Embers of War

by Gareth L. Powell

mass market paperback, 448 pages

Published Jan. 29, 2019 by Titan Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-78565-520-3

(15 reviews)

The sentient warship Trouble Dog was built for violence, yet following a brutal war, she is disgusted by her role in a genocide. Stripped of her weaponry and seeking to atone, she joins the House of Reclamation, an organisation dedicated to rescuing ships in distress. When a civilian ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, are sent on a rescue mission. Meanwhile, light years away, intelligence officer Ashton Childe is tasked with locating the poet, Ona Sudak, who was aboard the missing spaceship. What Childe doesn't know is that Sudak is not the person she appears to be. A straightforward rescue turns into something far more dangerous, as Trouble Dog, Konstanz and Childe find themselves at the centre of a conflict that could engulf the entire galaxy. If she is to save her crew, Trouble Dog is going …

4 editions

SI CLARKE reviewed Embers of war by Gareth Powell

Review of 'Embers of war' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

You can't write multiple narrators in first person! It just isn't done. No one would read it. It's too confusing.

That's what people said to me when I began writing. I needed to do so for a specific reason. Gareth Powell, on the other hand, apparently challenged himself to do so just to see if he could. In the acknowledgements page, he said fellow SF writer, Emma Newman, challenged him to try his hand at first person.

It works well. I can't wait to continue getting to know Captain Konstanz, Childe, Sudak, Preston, and especially Trouble Dog.