Fairly solid thriller that blends a man trying to get back home after murdering his shitty employer, and the sentient ship whose creator that employer was who picks him up. There's a lot of time skipping that illustrates various episodes between our main and his employer (and shows why the employer more than deserves it), but the prose is well written and it's easy to follow despite all the time skips. It does take a moment to slip into the slang when you read, but it's fairly easy to understand once you get into it. Worth a read when it comes out this fall.

A solid selection for Science Fiction fans looking for a character driven story and a wellbuilt world.

There were parts of this book that really clicked with me and parts that didn't. To start with, my favorite part of this book was the main character Verden and the exploration of his experiences and the decisions he makes, leading into the consequences that take place throughout this book. In relation to that, I really enjoyed the ending of this book and his journey as well.

My one issue with this book is that there were certain aspects of it that were difficult to understand. It happens often in scifi and fantasy books where it takes a while to understand the terms and the systems but with this book, I had that feeling for a majority of it. That made the book difficult for me to get through because I was genuinely invested in the characters but I spent so much time just confused.

But in no way will I call this a bad book, perhaps it was just confusing to me. I would still recommend this as a solid scifi story.

A well written first novel, this book tackles themes of AI/robotic sentience, morality, vigilante justice, and technocratic warfare.
I thought the flash back scenes were well paced and made sense while tying into the plot.
The character development was engaging, with the main characters arches taking natural progressions.
It took a minuet to get into the unique sci-fi diction but once I did I was hooked. The world building and descriptions were beautifully done!

Thank you to RT Ester and NetGalley for providing me an eARC of this book for review and consideration.

The Ganymedan
The Ganymedan by R.T. Ester
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, I picked this out of a Netgalley lineup solely on a great cover. I'm not ashamed to admit it--especially after loving the SF much more than I thought I might.

Here's the skinny: It's a mystery with a good deal of back and forth between time periods for Verdot and often slipping into the mindset of a sentient ship. The mystery is a murder that Verdot committed and the full reasons for it, plus his escape throughout the Solar System, with TR, the ship, being an unwitting, indeed, very nice sentient ship as an accomplice. The ship isn't dumb, but it has as fantastic a back story as Verdot.

Great characters. But at least to me, I think I loved the deep, very fleshed-out worldbuilding even more. Every community/space station along the circuit is vibrant and feels lived in, fascinating. So much so that I could swear I was on the journey, that this would have made a brilliant, beautiful video game. That lived-in feeling, the full history and complicated life of Skinners, sentient ships of multiple generations, a war, ethical revenge, and even just the fact that everyone limits themselves out of disgust and barely repressed suicidal ideation is exactly the kind of deep, emotional lived-in-ness I love. TR is moving on, checking on all its friends in the circuit who barely survived suicide in the war. It's heart-felt and very positive--and I fell for it all.

Great SF. I will be keeping a strong eye on this author. Highly recommended.