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Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she's an active historian. She wants to know about the past--to experience it firsthand. Once she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.
Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It's impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn't be here. It can't be here. And yet, it is. Boss's curiosity is up, and she's determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won't give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.
What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war.
I thought I would like this more than I did. The story premise is pretty fun - diving shipwrecks in space, including a lot of world building that seems rightly borrowed from scuba diving here on Earth. The characters are also likable enough and fairly well-drawn, from the cynical Boss down through her motley team of co-divers.
On the downside, the storytelling is a little too simple and straightforward. The relationships and setups are easy to anticipate. The 'science' in this fiction is completely made of handwavium (I would have even preferred some pseudo-techno-blather a la Star Trek). The politics, which are the backbone of what passes for suspense, is about as deep as what George Lucas provides in Star Wars. Meh.
Still, there were some surprises and some pleasures. The descriptions of ships, space stations, diving tech and future life are well done. I may still read the additional stories in this series to see if things get more interesting. ( )
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when I dove into it (forgive the pun). It turned out that it grew on me. The first part of the book definitely feels like a completely different story from the second, and it even had inklings of space horror -- something which I appreciate and find too little of. That it was an explainable phenomenon disappointed me a little, but I still enjoyed the twists and turns the book took.
An interesting kind of touristy shipwreck exploration, history and amateurish archaeology, led by someone who is cautious to a fault, occasionally fearful, nonviolent, frustrating and who tries to be a good, safety conscious manager, but who occasionally gets caught up in her own desires. Someone who is, in other words, human. I appreciated how down-to-earth the whole thing was.
This was not as good as it should have been, given the author. It's written in three major parts, each practically stand-alone. My impression is that the focus was heavily on the mental states of the many characters, and the world-background was almost completely absent. Some action but it seemed mostly mechanical. I'm sorry, but I was disappointed. ( )
Three separate novellas combined to form the full novel of this interesting space opera. I've enjoyed later novellas before reading this one and knew that future installments are great. This one introduces many crucial elements to the universe and creates enough intrigue that keeps you wanting more. ( )
Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she's an active historian. She wants to know about the past--to experience it firsthand. Once she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.
Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It's impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn't be here. It can't be here. And yet, it is. Boss's curiosity is up, and she's determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won't give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.
What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war.
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Book description
Boss dives derelict space vessels, for money, yes, but more for their historical value. So, when Boss uncovers the find of a lifetime, she enlists the best divers she can convince to help her pursue it—off the grid and under the Empire’s radar. Boss’ discovery leads her and some of her team to the Room of Lost Souls. Boss remembers the Room. It haunts her. Her mother died there. Now, a client wants her to go back. She wants Boss to help her uncover the Room’s mysteries. But the truths she discovers might destroy everything Boss holds sacred. Because the more they discover, the less they realize they know—and the more it will cost them all.
This is classic sci-fi, a well-told tale of dangerous exploration. The first-person narration makes the reader an eyewitness to the vast, silent realms of deep space, where even the smallest error will bring disaster. Compellingly human and technically absorbing, the suspense builds to fevered intensity, culminating in an explosive yet plausible conclusion.” —RT Book Reviews Top Pick
“Diving into the Wreck has much to offer, including what even Boss—the avid researcher into lost forms of science—describes as ‘secrets which, if understood, can teach us more about ourselves than any science can.’” —Locus Magazine
“Rusch delivers a page-turning space adventure while contemplating the ethics of scientists and governments working together on future tech.” —Publisher’s Weekly
International bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch has won two Hugo awards, a World Fantasy Award, and six Asimov’s Readers Choice Awards. For more information about her work, please go to kristinekathrynrusch.com. For more information about the Diving universe, to which this story belongs, go to divingintothewreck.com.
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On the downside, the storytelling is a little too simple and straightforward. The relationships and setups are easy to anticipate. The 'science' in this fiction is completely made of handwavium (I would have even preferred some pseudo-techno-blather a la Star Trek). The politics, which are the backbone of what passes for suspense, is about as deep as what George Lucas provides in Star Wars. Meh.
Still, there were some surprises and some pleasures. The descriptions of ships, space stations, diving tech and future life are well done. I may still read the additional stories in this series to see if things get more interesting. (