About the Book
RIVERS SOLOMON’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DEBUT (LEE CHILD CALLED IT ‘PHENOMENAL’) EXAMINES CLASS, RACE, GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN THE TELLING OF A RIP-ROARING SPACE ADVENTURE.
A breath taking science fiction debut from a worthy successor to Octavia Butler.
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, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.
Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, 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. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot—if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.
About the Author
Rivers Solomon graduated from Stanford University with a degree in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and holds an MFA in fiction writing from the Michener Center for Writers. Though originally from the United States, they currently live in Cambridge, England, with their family. An Unkindness of Ghosts is their debut novel.
Review
“Immediately immersive and sophisticated . . . This is a phenomenal piece of work.” — Lee Child
“Solomon debuts with a raw distillation of slavery, feudalism, prison, and religion that kicks like rotgut moonshine.”— 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
“Transposing the cruelties of a Southern plantation to outer space, this book was the best debut I read this year.” — NPR
“Intricate and imaginative … An Unkindness of Ghosts makes dazzling use of science fiction’s trappings to tell a gutting story about slavery and intergenerational trauma.” — Esquire
“In this unflinching debut Solomon invites comparisons with Octavia Butler.” — The Guardian