Even if I had not already read - and greatly appreciated - Gareth Powell’s Embers of War trilogy, I would not have let this story pass me by: ark ships traveling into the unknown is one of my favorite themes, so there was no doubt I would enjoy the start of this new series. And I certainly did.

The core concept of Stars and Bones sees humanity embarked on a huge fleet of arks journeying away from Earth: seventy five years before the start of such journey, a very advanced race of powerful aliens understood we were going to destroy ourselves and our planet and therefore, to give Earth a chance to repair itself, mounted a massive exodus, relocating humans on these vast, customized arks that offered artificial environments and a comfortable home away from home. While the majority enjoys the good life aboard the arks, some more adventurous individuals forge ahead exploring the emptiness of space in search of a new planet, and it’s on the surface of Candidate-623 that tragedy strikes when the scout ship sent there to check out a mysterious distress call breaks contact with the fleet. Main character Eryn, whose sister was aboard the missing ship, goes to investigate with her own vessel, the Furious Ocelot, and what she finds is the kind of horrifying danger that might bring about the annihilation of the entire human race.

While it took me a little time to become fully invested in the story, once it launched into its core mystery and subsequent terrifying chain of events, I could not turn the pages fast enough because the threat Eryn and crew discover on Candidate-623 comes out of the same stuff nightmares are made of. The beginning of the novel needs of course to establish the background and - more importantly - the path humanity took to get where it is when things start to go horribly wrong, and it does so through a series of flashbacks that, though quite informative, felt to me like a distraction from the main narrative thread: given the threat level encountered by the Furious Ocelot, I came to perceive any other kind of information as an obstacle to be cleared before reaching the “meat” of the story, and that’s the reason for my delay in getting immersed in it. Of course, once that… hurdle was past, there was indeed no turning back.

I don’t want to offer any more information about the plot because I’m convinced it must be as much of a surprise (albeit a scary one) as possible, but let me tell you that as I read I kept thinking that every space-faring expedition should make a certain 1979 movie a mandatory part of their training, so that when faced with mysterious signals people would know to exercise extreme caution, or better yet avoid its origin at any cost… ;-)

If the story is quite shocking in its increasing threat, its background is quite enjoyable, particularly where the arks are concerned: think of immense ships that can be modified (both internally and externally) according to the specifications of their occupants, so that each ark becomes a very distinctive microcosm with its own peculiar environment and social customs. What is fascinating here is the way in which humanity has now adapted to the post-scarcity civilization offered by the Angels of Benevolence (the aliens who intervened to prevent Earth’s demise), crafting habitats and societies that range from an old-style consumer economy to a laid back tropical paradise, under the supervision of the ship’s A.I. - or envoy - whose appearance is tailored according to the ark’s style: in this respect, I’m still smiling at the recollection of the hammerhead shark look of the tropical environment’s envoy, swimming through the air with total nonchalance for the absurdity of the whole situation.

Sentient ships seem indeed to be Gareth Powell’s favorite theme, and since I enjoyed reading about Trouble Dog in the Embers of War series, I was pleased to find a similar idea here and to become equally fond of Ferocious Ocelot’s envoy and of its interactions with the ship’s crew, and with Eryn in particular. Add to the mix the Ocelot’s ability to change its appearance according to the circumstances (from a portly gentleman in quiet times to a battle-ready guard when necessity arises), and its intelligently facetious repartees, and it’s no surprise that it turned out to be my favorite character in the novel.

Unfortunately, the human characters in this story did not fare equally well: some of them were woefully short-lived (prepare yourself for quite a number of sudden deaths), and Eryn herself turned out to be a little too inconsistent for my tastes - I did not truly dislike her, but I have to admit she made it quite difficult for me to connect with her. While I could sympathize with her grief over the loss of her sister, and with the huge burden of responsibility that the situation ends up placing on her shoulders, still she seems more focused on the emotional pains of the past to be the effective problem solver that the present situation requires. For once, though, I don’t mind much my lack of total connection with the main character, because the story itself is so gripping that the non-stop action takes precedence over any other consideration, and the cinematic quality of some scenes makes me hope that this novel might one day be turned into a movie, because it would be a very spectacular one.

The surprising way in which Stars and Bones ends made me wonder whether the rest of the series will concentrate on other aspects of humanity’s journey, but previous experience with Gareth Powell’s works makes me quite optimistic about the next books, and also quite eager to see where the story will take me. Hopefully, the wait will not be too long…

When Earth began to die, angels rescued humanity, built ships, and sent humans off into the stars. Years later, humans are looking for a new homeland. When her sister disappears while responding to a mysterious alien distress call, Eryn insists on being part of the crew sent to look for her. What she discovers on Candidate-623 is both terrifying and deadly. The graphic descriptions of the threat may be too much for some readers, and when it seems to have followed Eryn back to the ships, she is sent on a quest to determine what, exactly, humanity is up against. The rapid escalation of stakes is a bit jarring, especially because the reader doesn't get a good idea of who Eryn is or how humanity has evolved before being thrown into a universe ending threat. The resolution is somewhat unsatisfying, but the drama is huge and the plot is exciting. Not a cerebral thriller, but good for readers who want all of the death and explosions with less of the philosophy.

