75 years ago an entity saved humanity and kept them from harming Earth ever again. Amongst the stars we follow Eryn, the Navigator of a sentient/AI ship as it surveys and scouts ahead of humanities fleet of Ark ships, collectively called the Continuance.

But when a distress call from Candidate-623 leads to her sister disappearing, Eryn does what she must to be part of the investigation. Revealing a horrifying mystery she must race to solve.

From the start the inclusion of Sam, the talking cat, and a dry sarcastic ship’s avatar set the tone which carried me all the way to the end of the story. We spend most of the novel in Eryn’s perspective, bouncing around a few of the others in the group and one exploring the events of the past. The switching of perspectives are well utilised at forming the structure and manipulating the pacing, but the perspectives were not distinct enough that I ever cared for them besides the flashback perspective.

Powell writes clearly enough that I did not struggle with the audiobook during the action beats (Dyslexia effects my audio processing very mildly, but enough to make intense action intelligible in this format). The audiobook was well narrated by the voice actor, adding subtle difference between voices which fit the descriptions we were given. I was less of a fan of the accents, but not enough to swap to the physical book instead.

A sequel was published in April 2023; however, it follows a new set of characters making this a standalone story with more to explore in the universe.

To read more, go to:
https://lnsanby.co.uk/2024/06/16/book-review-stars-amp-bones-by-gareth-l-powell/