Arkhangelsk
Elizabeth Bonesteel
House Panther Publishing
Fiction, Sci-Fi
Themes: Diversity, Girl Power, Space Stories
****
Description
Earth was dying when the generation ship Arkhangelsk blasted off, carrying with it the last survivors. On a radiation-soaked iceball
of a planet, they established a tenuous foothold, the city of Novayarcha, and thus have endured for generations. Occasional raids from outcast
Exiles and inevitable losses to the harsh environment notwithstanding, they have overcome old rifts and strife to build a perfect society...
one that Anya Savelova, as head peace officer, is proud to serve, for all the personal sacrifices it calls for.
Until she learns it was all built on a lie.
The arrival of a ship from Earth - the Hypatia - should be impossible, yet there it is, orbiting and broadcasting. Worse, it claims that
it is just the first: at least at the time it departed, Earth may have been battered, but humans were far from dead. For a tightly-run and
highly insular society like Novayarkha, the mere existence of outsiders from Old Earth is heretical, and the ideas they bring downright
dangerous - especially as they make Anya see her own world in a new light, and ask questions she is not supposed to ask.
For all that the colonists overcame to establish their "last" outpost, they may not survive this...
Review
First off, I should note that my perception might be skewed by it having taken me a long time to read this title, through no fault of the story. (Have I mentioned that 2022 has been a very aggravating year? Because it's been a very aggravating year, which meant I had to set this book aside for weeks at a stretch to deal with Other Things that came up. But I digress...) So if it took me a little longer than it should have for me to lock into the story's groove, it's likely due to the interruptions. Once I did lock in, I found myself immersed in a well-thought-out story of two isolated populations - one on the planet, one aboard the starship - coming into contact. On the ground, Anya is struggling to cope with yet another unexplained disappearance (not to mention the long-term grief from having lost her own child; due to radiation, the hostile environs, and the small genetic pool in Novayarcha, many die young, and reproduction is strictly controlled), with the officially sanctioned explanation clashing with her gut instincts. Aboard Hypatia, things are far from healthy, as well; a collision in space has decimated the crew compliment and damaged both ship and data logs, making details of their mission fuzzier than they should be. As determined as Captain Maddie is to see their objective - constructing a relay transmitter, enabling communication with Old Earth and further exploration by other starships - completed, the discovery of a surviving colony from the legendary lost vessel Arkhangelsk throws the entire mission for a loop, for all that it offers possibilities. A tentative friendship between Anya and Maddie could build a bridge between the two mutually mistrustful populations or destroy everything on both sides, as cultures clash and xenophobia wars with curiosity, the worst of human nature and society forever in conflict with its best potential. The story progresses, sometimes at a run and sometimes at a walk, wending through revelations, betrayals, misunderstandings, and hard truths revealed all around. Ignorance doesn't erase injustices, and yesterday's lies fester, tainting the future. Things finally build to a solid climax and a pivotal point that might redefine the colony, the ship, and the future. The whole made for a solidly enjoyable story, which I probably would've liked more had I not kept being interrupted by real life; this is not the kind of story where one can just dip in and dip out, but requires some focus and thought and time to connect the dots and follow the threads.