The universe is interesting, the plot and the flat characters though.

My highlight was the talking cat.

Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell is a science fiction book that will transport you to worlds beyond imagination. Powell's writing is concise and engaging, with each story offering a unique concept and captivating plot. From space exploration to time travel, the book covers a broad range of sci-fi themes, making it a perfect read for fans of the genre. The characters are well-developed, and the settings are immersive, with vivid descriptions of alien worlds and futuristic technology. If you're looking for a thrilling sci-fi read that will leave you wanting more, Stars and Bones is an excellent choice.

Fantastic worldbuilding, a compelling plot, and wonderfully intricate characters make the first in the Continuance series a more than worthy successor to the incredible Embers of War series. Gareth L. Powell has created a rich, vibrant and somewhat terrifying plot which is sure to keep the pages turning,

La space opera es un género de plena actualidad, entre otras razones por que se presta con extrema facilidad a su conversión al medio audiovisual y muchos autores tienen puestas sus esperanzas en llamar la atención de algún estudio para que se adapten sus obras, en ser el próximo The Expanse.


Uno de estos autores que últimamente parece haberse especializado en este subgénero es Gareth L. Powell, con la maravillosa Light Chaser en colaboración con Peter F. Hamilton o la saga que comienza con Embers of War, de igual título.

Stars and Bones es del lectura independiente y aunque se anuncia como primera parte de una saga, es una lectura perfectamente completa que no necesita de más libros para dar un resultado apetecible. Un libro entretenido aunque no rompedor, que cumple perfectamente su función.

La premisa de la que parte es la siguiente: hace setenta y cinco años la humanidad estaba al borde de la autodestrucción, incluso se habían pulsado los botones para la “solución final” pero la intervención de una entidad alienígena impide que todas esas bombas atómicas alcancen su objetivo, aunque el precio a pagar es grande. Los humanos deberán abandonar la Tierra y se convertirán en nómadas de las estrellas, en un gran número de Arcas que actúan como planetas en sí mismos, como naves generacionales pero sin un destino. A pesar de no poder colonizar ningún mundo por las directivas de los Ángeles alienígenas, no es menos cierto que se llevan a cabo labores de investigación en algunos cuerpos celestes para expandir el conocimiento humano. Y es en uno de estos planetas (el Candidato 623) donde se descubre algo que pondrá en jaque la supervivencia de la especie.

Stars and Bones reutiliza conceptos que ya hemos visto en muchas novelas de género y los deja muy explicados para que la lectura en ningún momento sea desafiante (explica incluso lo que es una esfera de Dyson que no es un concepto especialmente complejo). La novela es una serie de aventuras y peripecias por un escenario tan bien preparado por el propio autor que le permite una diversidad entre capítulo que mantiene la atención del lector, ya que ni el carisma de los personajes ni el misterio en sí es tan atractivo como para llevar el peso de la novela por sí solo. Se trata de una lectura entretenida y facilona, que no pasará a los anales de la ciencia ficción pero que tampoco lo pretende. Me parece una elección veraniega perfecta para pasar un buen rato, divertirse con algunas escenas y pasar al siguiente libro.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book*

This was quite entertaining and I loved the idea of the generation ships having personalities and growing with their humans but overall I found it hard to engage with the characters on an emotional level and the world building left me confused throughout. This might not be the book's fault though, because I have had Covid and read parts of it when I had Covid, and I struggled with following narratives. So I might be doing the book some injustice, but if you're a Leckie fan, this book might be for you.

3 stars

It's taken me ages to write this because I have such conflicted feelings about this book and to be honest I still haven't made up my mind.

I love the idea of humanity forced to endlessly travel space on giant alien vehicles that adapt to the dominant group personality of the inhabitants with almost complete freedom of movement between them.

I love the characters, I think they are all so well written and they respond so naturally to situations.

The dialogue is excellent and the plot is engaging.

but....

