Michael Barnes
Slow Gods begins with an announcement by a entity known as the Slow—a perfect black sphere older than civilization— across the galaxy. In one hundred years, the binary star system Lhonoja will go supernova, unleashing a wave of radiation that will sterilize all life within an 83-light-year radius
Born in the United Social Venture, or “the Shine,” a hyper-capitalist empire where every citizen is born into debt and their worth is measured solely by their labor. The Shine's great lie phrased in a aphorism “All are born equal, and by their labours shall they rise.” the Shine tries to suppress the truth of the coming apocalypse to maintain control, Mawukana is caught in the ensuing riots, branded a dissident, and sentenced to a living hell as an indentured laborer. (remind you of anything contemporary). When Maw is crippled he is brutally used as the interface required to pilot through arcspace, the passage through the void that conjures horrors that unsettle pilots, other society's do it differently, and part of the books strengths is revealing these different approaches to reflect societies. But as a result Maw is changed by the black, so it ticks the box for one of my other favourite genres Eldrich Space horror.
"The dark, they say, does not care for such petty concerns as hearts, minds or souls. The great unknowable has one nameable feature, and one alone: it is curious."
As the supernova’s deadline approaches, Mawukana is drawn into the grand, slow-moving plan of the entity that started it all. He travels to the planet Adjumir, the world closest to the blast, which has chosen not to fight its fate but to dedicate itself to a grand “Exodus”—evacuating its people and preserving its culture. (sort of like a country that choose to dedicate itself to addressing the threat even if it can not save everyone. Here, Maw meets Gebre, a cultural preservationist who teaches him about purpose, sacrifice, and a love that extends beyond the self.
Mawukana’s journey becomes a key strand in a vast, multi-generational conspiracy involving AI companions, a galactic collective consciousness, and the Slow itself.
Their goal is not to stop the supernova, but to use the crisis it creates to break the back of the oppressive Shine empire forever. Mawukana, with his unique abilities and fractured identity, finds himself as the unexpected linchpin in a plan that requires unimaginable sacrifice and redefines the very meaning of love on a cosmic scale.
When Maw encounters the slow towards the books end there is an multipage exchange that ticks all my boxes for thinky space opera dialog on discussing love.
“THERE IS NO WORD IN NORMSPEAK, IN MDO-SO, IN ADJUMIRI TO EXPRESS THE LOVE THAT IS REQUIRED TO CHANGE A WORLD. IT IS A UNIVERSAL LOVE FOR ALL CREATURES, ALL LIVING THINGS. IT DEMANDS NOT THAT YOU FIGHT FOR THE ONE PERSON WHO IS DEAR TO YOUR HEART, BUT THAT YOU LET THEM PERISH IF TWO OTHERS MAY LIVE. IT IS THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR A STRANGER. THIS IS THE LOVE THAT A GOD SHOULD HAVE, AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL, AND IT IS UNFORGIVING, AND IT IS IT CRUEL.” (Like Terry Pratchett's Death The Slow speaks in ALL CAPITALS.
Reading this has pushed my desire to reread Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series of novels further up the list, like Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Slow Gods explores gender descriptions. In the interlude headed “A note on gender,” they explain all the different pronouns in the setting of Slow Gods. One race, the aka-aka, have a single gender and are “we”; another, the aforementioned Adjumir, have eight genders and many pronouns, based on region. The use of a variety of pronouns throughout the novel (xe, xim, que, quim, Hé, hím, and more) normalises gender fluidity and non-binary cultures, and is also used to demonstrate the othering of some of the peoples. I like how one character humorously points out: “You can remember the difference between innumerable different types of sausage or sporting teams, but you cannot hold in your mind a mere half-dozen or so categories of people?” (Plan to use that as a reply to any transphobes I encounter) Even machines have different pronouns: Maw has a kind of robotic intelligence as a companion who is known as “qi” (in one of qis guises, qis is a three-tailed fox).
The Prose is Breathtaking: Claire North’s writing is both precise and poetic, capable of describing the cold equations of astrophysics and the warmth of human connection with equal skill. If I can only choose one passage to convince you
“We are the seeds of the forest, we blaze so bright, no life is special. No life is special. No life is special and all of them are. No love matters more than any other, no story is more important, nothing matters more, nothing matters less, so choose, choose, we choose every day to be more than just ourselves, to live for more than just ourselves, because it is beautiful".
It is a beautiful meditation on what it means to be human in a universe that doesn’t care.
