “get on with it, already!” more times than I can count.

Despite these obstacles, something about Bear’s writing style made it so easy to keep reading. The plot was incredibly slow-paced, yet for the most part I wasn’t bored. Ancestral Night had so many characteristics that seemed specifically designed to appeal to me: space travel, friendship, mystery, lesbians, ancient aliens, utopian societies. It was worth the read, even if it didn’t end up becoming a favorite. ...more

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Mar 31, 2019 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: auth-f, scifi-fantasy, x2019-read

I don't know how many times I came really close to abandoning this book. From the very start, I struggled, and found the text slow and the world puzzling. Then, something happened around the 40% mark, and I started to get a good feel for the book. I still found that the text was slower to get through than I liked, but I persevered, and have to say that I enjoyed this book.

Haimey, Connla and Singer (their sentient spaceship) are salvage operators. They're given a tip about a ship, and once there, ...more

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Apr 22, 2019 The Captain rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Ahoy there me mateys! I have really been enjoying my foray into Elizabeth Bear’s works and this was no exception. This story follows Haimey Dz who is a member of a three person salvage crew. A routine salvage trip turns to disaster when the ship they attempt to retrieve is a crime scene. And Haimey also catches an unknown alien virus. What results is a foray into ancient alien technology, dealing with space pirates, and exploring Haimey’s own past.

While I enjoyed this book, it was a very odd rea Ahoy there me mateys! I have really been enjoying my foray into Elizabeth Bear’s works and this was no exception. This story follows Haimey Dz who is a member of a three person salvage crew. A routine salvage trip turns to disaster when the ship they attempt to retrieve is a crime scene. And Haimey also catches an unknown alien virus. What results is a foray into ancient alien technology, dealing with space pirates, and exploring Haimey’s own past.

While I enjoyed this book, it was a very odd read to me. Part of this stems from the fact that there is a lot of physics in this book about the folding of space time and travel. As I continue to state, physics and I are not friends. There was also a small section about music theory that went over me noggin. But most of me personal problems stem from the world-building and plot pacing.

Elizabeth Bear’s fantasy series are dense in descriptions and ideas that make the fantasy worlds feel real. The plots are meandering and slow-paced. The action sequences are spaced out and a lot of the information feels like filler that is super fun but could be removed. I loved it in her fantasy books. This space book had all of those writing hallmarks but the sequences failed to capture me fancy in quite the same way. I had to put down the book at several points because I was slightly bored with the descriptions of the tech or philosophical platitudes.

In fact, I really would categorize this book more as a character study. The sections regarding Haimey and how she deals with the “sexy pirate” or the uses of her internal brain computer or her memories to be the highlights of this book for me. I also enjoyed what existed of the interplay being Haimey and her crew. The psychological effects of Haimey’s entire journey is really what kept me reading and what interested me the most.

This book will not suit every reader. While the plot is character driven, this is a book of ideas at its core. There are philosophical conundrums like how to run a society, the responsibilities of individual, the uses of technology, the applications and rights of artificial intelligence, genetic modifications, the fundamental nature of personalities, etc. I stuck with this book because I know that the endings of Bear’s books usually pan out and make the journey worth it. This was no exception. Plus there is a giant praying mantis space detective.

Apparently this is the first in a duology. Though in Bear’s interview with Barnes & Noble she states that “It’s not exactly accurate to call it a duology, however. It’s two related books, which will have some continuing characters, but each one should stand on its own as an arc and a story . . . The second book, which is titled Machine, is about a woman is a space trauma rescue specialist for an enormous multi-species medical center.” Sign me up!

Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp... ...more

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Jan 20, 2022 Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) rated it liked it

Shelves: 500-pages, science-fiction

3.5 Stars
This is a smart, entertaining space opera that manages to feel fresh despite hitting on so many tropes of the genre. The writing was great, managing to be both intellectual and humorous at the same time. The actual plot did not entirely grab me, yet I still generally enjoyed the reading experience.

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Mar 15, 2019 Brian Clegg rated it it was amazing

Only a couple of weeks ago, reviewing a 1960s SF book, I bemoaned the fact that science fiction novels of ideas are less common now. Although it is correctly labelled a space opera, Ancestral Night delivers ideas with aplomb.

Let's deal with the space opera aspect first. Elizabeth Bear provides some excellent adventure scenes in space, and we've the usual mix of huge spaceships and interesting aliens. Main character Haimey Dz is an engineer on a ship that salvages wrecks - but, as we gradually di Only a couple of weeks ago, reviewing a 1960s SF book, I bemoaned the fact that science fiction novels of ideas are less common now. Although it is correctly labelled a space opera, Ancestral Night delivers ideas with aplomb.

