Dream with Our Eyes Open

The author of this book is in their second year of eligibility for the "not-a-Hugo" Campbell Award, give to "the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous calendar years." An Unkindness of Ghosts was published in 2017.

On the generation ship Matilda, which has been voyaging for hundreds of years, darker-skinned passengers live on the lower decks and perform menial tasks to support the ship's population and in particular, the ruling class, the Sovereignty. Seemingly no one, even the loftiest of the Sovereignty, really knows the ship's destination or how long it will take to get there. In fact, the Sovereignty claims that any sins committed by the population of the lower decks is delaying the day when they all arrive at their new home. This is one of the many excuses they give for their brutal control of the lowerdecks population.

Aster Grey, intersex, neurodivergent, and dark-skinned, has a little more privilege than many of her fellows because of her medical skills and more importantly, because of her odd friendship with Theo, the Surgeon General. However, as Aster's inquisitive mind drives her to explore more of the mysteries of the ship and its voyage, she begins to run afoul of the Sovereignty, which already takes a dim view of her relationship with their most brilliant doctor. As the novel reaches its climax, Theo's protection fails her.

This is a grim and sometimes brutal but well-written book. I do think some of the plot elements drive right off the edge of the cliff of logic. The whole coronation sequence made no sense to me, although the scene where Theo gets Aster ready for the event was very charming. The ending gave me a certain amount of pause as well. A lot of these issues may well be remedied in future works as Solomon becomes a more seasoned author.