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Firstborn, Lastborn #1
Finders
Cassilde Sam is a barely solvent salvage operator, hunting for relics in the ruins left by the mysterious Ancestors—particularly the color-coded Elements that power most of humanity’s current technology, including the ability to navigate through hyperspace. Cassilde is also steadily fading under the onslaught of Lightman’s, an incurable, inevitably fatal disease. She needs one last find big enough to leave a legacy for her partner and fellow salvor Dai Winter.
When their lover and former colleague Summerlad Ashe reappears, offering them a chance to salvage part of an orbiting palace that he claims contains potentially immense riches, Cassilde is desperate enough to take the gamble, even though Ashe had left them both to fight on the opposite side of the interplanetary war that only ended seven years ago. The find is everything Ashe promised. But when pirates attack the claim, Cassilde receives the rarest of the Ancestors’ Gifts: a change to her biochemistry that confers near-instant healing and seems to promise immortality.
But the change also drags her into an underworld where Gifts are traded in blood, and powerful Gifts bring equally powerful enemies. Hunted for her Gift and determined to find Gifts for her lovers, Cassilde discovers that an old enemy is searching for the greatest of the Ancestral artifacts: the power that the Ancestors created and were able to barely contain after it almost destroyed them, plunging humanity into the first Long Dark. Haunted by dream-visions of this power whispering its own version of what happened, Cassilde must find it first, before her enemy frees it to destroy her own civilization.
When their lover and former colleague Summerlad Ashe reappears, offering them a chance to salvage part of an orbiting palace that he claims contains potentially immense riches, Cassilde is desperate enough to take the gamble, even though Ashe had left them both to fight on the opposite side of the interplanetary war that only ended seven years ago. The find is everything Ashe promised. But when pirates attack the claim, Cassilde receives the rarest of the Ancestors’ Gifts: a change to her biochemistry that confers near-instant healing and seems to promise immortality.
But the change also drags her into an underworld where Gifts are traded in blood, and powerful Gifts bring equally powerful enemies. Hunted for her Gift and determined to find Gifts for her lovers, Cassilde discovers that an old enemy is searching for the greatest of the Ancestral artifacts: the power that the Ancestors created and were able to barely contain after it almost destroyed them, plunging humanity into the first Long Dark. Haunted by dream-visions of this power whispering its own version of what happened, Cassilde must find it first, before her enemy frees it to destroy her own civilization.
372 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 2018
78 people are currently reading
1072 people want to read
About the author
Melissa Scott
100 books447 followersScott studied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, and earned her PhD. in comparative history. She published her first novel in 1984, and has since written some two dozen science fiction and fantasy works, including three co-authored with her partner, Lisa A. Barnett.
Scott's work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man, alone among Scott's works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.
She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.
In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.
Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter's death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.
Scott's work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man, alone among Scott's works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.
She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.
In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.
Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter's death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.
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December 26, 2018Melissa Scott space opera! A trio of salvage experts who also used to have a poly relationship find themselves at the heart of a storm relating to life-changing nanotech left behind by the Ancestors. This is another book proving the dictum that all current SFF is about climate change: the story is of humanity destroying itself with tech and war not once but twice, and the desperate efforts of thinking people not to do it again. Lots of strangeness and adventure with an intense human heart, and beautifully written.
July 8, 2022
A good book, and a fine return to far-future, gender-bending SF for Melissa Scott, who I liked a lot in the old days.
“Space Opera with a fine, wide sweep of time behind it, intriguing "Clarkean" magical science, and an engaging, edgy threesome of central characters. Fun to read, and best of all, the promise of more to come.” — Gwyneth Jones’ blurb, which I’m pleased to crib to start this.
As always, read the publishers intro first, I’ll wait.
Back already? It’s not a bad capsule, but doesn’t give you much of the atmosphere. At her best, Scott is genuinely poetic:
[In the access tunnel to the Ancestor’s Fortress on Aeolus (see cover art)]
Sparks exploded beneath her fingers, silver and gold and diamond-white, streaming off in every direction. She jerked her hand back even though she had felt nothing, and sparks appeared beneath her boots, a smaller pattern like silent fireworks surrounding each foot. Tiny flecks of light fled across the floor, disappearing just as they reached the distant wall; she moved first one foot and then the other, and more lights pooled and eddied around her. And now she could feel them, a gentle fizzing, as though the Gift within her was echoing their spark.
