An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon
1 Rating(s)
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

An Unkindness of Ghosts

Author: Rivers Solomon

Narrator: Cherise Boothe

Unabridged: 11 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2017

Synopsis

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, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world.Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, 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. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot—if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

About Rivers Solomon

Rivers Solomon is the author of An Unkindness of Ghosts and has twice been a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Rivers Solomon graduated from Stanford University with a degree in comparative studies in race and ethnicity and holds an MFA in fiction from the Michener Center for Writers.

About Cherise Boothe

Cherise Boothe, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, has worked extensively in theater, film, television, and narration. She has appeared in numerous regional plays, as well as in television shows such as The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU, and Gossip Girl. She holds an MFA in acting from New York University. She was a finalist in 2015 for the prestigious Audie Award for best multivoiced narration.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Elle

“I am a boy and a girl and a witch all wrapped into one very strange, flimsy, indecisive body. Do you think my body couldn't decide what it wanted to be?” 4 1/2 stars. This was so good. Living on the lower levels of a worldship from which there is no escape, a group of characters live constantly......more

Goodreads review by Bradley

This one is rather hard to rate for one good reason: It is good, and I did not like it. I would reasonably give this 3.5 stars, but let me explain: The good. Really quite wonderful main characters, all full of interesting mixtures. Astra seems to have autism, is rather more gay than not, but more clos......more

Goodreads review by Cindy

I really enjoyed this! I love how the book incorporated intersectional black/gender identities and paralleled the antebellum South to create a richer story. It was a unique take on the scifi & dystopian genre that opens wider paths for inclusive storytelling. I'm not just giving it diversity points......more

Quotes

“Immediately immersive and sophisticated…This is a phenomenal piece of work.” Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The more I read the bigger I felt, falling down a rabbit-hole of sky and wanting only to go deeper and farther with every page.“ NPR

“What the audiobook does that the printed word can’t is layer in accents on top of these grammatical distinctions in identity, which Cherise Booth does using mainly Caribbean variants. This gives an already emotionally challenging book even more depth, but trust that it is worth it.” Paste magazine (audio review)

“Narrator Cherise Boothe has her hands full with this story…With each section having its own patois and the rulers their own stiff language, Boothe must juggle a dozen different accents and dialects, and she does so with ease.” AudioFile

“It’s structurally and thematically daring and manages to include a little bit of hope while leveling a devastating critique at racism and fascism.” Los Angeles Times

“Think the class system on the decks of the Titanic meets Battlestar Galactica…The main character, Aster, is amazing and complex.” BookRiot

"[A] highly imaginative sci-fi novel.” BuzzFeed

“Highly recommended for anyone interested in the ever-growing field of SF which is invested in engaging with race, gender, and sexuality as an integral part of any vision of the future.” IndiePicks Magazine

“A raw distillation of slavery, feudalism, prison, and religion that kicks like rotgut moonshine…This is worldbuilding by poetry…Stunning.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Suffused with the past, the present, and the future of human experiences in its events, An Unkindness of Ghosts launches the career of a brilliantly gifted and important new writer in science fiction.” Foreword Reviews (starred reviews)

Awards

  • BuzzFeed Books Pick
  • Library Journal Editor’s Pick
  • NPR Best Book
  • Publishers Weekly Best Book
  • Paste Magazine Pick
  • BookRiot Pick
  • Lambda Literary Award
  • Locus Award
  • Barnes & Noble Pick
  • Los Angeles Review of Books Pick
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