Sadly this book just wasn’t for me. I tried to read it but I was just bored.
I know a few people who are more into sci-fi than I am that would really like this one hut I just couldn’t get past 30%.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received an eArc of this sci-fi novel through NetGalley in exchange for me honest musings . . .

This book was frustrating for me.  The first in a new series, there are some fun concepts involved but the structure, plot, and characters had problems.

The story follow Eryn whose sister is exploring a new planet and then goes missing.  Eryn wants to rescue her but gets pulled into fighting a large alien menace that threatens humankind.

The highlight of the book for me was the concept of the arks which are generational spaceships.  Humanity was about to self-destruct when an alien swoops in to save the planet.  Humans are allowed to live because of their potential but are forbidden to settle on any other planet.  I enjoyed how the arks evolved and the personalities of the AIs.  The aliens in charge were rather cool in how they were set up and their basic indifference towards humanity's concerns.  Oh and there is a talking cat.  I liked him too.

I did not really like Eryn.  Her angsty backstory was lame and I thought she was rather shallow and flat as a character.  And she was the most well rounded of the book.  The other characters felt like stereotypes.  And a very large segment of characters existed briefly only to be quickly killed later.  Of course the one person that does survive is for the unnecessary and boring love story.

I also felt that the backstory, told in a series of flashbacks from other points of view, were rather lackluster.  These sections felt tacked on into the plot and were a bit boring.  Ultimately, I feel that the concepts of the book were very fun but there were so many ideas introduced and explored that the plot and characterization suffered.  I am not sure if I will read more of this series.  Arrr!

3,5 Stars, rounded up

Stars and Bones was a super fun space opera, with a gorgeous cover to boot! You’ll find dashes of horror and post-apocalyptic genres here as well. This was a really enjoyable read, it had a great pace and great intriguing plot points right from the start. The world building was brilliantly creative, and I absolutely loved all the unique technological advances. In this universe, every spacecraft is in fact a sentient artificial intelligence that manifests itself into a physical body, cats and dogs can talk, and there are some super unique “aliens” at play in this book!
This was my first novel by Powell, and it will absolutely not be my last. I’m really looking forward to future books in this series as well as reading his other previously published work!

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for the e-ARC! Stars and Bones publishes March 1st!

Stars and Bones is the newest science fiction novel by multi-BSFA award-winning author Gareth L. Powell. In this brand new series, Powell introduces us to a future where humanity travels the stars far from Earth aboard a fleet of sentient ships. It’s a beautiful vision, and the details of life among the stars are impressive. Stars and Bones is a great introduction to a future reality filled with possibilities.

When her sister’s long-range scouting vessel fails to return to the fleet, Eryn lobbies for her own ship, the Furious Ocelot, to investigate. The trail leads them to a planet known only as Candidate-623 and an alien beacon. First contact with a new species turned deadly, and Eryn must find a way to communicate with a hostile alien intelligence before it wipes out humanity.

I read Stars and Bones three times before writing this review, enjoying the story more each time. I look forward to reading future Continuance novels.

3.25 stars

There’s a lot to like about this book. I am a sucker for a sci-fi set on spaceships, and the addition of arks in this book was great. One thing I haven’t read before that I thought was really cool was that each of the ships has an AI, and the AI takes a physical form to interact with humans. You know, so instead of talking to the walls you actually talk to a person sitting in front of you. Oh, and cats and dogs can talk 😁.
But as other reviewers have noted there are definite inconsistencies with the science and timelines presented in the book (although if you’re just a casual sci-fi reader this might not bother you). My biggest issue with the book was the completely misplaced romance between Eryn & Li. Let me be clear, I love romance in books. But it seemed stuck in here for literally no reason, and at times it just seemed so inappropriate and insensitive the way that Li was hitting on Eryn. However, I did enjoy the book for the most part.

Thank you to NetGalley & Titan Books for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for an advance copy of this fabulous sci-fi novel.

I love Gareth L. Powell's work, and this latest is well up to and possibly beyond even his extremely high standards.

The whole set up is interesting, there are huge sci-fi ideas; a terrifying big bad and it's offspring are threatening the existence of the human race, but why? The reasons are explored and explained bit by bit, as we follow our characters through this intriguing adventure, which as lots to say about the world we live in now, and the future of humankind.

It wears it's influences on it's sleeve, Star Trek the Motion Picture, Battlestar Galactica being the most obvious ones. And I'm glad the book features sentient spaceships and taking animals. Wouldn't be a Gareth L Powell sci-fi novel without them! Trouble Dog, meet Furious Ocelot!