“Well, that’s—something.”
[At the heart of the Fortress]
… for a moment she held a multi-colored swirl of light. She closed her fingers over it and watched it vanish, then looked around the room again. “This is it?”
Ashe nodded, spreading his own fingers to create handfuls of light. “Yeah. This—this is where it happened, where Anketil bound the AI into the adjacent possible, where they held off the Long Dark for another three centuries.”
And failed.
Recommended. A soft 4 stars, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
I requested a copy from the publisher. Dr. Athena Andreadis graciously sent one. Thank you. As always, my opinion isn’t affected by this.
====================================
Earlier stuff:
Here's a link to the author's post about her new novel:
https://mescott.livejournal.com/
--scroll down to Finders!, Oct 5, 2017
" ... it’s been a joy to get back to far future, high science SF."
I liked her short story "Firstborn, Lastborn" a lot: A remarkably dense far-future story. It’s AI vs. Human, or maybe posthuman, and revenge for an old hurt. 4+ stars, and I need to read it again. Reprinted in Dozois #34. Also part of the new novel is her 2o13 novelette "Finders", a good story (3 stars) about salvaging nanotech from a fallen human civilization, reprinted in Dozois #31. Not obvious how these two story-lines will fit together. The blurb (above) is promising, if she can pull it off. Here's an interview with the author, where she talks about the two story-kernels and how they fit into her WIP.
This will be her first new standalone SF novel since 2000, I think. Great to see her writing high-concept SF again! Note to self: ask for a review copy.
“Space Opera with a fine, wide sweep of time behind it, intriguing "Clarkean" magical science, and an engaging, edgy threesome of central characters. Fun to read, and best of all, the promise of more to come.” — Gwyneth Jones’ blurb, which I’m pleased to crib to start this.
As always, read the publishers intro first, I’ll wait.
Back already? It’s not a bad capsule, but doesn’t give you much of the atmosphere. At her best, Scott is genuinely poetic:
[In the access tunnel to the Ancestor’s Fortress on Aeolus (see cover art)]
Sparks exploded beneath her fingers, silver and gold and diamond-white, streaming off in every direction. She jerked her hand back even though she had felt nothing, and sparks appeared beneath her boots, a smaller pattern like silent fireworks surrounding each foot. Tiny flecks of light fled across the floor, disappearing just as they reached the distant wall; she moved first one foot and then the other, and more lights pooled and eddied around her. And now she could feel them, a gentle fizzing, as though the Gift within her was echoing their spark.
“Well, that’s—something.”
[At the heart of the Fortress]
… for a moment she held a multi-colored swirl of light. She closed her fingers over it and watched it vanish, then looked around the room again. “This is it?”
Ashe nodded, spreading his own fingers to create handfuls of light. “Yeah. This—this is where it happened, where Anketil bound the AI into the adjacent possible, where they held off the Long Dark for another three centuries.”
And failed.
Recommended. A soft 4 stars, and I’m looking forward to the sequel.
I requested a copy from the publisher. Dr. Athena Andreadis graciously sent one. Thank you. As always, my opinion isn’t affected by this.
====================================
Earlier stuff:
Here's a link to the author's post about her new novel:
https://mescott.livejournal.com/
--scroll down to Finders!, Oct 5, 2017
" ... it’s been a joy to get back to far future, high science SF."
I liked her short story "Firstborn, Lastborn" a lot: A remarkably dense far-future story. It’s AI vs. Human, or maybe posthuman, and revenge for an old hurt. 4+ stars, and I need to read it again. Reprinted in Dozois #34. Also part of the new novel is her 2o13 novelette "Finders", a good story (3 stars) about salvaging nanotech from a fallen human civilization, reprinted in Dozois #31. Not obvious how these two story-lines will fit together. The blurb (above) is promising, if she can pull it off. Here's an interview with the author, where she talks about the two story-kernels and how they fit into her WIP.
This will be her first new standalone SF novel since 2000, I think. Great to see her writing high-concept SF again! Note to self: ask for a review copy.
August 1, 2022
Rec. by: Peter T. and Ancestral knowledge
Rec. for: Tomb raiders
My Goodreads friend Peter was right—Melissa Scott's 2018 novel Finders is really, really good. She brings to the table a heaping portion of the same good ol' gosh-wow wonder that got us both into reading science fiction to begin with. Sure, Scott's star-spanning human civilization differs greatly in detail from Andre Norton's celebrated Forerunners, but Finders evokes the same feelings of depth and complexity—of deep time, layer upon layer of history, so much going on behind the scenes and at the edges—as in Norton's SF.
