Have a sci-fi rec

Hellspark by Janet Kagan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was fantastic. I just plowed through it. When it ended, I was sad I didn't have more time to spend with these characters.

In Hellspark, a member of a survey team is killed under somewhat mysterious circumstances. The team is surveying a world that contains a possibly sapient life form, and the plot of the novel is largely concerned with figuring out how the surveyor died and whether or not the indigenous life of the planet is sapient.

The main character is a language expert (and so much wonderful, wonderful stuff about language and how it's different across cultures), and her AI Maggy shows growing signs of sapience herself as the novel progresses.

I love the world building, both the truly unique world they're surveying and the differing customs and mores of the characters.

This is a book all sci-fi lovers should read.



View all my reviews