Slow Bullets

April 27, 2015
An interstellar war has just come to an end, but some violence-loving soldiers are reluctant to stand down. Scur, separated from her unit, is captured and tortured by the sadistic Orvin. After passing out, she awakens from suspended animation to find herself on an enormous starship floating dead in space about 1,000 years in the future. Other than the hapless crew, who have also just revived, the ship is now inhabited by hundreds of former soldiers, war criminals (including Orvin), and civilians, none of whom know why they’re there or where in space they are. Scur quickly takes charge, hoping to preserve order, to figure out why they’re on board in the first place, and to enact vengeance on the malignant Orvin. This is an odd tale, stylized and almost gothic in its sensibilities, reminiscent of Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three in its willingness to mystify its audience and leave its shipboard mysteries unsolved. Scur is not a particularly appealing protagonist, but her growth from embittered grunt to legitimate leader is worth following. Reynolds (Poseidon’s Wake) has a loyal base of hard-SF fans, and this novella, though relatively minor, should satisfy them.

Starred review from June 15, 2015

What happens to survivors at the end of an interstellar war? In the latest from Reynolds ("Revelation Space" series), refugees, soldiers, and criminals are loaded aboard the same vessel and plunged into cryo-suspension. When Scur wakes in her capsule, she's confused, as it seems far too soon and no one is in charge. With the ship's computer in terminal decline and the only stable source of information the slow bullets injected into their bodies, Scur and the other passengers must decide what's more important, their personal lives or the larger fate of humanity VERDICT While shorter than Reynolds's usual fare, this is no less ambitious in covering vast scopes of space and time while addressing big questions. Suggest to fans of Ian MacDonald or Kim Stanley Robinson, particularly those who liked Aurora.--JM

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