Review: Supernova

Supernova by C.A. Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Supernova continues and broadens the story that Higgins began in Lightless. Ananke was an experimental military spacecraft which when infected with a computer virus became something more. Suddenly sentient and immensely powerful, she lacks the experience and understanding of what it means to have empathy. Althea was the ship's engineer and is now the last surviving human aboard Ananke. She considers Ananke her daughter and like any good mother is trying to teach her daughter morality and compassion for her fellow sentient beings.

It isn't going to be easy. Ananke has the ability to be a destroyer of worlds, backed up by the unstable emotional intelligence of a small child. Instead of thinking things through or listening to her mother she simply reacts. She wants what she wants, right now if possible. And what she wants more than anything is to find the man she considers her father, Matthew Gale, the terrorist who uploaded the virus. As Ananke and Althea travel back towards Earth to find him, woe betide any man or ship who gets in her way.

Through a series of flashbacks, the reader learns more of the back story of Matthew Gale and his companion Ivan. These flashbacks explain the series of events that led to them arriving on Ananke in Lightless. In addition, it is also the story of Matthew's sister Constance, who is the leader of the rebellion against the System. The System, you may remember, is the evil government who punishes its citizens for the most minor of transgressions such as a misplaced facial expression.

In Lightless, many of the characters were flat and lifeless, mere foils for Ananke's story. In Supernova thankfully, there is more character development. That helps a lot, especially since the action isn't confined to a single setting this time. We learn about Constance, and her attempts to save humanity from the System, and ultimately from itself. There are several tense moments for Constance as her actions aren't always welcome; even when she believes she's doing the right thing for her people.

The ending of Constance's story and the climactic scenes between Ananke and Althea are dark and shocking. So many unanswered questions, new directions, and cliffhangers are there to lead us into book three.

Going in, I had expected the story would revolve around Ananke as it did in Lightless. I was pleasantly surprised by the world building.

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