The Finders in Finders are scavengers, you see, picking over the relics of the Ancestors for usable bits of technology—not innovators but gleaners, always looking toward the past, forever picking through the detritus of their greater forebears for fragments they can still use, while barely understanding how they work.
The Ancestors... ah, yes. They were the first great Galactic civilization, that went Dark a long time ago, after a titanic struggle against their too-powerful Artificial Intelligences. The Ancestors left artifacts and monuments strewn across the Galaxy, a host of powerful technologies that their Successors could pick up and use... almost as well.
But then the Successors went Dark too... and the current third wave of humanity is a scattered and impoverished vestige in comparison. At least on the Edge, where the Finders find work. Matters are somewhat better In the Core, "where the stars lay close enough to each other that the Ancestors had knit them into retimonds, worlds and systems linked by a single communications web" (p.9)—but even there the societal emphasis seems to be on past glories, rather than future innovations.
Cassilde Sam is one such Finder. She has her own ship, the Carabosse, and a close relationship with her partner Dai. She also has a progressive disease called Lightman's, that sometimes gives her good days but, more and more often, bad ones. What Silde Sam doesn't have is money... so when Ashe, an old friend (well, frenemy—it's complicated) turns up with a risky plan to salvage some powerful Ancestral artifacts that might have been overlooked, she and Dai are at least willing to listen—little knowing that the quest will take them deep into the heart of an ancient mystery...
I don't think it's any spoiler to note that Silde, Dai and Ashe end up sleeping with each other (again), either—one of the ways in which Scott's story is not like Norton's tales (which are, after all, from a substantially more strait-laced era) is that Finders' protagonists do, quite plausibly, very physically, and in ways entirely integral to the story, love each other. In that way, I think, this novel can be linked with (and might very well appeal to) fans of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer tales.
Now, I did not like the use of ALL CAPS for the color-coded relics of the Ancestors, and very much wish that Scott could have employed some other typographical trick to set all those REDs, GOLDs, BLUEs and GREENs apart. But really, that's a minor quibble, especially when set against the great sweep of spacetime that is Finders.
Rec. for: Tomb raiders
My Goodreads friend Peter was right—Melissa Scott's 2018 novel Finders is really, really good. She brings to the table a heaping portion of the same good ol' gosh-wow wonder that got us both into reading science fiction to begin with. Sure, Scott's star-spanning human civilization differs greatly in detail from Andre Norton's celebrated Forerunners, but Finders evokes the same feelings of depth and complexity—of deep time, layer upon layer of history, so much going on behind the scenes and at the edges—as in Norton's SF.
The Finders in Finders are scavengers, you see, picking over the relics of the Ancestors for usable bits of technology—not innovators but gleaners, always looking toward the past, forever picking through the detritus of their greater forebears for fragments they can still use, while barely understanding how they work.
The Ancestors... ah, yes. They were the first great Galactic civilization, that went Dark a long time ago, after a titanic struggle against their too-powerful Artificial Intelligences. The Ancestors left artifacts and monuments strewn across the Galaxy, a host of powerful technologies that their Successors could pick up and use... almost as well.
But then the Successors went Dark too... and the current third wave of humanity is a scattered and impoverished vestige in comparison. At least on the Edge, where the Finders find work. Matters are somewhat better In the Core, "where the stars lay close enough to each other that the Ancestors had knit them into retimonds, worlds and systems linked by a single communications web" (p.9)—but even there the societal emphasis seems to be on past glories, rather than future innovations.
Cassilde Sam is one such Finder. She has her own ship, the Carabosse, and a close relationship with her partner Dai. She also has a progressive disease called Lightman's, that sometimes gives her good days but, more and more often, bad ones. What Silde Sam doesn't have is money... so when Ashe, an old friend (well, frenemy—it's complicated) turns up with a risky plan to salvage some powerful Ancestral artifacts that might have been overlooked, she and Dai are at least willing to listen—little knowing that the quest will take them deep into the heart of an ancient mystery...
