Machine
Elizabeth Bear
A question of faith
Machine is the second novel in Elizabeth Bear's White Space trilogy, which is a finalist for the 2026 Best Series Hugo. I read the first novel, Ancestral Night because of the Hugo nomination. I read this one because Ancestral Night was good, and I will go on to read The Folded Sky because Machine was also good.
Ancestral Night and Machine share a world. They take place in a galactic civilization/government called the Synarche, long after civilization on Earth barely survived a near apocalypse. They worked out ways to live together without destroying each other or their world. When the people of Earth went out into the stars, they discovered that many other species had run into similar problems and had found similar solutions. The Synarche is the civilization based on those solutions.
Brokllyn Jens is a medical doctor, a specialist in Emergency medicine and rescue. She jumps out of perfectly good spaceships onto failing and/or broken ones to get people out and save them. She herself suffers from neuralgia. She has lived her life in constant pain, although Core General, the central hospital of the Synarche, was able to substantially relieve that. She lives in a powered prosthesis, her Exo, that helps her move and makes her more comfortable.
Unlike many future civilizations in Science Fiction, the Synarche is not post-religious. Many of its members follow religions such as Roman Catholicism. Lynn has occasional discussions about faith with religious friends and co-workers. She is not herself religious. She does, however, have an almost religious faith in the Synarche and especially in Core General, the hospital that saved her. Without spoiling I can't say a lot more, but the central theme of the novel is what happens a person like Llyn when her faith is tested.
Like Ancestral Night, Machine is big-think space opera. It was good. A bit of a slog at times, I have to admit, but worth it.
Sounds intriguing!
And I like that it contains the theme of how faith can sometimes be something that exists outside of what’s usually defined as religion too. ⚖️
Thank you for sharing this review with us! 🙏