Ancestral Night

Not too long ago, I was writing about a book co-written by Elizabeth Bear and bemoaning the lack of pirates therein. Now, just two months later, I am writing about her most recent novel, and you know what? It not only has pirates in it, but they’re space pirates! To paraphrase Goethe, some days one feels seriously tempted to believe that there may exist a benevolent God after all.

Ancestral Night is, I think, Elizabeth Bear’s first straightforward Science Fiction novel since her Jacob’s Ladder trilogy and appears to be set in the same universe as that one (I have not read the trilogy yet, but Ancestral Night openly references it at one stage). It is space opera, but not in the over-the-top vein practiced by E.E. Smith and his show more successors but rather in the low-key, both scientifically and psychologically realistic vein introduced by C.J. Cherryh with her genre-changing Downbelow Station but with some added super tech, which in, which in turn is somewhat reminiscent of the late great Iain M. Banks (it even got me wondering whether Bear may not have intended the Synarche (the galactic civilization she describes here) as a kind of proto-Culture). And it is, by far more obviously than The Cobbler’s Boy was, a riff off Stevenson’s Treasure Island. It even has a Long John Silver analogue in Sexy Pirate Zanya Farweather, who may not quite live up to the original (but then, seriously, who does?) but comes very close indeed.

For its first half, the novel seems quite linear – our first person protagonist Haimey Dz and her two team members (one of them an AI) attempt to salvage a stranded alien star ship, are attacked by pirates and then hunted through half the galaxy. Then there is a sudden and quite sharp turn of events, Haimey finds out that she is not who we (or indeed, she herself) thought she was, and the novel switches to introspection and psychodrama, only for the narrative to change direction again and culminate in a treasure hunt. And ongoing through all of this are discussions about politics, identity, freedom and several other big concepts, making this an adventure novel of ideas; and in the tradition of the very best Science Fiction the debates are just as adventurous as the action. at about 500 pages, the novel is not even that huge, but it is crammed full with enough action and ideas to easily have filled a thousand pages under the pen of a lesser writer. Bear, however manages to juggle both her action apples and her concept coconuts so well that she not only never drops any of them but also creates an interwoven pattern in which they enhance and emphasize each other.
Every time the action pauses to let the reader catch their breath, there is some pertinent political debate, a fascinating philosophical point or just some scintillating piece of world building to delight in. It’s all brilliantly constructed (but of course, one would not expect anything else from Elizabeth Bear) and a lot of fun to read (which, again, is no surprise with this particular author). Ancestral Night is both thought-provoking and an enjoyable romp and strongly recommended. Apparently, Bear is currently writing on a not-quite-a-sequel novel which will be set in the same universe and while not being a direct continuation will share some links with Ancestral Nights – needless to say, I am very much looking forward to that.

Oh, and I’d totally read a novel about space mantis cop investigating crime. show less

There's good hard SF in here, a very respectable maturation arc for the main character, good world-building, and nicely imagined hallmarks of Space Opera. The diversity throughout, including but not restricted to cultural, sexual, and species, was refreshing and well done. The description of physics, including Bear's knowledge of Miguel Alcubierre and Harold White relative to space-time warps and FTL drives, was fantastic and such an expectation-boost! At heart, this is a good Hard SF novel that could have been truly outstanding had it not gotten in its own way.

Judging by the writing style used in AN, I am likely not the intended audience for this book and there is no mistaking that there is, in fact, an intended reader. The author show more seems to have tried so desperately to check all the au courant "Cool" boxes that AN just ... isn't. While I very much like the narration being the main character's direct voice, there is too much stream-of-consciousness and too many long-winded asides to endure for 500 pages. Phrases, passages, entire paragraphs are repeated in full several times, as if the reader needs reminding. Internal diatribes go on too long and trash continuity. I actually skipped entire passages and I seldom do that. Was this run by an editor at all? Such a pity.

And this book does take the cake for most egregious overuse of the words "atavistic" and"pathological." I'm ready to not see those again for a while.

All things considered, get it at the library by all means, but save your 20 bucks. show less

This novel had a lot of the same strengths as the Culture series by Iain M. Banks, but it was more focused, with a first-person narrator instead of a sprawling cast. Speaking of the main character, this was probably the best portrayal of trauma I've read in a while. The protagonist's deep dark secret from the past gains another layer of complexity when combined with her more subtly traumatic origin in a cult-like environment. The character-driven and idea-driven parts of the story seemed slow at times, but maybe that's just because it's summer. I wish I had time to add the whole book to Goodreads, quote by quote, which is usually how I show my appreciation. For now, this review will have to do.

I'm not usually a fan of first-person narrative but five minutes into Ancestral Night I stopped noticing it and never looked back. Elizabeth Bear has a knack.

Our protagonist, Haimey, who lives in a society which is able to "tune" their emotions and hormonal responses in order to live more regulated lives, struggles with the surprising number of side-effects and drawbacks that result, and much of this is, of course, personal and internal. Hence the need for a lot of first-person introspective navel-gazing which, while well thought-out and beautifully narrated, becomes a frustrating side-issue you just want to get past when the bullets are flying and the situation desperate. I have to admit to skimming some of these parts, and that didn't show more seem to detract from the story.

