Embers of War

There have been some really fantastic found family style sci-fi novels I have read recently, and this one is certainly up there! Embers of War follows the story of a former warship (The Trouble Dog), whose AI got a conscience and refused to be a fighter any more instead joining a humanitarian organisation to assist and rescue spaceships in distress. The crew members have found themselves there for various reasons, some having fought on opposing sides in a recent war. The development of the relationships of the crew and the ship form the backbone of the novel.

Overlaid over this is a much grander space opera style story. The former war is referenced multiple times, and the implications of this play large in the politics at play. The Trouble Dog is drawn in when it sent to the aid of a downed space liner in a mysterious space system.

The characters really do shine in this novel, Gareth Powell really makes you care for them despite all their various differences. Thoroughly enjoyed, and I am looking forward to seeing the story continue to develop!

I asked for sci-fi recommendations on Twitter, and book-blog/writer Twitter being as awesome as it is, it didn't let me down. I had a ton of suggestions, and read through a couple of the synopsis and decided to start here, and I'm definitely not disappointed I did!

The Plot
Embers of War only spanned a few days, overall, but they were definitely a dramatic couple of days. The introduction is strong, and surprising, featuring death almost immediately. And not a small number of deaths either, I'm talking planetary annihilation. That definitely awakens the reader to the brutalities of war, and war in a science fiction perspective can be totally brutal. These futuristic weapons don't play around. This introduction is the basis for this whole book, and it's used so well throughout. Me being the idiot I am didn't even think up or imagine one of the links the characters had to the war, and I applaud the author for that.

This book is technically part of a series, and I didn't realise that going into it, but it works pretty well as a standalone if you didn't want to go on and read the rest. The ending wraps up the main arc nicely, and we're only left with a few threads and wonders of what is going to happen next.

The World
Yay for awesome sci-fi world-building. Powell manages to build a complex world, far in the future, but not drown us in too much information most of the time. There were a few sections where we do get a little bogged down in information, mostly from the AI spaceship. One that sticks with me is when it starts comparing one side of the war, the “Conglomeration” to various things from history, such as the Anglo-American culture and the classical Greco-Roman empires. This only lasts for a paragraph or two, but about two sentences in, I was horribly bored and skipped to the end of that section. Most of the time, it's awesome, but there is the odd area where we veer a little close to info-dump, and not even interesting info dump.

Beyond that, we've got an interesting clash between the Conglomeration and the Outward, but not much else going on with regards to species. There's mention of other species, and there is something non-human on the main ship, but it's not mentioned too often, and aliens definitely aren't the focus of this. It's very much about humanity and what humans are capable of, with a fascinating dash of ship AI.

The Characters

Trouble Dog

Trouble Dog is our main AI spaceship. She's a person, basically, just in the form of a massive warship, who regrets her past, so joins an organisation that rescues people, rather than kills them. She battles with emotion, as AIs often do, and still battles with that side of her that was built to be a warship, and sorely misses the massive guns that being a rescue ship, rather than a warship, means she no longer has. Trouble Dog was probably my favourite character, who made me smile and cheer with some of her comments and actions.

“The Trouble Dog gave a credible impression of an indignant sniff. If she had been a child, she would have been pouting. “I told the idiot to give me back my guns.””

Sal Konstanz

Ona Sudak

Would I read it again?

Will I be picking up the next in the series?

Would I recommend it?

Is it going on my favourites shelf?

This is probably Gareth L Powell's best book yet. He is back in the space opera territory of The Recollection (there's no narrative link between the books, they're just in the same broad field). Not only do I love that subgenre, but it's also fair to say that he has grown considerably as a writer since that novel. So basically I'm onto a winner here.
There are shades of Iain M Banks in the sentient warships, and of Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space in the bizarre alien archaeology, but there is also plenty here that it purely Powell. There's lots of invention (if ever you don't like one of the ideas here don't worry, there'll be another one along in a minute), a (mostly) likeable cast, and an engaging narrative structure with a series of shifting first person viewpoints. It also does the excellent trick of setting up a series while still working as a self contained novel. Bring on the next two volumes.