Name: Ion Curtain
ISBN: 9781786185990

Anya Ow

Ion Curtain

Shona Tiger

Thank you to NetGalley and to Rebellion Publishing for this ARC!

Humanity has conquered Space, and there are two main powers: the UN, which is mainly the old Sol superpower, China, and The Federation, which was Russia (a wonderfully non-Anglo-powered universe). They are as competitive as ever, but there has been no war for a long time as trade makes more sense.

Things are apparently about to change, though. The Federation has created ASI ships, the first generation of which goes rogue. Initially, the UN believes there is some kind of civil war in the Federation, but it soon becomes clear that the rogue ships are the enemy of all of humanity.

Anya Ow has built a fantastic universe, with a sometimes baffling amount of detail to it. I’m a huge fan of this kind of intricacy, but I had to let go of trying to make sense of all of the details and just enjoy the story—which I very much did. Ow creates and develops really great characters: my favourites are the ships, because, SENTIENT SHIPS! I always love those in SF, and these are named in the great tradition. (I probably only needed to say sentient ships to any fan of old space opera to finish this review.)

Some themes: politics, war, ASI, queerness and a queer sex scene, strong male protagonists (don’t worry, there are some very cool women, just a little less developed). There is a very diverse cast, which is a thrill. I was very intrigued by the politics, because this isn’t written from a [Westcentric] perspective: there is a lot of nuance, and you likely won’t find yourself cheering for one side over the other (although, I confess, the Feds seemed pretty cool to me).

I imagine the final book may be a little shorter than the ARC, which was really quite long (no complaints from me, i loved hanging out in this universe). We have also been set up for a sequel, for which I cannot wait.

Highly recommended for all fans of military SF and space opera.

Rated: 8/10.

Ion Curtain

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