Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather's debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black. Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own. When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.

Unexpected delight

I didn't have any real expectations when I picked this up. The story is built on great character development and takes some unexpected turns. I was swept along and left amazed at the outcome. This is not just about nuns in space but about standing by one's values despite the rules. If you are a closet subversive like me, you will love this book.

Enjoyable novella that in the end is about making hard choices and being one's true self. Oh and nuns in space travelling on a living ship. Excellent world building in such a short work. Recommended.

CW: mention of highly infectious viruses and forced infecting of people

When I was looking for 2022 books to add to my tbr, I found the sequel to this novel and thought the premise was very interesting. So ofcourse I had to pick up this first book of the series. I was quite surprised to see that I already owned this novella as part of a Tor.com collection, so I had no reason to wait. And this turned out to be such an unexpected surprise.

There's not much to talk about the writing because it's too short of a book and it reads pretty quick and easy. It's the themes and characters that make a mark. Books with pervasive religious themes are not always my cup of tea because I find organized religion to be used as a tool of oppression too much in our real and don't like the same repeating in the books I read as well. So it was actually very nice to see the space nuns in this book to be just overall nice people who want to genuinely help people, despite whatever questions they have about their own personal faith. They are a symbol of hope and service and just love for everything in the world, going wherever they are required and not just limiting themselves to religious activities. I admired them for wanting to remain independent of any central authority and even going as far as disagreeing with their superiors, because they remember the history of this world and how things can go wrong when one group tries to exert control over everyone else.

The nuns are also such an eclectic group and I couldn't help but love them. Sister Gemma is a self made scientist who loves her work more than her faith, and I admired her for confronting her dilemma between choosing her faith or her heart. She was also endearing with how she treated their slug ship like a real animal with desires and feelings. Sister Faustina places very less importance on her faith but her commitment to helping everyone is solid and even her brusque and cynical nature couldn't make me dislike her. Sister Lucia is probably the one with the most belief in their order and religion and she is just such a nice person, with love for every being in the universe. And finally Mother Superior who is so much more than what everyone knows of her and I found myself unable to judge her for either her past or the choices she makes towards the end.

Overall, I think this is a book to read when in need of some goodness and hope, and I like the depiction that religion can be a force of good even in the future (and maybe in our present too but I'm a skeptic). I can see that the series might go into more darker territory in the next book but I'm sure the group of nuns will remain a ray of sunshine in dark times.