I received an e-galley of An Unkindness of Ghosts for review from the publisher through Edelweiss. It takes courage to trust readers with uncertainty and the best writers have that courage. She shows instead of telling, forcing us to engage deeply, to sometimes go forward without necessarily understanding everything in the moment–just as Aster must.
Solomon trusts her readers to make inferences, to grasp the essentials with exposition and explanation. The characters are understood through their actions. Matilda, this colony ship, is an ingenious construction that transposes the past into the future, revealing far more about human nature and society than people will find comfortable. Yes, this is the antebellum South among the stars.Īn Unkindness of Ghosts is a magnificent science fiction unlike any other. An Unkindness of Ghosts will appeal to a broad audience, including fans of books such as The Magicians by Lev Grossman, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Cold Magic by Kate Elliott, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, and Station Eleven by Emily St. Aster is from the lower decks where the Black passengers work as slaves, their lives ruled by the guards who routinely rape the women. The high deckers are white and treat the low deckers with contempt and fear, brutalizing them while they live in opulence. The race issues are also prominent Matilda ‘s society is very much a racist one. The middle decks are a sort of business class, guards, merchants, tradesmen, scientists and the like. An Unkindness of Ghosts is the novel every queer geek of color (and ally) has been waiting for. The higher decks house the White ruling class in opulence and comfort. It has many decks–specialized not just in purpose but in privilege. The colony ship Matilda is transporting humanity to its salvation among the stars. Can a book be both science fiction and historical novel? Before I read An Unkindness of Ghosts, I would have thought it unlikely, but I have learned otherwise in this remarkable novel by Rivers Solomon.
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