Galaxy sized sci fi, end of the human race stakes, humans at it's heart, a story to tell about us, right now; all wrapped up in a character-driven, emotional adventure story. Loved it.

Some say you have to understand the past to make sense of the current genre, but for me you really need to understand the present state of a genre to see what is actually going on right now and speculate where we may be going next. Space Opera in science fiction has for a long time been a tale of empires and big galactic wars that it can sometimes feel more high fantasy in space but in the 21st century as we increasingly speculate as to the end of capitalism and explore other ways that communities can form; is this the only template as to how space opera can be told? In Gareth L Powell’s ambitious and really interesting Stars and Bones we get an unusual start to a new series that is very much taking some familiar themes and doing something a little unusual that makes it a highly enjoyable and surprising read.

Nuclear Armageddon on earth is minutes away and one lucky scientist creates the first ever warp field door at about the same time. Usually this would have been overlooked but Earth was being watched by one of a remote alien ancient and powerful intelligence (who later get called Angels). The Angel in question judges that human beings to be both a danger to Earth thanks to our environmental impact and also worthy of a second chance. War is averted but humanity is forcibly taken off the planet and exiled to immense self-aware ark ships each containing millions of inhabitants who need to now travel space and work out where humanity goes next. The Confluence is born. One of the inhabitants 75 years later is Eryn the pilot/navigator of the scout ship Furious Ocelot now on a desperate mission to an unknown world where her sister and own ship has vanished. The Ocelot and her passengers are though going to find a new powerful force that will stop nothing for itself to cross the stars and spread its own influence forever.

What I really liked about this story was Powell trying to play with what space opera can be seen to be. Humans finding powerful alien in space that causes trouble is a classic scenario. What happens to the crew on the planet is viscerally horrible, strange, and compelling. We soon find out in advance of Eryn how bad things are going to get and it indeed does quickly go from very bad to even worse as the power discovered makes itself known to the ark ships and starts to convert them initially with shock and awe and then more craftily. Now so far all of this sounds fairly standard for science fiction plots. What I found interesting was the ‘world’ that this all happens to. Powell gives us backstory in various single points of view - some who were there to see it all and some who saw what came next – which pleasingly feels a more organic way of info-dumping how this universe works. We are so used to either a future human race familiar with space or humans on earth getting first contact. Here we have humans artificially boosted centuries into technology; exiled from home and not at all clear on what exactly is out there with them. The Confluence is humanity without its petty wars, states, need for economies or resources and yet also humanity without purpose, order, or any idea what it is for doing next. If that group was to meet its firstly truly alien power what would happen next?

Powell posits humans that create their own joined communities; tailored spaceships from skyscraper-based ships to ones where you can be augmented to swim in water all day. There are even a small group who wish to promote the return of capitalism, money, and gossip sites. Each ark has its own ship intelligence, and each gets tailored to their communities’ personalities. Even scout ships like Furious Ocelot get their own blue skinned and very powerful guardian to interface with the clue. The angels also saw humans would need cats and dogs and in an inspired move Powell give them the ability to tell us their thoughts which for cats mean we are both a nuisance and a food dispenser who should get a move on. We so often get to see humanity as either faction ridden or one monolithic bloc so here it is unusual to show us in a very intermediate stage of opur future development. Many people are working out what they can do next; swapping communities and ways of life to see how things fit. We get a liberal, disorganised and fascinating group of found families I can’t wait to see more of and that really feels 21st century SF to me.

The main plot of what the Ocelot’s crew uncovers is where Powell gets to play with scale. We have huge ships, millions of lives under attack, black holes, and Dyson sphere to name just a few devices all serving key points. With the entity the Confluence faces we get body horror, subterfuge, and deceptions plus lot of violence. The power faced is remorseless, smart, and hard to predict. This keeps the story really flowing well and opens up further future realms or ideas to discover. What was a standout here was we avoid the standard battle finale of such tales and instead go for a more thoughtful, stranger and unusually more peaceful way of resolving things even after a very high body count. This was satisfying because rather than just going for giant battles in space (although I can confirm you get several in the book) which would have been disappointing. Again, I felt this is a tale where Powell is playing against the standard structure we know so well. It actually would have made Star Trek proud in its final decision making!

Character wise was a more mixed bag. Eryn I really liked being someone trying to hold it together in difficult circumstances, not giving up and trying to do the hard right thing and not the easy thing. This is really complemented by the Furious Ocelot’s own blue skinned, funny, kind and when needed kick ass avatar. It’s a really enjoyable friendship of human and AI that works and the duo really support each other in difficult times. I loved how this demonstrated these ship minds are not Banksian supreme rulers but also working their way with their new passengers still and each influences the other. There is some lovely emotional character writing here about carrying on when things are hard and that really worked for me. The wider cast come and go (and sometimes go horribly) I don’t know if this was all for setting up future adventures or just a desire to show how dangerous yet varied this world is, but I didn’t feel as close a connection with other characters as I did the central duo. I hope future tales will give us more visibility of other Confluence inhabitants and of course the strange powerful Angels we find traversing the galaxy.

