Fleet of Knives by Gareth L. Powell

I would like to thank Lydia from Titan for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price - £7.99 paperback

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew follow a distress call from the human starship Lucy’s Ghost, whose crew have sought refuge aboard an abandoned generation ship launched ten thousand years before by an alien race. However, the enormous vessel contains deadly secrets of its own.

The Marble Armada calls for recovered war criminal Ona Sudak to accompany its ships as it spreads itself across the Human Generality enforcing the peace with overwhelming and implacable force. Then Sudak’s vessel intercepts messages from the House of Reclamation and decides the Trouble Dog has a capacity for violence which cannot be allowed to endure.

As the Trouble Dog and her crew fight to save the crew of the Lucy’s Ghost, the ship finds itself caught between chaotic monsters on one side, and on the other, destruction at the hands of the Marble Armada.

NB - there will be some spoilers for the first novel I reviewed in the series

I noted the path of redemption was a key theme in Gareth L Powell’s novel Embers of War when I reviewed it earlier this year. It is easy to say ‘I have seen the light’ but the real question is what am I doing afterwards? A momentary display of contrition isn’t really the same as putting in the hard work of atonement day in and day out. This theme is further explored in the fantastic second instalment of the series Fleet of Knives which ramps up the mysteries set up within the first novel and delivers a brilliant mix of character development and space action.

The story starts in the aftermath of the first novel. The beaten-up sentient warship named Trouble Dog continues to work in saving ships lives within the fleet known as the House of Reclamation in atonement for her role in the worst genocide moment of the last great war. Refitted after the damage of the first novel she is just on a shakedown tour before returning to service. The ship’s Captain Sal Konstanz and her frenemy Alva Clay a tough space marine are attempting to try and work together but things look fragile. An alleged happy go lucky space captain Johnny Schultz has decided to raid an ancient empty alien colony ship for new technology but just as they prepare to enter hyperspace the ship is attacked and they flee inside the alien ship for safety..or possibly not.

Meanwhile on another world the woman they rescued in the first novel; the one-time poet Ona Sudak, who turned out also to be the leader of the attack that Trouble Dog was involved with has been judged guilty of genocide and awaits execution. That is until a masked squad enter her prison kill everyone around her and whisk her away. The mysterious million strong alien battle fleet that the Trouble Dog discovered hidden on its last mission has now asked for Sudak and the powers that be have decided its an offer they cannot refuse. The ships however want Sudak to lead their next mission to bring peace to the galaxy by any means necessary. All these strands are about to become very entangled…

Sudak’s arc is the main driver of the novel as we see the Marble Armada is really the aforementioned Fleet of Knives. All single-minded powerful AI that wants to bring peace; unfortunately, they feel that human starships and space travel are a huge factor in this so set about their elimination. Sudak after her experiences in wartime tentatively agrees that it would be better to prevent these types of events even if many will die in the initial aftermath. A terrifying example of someone deciding the greater good should prevail. In counterbalance we have Konstanz and Trouble Dog who are doing the much harder job of saving one life at a time here with a trapped ship’s crew; not even a fully legal one but Trouble Dog and the crew still place themselves in danger to save lives. They show true redemption is following the harder path and its fascinating how these two sides get on opposite sides of each other. One returning to a position of the ends justifying the means and one prepared to sacrifice themselves for others.

The novel has some gorgeous action sequences. In space we have myriad space battles between sentient warships, and we get a truly bird’s eye view of the attacks and strategy used. All described flowingly give you a huge sense of scale. This is a true space opera sized scale novel. But at the same time with Schultz’s tale we get a much more land-based tale of his crew now trapped on an ancient alien ship which now seems to have giant merciless space creatures following on them. As well as the sense of the eerie we have a true fight or flight scenario and it’s very redolent of the film Aliens how we get to know this crew and feel their triumphs and losses keenly as they come up against a superior foe.

But for me the standout is Powell’s writing. On the one hand we have the traditional space opera plotting of scale, strategy and ancient secrets coming to light. But we also have impressive character development and importantly for me emotional insight into all these characters. I care a lot more for these people than I expected, and Powell achieves that by some lovely character interplay and introspection allowing the story to breathe where necessary. This can be watching Schultz having to deal with the outcomes of his reckless decision to scavenge a ship; the way Konstanz and Clay are two women trying to create friendship and Trouble Dog increasingly learning the importance of a conscience. I really like how in this universe its shown that the ship AIs also have very human traits and memories. This means we care for each character; shout when they out everything on the line for others and feel deeply any losses for those we have come to know. It’s handled expertly and for me the driving force of the novel.

It offers a complete adventure in its own right but sets up what looks to be a fantastic conclusion next year as these ancient secrets are being revealed but this was an immensely satisfying piece of science fiction. For fans of the Expanse, Becky Chambers or Peter F Hamilton this is a novel firing on all cylinders that has something for everyone and merges those streams together brilliantly. I await the finale with interest in 2020. But the line I think I will leave you is this stunning piece of writing that sold me completely on the book and after this year adds even more depth

“Sometimes it’s better to be useful than heroic, better to bathe in gratitude than glory, and better to serve than demand service”