I don't think it's any spoiler to note that Silde, Dai and Ashe end up sleeping with each other (again), either—one of the ways in which Scott's story is not like Norton's tales (which are, after all, from a substantially more strait-laced era) is that Finders' protagonists do, quite plausibly, very physically, and in ways entirely integral to the story, love each other. In that way, I think, this novel can be linked with (and might very well appeal to) fans of Becky Chambers' Wayfarer tales.
Now, I did not like the use of ALL CAPS for the color-coded relics of the Ancestors, and very much wish that Scott could have employed some other typographical trick to set all those REDs, GOLDs, BLUEs and GREENs apart. But really, that's a minor quibble, especially when set against the great sweep of spacetime that is Finders.
October 31, 2018
An action-packed space adventure with so much heart.
Finders is an intense exploration of impending mortality, mystical immortality, and how both of these things can put pressure on your relationships. Cassilde is a space scavenger in a romantic triad with two men: her long-time partner Dai and their former third, Ashe, who left their relationship years ago and has now returned dragging trouble in his wake.
As the crew of the spaceship Carabosse, the three of them are swept up in a dangerous quest for the Gifts of their Ancestors. These alien artefacts offer healing and in some cases immortality. This is of particular interest to Cassilde and her lovers, not only because she is dying from a debilitating disease, but also because they all keep getting shot at.
Some spoilers: I was hesitant at first about the “magical cure” aspect of the story, but it is handled in a complex and thoughtful way which addresses many of the concerns that I had about this trope. The Gift comes with a range of risks and costs, many of which the user does not discover until it’s too late. Cassilde is particularly uncomfortable with the way that holders of Gifts become addicted to tracking down more, in a complex “game” that takes over their life. She never stops questioning the ethical, personal and philosophical aspects of the Gift that cures her condition early on in the story, and continues to fear that her new health and vitality is going to disappear again at any moment. (Not all of her concerns are fully addressed in the book, which I felt was a good thing — she is left with many unanswered questions about her future as is true of many people who survive a dangerous illness or medical condition)
The story does not just address Cassilde’s reservations about the Gifts at the heart of the plot: we also see the impact of ill health and mortality as well the possibility of immortality on Cassilde’s relationship with Dai and Ashe, which is also strained by tensions stemming from their long estrangement, the class/cultural differences between them, and their different opinions on whether living forever is a good thing.
Finders is more “Killjoys” than “Star Trek,” with a strong focus on interpersonal relationships and the flawed society around them as much as the tech and the planetary politics. There’s an intimate domesticity here, balancing out the gritty slice-of-life working habits of space scavengers. This thought-provoking, crunchy science fiction novel comes with deep conversations, technological wonders, and plenty of spaceship sex.
Finders is an intense exploration of impending mortality, mystical immortality, and how both of these things can put pressure on your relationships. Cassilde is a space scavenger in a romantic triad with two men: her long-time partner Dai and their former third, Ashe, who left their relationship years ago and has now returned dragging trouble in his wake.
As the crew of the spaceship Carabosse, the three of them are swept up in a dangerous quest for the Gifts of their Ancestors. These alien artefacts offer healing and in some cases immortality. This is of particular interest to Cassilde and her lovers, not only because she is dying from a debilitating disease, but also because they all keep getting shot at.
Some spoilers: I was hesitant at first about the “magical cure” aspect of the story, but it is handled in a complex and thoughtful way which addresses many of the concerns that I had about this trope. The Gift comes with a range of risks and costs, many of which the user does not discover until it’s too late. Cassilde is particularly uncomfortable with the way that holders of Gifts become addicted to tracking down more, in a complex “game” that takes over their life. She never stops questioning the ethical, personal and philosophical aspects of the Gift that cures her condition early on in the story, and continues to fear that her new health and vitality is going to disappear again at any moment. (Not all of her concerns are fully addressed in the book, which I felt was a good thing — she is left with many unanswered questions about her future as is true of many people who survive a dangerous illness or medical condition)
The story does not just address Cassilde’s reservations about the Gifts at the heart of the plot: we also see the impact of ill health and mortality as well the possibility of immortality on Cassilde’s relationship with Dai and Ashe, which is also strained by tensions stemming from their long estrangement, the class/cultural differences between them, and their different opinions on whether living forever is a good thing.