Let's deal with the space opera aspect first. Elizabeth Bear provides some excellent adventure scenes in space, and we've the usual mix of huge spaceships and interesting aliens. Main character Haimey Dz is an engineer on a ship that salvages wrecks - but, as we gradually discover - she also has a forgotten past. A major feature of the storyline (one that seems to link to the medieval idea of the lost wisdom of the past) is ancient technology from a long-dead race with capabilities, notably manipulating spacetime mentally (Bear has yet to point out that the travel technologies used here could manipulate time as well as space), which fit well with Arthur C. Clarke's magic definition.

I particularly liked the (surely intentional) nods to the much-missed Iain M. Banks's 'the Culture' universe - for example the quirkily named ships, though here they are more poetic than humorous, and the AI shipminds that are characters in their own right, though Bear's are less entirely emancipated that Banks's.

When it comes to the ideas, there are two broad strands. One is physics. Although the ancient alien technology is a different matter, the conventional spaceships have Alcubierre-White drives - based on the closest thing we have from real physics to the design for a real warp drive. This is lovingly described and plays a major part in the storyline. We've also get a rather nice description of (and plotline involving) the galaxy's supermassive black hole. More significantly, though, as a novel of ideas, the book explores the nature of personal freedom within society.

This is done in part by contrasting Bear's equivalent of the Culture - the Synarche - with a group of pirates. (As an aside it's fascinating how there seem to be spontaneous emergences of themes in books - we've also seen recently Alastair Reynolds' Revenger series with pirates as a major factor.) In all honesty, the 'pirates' in Ancestral Night would probably be better labelled anarchists as their motivation is significantly more sophisticated than stealing pieces of eight. It's perhaps a reflection of the fact that characters with ambivalent morals tend to be more interesting, that I found myself lining up more with Farweather, the main antagonist, rather than with Dz.

I only have two small moans. One is the not uncommon urge for the author to tweak just one aspect of the language - in this case, Bear changes the names for time units. So, for instance, days become diars and light years (I know it's not a time unit, but it's the time part of it that changes) become light-ans. Any far-future book is, in effect, translating the language, and it just doesn't make sense to change one tiny aspect - particularly one that's used by science, so is more likely to remain consistent. It just grated a little. The other small issue is that the book is rather too long, mostly because the author's motto of 'show don't tell' is ignored and we get long internal monologues - often lasting several pages - which don't move much forward. This contrasts with the dialogues, where the political side of the ideas strand is mostly advanced, which, if anything, can be too short.

These points are small though. This is certainly the best science fiction novel I've read in 2019 so far and I look forward to see how Bear develops the characters and her impressively rich universe. ...more

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Apr 08, 2019 Pengwing Kovalsky rated it it was ok

I'm halfway through and still no sign of a plot - just a lot of random encounters. I'm assuming the plot is not forthcoming. Some fun ideas and writing isn't bad, but in general it seems disjointed and pointless. DNF ...more

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Nov 07, 2019 Charles rated it did not like it

Space salvage tug operator finds alien derelict that leads to intergalactic conspiracy and revelation about personal origin story.

Did-Not-Finish (DNF)

My e-book copy was a hefty 550 pages with a 2019 US copyright.

Elizabeth Bear is an author of American science fiction and fantasy. She has more than thirty (30) published novels in both several series and stand alone. This is the first book in her White Space series.

I got to about page 100 and stopped reading. This isn’t a bad book, if you’re trai ...more

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Mar 15, 2019 TheBookSmugglers rated it really liked it

From my Kirkus column

In many ways this book is an excellent pairing with MCU’s recently released Captain Marvel. No, really, hear me out. Both are stories centring women being told what or not to do, told that their emotions are crap and that they should know better, that their choices of how to deal with their emotions are wrong. It is about empowerment, going against what anybody else thinks and finding your own way by embracing your identity, flaws and all. Also fighting against baddies and f ...more

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Nov 04, 2020 Calzean rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: author-australia, woman-author, scifi

I struggle when in the far, far future people still read 19th century books and refer to 20th century culture. I also struggle with books that go on and on about some detail or event. Unfortunately Ancestral Night ticked both boxes. And then it featured a character that gained more and more powerful and unique capabilities that continued to get her out of whatever pickle she was in. Nope this one was not one I enjoyed.

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Sep 10, 2020 7jane rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to 7jane by: Goodreads

On the outer limits of the Milky Way, Haimey Dz, space salvager, and her crew, find evidence of a terrible crime and accidentally gain access to an ancient technology - now they are on a run from space pirates interested in this techology; or is it something else they're after?