I really don't like the religious overtone to it. The terminology is so Christian - e.g. The Angel of the Benevolence, the way the vehicles are called Arks, it was very obvious to me and it made me really twitchy about the whole story.

so yeah, I'm conflicted - I want to give 5 stars to the bits I loved and 1 star to the bits I loathed which should make it an easy 3 star but it's too well written for a 3 star but there was too much I didn't like to give it 4.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for a copy of the eArc for Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell. I"ve owed feedback on this book since I finished it back in February. Time and again my thoughts return to this fantastic book. It is a fantastic blend of space opera, horror and xenoarchaeology. I've enjoyed the books I've read by Powell but this one stands above the rest.

At the end of humanity, the Benevolence has shepherded everyone onto a fleet of arc ships sent out into the vastness of space. They explore objects the fleet passes only to stumble upon something more alien and dangerous than they could imagine. This book is filled with many great characters, but in the end settles on the central viewpoint to settle the plot.

This heart-pounding story has a satisfying conclusion for the start of a series. I am really looking forward to the next book.

Si tuviera que vender las novelas de Gareth L. Powell, especialmente las orientadas a las space opera, diría que son entretenimiento puro y duro. Tanto su anterior trilogía, Embers of War, como esta novela que acaba de publicar, son obras donde la acción no deja de tener lugar. Sus capítulos cortos y directos, lejos de tecnicismos y explicaciones alargadas, hacen de sus novelas una fantástica lectura con las que pasar unas horas.

Me cuesta ver Stars and Bones como inicio de una nueva serie. No porque no tenga sentido, sino porque es una de esas veces en las que terminas el libro y te quedas satisfecho con lo leído. La historia queda relativamente cerrada, aunque, evidentemente, hay de donde tirar si Powell así lo quiere.

Esta novela tiene unos cuantos puntos muy interesantes. En concreto en lo relativo al mundo que nos plantea. La humanidad vive ahora en un gran número de naves generacionales que viajan por el espacio. Naves inmensas donde millones de humanos residen con todas las necesidades básicas cubiertas gracias a impresoras 3D y otros métodos de reciclaje. Queda algún grupo que todavía añora el capitalismo extremo al que el planeta Tierra había llegado e intentan hacer la guerra por su cuenta.

La humanidad llegó hasta ese punto gracias a una especie de Ángel de la guarda que se encargaba de vigilar que los seres del planeta terminaran por acabar consigo mismos. En un momento bélico, y tras un importante descubrimiento científico, el Ángel obligó a la humanidad a subir a estas arcas que los llevasen a algún lugar indefinido. Estas naves son naves generacionales. Hace setenta y cinco años que la humanidad vive dentro y gran parte de su población no ha conocido otra manera de vivir. Cada nave tiene su propia inteligencia en forma persona física que vigila por el bien de todos sus habitantes.

La novela arranca cuando una nave de investigación se acerca al lugar donde previamente se ha perdido rastro de otra de estas naves. Lo que allí sucede termina derivando en un contagio masivo que hace peligrar todas las naves principales y los humanos en su interior. Algo muy en la línea de lo vivido mientras el autor escribía la obra, como comenta en los agradecimientos finales. A modo de resumen, la novela se centra en cómo solucionar este super contagio, lo que nos lleva a visitar agujeros negros, seres imposibles, entes mas grandes que la vida y tomar decisiones individuales con un gran impacto en el resto de la humanidad.

Me ha encantado leer sobre este mundo, su estructura y los conflictos que se generan entre naves una vez cada una va tomando sus propias decisiones sobre cómo se organizaran internamente. Lo que no me ha gustado tanto son ciertas decisiones argumentales, como cierto momento a los dos tercios de lectura, en los que el autor se guarda un recurso próximo al Deus ex Machina que me sacó bastante de la novela. Además, aunque la obra tiene dos o tres personajes principales convincentes, la mayoría de secundarios son meras marionetas que están ahí sin mayor impacto en la trama y cuyo destino apenas parece importar a nadie.

