Booklog 98/2024: Elizabeth Bear: Dust – Jacob’s Ladder #1 – Audiobook

Narrated by: Alma Cuervo

The story of a lost generation ship, the Jacob's Ladder, currently stalled in a dying star system. The survivors of the original crew have split into factions, mainly Rule and Engine. Rien has been brought up as a 'mean'  a servant in Rule, and thought that was all there was, until she finds Sir Perceval, a genetically engineered 'exalt,' in Rule's dungeon, her hair and wings shorn. Perceval is Rien's half-sister and together they escape and journey through the bowels of the decaying world-ship accompanied by Gavin the Basilisk and Hero Eng (a presence in her mind). Trying to find the solution to an impending war between Rule and Engine. The ship's computational power has been split between 'angels', mainly Jacob Dust, Angel of the Library, and Samael the Angel of Death. The angels are battling erach other, playing a long-game for supremacy. The Kahn (Carn?) family, engineered and immortal, is battling with itself, Benedick (Rien and Perceval's father) his brother Tristen (from Engine) and their sister, who runs Rule. There's a lot going on, here. There's a lot going on here; sometimes it's confusing and disorienting, but always thought-ptovoking. The narration is well done. The accent American, but not heavy.