Here’s a writer who you may already know. Miles first made his name as a historical fiction writer as Christian Cameron before publishing fantasy with his Traitor Son series from 2012 – 17 as Miles Cameron. The first in the series – The Red Knight – was one of my books of the year back in 2012.
Nearly ten years on – and eight Fantasy books later – Miles has now turned to Space Opera. And it’s brilliant.
From the publisher: “Out in the darkness of space, something is targeting the Greatships.
With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume – and value – of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species.
It has always been Marca Nbaro’s dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space.
All it took, to make her way onto the crew of the Greatship Athens was thousands of hours in simulators, dedication, and pawning or selling every scrap of her old life in order to forge a new one. But though she’s made her way onboard with faked papers, leaving her old life – and scandals – behind isn’t so easy.
She may have just combined all the dangers of her former life, with all the perils of the new . . .”
I’ve often said that a good story can take traditional tropes and give them a new angle, a new spin. This is what Miles does here, and does admirably. Artifact Space is everything I want in a Space Opera. There’s mile long spaceships, strange aliens, hand to hand combat, space stations, unknown planets, duelling swords, likeable characters, AI and a genuine sense of peril all wrapped up in a setting that reminded me of an updated Heinlein novel. (Those who know me will know what a compliment that is.)
Miles takes what is basically Star Trek’s idea of a Wagon Train to the Stars – the Greatships form a supply line for the rare xenoglas – and add to it all the things that made Star Trek work – likeable characters, strange planets and alien encounters.
To this we add a bigger sub-plot in that someone – or something – is destroying these greatships without warning or reason. The Athens could be next, which creates an ongoing tension throughout the novel.
What was most noticeable was how easy this one reads. Cameron deftly manages to tell the reader of Marca’s back story, a Future History, and a future society without ever feeling the need to info-dump. It’s like he’s been writing Space Opera for years.
Much of the book is about how Marca rises to the numerous challenges through the ranks of the Athens. At the beginning we find that Marca has been thrown out of cadet training because of the influence of a member of one of the great families. Nevertheless, she has managed to sneak on board the Athens with a false identity as a lowly ‘middie’. She spends much of the first part of the book feeling like an imposter and unworthy of her placing, but over time she manages to show potential and makes the most of the opportunities given to her whilst aboard the Greatship. The military structure that the Athens society works upon is clearly something Marca needs in her troubled life and she is determined to make the most of it, which to me echoes the Heinlein juveniles or something like David Weber’s Honor Harrington series.
The back story tells us over the book that there is more to this, of course. Whilst I did quibble with the remarkable speed at which Marca escalates up the career ladder, it is clear that Marca has shown promise before her unfortunate dismissal and she is using her abilities to reach her potential. (I’m also fairly convinced that there is more to this than we’ve been told so far – a guiding hand, so far unseen, that is assisting her progress.) Though there are many characters here that Marca meets in her personal journey, Miles does well to make them separate and identifiable, which makes the loss of those along the way meaningful. At the same time. alien races are undoubtedly alien.
Though the book is clearly led by an emphasis on characters, there are other elements that also work well. No Space Opera worth reading can do space battles badly, and this one does them particularly well, whether in spacecraft or fighting hand-to hand on board the Greatships. Miles does well to explain how space battles can take place whilst taking into account the effects of relativity.
One slight warning, though – the ending is a real cliff-hanger moment, which will either annoy or make you want to read the next book straight away. Sadly, it is not out until next year, I understand.
Summing up then, Artifact Space made my inner Spacer beam. It starts fast but held my attention throughout, bringing new ideas to traditional SF. This is a paean to all the old SFnal tropes of old but with a brand spanking new upgrade. I couldn’t put it down. Simply brilliant and easily one of my books of the year.
Artifact Space by Miles Cameron
Published by Gollancz, June 2021
ISBN: 978-1473232600
576 pages
I read Artifact Space on the basis of this review and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the Aircraft Carrier elements of it to be original and interesting. Looking forward to reading the sequel.
Brilliant. Very pleased it worked for you, Rodney.