Stars and Bones is a really ambitious and enjoyable story that feels like it is fashioning something that is its own thing. Yes, you can recognise hallmarks of science fiction, but it very much feels like Powell is taking lessons from our more emotion focused current phase of science fiction more interested in exploring our concepts of community and trying to do the right things rather than the overly familiar aims of exploring the rules of hard SF or the love of having a whizz bang war in space. You can guess I consider that a great idea by the way. After a complete adventure the tale moves into a very different direction, and I have no idea where the series will go next. But after reading it I do find myself speculating a lot on what we may find. I think this could be the start of an impressive new science fiction series and I very much look forward to the journey to that unknown destination just as much as our future humans do. Highly recommended!

The nitty-gritty: Stellar worldbuilding and an exciting plot make Stars and Bones a must read space opera.

At first glance, Stars and Bones may look like your typical space opera, but Powell’s worldbuilding surprised me in so many ways. Combined with an exciting story and interesting characters, science fiction fans should not miss this book!

The story takes place seventy-five years after an alien entity called the Angel of Benevolence has forced humanity to leave Earth. Rather than let humans destroy themselves and the planet, which they are about to do when the story opens, the “angel” created a thousand arks, huge vessels that ferry the entire population of Earth through space. Eryn was born and raised on the ark called the Damask Rose, and now she pilots a scout ship called the Furious Ocelot, which travels through space via the substrate, a conduit that allows light speed travel between arks. Eryn has the unique ability to “dreamlink” with the Ocelot and steer it through the substrate, and her bond with the ship is one that can never be broken.

But when another scout ship goes missing, Eryn is thrust into a dangerous adventure. The ship is found crashed on the remote planet of Candidate-623, and when the Ocelot goes to investigate, they witness the horrific demise of those on board. An alien entity has infiltrated the Couch Surfer and literally torn the crew to pieces. Among the dead is Eryn’s sister Shay, but before Eryn has a chance to mourn her, the entity begins to spread like a virus through the fleet, killing everyone in its path and rebuilding the dead into walking, talking monstrosities. 

Eryn and the Ocelot are determined to stop it, and they think the Angel of Benevolence might be able to help. Their only hope might be a reclusive man named Frank Tucker, the only person alive who has ever had contact with the angel. But no one knows where Frank is hiding out, so Eryn’s mission seems nearly impossible. With the help of the Ocelot’s envoy, her crewmate Li and a talking cat named Sam, Eryn sets out to save the fleet—and avenge her sister’s death.

The story is told from multiple perspectives, although most of the chapters are from Eryn’s point of view. Other characters only play small roles in the story, like a journalist who wants to document the entity’s destructive exploits, and a detective who ends up helping Eryn, but their POVs added a nice touch to the narrative. Powell also jumps back in time to the defining event that forced humans onto the arks, as we meet Haruki Kamisaka, the richest man on Earth, who explains the life changing events and how humans reacted to being uprooted from their lives. I really enjoyed these chapters and I liked Haruki’s perspective, especially later in the story when you find out what he’s doing in the present day.

The plot itself is mostly fast-paced and thrilling. I loved the danger of the entity and not knowing what it would do next. Some of the scenes border on horror—the description of the bodies and the way the entity literally pulls them apart and arranges their bones into piles was horrifying, to say the least. The Angel of the Benevolence is also quite scary at times. It manifests as a storm and has the ability to destroy whatever is in its path. But it’s also a rational, intelligent being who sees promise in humans, which is why it decides to intervene just as they are about to destroy themselves. 

Powell’s characters are interesting as well. My favorite was probably Sam the cat, who is snarky and talks exactly like you would expect a cat to talk, if it could. In this future, special collars and implants allow cats’ and dogs’ thoughts to be translated into sound, how cool is that? I also loved the Ocelot. All ships have their own envoy, a human-like, blue-skinned creature who is the physical manifestation of the ship’s AI. Eryn and the Ocelot are bonded because of Eryn’s abilities to navigate the substrate, and I loved their close friendship. Some characters weren’t as developed as others, like Madison, Eryn’s niece, and Li, Eryn’s crewmate and love interest, but there were so many cool things going on in the story that it didn’t really affect my enjoyment.

