An Unkindness of Ghosts

By: Rivers Solomon

Narrated by: Cherise Boothe

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Odd-mannered, obsessive, withdrawn, Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak.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, as they accuse, she'd be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remained of her world, save for stories told around the cookfire.

Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations the 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, whom they consider to be less than human.

When the autopsy of Matilda's sovereign reveals a surprising link between his death and her mother's suicide some quarter century before, Aster retraces her mother's footsteps. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer and sowing the seeds of civil war, Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she's willing to fight for it.

©2017 Rivers Solomon (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Kindly Listen to this Book

I truly enjoyed this selection. The reader was excellent. Some may bicker with the race, class & gender issues raised as being too trendy. In my opinion, these issues have always been visible to those with clear sight. The lens of a good story enables others to see the reality of these problems as well.

I loved this book

It's just incredibly smart science fiction and the chemistry between Theo and Aster is amazing.

Best book this year

This is the best book I've read this year and one of the best I've read in my life. The story is amazing. The narration is amazing. Read it. You'll enjoy it.

engaging

good story telling made better by an excellent performance.

really enjoyed the way the main character was written.

good story if you can tolerate the reader

The reader does not perform with comprehension nor is she a good actress. The story is good, but reading the book rather than listening would be better.

A beautiful work

Many amazing layers...couldn't stop and over far to soon! good for the heart and mind!

loved every minute

The representation is so good, the story gripping and real, especially in space. Loved every minute of listening to this and was sad to see it end, as much as I was rooting for them, because I want so much more of Aster.

Very good prose, okay story

The author's skill with the written word is very impressive. I felt the story itself vacillated between 3-5. Was worth the read (listen).

Ambitious and Original

With an audio book in particular, I want to listen to something with a complex plot and characters. But this was a little too complex for me, and I often found myself confused. When reading on the page, if you drift off and realize you’ve missed something important, you can easily go back and reread. It’s far more difficult on audio. So probably some of my confusion came from not listening with 100 percent of my attention, which this book definitely requires.

Lots of lot of brutality--well, the premise is the "brown people" live on the lower decks of this ship that's been in space 400 years and they're pretty much slaves. When reading an actual book, you can skim if you have difficulty with graphic violence, sexual or otherwise. Again, hard to skip on audio. All you can do is fast forward and possibly miss something pertinent within the scene you don’t want to listen too. At this point in my life, I can’t stomach much violence and can stomach zero sexual violence. This had a lot of both.

I imagine many will find this a 4 or 5 star listen/read. It’s certainly ambitious and original. And if you're looking for something with diversity of all kinds, this will fit the bill.

A new standard for literature

Absolutely breathtaking. Must read. This is the kind of book that crawls inside your soul and lives within you for the rest of your life.