In a way, the life on the salvage tug reminded me of "A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet" at first, but then things took different turns. There were many surprise scenes and turns that left me astonished in what a visual b On the outer limits of the Milky Way, Haimey Dz, space salvager, and her crew, find evidence of a terrible crime and accidentally gain access to an ancient technology - now they are on a run from space pirates interested in this techology; or is it something else they're after?

In a way, the life on the salvage tug reminded me of "A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet" at first, but then things took different turns. There were many surprise scenes and turns that left me astonished in what a visual beauty they must've looked like, though some things were just 'necessary' level to me (view spoiler). Apart from Haimey, the other beings I loved was the tug AI Singer (named after the author's friend), (view spoiler).

There were various themes here one might think about: levels of freedom, community vs. individual, personality/identity forming and keeping, belonging, memories, anger and forgiveness, body control ways and accepting of them.

I think that as Haimey finally found the truth about the past traumatic event, it helped her find balance for her identity, and helped her (view spoiler)

I liked some details, like how coffee is liked mostly just by humans, but chocolate is popular. That Haimey likes to read a lot, and even has one true paper book (view spoiler). The way the ancient teachnology *glitters*. Ships named like in Iain M. Banks books, a nod to "Stainless Steel Rat" series, and a Philip K Dick booktitle is a ship name here. Also the "more weight" quote appears (Giles Corey at Salem witch trials).
Chapter 25 has the title appear, in the (view spoiler)ship's name.

It was a lovely reading experience, the main character's POV just right, and not just about moving the plot on, but also showing time between actions, her opinions and tastes, and development in feeling more certain about her identity and what was right for her, what her preferred freedom was like, no matter what she experienced through the story, including learning anew what had happened to her before the book's events. So much other interesting stuff also, new old things revealed and the past history expanded, some way, even for those others living in space with her. Comforting, amazing, and thought-provoking, and that means - a good book. ...more

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Mar 27, 2019 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

A far-future post-scarcity space opera that owes a lot to Iain M. Banks (well-acknowledged in text), particularly in looking at the overall structure of society and an individual's place in it.

Haimey Dz and her small crew of space salvage operators stumble across the scene of an atrocity and an abandoned ship. An incident that occurs as part of the investigation of the abandoned ship leaves Haimey in particular the focus of pursuit and acquisition by pirates. All of which is a catalyst for Haime ...more

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Feb 11, 2020 Soo rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

Notes:

Glad that's over! Note to Self: Do not read more in this series. Maybe try Bear's Fantasy vs SF next.

I loved a few of the ideas presented in the book but I never got to a place where I saw the MC as a whole person or cared about what happened to her. The ending was not worth the hours between to get to it. ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Doctor Science rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-novel, hugo-poss-2020

Elizabeth Bear has leveled up. She's working with a LOT of elements here, at the Master level: space travel, political philosophy, AIs, aliens, and the question (which she deals with better than it's EVER been dealt with before): "Where is the line between mental health and mind control?" As someone whose motto is Better Living Through Chemistry, I found this SUPER resonant.

Stylistically, Bear does a LOT of incluing, and it's really fun. Figuring things out from context when you *can't* look thi ...more

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Aug 21, 2019 Donald rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera

You'll either learn to love or hate the word 'atavistic' from reading this book. ...more

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Oct 03, 2019 M. rated it did not like it

Shelves: not-interesting, fantasy, male-lead, punk, ugly-rapey-abusive, mental-illness, religion, ya, ethnicism, recycled-ideas

Massively underwhelming.

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Apr 05, 2019 Bonnie McDaniel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: far-future, science-fiction, artificial-intelligence, politics, space-opera, read-in-2019

This book pretty much hit all my sweet spots.

A memorable voice and a deep dive into the history and character of the protagonist? Check.

A smart-ass AI with tremendous loyalty to his friends? Check.

A far-future world with a multispecies empire of questionable moral authority (to say the least--artificial manipulation of hormones and brain chemicals to fit in is an accepted and even mandated thing)? Check.

A thoughtful exploration of the issues raised by said empire? Check.

