Artifact Space by Miles Cameron

TL;DR: A slow build with a fantastic payoff.
Source: NetGalley & a physical copy via the publisher, thank you so much!

Plot: Nbaro gets her dream job aboard a Greatship right when it becomes clear someone is trying to destroy them.
Characters: There were a wide variety of them and I enjoyed them.
Setting: The best part for me. This felt like such a well drawn world.
Science Fiction: There is notes of science fantasy, but not till much later. The bulk of this is a good hard SF.

Summary:

Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships.

With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space. They transport an unimaginable volume—and value—of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species.

It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the escape her upbringing and venture into space. All it took to make her way onto the crew of the Greatship Athens was thousands of hours in simulators, dedication, and the pawning or selling of every scrap of her old life in order to forge a new one. But although she’s made her way onboard with fake papers, leaving her old life—and scandals—behind isn’t so easy.

She may have just combined all the dangers of her former life with the perils of the new…

Thoughts:

The build on this is slow, I’ll open with that. But the payoff is soooo good. This feels like a proper space epic, you have looming threats, great big ships, and a wide and varied cast of characters. Nbaro is coming from nothing, and upon achieving her dream job (with some underhandedness) she finds out that job may kill her as someone is targeting the Greatships.

Spaceships have never been a huge draw for me, but this book really sold me on them. The Greatship where most of this takes place is such a fascinating and well drawn setting. The characters that inhabit it really seem to live and love it and I enjoyed both the intense action sequences and the day to day of life on the Athens.

The plot itself doesn’t lack either. I was INVESTED. Who is attacking Greatships and why? Everyone had ideas but nothing was clicking completely till it slowly started to build and I enjoyed everything about it.

If you want a new space epic? Give this a try. The reading and listening experience is fantastic and I cannot wait for book two.