A second read may be worthwhile - once the plot is known one may be less desperate to find out what happens next and instead read slower and more carefully plumb its depths. I believe this book deserves that.

Bear's forays into the human psyche are very insightful if you take the time to digest them. However I fear many readers will find them too intrusive, but as I say, skimming over a lot of that does not disturb the plot too much. I loved Bear's cognisance of the pitfalls when adjusting one's own emotions and hormones. One of my favourites is where our protagonist considers the importance of setting an on-timer before turning one's conscience off, since one would never consider turning it back on from that state of mind - and she explains it so much better than I.

Much of this novel is about personal choices, about who you really are, who you could be with the right tweaks, whether you could be better, and what is "better" anyway? The antagonist, Farweather, is a pirate who is an unadjusted human and eschews all this mind-tampering stuff, so the interaction between her and Haimey - whose personal moralities are poles apart - provides another area of conflict quite apart from the ongoing physical battle between the two.

Of course there is the usual cast of intriguing aliens, mind and body mods, ships, space-stations, AIs and good science, which is the usual reason I read SF.

Thank the stars there are no marines, or the dreary wall-to-wall carpet-bombing and galaxy-wide wars that I'm sick to death of.

I like Bear's writing style, well constructed and intelligent with an undercurrent of humour, beauty, and little insights (and the occasional big one) that give this tale a nice lift. I went looking for an example and found three on the first page I looked at: "Anger is an inoculant. It gets your immune system working against bullshit."

I think this book taught me a few things about myself which is a somewhat unusual outcome for a fictional tale, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series. show less

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 Opera elements.

The alien artifact, and I use the term lightly, adds a beautiful element to the rest, knocking the tale out of what really started feeling like a Becky Chambers novel right out of that orbit and into a straight adventure including show more a chase, more political horrors, the ghost of genocide, and tons of lies to work through with all the aliens and the "pirates".

I really enjoyed it. The ideas and the tech and the characters were all fascinating.

Unfortunately, there were a few parts that dragged, made me lost interest for a bit, before surprising me that I was enjoying myself again. BUT MOSTLY, the novel is one of the very best Space Operas I've seen for a while. With these caveats. It does the pushing of the envelope much better than most, and that's what I like to see even more than a character-heavy tale. But make no mistake, the characters are king, here. :) show less

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear vs “Three Bodies At Mitanni” by Seth Dickinson-- fight!

There was a lot to love about the characters in this book-- Haimey, her fellow salvage crew Connla and the shipmind Singer, their cats, their sexy anti-augmentation pirate antagonist, and the giant insect space sheriff helping them. I mean, what a list! And the plot and worldbuilding tackled some interesting ideas and settings. But I felt like there were some things about Ancestral Night that never landed quite right for me. Let's see if I can explain.

First, I'm not sure how I feel about the ethical arguments of this book. The central issue it tackled was an interesting one, but I was really expecting there to be a moment in the book that would show more upset the moral world of the Synarche, and well.... there kind of was. But it didn't feel like much. I don't want to spoil since I think the book is still definitely a worthwhile read, but it never felt to me like Haimey's world and beliefs were sufficiently challenged-- she never really changes her mind about anything over the course of the story.

Also, even when Haimey has good reason to be feeling and acting radically different than normal I didn't feel like their was an appreciable difference in her behavior. Part of this might be the consistency lent by the fact that she is an incredibly self-reflective and self-aware character. I wish that Bear had managed to convey the complexities of her personality and emotions without just constantly having her introspect and then explain what she's feeling and why.

But overall, there were a lot of things I liked about this book, and it hit a lot of sweet spots for a space opera/novel of ideas sci fi read-- AIs, found family, sufficiently alien aliens, ethical dilemmas, unique governmental systems, and moderately comprehensible sci fi gobbledygook. A little bit of deus ex space whale, but that happens to the best of us, right? And I loved those cats. show less

This is my favorite 2019 sff novel so far, and I've read a few extremely good novels already.

It portrays an optimistic future, with a galaxy-spanning culture composed of numerous sentient species, many of whom are nothing like each other. But they (mostly) get along and respect each other, and it's not even a question. It's just how things are.

Bear also includes the technology she wrote about in her Hieroglyph Project story "Covenant" and explores some of the long-term ramifications of that technology. I still really, really want this technology, by the way.

And even though I'm hiding this review for spoilers, I'm not going to get into the other really interesting things this story explores. You'll just have to read it and discover them. show more Alien/human/technology fusion and some really cool things are perceived and manipulated and happen.

The only reason this book gets 4 stars instead of 5 is: pets in peril. The cats were put in peril, with enough evidence that they *might* be just fine, but we were left to worry until about 13 hours and 20 minutes into the book. Half an hour or so after the protagonist thought the ship with her friends and cats was destroyed and everyone on board killed, I had to go hunting for spoilers on this one single topic. Listen. If you *have* to put pets in peril, PLEASE resolve that shit right away. Otherwise, I am going to be worrying about the cats and not paying proper attention to the amazing and interesting stuff you're telling me about in the meantime.

By the way. Space cats who have lived their whole lives in zero G.

Anyway. I cannot WAIT for part 2 of this series! Going right now to see if there's word on when we can expect it.

And I really need to pick up more of Elizabeth Bear's work. show less