Finders is more “Killjoys” than “Star Trek,” with a strong focus on interpersonal relationships and the flawed society around them as much as the tech and the planetary politics. There’s an intimate domesticity here, balancing out the gritty slice-of-life working habits of space scavengers. This thought-provoking, crunchy science fiction novel comes with deep conversations, technological wonders, and plenty of spaceship sex.
March 19, 2019
I liked the premise, I liked the worldbuilding, I liked the polyamerous relationship, but... I don't know, everything felt muted and distant. Like no one could be bothered getting upset. On so many occasions the main character would be (rightfully) angry about something another character had done, for about two sentences, and then she'd think what's the point of being angry and just forgive him. Despite being many reasons for it to be there, there was basically no tension between the characters, and on the flipside no real passion either, which made it hard for me to get invested. I skimmed the second half pretty heavily.
Read
July 23, 2019Space opera with interesting concepts and a polyamorous triad. Saving this for a longer review! (Hopefully soon, G-d willing)
Source of the book: Bough from my wishlist by A. Thank you!!
Source of the book: Bough from my wishlist by A. Thank you!!
May 11, 2019
Hmph. Didn't work for me. I just about tagged this as fantasy. See, I've always liked the concept that SF is about stuff that *could* happen, while fantasy plays more with "couldn't happen but let's explore it anyway." This slips over the line.
We dive right in with the GREEN and the RED and the BLUE etc. which seem to be a cross between S*lly P*utty, L*GO, and computer circuits with a dash of magic. Except the GREEN can somehow slow the progress of a fatal disease. The one Silde goes on and on about at first; can't blame her but it's tedious and obviously she ain't gonna die of it, she's effectively the POV character.
We have a threesome–and I use the term intentionally–of salvagers. They're after valuable stuff, but there seem to be very few of them, all polite except a few Bad Guys. Until we find that among all the GREEN and RED and BLUE wtf-ium one might find a Gift. At first I thought "Excalibur?" No, not as likely as that. Magic psychic nanites. No, really.
We meet a Bad Guy who's the classic "what do I want? Bwah-hah, I want to be badder than bad! And break the universe, ahhahha!"
We go to a planet, they rent a vehicle, and ol' Gabby Hayes at the store says, "A'course ya gotta be careful in case there's a storm," and they say, "It's cool, dude, we checked the forecast." Hah. You KNOW what's gonna happen, dont'cha? Yep. It happened, but it was uneventful and I am not sure why Scott bothered with that scene unless it was a sly joke.
The scene with Dehlin is thoughtful and good.
Then we get into the gods who made this stuff. They gots these magic doodads that heal people, and they made them with time crystals and alternate "possibles, and you know what? I'm getting tired of all the handwaving. Especially when our heroes suffered dyschronorrhea from jumping outside time for a moment, until they could latch into a time signal (this is, of course, just a fancy version of the old [wakes up] "how long was I out?" cliché.
At the end, these leftover ultrapowerful whatevers are somehow contained. OK, mythology is chock full of gods and demigods locked up forever with "no chance of escaping (pauses) unless ... nah, couldn't possibly happen" so I'll allow this. They telepath our plucky heroine "let us free, we'll be good this time, Scout's honor" and she's like "nah" and we're done. Huh? I would have liked an exit that included a bit of "Sooooo, what are we gonna do with these her Gifts? What else do ya s'pose they can do?" As Scott has a character say at the end, they have (ahem) plenty of time.
Lookit, I've enjoyed reading along with orogeny and ringworlds and life on a gas giant, and tribbles, and sentient fungus, and I am NOT fussy about worldbuilding. But this one reads more like a comic book or a Star Wars "Kessel run in less than a parsec," or what Vonnegut called a chronosynclastic infundibulum. Every new scene left me expecting a new surprise, like weight-loss pies made from backwards atoms. This is a basic story dressed up in seven-league boots and invisibility cloaks.
AND .. what bugged me most: these Gifts are incredibly rare, and yet our crew of three thinks it's perfectly natural to plan to ... no, I won't say it. I've done enough spoiling.
I've liked quite a few of her others, but for me Scott has been too inventive in this book.
We dive right in with the GREEN and the RED and the BLUE etc. which seem to be a cross between S*lly P*utty, L*GO, and computer circuits with a dash of magic. Except the GREEN can somehow slow the progress of a fatal disease. The one Silde goes on and on about at first; can't blame her but it's tedious and obviously she ain't gonna die of it, she's effectively the POV character.
