A solitary ship captain, drifting through time. Nia Imani is a woman out of place. Traveling through the stars condenses decades into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her. She lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky.
A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power. The scarred boy does not speak, his only form of communication the haunting music he plays on an old wooden flute. Captured by his songs and otherworldly nature, Nia decides to take the boy in to live amongst her crew.
Soon, these two outsiders discover in each other the things they lack. For him, a home, a place of love and safety. For her, an anchor to the world outside of herself. For both of them, a family. But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy.
A millennia-old woman, poised to burn down the future. Fumiko Nakajima designed the ships that allowed humanity to flee a dying Earth. One thousand years later, she now regrets what she has done in the name of progress.
When chance brings Fumiko, Nia, and the child together, she recognizes the potential of his gifts, and what will happen if the ruling powers discover him. So she sends the pair to the distant corners of space to hide them as she crafts a plan to redeem her old mistakes. But time is running out. The past hungers for the boy, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.
Staff Choice: Sophie
This is a beautiful, melancholy story about a solitary space captain and a boy with uncanny abilities, who form a deep, unexpected bond.
If you love sci-fi that puts its characters at the forefront, and stories told from various points of view, and found families, and long timelines, then this book is for you. At times you have to trust the process, and there was a plot twist that had me in angry tears, but it was all so worth it. I loved how it put a spotlight on the unexplainable bonds people can have with each other, the kind where words aren't necessary, and time and space don't matter because you know what the other feels in your bones. I read the last pages while walking from the bus to home because I couldn't stop reading!
I also loved Jimenez's other book (The Spear Cuts Through Water), and cannot wait for what he comes up with next.
Staff Choice: Else
Simon Jimenez can WRITE. This book has made me feel all the feelings, and I am still in awe of what Jimenez managed to do. This book is beautiful, harrowing, and musical. I was not able to put this book down and I held my breath the entire way through.
This is a book about space travel, time and interpersonal relationships. And the prose reflects that perfectly. Jimenez manages to incorporate time dilation in his way of writing as well as in the world he has written. This book is time consuming in the best way possible (and the most pun intended way possible).
I don't want to give away too much about the plot, because you basically just have to read it. If you want to feel something, please trust me and read this book.
