Running away from their doting but oddly tyrannical father, twin sisters Adrana and Arafura Ness are hired as Bone Readers on Captain Rackamore’s ship, the sunjammer Monetta’s Mourn. Rackamore and his crew are scavengers, plying the solar winds between worlds looking for ancient alien technology, which they can scavenge and sell for profit. Sometimes the technology they find is so weird and frightening that they walk away from it, and all too often the crew pay for what they find with their own blood, either through mishap while scavenging on planets or through pirates who steal and kill.

The worst of these is Bosa Sennen, whose name has been whispered fearfully across hundreds of years. Bosa and Captain Rackamore have unfinished business between them.

Alastair Reynolds’s mastery of worldbuilding and dark plotting is evident as he drip-feeds you hints of what little is known about the history of this society, glimpses of the few aliens that exist in the public eye, the weirdly different technology – some of which is used on a daily basis even though no-one understands how it works or how to fix it when it breaks. With the exception of Adrana and Arafura, Reynolds is parsimonious with providing backstory for most of the other characters, leaving much to the reader’s imagination but tantalisingly hinting at much more to come in future instalments. I look forward to the continuing voyages of the good ship Revenger.

Reviewed by Brooke Walker