But the worldbuilding is what made Stars and Bones really special, in my opinion. I loved the idea of fifteen billion people having to live on arks. Their entire lives are spent zooming through space, but while that might seem restrictive at first, you soon learn that technology allows people to visit any ark they want by jumping through wormhole-like portals called flick stations. And because each ark is unique and has developed over the years according to the people who live there, all sorts of cultures, ethnicities, and religions have shaped their arks into places that resemble their original homes. Step into a flick portal, and you’re immediately transported to an ark that looks and feels like the plains of Africa, or an ark with oceans and beaches, or one of my favorites, the Alexandria, which is the hub of ancient culture and contains all of Earth’s most precious artifacts. With all these worlds at your fingertips, it seems like life on an ark would never be boring!

The angel—which really isn’t an angel at all, you may have figured out by now—was fascinating, and I liked the way Powell never fully explains it, but gives the readers glimpses of what it’s capable of without taking away all its mysteries.

The last quarter of the story was a thrilling race to stop the entity, but the author also adds some nice emotional moments, as well as a warning to humanity about our destructive ways. As far as I know, Stars and Bones is a standalone story, but I can see the potential for more stories set in this world. This was a fun one, folks! Don’t miss it.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

A massive thank you to Titan Books for this review copy and a spot on the blog tour!

I found this one quite enjoyable, despite the plot! It was even very funny.

The book is very fast paced, but it works. I loved Eryn and I was so invested in her story (and still am! I can’t wait to see what happens next).

I liked how the story kept going back to the past, and Earth. It was interesting to read how the humans ended up on the arcs in the first place. It actually made me think about life and how we treat the world around us.

Brilliant read.

You may recognise the name Gareth L. Powell, for his BSFA Award winning alt-history cyberpunk-style novel ‘Ack-Ack Macaque,’ or his ridiculously good space opera series ‘Embers of War.’ With his latest novel, ‘Stars and Bones,’ Powell has stepped out onto the platform labelled: nuanced brilliance. Delicately weaving together aspects of Science Fiction that we can do nothing but enjoy. Including elements of Uplift Fiction, Space Opera, and so much more. Gareth offers us an intricately designed narrative littered with gorgeous human experience, realistic characters and talking cats. The emotions of this text are what pack the hardest punch. From the moment you start to read and learn about humans living amongst the stars, Powell offers you grief, regret, and curiosity by the spoonful. You are immediately sucked into the lives of our apparent ‘descendants’ who have been plucked from Earth, and forced to live on giant spaceships, doomed to wonder space for all eternity.

“We’ve been cast out of Eden again,”
“We’ve sinned and been exiled.”

Doomsday Prepper, Haruki, is one of the richest men in the world. He is tending his tomato plants in an underground facility when he gets the news; ‘They’ve launched nukes.’ Hilariously, ‘the British Prime Minister made a joke about pressing the button. He didn’t realise his mike was hot,’ so other countries retaliated. A poignant nod at how the British government often speak without thinking, as well as a truly eloquent allusion to the lack of confidence Brits have had in our own government in recent months. Haruki was building an underground bunker as a sanctuary for himself, close friends, and key employees to sit out ‘Doomsday,’ in relative comfort, no matter the cause. This is where he heard the news that the End was extremely Neigh. But it was too late. The moment was here and now there was no time to gather those he had chosen to save. There is nothing to do but steady himself for impact… but it never comes. Something stops the nukes… or someone.

‘Now, seventy-five years after our salvation, most humans lived their entire lives aboard the Thousand Arks of the Continuance’

Set 75 years after ‘Doomsday’ was avoided, the narrative follows substrate navigator Eryn and her ship The Ocelot, as they try to find out what happened to Eryn’s sister Shay. Shay went missing on her last trip out, which seemed to be an exploration assignment, and Eryn has pulled as many strings as possible to be allowed to find out the truth of what happened to her. No one, including you dear reader, could have guessed the absolutely chaotic adventure that ensues.

From intricate belief systems, historical influence (such as The Ship of Theseus) and constructed communities, Powell’s novel screams of authenticity and genius. I appreciated the slight and distant echo’s of some of my favourite books, such as Adam Robert’s ‘Bete’ and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Space Opera ‘Children of Ruin.’ Throughout the novel Powell names each ship/ark after something cultural and/or relevant to humanity such as the Great Barrier Reef. Powell makes a small nod of acknowledgement to fellow SFF writer Tchaikovsky by naming one of the Arks after him (confirmed by Powell on Twitter 16/02/2022). It truly is wonderful that Powell garnishes his text with fragments from his own life, professionally and personally. It adds something familial and human, that we might not always aspects with Sci-Fi dealing with realities so defamiliarised from our own.

Powell’s novel is a must read for anyone who loves a bit of mystery sprinkled into their Science Fiction. Fans of Tchaikovsky, or novels involving humanity living out in space will be pleased (as I am) with this narrative. Whilst many Space Opera texts might leave room for an ambiguous amorphous second novel, I doubt that is possible with ‘Stars and Bones,’ although I would definitely read it should a sequel emerge. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys Science Fiction, as there is a little bit of something in here for everyone.

FULL REVIEW coming on The Fantasy Hive.