We have a threesome–and I use the term intentionally–of salvagers. They're after valuable stuff, but there seem to be very few of them, all polite except a few Bad Guys. Until we find that among all the GREEN and RED and BLUE wtf-ium one might find a Gift. At first I thought "Excalibur?" No, not as likely as that. Magic psychic nanites. No, really.
We meet a Bad Guy who's the classic "what do I want? Bwah-hah, I want to be badder than bad! And break the universe, ahhahha!"
We go to a planet, they rent a vehicle, and ol' Gabby Hayes at the store says, "A'course ya gotta be careful in case there's a storm," and they say, "It's cool, dude, we checked the forecast." Hah. You KNOW what's gonna happen, dont'cha? Yep. It happened, but it was uneventful and I am not sure why Scott bothered with that scene unless it was a sly joke.
The scene with Dehlin is thoughtful and good.
Then we get into the gods who made this stuff. They gots these magic doodads that heal people, and they made them with time crystals and alternate "possibles, and you know what? I'm getting tired of all the handwaving. Especially when our heroes suffered dyschronorrhea from jumping outside time for a moment, until they could latch into a time signal (this is, of course, just a fancy version of the old [wakes up] "how long was I out?" cliché.
At the end, these leftover ultrapowerful whatevers are somehow contained. OK, mythology is chock full of gods and demigods locked up forever with "no chance of escaping (pauses) unless ... nah, couldn't possibly happen" so I'll allow this. They telepath our plucky heroine "let us free, we'll be good this time, Scout's honor" and she's like "nah" and we're done. Huh? I would have liked an exit that included a bit of "Sooooo, what are we gonna do with these her Gifts? What else do ya s'pose they can do?" As Scott has a character say at the end, they have (ahem) plenty of time.
Lookit, I've enjoyed reading along with orogeny and ringworlds and life on a gas giant, and tribbles, and sentient fungus, and I am NOT fussy about worldbuilding. But this one reads more like a comic book or a Star Wars "Kessel run in less than a parsec," or what Vonnegut called a chronosynclastic infundibulum. Every new scene left me expecting a new surprise, like weight-loss pies made from backwards atoms. This is a basic story dressed up in seven-league boots and invisibility cloaks.
AND .. what bugged me most: these Gifts are incredibly rare, and yet our crew of three thinks it's perfectly natural to plan to ... no, I won't say it. I've done enough spoiling.
I've liked quite a few of her others, but for me Scott has been too inventive in this book.
November 19, 2018
Here's what I said in my blurb since it's not out and about yet:
"Melissa Scott’s Finders is an epic tale set in a universe of hostile AIs and social collapse in the aftermath of a devastating intergalactic war. Cassilde and her lovers, Ashe and Dai, are salvagers and explorers, sifting through the remains of the high tech civilizations that have left their mark on the galaxy around them. Cassilde’s illness, Ashe’s previous betrayal and an implacable foe threaten their chosen family, their livelihood and their lives. Can they succeed with the help of the Ancestors’ Gifts? Scott’s science fiction has always been remarkable for its world-building and Finders is no exception. Once you read this thrilling new science fiction saga with its unforgettable characters, you’ll be wanting more."
"Melissa Scott’s Finders is an epic tale set in a universe of hostile AIs and social collapse in the aftermath of a devastating intergalactic war. Cassilde and her lovers, Ashe and Dai, are salvagers and explorers, sifting through the remains of the high tech civilizations that have left their mark on the galaxy around them. Cassilde’s illness, Ashe’s previous betrayal and an implacable foe threaten their chosen family, their livelihood and their lives. Can they succeed with the help of the Ancestors’ Gifts? Scott’s science fiction has always been remarkable for its world-building and Finders is no exception. Once you read this thrilling new science fiction saga with its unforgettable characters, you’ll be wanting more."
March 4, 2019
Absolutely fantastic poly space opera with great characters and really thoughtful world building. Also, a very clever take on a classic concept that will be particularly familiar to Highlander fans.
Cassilde and Dai are salvagers, hunting for the relics and technology in the ruins of two previous civilizations, the mysterious Ancestors and the later Successors. Cassilde is also dying, wasting away due to an incurable, always-fatal condition. Cassilde and Dai are struggling to scrape out a living and manage her illness when their former lover Ashe walks back into their lives with a job offer they can't refuse.
