Rivers Solomon’s 'An Unkindness Of Ghosts' takes on the Sci-Fi trope of the 'Generation Ship', but Solomon's tale has an uncomfortable retelling of the cruelty of the slave plantations, as well as LGBT+ and neurodiverse characters whom are brought to life with societal observations and wonderful science reimagined.
The book focuses on The HMS Matilda which has been travelling for three hundred years, searching for a new home for humanity, the proverbial promised land. The inhabitants of the Matlida are strictly ordered, with the white, privileged upper decks living a life of luxury, whilst the diverse inhabitants of the lower decks are doing back-breaking work in awful conditions for 12 hour shifts to keep the Matilda supplied with food and fuel.
Matilda is an old Germanic name to mean 'strength in battle' and it's a theme that runs through the book and especially for Aster, the main protagonist.
Aster lives on the lower decks and has taught herself the sciences relating to biology and chemistry. The science is pretty much accurate but there's fun with names/spellings. She is also a medic and assistant to the ship’s Surgeon. Her mother Lune committed suicide twenty years ago, shortly after Aster’s birth, leaving Aint Melusine to raise her. The Aint is on purpose. Even language shifts between the decks.
Aster helps out her bunk mates in the wheat fields and tends to the plants in her Botanarium that provide her medicines. This all changes when there is a power shift on the Matilda. A new Lieutenant takes control and he has a long standing intense dislike for Aster. At the same time, her best friend keeps disappearing and she learns new information about her dead mother and starts trying to learn physics to understand the coded research she left behind. And the glimmer of a possibility to escape.
The lower Deckers experience abuse from the Guards as corporal punishment or sexual violence. They are subjected to forced labour and curfews, they are denied the education, health care and access to food that the upper Deckers enjoy.
Her neurodiversity means she takes things literally and experiences audio and visual hallucinations. But it's never indicated as a mental illness. There are people that call her an ogre and freak. She's used to the names. But at no point, did I, as a reader, think of Aster as an ogre nor a freak. In fact, it was the exact opposite. She was my kind of heroine and she was beautiful inside and out.
But this a story about resistance. And it's never easy. Aster and her friend's sufferings are stark but there is also hope. Relationships have flourished for Aster. Her best friend Giselle, her Aint Melusine and Theo.
Aster and Theo are both uncomfortable in their assigned gender and find freedom in managing to find ways to express their gender identities. Though the novel is mainly told from Aster’s perspective, each section starts with a chapter from the viewpoint of one of the other main characters. Hopefully that means there's more stories to tell, whether it's Lune's backstory, more about Theo, Giselle, Aint Museline or ideally a full series.
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