Stars and Bones me ha parecido una novela entretenida a la que le falta algo especial para destacar. No hay un personaje como Trouble Dog en Embers of War (a pesar de que sí tenemos un gato con capacidad de hablar) que sirva de icono para la historia. Y en alguna ocasión he tenido la sensación de estar leyendo una novela de la serie de The Expanse por lo similar de algunas de sus tramas. Eso no quita que sea una lectura con la que pasar un buen rato en la que Powell repite la formula de sus anteriores novelas, lo que la hace ideal para un primer acercamiento al género.

I have mixed feelings about this book because I thought it opened strong, has a great concept, good world building, interesting characters... basically all the elements that make a good story. However, the dialog was clunky at times and the writing style was not for me. And at times it almost has too much going on and almost too much genre blending for its own good, but at other times it's highly entertaining. As I said, it's a bit of a mix for me because I struggled to get through it but somehow felt satisfied at the end and was left trying to decide if I really enjoyed it or not. I suppose in the end I did enjoy it but thought it could have been a bit better.

I had the pleasure of recently reading the Recollection but this was my first Powell's book in a series.
It's the entertaining and fascinating start of a news series: a bit of horror, a bit of dystopia, a lot of tropes of classic sci-fi.
It was an entertaining read. It starts with a bang and the first pages are epic. It becomes a bit slower but it's gripping and I liked what I read.
I liked Eryn, found the Angel fascinating, and loved the talking cat.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The initial story with the Angel of Benevolence and the arkships setting was extremely interesting and for me that was the best part of this book. And the talking cat and envoys were another very interesting part too.

However, the rest of the plot wasn't very original and the characters didn't have anything really distinctive that made me really care about what would happen to them.

This would perhaps have been more engaging if I would have picked this book as one of my first space opera books, but for someone who has read a lot of space opera this does not have enough novelty. I will though try more books by this author in the near future.

I really enjoyed the opening of this story and the overall concept of it, but there were just elements of it that didn't work for me, The dialogue was at times stilted, and things felt quite repetitive. I think a lot of people will find enjoyment from it, though, so I will be recommending it to sci-fi fans and I may pick it up again when a different mood might make me feel differently.

Stars and Bones is one of those sci-fis that are captivating, but feel like they are missing something. We have the main character Eryn, who's living in a fleet of ships in space, and who's sister has gone missing after a recon mission on a strange planet. Humankind has been forced to space by an otherwordly species when humans were on the brink of destroying Earth.

The concept really sold the book for me, and I reaaaaaaaally wanted to discover what had happened to Eryn's sister. I got a bit disappointed when we learn about that very fast, at around 25% of the book. I liked the rest of the book, don't get me wrong. We get an alien invasion that can spread through imitating dead people, so that's pretty cool! Still, since the disappearance and the whole plot was first based on the sister going missing, I would have prefered to uncover that mystery later on.

As much as I liked the alien invasion and seeing it spread, having people starting to panick etc, there's one thing I didn't like : the angel concept thing. Humankind was chased off Earth by some weird angels, and they pop up again here and there in the book, but I really had a problem with them. They're these omniscient know-it-all who don't seem to give a damn about anything. Actually, they felt emo and teeny. I could absolutely picture them wearing black and moaning about how no one ever understands them. Hated them.

Fortunately, the writing style and the fast pace of the book saved it for me. I just kept reading, and couldn't get enough of seeing the development in the alien propagation, the other planets, reading about the Fleet hierarchy, etc. I wish there had been more about Fleet life, but it was still pretty good. A good read in general!

Stars and Bones is an enjoyable, fast romp of a space opera. The writing could occasionally be a bit heavy-handed, but I was so intrigued by the world itself, and found many of the characters to be hugely endearing. Obviously, I adored Sam the cat. Sadly, this did lose me a bit with only a few chapters left, in a manner that’s tricky to explain without spoilers – something about what happens felt off-kilter and unsatisfactory to me, as well as a character being introduced who I found immensely irritating. I will probably pick up the next in the series, however, even if said character plays a large part – I can’t wait to see where this series goes next, and I always appreciate a series instalment that can stand on its own two feet as well.

6.0 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/03/22/stars-and-bones-by-gareth-l-powell-review/

Man, this was a weird one.