Years ago, Ashe left them to fight on the opposite side of an interplanetary war, and Cassilde and Dai are both still angry at Ashe and mourning the lost relationship. I really love how Cassilde and Dai and Ashe's relationships are written. They each have their own relationship with Ashe that is distinct from the relationship of the three of them together. And while they both love him still, they both give the other leeway to forgive him or not in their own time and own way.
Also, Ashe's seeming-betrayal is more nuanced and complicated than I expected, less a betrayal than a case of conflicting cultural expectations and commitments.
Another clever piece of world building here: one of the reasons Cassilde and Dai are struggling financially is that Ashe is a Scholar, trained to interpret and record the ancient wreckage as part of the salvage operation. All legal salvagers are required to work with a Scholar, and Scholars are expensive and in high demand. I loved this detail. Archaeology and recording the past is important, and should be an important part of this kind of world.
So, Ashe shows up with a job, and also a new knowledge acquired during the war of the mysterious, thought-mythical Gifts of the Ancestors, which confer near-instant healing and potential immortality on those who receive them. Like Cassilde. But there's a price. (There's always a price.) Gifts wear off. And once you've received one, the impetus to search and seek out more is impossible to resist. Also, gifts can be stolen, although not without damage or death to the person being stolen from.
And so Cassilde and Dai are pulled into an underworld they never knew existed, while adapting to the complications of new biology, and also tracing down a mystery linked to exactly how the Ancestors's civilization came to its end.
I really appreciated how Cassilde's illness and then acquisition of her Gift was handled. It's not a simple decision, and it's not just a miracle cure, it's a difficult choice with very real drawbacks.
I just really, really loved this book and am very much looking forward to more in the universe.
Cassilde and Dai are salvagers, hunting for the relics and technology in the ruins of two previous civilizations, the mysterious Ancestors and the later Successors. Cassilde is also dying, wasting away due to an incurable, always-fatal condition. Cassilde and Dai are struggling to scrape out a living and manage her illness when their former lover Ashe walks back into their lives with a job offer they can't refuse.
Years ago, Ashe left them to fight on the opposite side of an interplanetary war, and Cassilde and Dai are both still angry at Ashe and mourning the lost relationship. I really love how Cassilde and Dai and Ashe's relationships are written. They each have their own relationship with Ashe that is distinct from the relationship of the three of them together. And while they both love him still, they both give the other leeway to forgive him or not in their own time and own way.
Also, Ashe's seeming-betrayal is more nuanced and complicated than I expected, less a betrayal than a case of conflicting cultural expectations and commitments.
Another clever piece of world building here: one of the reasons Cassilde and Dai are struggling financially is that Ashe is a Scholar, trained to interpret and record the ancient wreckage as part of the salvage operation. All legal salvagers are required to work with a Scholar, and Scholars are expensive and in high demand. I loved this detail. Archaeology and recording the past is important, and should be an important part of this kind of world.
So, Ashe shows up with a job, and also a new knowledge acquired during the war of the mysterious, thought-mythical Gifts of the Ancestors, which confer near-instant healing and potential immortality on those who receive them. Like Cassilde. But there's a price. (There's always a price.) Gifts wear off. And once you've received one, the impetus to search and seek out more is impossible to resist. Also, gifts can be stolen, although not without damage or death to the person being stolen from.
And so Cassilde and Dai are pulled into an underworld they never knew existed, while adapting to the complications of new biology, and also tracing down a mystery linked to exactly how the Ancestors's civilization came to its end.
I really appreciated how Cassilde's illness and then acquisition of her Gift was handled. It's not a simple decision, and it's not just a miracle cure, it's a difficult choice with very real drawbacks.
I just really, really loved this book and am very much looking forward to more in the universe.
to-read-eventually
December 27, 2018So, having read the kindle sample, I can say that the plot looks interesting enough and the worldbuilding is intriguing, but...
- I bounced off some of Ms. Scott's other books, so I'm wary. Including the highly recced Astreiant series. Just wasn't for me.
- There isn't enough gay for me. The main ship was poly m/f/m, with the second man being optional/it's complicated. I'm frankly just not interested in reading about m/f, especially when the relationship is entwined with the plot the way this one seems to be. And I'm less interested in the m/m as well, because it thus far happens off-page. It might change, yeah, but the m/f is mentioned rather too frequently in just the sample. It's off-putting for this lesbian.