Thank you Titan and Netgalley for this Review Copy <3

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun yet terrifying ride that can wake a primal fear of the alien unknown. It has:

• A cat companion;
• Sentient ships;
• Alien entities as old as the universe;
• Alien threats that can wipe out humanity;
• Violence and space.

While the characters are not the strongest point of Stars and Bones, Gareth L. Powell has made a hell of a job out of the worldbuilding. I love the trope of the horrific alien entity that hitchhikes a ride and tries to destroy humanity. I got quite the Firefall vibes from the book. Stars and Bones packs gruesome descriptions and violent ends, and despite its length, it’s a fast-paced, page-turning space opera.

In the canon of modern space opera, Gareth L. Powell has stood out as one of the genre’s most accessible stalwarts. His work is consistently engaging and continues to improve book after book. With his latest novel, Stars and Bones, Powell kicks off a brand-new space opera series with a bang. Not only was this book a pure joy to read, gripping me from the get-go and never letting up until the final page, it was also full of relatable characters, clever humor and the relentless optimism of the human spirit. This book is unputdownable, popcorn sci-fi that explores big ideas with an equally big heart.

The number one reason I loved this book so much came down to its characters. There are several POVs, but the foundation of this narrative is built around Eryn. She’s a navigator who can dream-link with a ship to traverse the wormhole known as the substrate. In this case the ship is the Furious Ocelot, who has a wicked awesome personality. (Bonus points to Powell for the continuously fantastic ship names, and extra bonus points for how they are sentient beings with walking, talking avatars called envoys!)

Eryn’s story is immediately approachable as she is involved in a mission to find a missing ship, the Couch Surfer, which her sister was a crew member on. Her motivations are there, driven by empathy and love, and Eryn’s reactions make sense as things progress and unravel. She also shows immense growth as an individual, a role model and a lover. On top of that, she’s a strong woman with a flawed, funny and formidable personality—you don’t fuck with this lady, especially when family is involved.

I felt a strong connection to Eryn and she grounded me as I was introduced to more characters, including Chen, Haruki, Frank and more. The entire cast of characters had a place and purpose throughout the novel, but none of them felt cookie cutter or throwaway. Each had a distinct personality and they played off each other in such satisfying ways. Despite delivering an epic space opera adventure with amazing technology, perplexing aliens and a truly vicious foe, Stars and Bones is a character-driven story, experimenting with the ways that human beings (and humanity as a whole) would react if their world was turned upside down.

And what a topsy-turvy, freakin’ phenomenal job Powell does of building that world. He begins the novel with a bit of back-and-forth between Eryn’s present and the past, through the perspective of a man named Haruki. He is the world’s richest person, and humans being the dumbasses they are, launch nukes that will effectively wipe out most biological life on the planet. Meanwhile, a physicist named Frank who is funded by Haruki, makes a major scientific breakthrough the moment shit goes down. That’s when things get really interesting, and I won’t spoil much more there. Suffice to say, a divine intervention occurs and humanity is thrust out into the depths of space on a fleet of self-sufficient generation ships called arks.

Those Haruki-centric chapters were a pleasant mix of humorous and thoughtful, as humanity’s near-demise unfolded to satirical effect amongst Powell’s honest critiques of our real world. It was an effective balance, especially in contrast to the continuous horror show that Eryn underwent. But the fast-paced nature of this novel kept the ball rolling, balanced the POVs nicely and introduced more characters, tension, heart and threat to the story at just the right times. Things felt like they happened exactly when they needed to, and every character was given their fair due and fleshed out effectively for the purposes of their own arcs as well as the broader narrative.

It was also so beautiful how Powell tied humanity’s history—how they ended up in this ark fleet and the flashbacks to Haruki and Frank—to the current alien threat that Eryn and the rest of humanity were facing. There were simply no wasted elements to this story, and it all came full circle in such a tantalizing way. On top of that, the enemy itself was so brutal in how it carried out its attack on humanity, and the body horror of those scenes was just delectable. So gross, so vivid, but oh so satisfying.

That enemy also laid the groundwork for a ton of excellent action scenes, all of which saw the characters using their wits and their environments for a succession of unique encounters. As the enemy learned about them, so too did they learn about it. And with that, Powell really nailed the emotional balance. There was a natural ebb and flow to it that dished out worldbuilding, character development, action and emotional depth in a smooth drip-feed. I felt every drop, savored them one by one, but the experience was seamless and scintillating all at once.

Stars and Bones is the kind of sci-fi that I truly adore. It’s accessible without dumbing itself down. It knows what it wants to say and says it brilliantly. There are grand notions of the future that also reflect back on us humans, right here, in the present. It’s also positive, showing how optimism can bring about tangible change. All of this is made even more poignant because it’s wrapped in the perfect package: an irresistible, blistering narrative, technology and science that make sense and fuel the fun, a mysterious foe that challenges the status quo, and characters you connect with and actually like. If you want to start 2022 with a genuinely magnificent space opera adventure, look no further than this book.