Slow Gods begins with an announcement by a entity known as the Slow—a perfect black sphere older than civilization— across the galaxy. In one hundred years, the binary star system Lhonoja will go supernova, unleashing a wave of radiation that will sterilize all life within an 83-light-year radius
Born in the United Social Venture, or “the Shine,” a hyper-capitalist empire where every citizen is born into debt and their worth is measured solely by their labor. The Shine's great lie phrased in a aphorism “All are born equal, and by their labours shall they rise.” the Shine tries to suppress the truth of the coming apocalypse to maintain control, Mawukana is caught in the ensuing riots, branded a dissident, and sentenced to a living hell as an indentured laborer. (remind you of anything contemporary). When Maw is crippled he is brutally used as the interface required to pilot through arcspace, the passage through the void that conjures horrors that unsettle pilots, other society's do it differently, and part of the books strengths is revealing these different approaches to reflect societies. But as a result Maw is changed by the black, so it ticks the box for one of my other favourite genres Eldrich Space horror.
"The dark, they say, does not care for such petty concerns as hearts, minds or souls. The great unknowable has one nameable feature, and one alone: it is curious."
As the supernova’s deadline approaches, Mawukana is drawn into the grand, slow-moving plan of the entity that started it all. He travels to the planet Adjumir, the world closest to the blast, which has chosen not to fight its fate but to dedicate itself to a grand “Exodus”—evacuating its people and preserving its culture. (sort of like a country that choose to dedicate itself to addressing the threat even if it can not save everyone. Here, Maw meets Gebre, a cultural preservationist who teaches him about purpose, sacrifice, and a love that extends beyond the self.
Mawukana’s journey becomes a key strand in a vast, multi-generational conspiracy involving AI companions, a galactic collective consciousness, and the Slow itself.
Their goal is not to stop the supernova, but to use the crisis it creates to break the back of the oppressive Shine empire forever. Mawukana, with his unique abilities and fractured identity, finds himself as the unexpected linchpin in a plan that requires unimaginable sacrifice and redefines the very meaning of love on a cosmic scale.
When Maw encounters the slow towards the books end there is an multipage exchange that ticks all my boxes for thinky space opera dialog on discussing love.
“THERE IS NO WORD IN NORMSPEAK, IN MDO-SO, IN ADJUMIRI TO EXPRESS THE LOVE THAT IS REQUIRED TO CHANGE A WORLD. IT IS A UNIVERSAL LOVE FOR ALL CREATURES, ALL LIVING THINGS. IT DEMANDS NOT THAT YOU FIGHT FOR THE ONE PERSON WHO IS DEAR TO YOUR HEART, BUT THAT YOU LET THEM PERISH IF TWO OTHERS MAY LIVE. IT IS THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR A STRANGER. THIS IS THE LOVE THAT A GOD SHOULD HAVE, AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL, AND IT IS UNFORGIVING, AND IT IS IT CRUEL.” (Like Terry Pratchett's Death The Slow speaks in ALL CAPITALS.
Reading this has pushed my desire to reread Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series of novels further up the list, like Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Slow Gods explores gender descriptions. In the interlude headed “A note on gender,” they explain all the different pronouns in the setting of Slow Gods. One race, the aka-aka, have a single gender and are “we”; another, the aforementioned Adjumir, have eight genders and many pronouns, based on region. The use of a variety of pronouns throughout the novel (xe, xim, que, quim, Hé, hím, and more) normalises gender fluidity and non-binary cultures, and is also used to demonstrate the othering of some of the peoples. I like how one character humorously points out: “You can remember the difference between innumerable different types of sausage or sporting teams, but you cannot hold in your mind a mere half-dozen or so categories of people?” (Plan to use that as a reply to any transphobes I encounter) Even machines have different pronouns: Maw has a kind of robotic intelligence as a companion who is known as “qi” (in one of qis guises, qis is a three-tailed fox).
The Prose is Breathtaking: Claire North’s writing is both precise and poetic, capable of describing the cold equations of astrophysics and the warmth of human connection with equal skill. If I can only choose one passage to convince you
“We are the seeds of the forest, we blaze so bright, no life is special. No life is special. No life is special and all of them are. No love matters more than any other, no story is more important, nothing matters more, nothing matters less, so choose, choose, we choose every day to be more than just ourselves, to live for more than just ourselves, because it is beautiful".
It is a beautiful meditation on what it means to be human in a universe that doesn’t care.