A review by anotherbooklady
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear
4.0
“We think of forgiveness as a thing. An incident. A choice. But forgiveness is a process. A long, exhausting process. A series of choices that we have to make over, and over, and over again.”
The hubby and I read this book together for a sci-fi book club that we joined and LOVED this story.
We followed along with the audiobook, and the reader (actress Nneka Okoye) was so charismatic and charming that she truly embodied protagonist Haimey Dz.
It’s been only two years since I decided to embrace the sci-if genre. I have always felt that I wasn’t smart enough to understand the story, that the concepts would be beyond my level of understanding. We were told that this particular book was a great starter book for someone getting into sci-fi AND curious about space operas.
Author Elizabeth Bear creates a galaxy that is relatable, characters that you care for (even the ship AI), and an adventure that keeps you questioning your own ideas of autonomy and self-preservation. I loved the language that was used, showing a sort of evolution in our vernacular; for example, the characters would use “todia” in place of “today”, or “ans” in place of “years.”
In her author’s note, Bear talks about how she set out to write one story, but over the course of an election and the climate of the United States, she ended up writing a very different story. I believe this story is better for the experiences that shaped this book.
One part of the book spoke volumes to me:
“It’s kind of horrifying to think of an era when people were so constrained to and by gender, in which the externals you were born with were something you would be stuck with your whole life, could never alter, and it would determine your entire social role and your potential for emotional fulfillment and intellectual achievement.”
The hubby and I read this book together for a sci-fi book club that we joined and LOVED this story.
We followed along with the audiobook, and the reader (actress Nneka Okoye) was so charismatic and charming that she truly embodied protagonist Haimey Dz.
It’s been only two years since I decided to embrace the sci-if genre. I have always felt that I wasn’t smart enough to understand the story, that the concepts would be beyond my level of understanding. We were told that this particular book was a great starter book for someone getting into sci-fi AND curious about space operas.
Author Elizabeth Bear creates a galaxy that is relatable, characters that you care for (even the ship AI), and an adventure that keeps you questioning your own ideas of autonomy and self-preservation. I loved the language that was used, showing a sort of evolution in our vernacular; for example, the characters would use “todia” in place of “today”, or “ans” in place of “years.”
In her author’s note, Bear talks about how she set out to write one story, but over the course of an election and the climate of the United States, she ended up writing a very different story. I believe this story is better for the experiences that shaped this book.
One part of the book spoke volumes to me:
“It’s kind of horrifying to think of an era when people were so constrained to and by gender, in which the externals you were born with were something you would be stuck with your whole life, could never alter, and it would determine your entire social role and your potential for emotional fulfillment and intellectual achievement.”