Ships as big as plane ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Gerhard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy, 2019

Capsule review (longer to follow when I have time): Bear writes SF like Connie Willis on speed ... This is an extraordinarily chatty novel, with lots of asides, digressions, interludes, speculation, cryptic references, mock commentary, pseudo philosophy, psychology, anecdotes, jokes (many bad), and lots (I mean pages) of cute cat references. Thankfully, no footnotes. The text is jampacked enough as it is. Now you either like this kind of chummy all-on-the-page writing style, or it will bore you ...more

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Aug 21, 2019 Jason Bleckly rated it did not like it

On my train commute to work I'm faced with the option of reading or staring out the window. If I chose staring out the window then it's time to give up on the book I'm reading. This is what happened with this book. I persevered for 100 pages. There is some good points about the book. The ships use Alcubierre drives. There's not many books that adopt this recognized theory for crossing interstellar distance. But the explanations of it's function has issues which aren't even internally consistent ...more

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May 09, 2019 Bob Cutler rated it did not like it

Shelves: science-fiction

If you like space opera, skip this one. There was too much navel-gazing by the protagonist (and narrator). The reveal 2/3 of the way through the book was completely predictable and you would have to have been not paying attention to have had it surprise you. The big reveal 3/4 of the way through was also unsurprising. And the deus ex machina ending was just plain disappointing.

The political/sociological material that's interspersed at irregular intervals is inadequate to give the reader a real ...more

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Aug 08, 2021 Stewart Tame rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Haimy Dz is on a journey to what she hopes will be the salvage score of a lifetime. Her crew may be small--just her, the pilot, Connla, the shipmind, Singer, and two cats--but they work well together, and manage to own their own tug. This job, however, leads to pirates, an unspeakable crime, and unknown tech that will change Haimy's life forever. To find answers, she'll have to confront a past that she barely remembers.

This was definitely fun. Haimy is a fine character, and the future she inhab ...more

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Mar 25, 2019 Chad Cressley rated it it was ok

The first half the book is a little slow, but the overall plot isn’t bad. The real downside is the pathetic protagonist and unlikable antagonist. The only enjoyable characters are supporting characters, and they aren’t around enough.

It doesn’t help that it’s written in first person.

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Oct 12, 2019 Mike rated it really liked it

Got this for free in exchange for a review, so thanks to the people at Saga Press.

So this was excellent.

Science fiction has always been, at its heart, about the proverbial Big Questions. Who we are, where we're going, what it means to be human. Ancestral Night is an excellent work in that tradition.

Haimey Dz makes her living salvaging derelict ships along with her partner/copilot, the shipboard AI, and two cats. They're citizens of what is basically the Federation. Part of what makes this super Got this for free in exchange for a review, so thanks to the people at Saga Press.

So this was excellent.

Science fiction has always been, at its heart, about the proverbial Big Questions. Who we are, where we're going, what it means to be human. Ancestral Night is an excellent work in that tradition.

Haimey Dz makes her living salvaging derelict ships along with her partner/copilot, the shipboard AI, and two cats. They're citizens of what is basically the Federation. Part of what makes this super interesting is that all people (human or otherwise) in this totally-not-the-Federation have a computer in their head (or other anatomical equivalent) that not only enables easy trans-species communication, it also lets people regulate their brain chemistry to a very precise degree. Feeling angry? That's not productive, I think I'll switch that off. Need to do something daring and dangerous? Switching off fear of consequences might help with that. Bad breakup? I think I'll just switch off my hormones and be asexual for a while.

It's an interesting concept to start a book around, made even more so when she gets tangled up with an anarchist pirate. The debates between them over free will are super interesting, and possibly my second-favorite part of the book. And those are made even MORE interesting given the fact that Haimey finds the pirate's beliefs abhorrent, but can't stop noticing the fact that she is extremely attractive. (I didn't pull the "bad breakup" example above out of nowhere.)

Plotwise, the bulk of the book is centered on Haimey and her pals finding an ancient derelict of a super advanced extinct precursor civilization, and the struggle between Haimey the above mentioned pirate trying to keep hold of it. Throw in a bunch of other really cool science fiction concepts, up to and including the ability to sense and manipulate gravity and sentient Dyson spheres, plus some excellent writing and a few emotional sucker punches, and I am a very happy reader.

Oh, and did I mention the cats? ZERO-G Cats? It's as awesome and adorable as one can imagine. My favorite is when the cats are introduced to an environment with gravity - which they are NOT happy about - they quickly figure out that sleeping humans are both squishy and warm.

I want more zero g cats in my life. So I suppose I'll just have to read the sequel. ...more

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Oct 10, 2019 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, netgalley, own, kindle, scifi, march-2019, saga-press

Ancestral Night is a complex space opera that tackles many current political and philosophical topics of today.

I must admit it starts out slow and took quite a while for my interest in the characters plight to spark to life. Bear’s writing is a very descriptive. The concepts, world building and execution was mind blowing.

This is not a nail biting, non-stop action read but one that takes pondering, concentrations and reflecting on the character choices, circumstances and differences.

Overall, not ...more

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