Review by Booklist Review
Boss is a professional deep-space wreck-diver. Always on the lookout for something new and spectacular, when she gets a ping in deep space, she knows she's found a gold mine. The ship she's discovered shouldn't exist. It's an ancient derelict from a time when nothing had engines that could carry it so far away from civilization. When she takes her carefully picked team of divers out to explore it, she finds far more than she'd bargained for. It carries ancient technology that nobody has managed to retro-engineer since it was lost, though many have died trying. Boss' early childhood experience in the Room of Lost Souls, another ancient relic which she miraculously survived, becomes pivotal, and a number of political secrets and machinations are unveiled as she wrestles with the issue of dangerous lost technology falling into irresponsible hands. Rusch's handling of the mystery and adventure is stellar, and the whole tale proves quite entertaining.--Schroeder, Regina Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Rusch (the Retrieval Artist series) delivers a page-turning space adventure while contemplating the ethics of scientists and governments working together on future tech. Boss is a middle-aged loner who searches ancient spacecraft for historical data. Driven by the memory of her mother being lured to a mysterious station called the Room of Souls, Boss believes humanity is haunted by old science, the kind that could kill us because we don't understand it. As Boss carefully builds a crew of spacers who are mostly loners with secrets, their notions about old and new tech, and about each other, must be re-evaluated as they first dive a 5,000-year-old ship for clues and then head for the Room. Rusch's spare prose sometimes flattens the characters, but admirably suits both the adventure and the deep moral questions she raises. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When deep-space diver Boss discovers a rare Earth-made spacecraft from an era before faster-than-light travel, she determines, with a handpicked crew, to explore the vehicle and solve the mystery it presents but soon begins to wonder whether finding answers will exact too high a price. Verdict Veteran sf/fantasy author and former editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Rusch ("Retrieval Artist" series) possesses a quiet, elegant prose style, even when telling a story that relies on hard science and powerful action. The voice of her narrator is thoughtful and compelling, bringing a level of personal accountability to a story that is more than space adventure, seeking out the secrets not only of space but of the soul. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
