Teaser

Banished from Earth, the human race wanders through the stars in nomadic exile. It is among the stars that they find the Jzat, an alien race who share their star system with a vast machine of unknown origin . . .

Review

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Gareth L. Powell’s writing. His Embers of War trilogy essentially reads as a checklist of the things I want to find in my space opera reading. It’s also not a secret that I was unimpressed by Stars and Bones, the first Continuance novel. It was a mess of less favourable tropes and an indulgence in present day real-world politics. But, I believe in second chances, and I’m happy to say that this time my faith in Powell has paid off. Descendant Machine is, while far from perfect, a much stronger novel than its predecessor.

First of all, I love the idea of a series of standalones. You don’t need to have read the previous book to appreciate this one, which takes place years later and with a different cast of characters. The backstory to the Continuance that bogged down the first book is here wrapped up in a matter of paragraphs, and the book is all the stronger for it. That’s all in the past, is the message. Here’s a story about the here and now. And also what comes next.

I’m a big fan of stellar engineering. Dyson spheres in particular. And while the Great Mechanism (which is not the descendant machine of the title) isn’t one, it’s built along similar lines, so of course I’m going to be intrigued. The best chapters of the book are the ones we spend with the team of scientists trying to solve the riddle of the machine’s existence, along with all the politics and philosophies that go along with the process. Descendant Machine isn’t a particularly deep or philosophical book, but there is more than enough material in here to get the reader thinking.

Along the way we spend time with some stalwart Powell characters. The adventurous captain with a chequered past. The eager scientist who is clearly in way over his head. And, of course, the snarky ship’s AI. Snarky AI are just about everywhere in science fiction these days, but no one writes them quite like Powell.

Where Descendant Machine did lose me is in its final few pages. The climax to the book is resolved through a deus ex machina that had me so thrown for a loop that I flicked the pages back and forth, thinking I’d missed something. Not only does it come out of nowhere, I’m also less than certain that it would, as presented, actually solve the problem at all. It’s an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise strong and thrilling book.

Despite that, Descendant Machine is a vast improvement over Stars and Bones, and I look forward to seeing where Powell goes next.

Deeper Dive: Second-Hand Stories

Like previous Powell novels, Descendant Machine is told through multiple first-person narratives. These essentially boil down to the Captain, the Scientist, and the Spaceship AI (with one from the Alien). All stock viewpoints for space opera, but Powell adds an extra twist. The prologue and epilogue take the from of reports from Frontier Chic, the Spaceship AI. In these, Chic informs us that the other chapters have been edited for clarity, and to remove excess profanity. As well as adding to the inevitable question of the unreliable narrator, this also begs the question of what else is being kept from us through these edits. Given the role that AI play in the latter half of the novel, one can’t help but wonder if events in the book really did transpire in the manner Frontier Chic describes.

Book Stats

• A Continuance Novel (#2)
• Published by Titan
• First published in 2023
• Space Opera
• 345 pages