Review: Ancestral Night (White Space #1)

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ancestral Night is the first in a series, and it is simply fabulous. The novel follows the adventures of Haimey Dz (surname is a buzzing sound pronounced as Dzzz), a woman traveling on a salvage tug ship named Singer (also the shipmind's name, and a self-gendered as male) with her partner Connla, a crackerjack pilot. Connla harks from an atavistic world called Spartacus, where people aren't too fond of warm fuzzies and cuddles. In spite of his culture's imprint, Connla is a very attached (in a non-romantic way) to Haimey and to her calico cats, Mephistopheles and the practically narcoleptic Bushyasta. They're an excellent working crew and a family of sorts. As the story opens, Haimey, Connla, and Singer have happened upon an abandoned vessel. Assuming they might be able to salvage some tech, Haimey heads out to explore it. She and her crew are stunned to find the unusual ship has a dead Ativahika. An Ativahika is an alien "syster" who metabolizes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide, just like humans do. They are huge, and look like giant seahorses, with bodies up to 10 km in length. But Haimey and Connla's find isn't at all what they expected when investigating a scar in the White Space. First of all, the ship that Ativahika is on is maybe Koregoi (ancient but sophisticated tech) and it has gravity inside, even though it doesn't spin. Second of all, the Ativahikas on it were murdered. Connla dubs the ship the Milk Chocolate Marauder. Haimey is alarmed by the fact that while exploring the ship and investigating crimes that occurred on it, she receives a puncture wound and is infected with what looks like a sentient galaxy-appearing slime mold. But is it even organic? Is it some sort of tech parasite? Whatever it is, it alters her senses and ability to communicate with the mysterious ship and... more. But hold on... pirates are looking for that ship, and maybe even Haimey herself. Especially the most alluring of villains, Zanya Farweather. What do they want with Haimey? What does she know that she doesn't know she knows? What did she forget and why was it forgotten? Amid great danger, she finds allies, including the coolest space bug you'd ever want to meet, Cheeirilaq Goodlaw, and her true self.

Ancestral Night is a fascinating exploration of memory and identity. Haimey, formerly part of a clade of rightminded* hive-thinkers, is a woman with memories that have been altered. Yet she isn't quite sure how her memories have been altered though she knows some of why they were. Over the course of the novel, she redefines her sense of self, and comes to terms with her guilt over the death of her lover, Niyara. While the novel is a space opera, it's also a novel about how our memories define who we are and in turn, who we can choose to be(come). I am looking forward to the next book, Machine, which is set in the same world. I hope we will see glimpses of Haimey and her cats, Connla, and Cheeirilaq in it.

*Scary stuff...

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from Saga Press via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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