Sisters of the Vast Black, by Lina Rather

[sophia_sol]

This book started out SO strong, with a bunch of space nuns living in a living spaceship grown from a species of slug, each of the nuns with their own personalities and foibles and strengths and weaknesses that make living together in a small, isolated community a fun challenge. And it was so good at this!!! So good!!!!!! But then we went and had plot happen.

First of all, it's a plot about plague, and I don't love that kind of thing too much anymore. And second of all, it's a plot specifically about how the government is trying to nefariously do horrible things to people via secret ingredients they put into vaccines, and I REALLY don't love THAT kind of thing anymore!!!

And then the conclusion is so depressing, that although yes they were able to save the lives of a scant few people, war and plague and death are inevitably coming on a vast scale, and they're just a few tiny insignificant people who will be doing what small acts they can to try to make everything slightly less horrible. And this conclusion COULD have been done in a way that made me feel hopeful? But it wasn't. It was just "yeah everything sucks now."

I also don't love that it was the mother superior's husband who invented the horrible deadly plague in question; she has enough of her own interestingly complicated backstory already, she doesn't need that to add extra tragedy/connection/whatever. Plus I guess I don't like that the plague IS a human creation from the start, rather than a natural plague that is being co-opted for evil.

But. The part where it was weird nuns in space each being their own very human person, that was SO good. I want to read more of that novel :(

I struggled with how to rate this book, because the first part of the book is EASILY 5 stars, but then the question is how much the rest of it pulls down the rating. I ended up deciding on 3 stars, but I'm really not convinced about that, because the first part WAS so incredibly good. Sigh.

Comments

[aurumcalendula]

First of all, it's a plot about plague, and I don't love that kind of thing too much anymore. And second of all, it's a plot specifically about how the government is trying to nefariously do horrible things to people via secret ingredients they put into vaccines, and I REALLY don't love THAT kind of thing anymore!!!

Ugh! I knew there was plague related plot (which is what pushed it towards the bottom of my tbr list), but not the vaccine stuff. I suspect the parts I'd like (the weird space nuns sound cool) would be soured by those bits.

[sophia_sol]

Yeah I was so disappointed! I actually didn't even know about the plague plot going in, unfortunately, so I was unprepared on several levels.

[hamsterwoman]

Oh wow, I've been vaguely interested in checking out this book (heard good things and it's a very cool title), but I had no idea about the specifics of the man-made plague or secret-ingredients-in-vaccines angle. I... think I'm gonna pass. Which is a pity, because a lot of the other things you say sound very cool!

[sophia_sol]

Yeah, super reasonable. I think maybe it would have read differently in the long-ago days of 2019 when this book was published, but here we are in the year 2022 and the world is what it is.

[marginaliana]

I think I felt the same as you about this. Fascinating premise, really interesting characterization of the different nuns, and then... that plot.

[sophia_sol]

yeah. :( THAT PLOT.

[lirazel]

I will probably give this a chance because "space nuns" is a premise written just for me, but I am glad to have my expectations lowered before I start it. What a shame to squander that potential!

[sophia_sol]

Yeahhh it really is too bad! I hope you're able to enjoy the space nuns part though!

[genarti]

Oh dear! The nuns sound SO COOL, and then... all the rest of it. Sigh. Secret evil ingredients in vaccines would've been a hard sell for me at any point in the last 15-odd years, but it REALLY hits differently in 2022, as you say, especially in combination with a human-created plague.

But the nuns do sound incredibly cool.

[sophia_sol]

YEAH :((((( exactly

[chestnut_pod]

Oh, sigh! I had remembered some things about this book -- including a general sense of disappointment -- but not that it was evil machined vaccines. :(

[sophia_sol]

YEAH, the government is using the standard vaccines it ~generously~ gives independent colonists to seeeeeecretly actually spread the evil human-made plague, so that it can then take over the colonies. HATE THIS.