Embers of War

mass market paperback, 448 pages

Published Jan. 29, 2019 by Titan Books.

ISBN:
978-1-78565-520-3
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (2 reviews)

The sentient warship Trouble Dog was built for violence, yet following a brutal war, she is disgusted by her role in a genocide. Stripped of her weaponry and seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organisation dedicated to rescuing ships in distress. When a civilian ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, are sent on a rescue mission. Meanwhile, light years away, intelligence officer Ashton Childe is tasked with locating the poet, Ona Sudak, who was aboard the missing spaceship. What Childe doesn't know is that Sudak is not the person she appears to be. A straightforward rescue turns into something far more dangerous, as Trouble Dog, Konstanz and Childe find themselves at the centre of a conflict that could engulf the entire galaxy. If she is to save her crew, Trouble Dog is going …

4 editions

reviewed Embers of war by Gareth Powell (The Embers of War Series, book 1)

Review of 'Embers of war' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Embers of War is intimate, character-drive space opera done right. Gareth L. Powell gives us the story of Trouble Dog, a Carnivore-class heavy cruiser who has sworn off war and joined the House of Reclamation. The House of Reclamation is a sort of search and rescue operation, something like a galactic Red Cross, that serves all humanity, ignoring the borders of star nations. Sentient, snarky spaceships are fast becoming my favorite sci-fi trope, and Powell gives us one of the best.

There is a lot to enjoy in Embers of War. The world building is very interesting, including thousands of years of galactic history. Powell manages to give us the relevant points in that sweeping history without it ever feeling overwhelming or expository. There aren’t long technical discussions in this one, and while I do tend to enjoy technological systems and some explanation of how technology works, the lack …