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An Unkindness of Ghosts

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An Unkindness of Ghosts

By: Rivers Solomon
Narrated by: Cherise Boothe
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About this listen

Odd-mannered, obsessive, withdrawn, Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She's used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, as they accuse, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remained of her world, save for stories told around the cookfire.

Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way the ship's leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, whom they consider to be less than human.

When the autopsy of Matilda's sovereign reveals a surprising link between his death and her mother's suicide some quarter century before, Aster retraces her mother's footsteps. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer and sowing the seeds of civil war, Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she's willing to fight for it.

©2017 Rivers Solomon (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. African American Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Space Opera Heartfelt Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Space Science Fiction African Fantasy

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All stars
Most relevant  
It’s poetic and violent. The characters are complex and beautiful and real. Very unsettling but somehow you can’t stop reading. Very original and stays with you past the end.

A very unusual story

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This book blew me away. By the end of the first few chapters I was completely hooked and barely paused in my listen-through. I cried out multiple times when listening (in anger and sadness but also with joy), there were several minutes in which I practically stopped breathing without realising until the crisis had passed. Overall it's simply the best book I've ever read.

In an incredibly rich and vibrant world populated with an effortlessly real and diverse cast, the plot drives the book forward inexorably. I was totally lost in the world and driven along with Aster (the protagonist).

The review this got in NPR said "its only imperfection is that it ended" and I couldn't agree more.

Heart-stopping, beautiful, wonderful

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This was not only a beautifully written work, but also exquisitely rendered by the voice actor. You would be foolish to not listen to this magnificent story.

Wonderful

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The headline says it all; this is a disappointing book. The scenario, of an Ark ship in decline, is something of a cliche to start with. The tone is relentlessly depressing, not at all helped by the range of accents employed by the narrator. The characters arouse no sympathy for their situation and they are, in any case, poorly realised. All in all, not recommended.

Disappointing

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Humans seem to have escaped earth and are on their way to some "promised land" on a spaceship where castes, prejudices, oppression and all sorts of horrible crimes are allowed and justified under the religious empire in charge. The brilliant main character, despite the pain and impossible difficulties of continuous persecution by the rulers, follows her disappeared mother's traces and discovers unexpected truths about their voyage. With the help of friends and allies she will bring about the massive change that her mother gave start to. Both the story and the characters are quite captivating and unforgettable, the ending is bittersweet and yet satisfying.

The world on a starship towards a promised land

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It was poetic yet informative and educational. It may be fictional but the story line was historical and futuristic day the same time. Going into astrophysics, chemistry medicine language and anthropology, I enjoyed that a story full of heart and soul managed to weave in education too! I definitely must check out more of Rivers books!

I don’t know how to describe it

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I really enjoyed this. The plot was gripping and the narration complemented and added wonderfully to the story. The only very minor thing that disappointed me was the ending, I won't spoil it and I don't think it could have ended any other way - but really I just wanted more!

Recommended to anyone, not just sci-fi fans.

Wow! Magnificent.

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This book is a very heavy read but it's absolutely worth it. What a beautiful piece of literature. One of the best books I've listened to in a long long time and it is stunningly read too.

Amazing

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Fascinating, heartbreaking, poetic and poignant. This book will fundamentally change something in you if you allow it. Rivers Solomon is a force, I'm excited for what she does next. The narrator was superb in bringing the story to life, giving the complexities and nuances of ship life and its ecology a measured tone, never rushing the small and important details. Read this book, and then read it again.

READ & IF YOUR HEART CAN TAKE IT READ AGAIN

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Hints of the trials and tribulations of past ancestors whose memories and experiences were encoded into the community's knowledge bank, where it is accessible by everyone, but lost in translation and decoding by the majority. It takes a special person; a divergent thinker, to decode the messages. Are we really that lost?

Lost on the journey.

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