The fools have finally done it: launched the nukes and started the end of the human race. Except, 75 years later, humanity still exists out in the cold darkness of space, on a vast fleet of arks. How they got there is a discovery for the reader.

Eryn is a scout for the fleet, linked to her ship so they can travel the ‘substrate’ and check for dangers ahead. When her sister goes missing after answering an alien distress call, Eryn can’t even begin to imagine the horrors that await the entirety of the species.

So I absolutely thoroughly romped through this book. It has it all: action, suspense, danger, science, aliens, love, family, and a talking cat. And more! The only reason it’s not getting 10 out of 10 is that for all it gave me, I still wanted to linger further on so many of the aspects. That, however, would have spoiled the breakneck pace, and that wouldn’t do either. Dilemmas!

There is something entirely cinematic about the story. I could see several influences, but in a good way, and still feeling fresh. The action in particular is begging for an Aliens-esque visual, not to mention the horror aspects – not too shocking, but dark enough. And oh, how much fun the set designers could have, with each ark redesigned to match the personalities of both the AI and the population (in the millions, each ship) on board.

Alongside the ark fleet in space facing some serious bad sh*t, we get some flashbacks to explain what happened on planet Earth. It does mean early chapters jump around between characters a little more than is entirely flow-y, but they are clearly marked, and tie in well with the ongoing drama.

If anything, there was perhaps a little too much of things fitting together: event A sets up this bit of the denouement, that kind of thing. It’s almost like seeing a little of the scaffolding.

However, even with a tiny bit of that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I’d absolutely love to read more of life on the different arks, or better yet see them on a big screen on day.

Enjoyable space opera, building from a superior being’s intervention to prevent nuclear annihilation and sending humanity out to the stars to prevent further damage to the earth…. Big themes of humanity’s (suddenly diminished!) place in the universe and the relationship between the individual and the collective, rather effective body horror and family dynamics all combine to make a suitably pacy sci-fi thriller.

Nicely set up for more in the continuance series

Many years earlier, some humans on Earth initiated a war which would have led to the destruction of everything on Earth. At the same time, a scientist made a breakthrough and discovered how to make wormholes. And watching over Earth for millenia was a massive, ancient entity, who decided humans were smart and super dangerous to their planet, so, put them on massive generation ships called arcs so humans would get to travel the stars. Then, the rest of life on Earth could thrive without humans’ destructiveness, self-centredness, and short-sidedness.

To make it a little easier on humans, the benevolent entity put dogs and cats (and a few other domesticated animals) on the arcs, and gave cats and dogs the ability to speak with humans, with appropriately funny results.

Years later, a team is sent to investigate something on an uninhabited planet. After an unimaginably horrible outcome, Navigator/ship captain Eryn of the sentient ship Ocelot transports a second team to investigate the original team’s loss. Eryn is particularly disturbed by this investigation, as her sister was one of the previous team members killed by some unknown being(s).

The second team is killed, and literally disassembled, with only one, injured survivor, Li Chen. Eryn, Li and the Ocelot hightail it back to Eryn's home arc. (Eryn and her sister and niece Madison were all born on this arc, like all the rest of humanity.)

The malevolent presence that massacred the teams follows the Ocelot back to the arc, and begins taking everyone apart, killing countless people and animals in the process. Eryn manages to get on board and rescue her niece and make it off, and is then tasked with finding the very reclusive guy who discovered wormholes because he might be able to find a solution to the horrible situation. More danger, unexpected, sudden deaths of various supporting characters, and difficult choices ensue for Eryn before the book's resolution.


This book is almost nonstop action and peril. From its gruesome destruction of two teams, to the terrifying segment aboard the arc, to well, every unexpected death (and there are several), there is almost no down time to catch one's breath while reading. The pace does not let up and I was almost constantly worried about Eryn and the Ocelot. I read most of this book in one day as I was so invested in Eryn’s situation and would happen next.

I liked Powell’s idea of the massive entities who spend millennia watching things unfold in the universe, and loved how one chose to kick humans off their home planet and confined them to massive ships, because life on Earth needed to be saved from us.

I'm always a fan of sentient spaceships, and the Ocelot, and its envoy, were kind of lovable. I still prefer Trouble Dog (from the author’s “Embers of War” series), though.

I was a wee bit miffed by the ending, as I wanted Eryn to end up elsewhere, but, Powell has also left me wondering, what's next for Eryn and the huge job she has before her? And what does this mean for other humans in the remaining arcs? And when is someone going to feed Sam the cat, whom I want to see more of. So, I guess I kind of want more in this Continuance universe created by the author.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Seventy-five years from now...

Seventy-five years from now an all-knowing presence ejects humankind from a dying Earth onto one thousand arks holding 15 million people each and sets them to wander space, never to light on a habitable planet again.