It started out like a house on fire: an extraterrestrial attack right out of the gate that quickly transformed into a desperate race against time. That transformed into a… mystery? Whereupon suddenly introducing several new characters and plot-lines around the third- or halfway mark. The last third read a bit like the latest Star Wars movies, where they just ran with whatever thing first came to mind (despite it making little sense in the overall narrative) and made sure to add plenty of action sequences.

The romance was… cringeworthy. What happens between Eryn and Li isn’t so much a will-they-or-won’t-they as it is a why-is-something-going-on-i-hadn’t-noticed. What starts out as a one-night stand (or, a not-even one-night stand) in the face of a certain-death mission, slowly resolves into… nothing. There are a couple of kisses, interspersed by long gaps where Eryn looks at Li like a guest, but a stranger. Seriously, they talk only a handful of times—and it actually equates to anything meaningful once. And yet I’m supposed to believe that they’re madly in love by the end? That Eryn is so smitten with the person she routinely describes as a stranger that she actually says “I realized that I was always going to love her unconditionally and forever” at the end. Now I realize that some people can go head over heels damn quick but… were they reading the same book I was, or did I just miss something? Because this romance seems so forced it literally made me cringe, and gape when they so unexpectedly ended up in love.

In addition to a truly cringeworthy romance, the conclusion to the story was a bit of a blur. By which I mean confusing. I’m not going to get into it because of spoilers, but… I spent half of the time lost and the other half either experiencing deja vu or wondering how it’d possibly come to this point. But despite all odds when the end actually came, all my questions had been answered. As far as I could tell, all major threads had been tied up. It was extremely odd, but extremely impressive.

Yes, there was a talking cat, no, I don’t want to talk about it.

Despite it all, Stars and Bones wasn’t bad. It had a solid story, so long as you overlooked all the tangents, pseudo-parenting, and the romance (ye gods, don’t get me going on the romance again). A race against the clock as humanity faces extinction. Where Eryn must do everything she can to save the human race, despite the fact that all of it should be so, so far over her pay grade. From an action and adventure stand point: it was a decent read; there was a lot of both action and adventure. As an existential crisis: it wasn’t bad; it tackled several surprising issues like the nature of love and friendship, parenting, existence, and perseverance. As a mystery: it was crap; a bit like playing pin-the-tail while ignoring any and all hints or clues—you’re bound to get it eventually, monkeys and Shakespeare and all. As a book though… Stars and Bones was certainly a mixed bag. It had a lot of strong points, but some weak ones as well. And there was a lot to unpack.

I believe that was the biggest problem I had with Stars and Bones: its identity. This is simply a case of trying to do to much. In its bones, this was a Science Fiction/Space Opera. But with a little bit of thriller thrown in. Political thriller too. Romance, as well. Mystery. Adventure. Allegory for life. Philosophical endeavor.

Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell is a science fiction with about the worlds survival after earth has already blown up. The novels plot is half the science fiction horror movie Life meets half of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. This novel gets pretty brutal and no one is safe. The pace of the novel is good as you and the character's race for time and answers. The big Science Fiction ideas get a little heady but I felt I was able to follow along pretty well. The backstory for the plot and how the earthlings got to this moment in time was the highlight. Stars and Bones was brutal and gory at times as bodies are broken apart and reformed not always in the right way making them nightmare creatures. The narrative pick 6 characters to tell the story, we stay with Eryn for most of it and the other character fill in the past and other areas that are important to the narrative that she is not involved yet. The beginning of the novel is super overwhelming as it is all exposition and history which I thought is this the second book in a series because there is so much to absorb, I promise you readers this is the first book and will make more sense later. I do not read a lot of science fiction that is not Star Wars but I really enjoyed this story and the imagination behind it. I read Stars and Bones thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books. Star and Bones by Gareth L. Powell is published on March 1 2022.

