Kameron Hurley
Angry Robot
February 7th, 2017
Zan wakes up on the world-ship Katazyrna with no memory of who she is or how she got there. The mysterious Jayd takes charge of her recovery from her battle wounds, but won’t tell her much about her past.
Sabita tells her not to trust Jayd, but Zan’s instincts tell her Jayd is someone she loves very much.
She finds out her memory was lost on a raid of the world-ship Mokshi, where she boarded the Mokshi only to be ejected with no memory. It’s happened countless times–the Mokshi has the capability to save the dying Katazyrna, and she needs to take it. Every time she’s tried, if the Katazyrna enemies don’t stop her or the Mokshi’s defenses don’t repel her, the Mokshi simply spits her back out.
Jayd tells Zan that the only way to retrieve her memory is to take the Mokshi. Zan will remember who she is, even if it kills her.
Hurley has written a fascinating book documenting a journey through living ship-worlds, mirroring an internal journey of the mind to a literal internal journey of our intrepid band of characters through the insides of a living ship. It’s interesting, clever, and something very different from what I’ve seen lately.
The world building is detailed, vast and strange, populated by characters who are far from perfect–but we care about them all the same.
Great book, and something I expect to see on several recommendation lists this year.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.