In the Shadow of the Ship is all about generational trauma, being the fireman when the universe is on fire, and pursuing the eternally shifting goal posts of parental approval. Our Protagonist is a young woman named Khuyên who ran away from the mindship The Nightjar, Thirsting for Water when she was sixteen. (Why she ran away is not so much hinted at, as hung over your head like a boulder held up by piano wire. I am impressed by Aliette de Bodard’s ability to balance the blatant horror while still creating a strong sense of suspense.)
The sentient starship is a former warship turned into a safe haven for a colony of refugees who are avoiding the chaos outside mostly by avoiding it…to the point they’ve become extremely insular in ways that are kind of toxic! She returns as an adult having become a magistrate of the crumbling remains of an empire torn by war, for her grandmother’s funeral.
She does not receive a warm welcome from her family, and it quickly becomes apparent that The Nightjar was never a safe haven, and Khuyên had a really good reason for running away. The highlights of Khuyên’s arrival involve parental disapproval that she left, parental disproval that she isn’t married yet, and a mysterious woman named Thảo, who asks a lot of questions, but who no one else seems to be able to see. When her teenaged cousin goes missing, Khuyên goes to look for her, assisted by Thảo. We then get a slow reveal of who Thảo really is as they attempt to reach the place where the mind ship’s brain is housed before Khuyên’s cousin meets the fate that she avoided by running away sixteen years previously.
In the Shadow of the Ship is a compelling combination of family drama and psychological horror. This is a great read if you go in for both. Shadow is a fast-paced read, and again, ramps up the tension, though most of the revelations toward the end are more like confirmations of the rot beneath the safety and security promised by the ship.
This review is based off of a copy received from NetGalley
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