Eryn is a navigator on one of their scouting ships that has been sent out to find out what happened to the ship and crew (including her sister) that sent out an emergency beacon as they were on an exploration trip to a supposedly uninhabited planet.

I enjoyed this sci-fi/space opera tale filled with blood and guts aplenty AND with an unusual storyline. I especially liked reading about the interfaces with the different ships.

I received this book from Titan Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Last year I read Light Chaser, a collaboration between Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell, and it birthed a desire to give Powell a deeper look. Having read a lot of Hamilton, my sense was that Powel’s work added a bit of blood to the sprawling imagination Hamilton usually provides. Instead of going with Powell’s more acclaimed Embers of War trilogy, I decided to gamble on his newest release, Stars and Bones. Interestingly, I came away from the table even, being neither disappointed nor excited by the hands I had been dealt.

75 years ago, when the world looked like it was about to end, a cosmic entity akin to an Angel intervened in nuclear strikes and shoved humanity off planet Earth. They provided massive ships for everyone to move to and created the Continuance, a massive fleet of these country sized arkships, with varying environments and cultures. Eryn is a part of the Vanguard, an elite cadre of pilots who push the boundaries of the continuance, expanding our knowledge of the universe and the planets within it. Upon learning that her sister has disappeared while investigating a distress call from an alien source, Eryn pushes her way onto the crew sent to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for Erin and the rest of the Continuance, what they find on Candidate 623 is even deadlier and more alien than they could have guessed. Thrust into the mess by proximity and sheer determination, Eryn is tasked with finding the one man who convened with the angel who saved us from ourselves, for he may be the only one who can save humanity again.

Stars and Bones is a frustrating book for me. On the surface, Powell combines several staple science fiction ideas in an interesting world that both mildly cherishes human life and has zero attachment to it. It has elements of both cosmic and bodily horror that showcase the conglomeration of tropes in thrilling and tangible ways. However, the story that ties it all together is incredibly thin, with some unfortunately one dimensional characters. It’s not quite squandered potential, as the ending of the book opens interesting avenues for the rest of the trilogy, but the first outing felt overdone.

A lot of my issues can be found in the characters, more specifically my lack of attachment to them. Eryn felt like a standard protagonist with extraordinary circumstances thrust upon her. It barely felt like a duty to humanity, and more an “I’m going to handle this because I can” mentality. This paired with her artificially emotionally unstable past made her a hard character to root for. Essentially her big flaw was that she one time accidentally slept with the man who would become her sister’s husband, and father to Eryn’s niece. And when I say accidentally, I mean she didn’t even know this man was involved with her sister, and her sister was pregnant at the time. This built an unexplored rift between the two of them and drove Eryn to be the regretful boundary pusher the reader follows. I just could not buy that a one night stand with a man she jived well with was the hingepoint of her character. Any interaction that involved this immediately passed through me, every mention pushed me further from Eryn and her cadre.

Too bad I couldn’t latch onto any of the supporting characters either. Her ship’s envoy, Furious Ocelot, was just sort of there. He was her friend and in a number of ways her confidante, but his main role seemed to be the snarky and analytical partner in crime, which is fine, but he didn’t have any spice. The two cops that get entangled in the story are just either the best portrayal of cops who can’t do anything, or worse, just a mediocre portrayal of the down on their luck detectives. Every character felt like an accessory to Eryn, and there were several deaths that happened so quickly and without gravitas or emotional reaction, I kept expecting them to come back. It was baffling.

The structure of the book is also slightly off. For the most part, the story follows Eryn and her quest to find her sister, and ultimately to save the Continuance. However, there are a few interludes that zip the reader back to the point of humanity’s salvation, often told through the perspective of a billionaire who became increasingly concerned with the well being of the human project. Normally, I am against very clear backstory chapters, so it was already a point against Powell’s approach. On top of that, these sections barely added to the overall story, especially with the perspective they were presented with. The information could have been interesting with folklorish retellings given the time and distance from the events, but as they are I was kind of bored with them.

Stars and Bones in some ways felt like Powell trying to lay the foundations for the next two books. A lot of the story felt like it was explaining larger concepts and themes, without really having much of a place for them. Eryn constantly being pushed by the plot, and often finding herself in positions where she just has to get through it for a nugget of information to save the day one more time pushed the story to its limits. Stars and Bones is not a bad book, it just straddled the line between uninspired and interesting, guided along by a weak character with the faintest attachment to the consequences. It has not dissuaded me from Powell’s work, because the ideas, the bones, are there. I just hope Powell flexes some of his other muscles and shows off the connective tissues more in the future.

Rating: Stars and Bones 5.0/10
Alex

An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.

This had all the hallmarks of something I would like but turned out not to be for me. The world building wasn't terribly interesting, and, to be honest, the writing was over-done, clumsy, and a little cringe.