The Plot Summery: 75 Years from now the Earth will be at war and on the verge of armageddon, but as the missiles flew at the and entity was watching and stepped in. A scientist just hours before had found the substrate a way of which to travel from place to place over distance. Years after this all the earthlings are on giant arcs looking for a new home, they travel through the substrate searching light years in the future. Where a survey team finds a land full of bones, then run into an enemy that takes the humans apart and reassembles making a new creature. Eryn is on the search for her sister a member of the survey team. Eryn and her crew barely escape with their lives, but the the enemy follows and wants all the lives on arcs. Eryn must solve a mystery that began when people left earth.

What I Liked: I loved the idea for this story, it was wild and fun. I liked how action packed it got at times. I liked the character of Eryn and her willingness to sacrifice what she cared about. I liked the bad guys, I wanted a little bit more when it was revealed what it was at the end but was satisfied up until that point. I loved Sam the talking cat, and his musings on the world but still had cat moments. I loved the arcs and how they were all different and came with it's own theme. The pace was really great it made it a pretty easy read. I liked that the enemy kept evolving and perfecting the way it put people back together, so it made it hard to tell who had already died and was actually the enemy. I loved the backstory that was created.

What I Disliked: Eryn has this big moment with the enemy, explaining why she sacrificed and did everything to raise her sisters kid, then when everything was said and done she doesn't end up raising the kid, this was very frustrating. there was kind of a reason but it wasn't good enough after everything Eryn sacrificed. The beginning was too much exposition, I literally stopped reading to check if this was a sequel, but it was not, there was so much it felt like one.

Recommendation: Stars and Bones is a fun ride with lots at stake. This is the first book in a trilogy and I'm excited for the next cause I have no idea where this is going to go but I like the idea of the arcs. I recommend you check out Stars and Bones it is not blow your mind science fiction but it is science fiction done really well like a combination of 4 really good ideas and episodes from Star Trek. When I found out what the enemy was it felt very Star Trek, but a good episode of Star Trek. I rated Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell 4 out of 5 stars. I debated for a little bit going to 5 stars but felt 4 is where it belongs.

"Stars and Bones" is another great, well written space opera by Gareth Powell. Start with some science fiction, add some dripping gore for horror, throw in some noir and add a lot of action and that's what you have here. Highly recommend this book.

Stars and Bones is a sci-fi with intriguing worldbuilding and an action-packed plot, but the characters could have been developed further.

Years after humanity are miraculously saved from nuclear war by a powerful extraterrestrial being and uplifted towards the stars, a spaceship makes a dangerous discovery. So dangerous that the entire crew are ripped to shreds. Eryn, whose sister was on the expedition, investigates and narrowly survives with her life. Whatever it was won’t let them escape so easily as it sets its goals on tearing through the entire human fleet

The worldbuilding in Stars and Bones is infinitely interesting and leaves me wanting more from the universe. With powerful, ancient extraterrestrial beings, exploration, an inspection of A.I., and the human race as a diaspora from Earth, the ideas Gareth L. Powell brings forwards are intriguing and imaginative. The writing is compelling and fun – you can tell the author has a lot of experience creating engaging stories. The characters were weaker. They lacked in-depth backgrounds, development, and relationship growth which dampened some of the emotional moments of the book. There’s a sapphic relationship here, but the love interest was a particularly one-dimensional character. The lack of strong characters is disappointing considering the potential this story had. Either way, it’s worth a read, and fans of popular science fiction such as The Expanse would have a particularly good time with this one.

"Stars and Bones" by Gareth L. Powell is an exciting space opera. In the near future, humanity finds itself exiled from Earth and traveling the galaxy in a fleet of massive ark ships. (The details of exactly how humanity ends up in this situation are rather interesting but to describe them here would be an unforgivable spoiler.) The novel largely focuses around a scout pilot and her sentient scout ship as they do everything they can to save themselves and the vulnerable fleet of the entirety of the human race from gruesome death by a terrifyingly powerful. mysterious force. Although this book had a little more horror than I usually like in my science fiction, it was very readable, had all the elements I like in SF: space ships, AI, space battle, super tech, thought provoking aliens, and fascinating cultural adaptations. I practically could not put it down until I finished it. I look forward to reading more by Gareth L. Powell.

I thank the publisher and author for kindly providing an electronic review copy of this book.

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…