I'm shelving this as a "maybe eventually" for now.
- I bounced off some of Ms. Scott's other books, so I'm wary. Including the highly recced Astreiant series. Just wasn't for me.
- There isn't enough gay for me. The main ship was poly m/f/m, with the second man being optional/it's complicated. I'm frankly just not interested in reading about m/f, especially when the relationship is entwined with the plot the way this one seems to be. And I'm less interested in the m/m as well, because it thus far happens off-page. It might change, yeah, but the m/f is mentioned rather too frequently in just the sample. It's off-putting for this lesbian.
I'm shelving this as a "maybe eventually" for now.
September 24, 2023
why did i keep reading this? didn't pull me in basically.
February 8, 2019
Polyamory space opera -- that is also a Highlander fanfic. Run, don't walk.
September 22, 2020
2.5*. Too much of Clarke's Third Law here. I'll allow for one major mumbo-jumbo magical science concept per SFF novel, but this had both the "ancestral elements" (nanites?) and the warpline space travel AND the AI, who were indistinguishable from fantasy novels with capricious gods. The Gift functioned as a get-out-of-jail-free card to make the plot points fall in line, which I find annoying with actual magic systems, nevermind technology that should follow some internal set of rules and limitations. I'm tagging this as science fiction, but I think a reader will have a better time if they go into this expecting space fantasy. In its favor, this does not end on a major cliffhanger even though it is the start of a series(?). And you know, space threesomes! But so much time was spent going from point A to point B and tediously "explaining" the Magic Science (clear as mud) that this was kind of a slog to read.
June 30, 2019
What a disappointment :( I love Melissa Scott and her Death by Silver and Astreiant series are by far my favourite books ever read. However, Finders was a massive let down and not because of the writing or the world building which were incredible but because of this huge distance, the main character felt as though nothing touched her. I mean we are seeing this all through her eyes and everything is distant there is no tension no can seem to be bothered to get upset.
My fave character was Ashe who feels in the sidelines to this polyamorous relationship and then he what is the point of angst without the comfort.
Overall a disappointing read but I adore Melissa Scott so cannot wait to see what else she has, this one just want for me.
My fave character was Ashe who feels in the sidelines to this polyamorous relationship and then he what is the point of angst without the comfort.
Overall a disappointing read but I adore Melissa Scott so cannot wait to see what else she has, this one just want for me.
July 30, 2025
Terrific space adventure, lots of heart and great characters, deep time and space and layered world with lots of unknowns, this was great fun.
Want to read
December 6, 2018okay, I don't think I've read anything by her, but apparently she usually writes lots of LGBT+ character so I'm !!!!!!!
August 27, 2020
I don’t know which I liked the best in this book, the world building or the characters. Melissa Scott has created a fascinating universe where humans are climbing their way out of a second fall of civilization, scavenging remnants from the ancestors without fully understanding if they’re dealing with science or magic.
Cassville and Dai are salvage operators, Cassilde dying of an incurable disease, when they are approached by former partner and lover, Ashe. He has a proposal for a salvage claim that’s too good to pass up, but they can’t trust him after he left them to fight on the other side of a war. What I love about the characters is that their strengths work so well together, but they are each products of their very different backgrounds. They have to carefully feel their way to a new understanding, while being hunted across space by Ashe’s former compatriot from the war.
Then there are the AIs who legend says were created by the ancestors and then turned against their creators in a war that caused the first fall of civilization. They’re only a myth now, but of course if they were real, they would be safely locked away where the ancestors trapped them.
This book reminded me in some ways of the author’s Roads of Heaven series, both have very good world building and some similarities in the characters, but a very different universe and plot.
Cassville and Dai are salvage operators, Cassilde dying of an incurable disease, when they are approached by former partner and lover, Ashe. He has a proposal for a salvage claim that’s too good to pass up, but they can’t trust him after he left them to fight on the other side of a war. What I love about the characters is that their strengths work so well together, but they are each products of their very different backgrounds. They have to carefully feel their way to a new understanding, while being hunted across space by Ashe’s former compatriot from the war.
Then there are the AIs who legend says were created by the ancestors and then turned against their creators in a war that caused the first fall of civilization. They’re only a myth now, but of course if they were real, they would be safely locked away where the ancestors trapped them.
This book reminded me in some ways of the author’s Roads of Heaven series, both have very good world building and some similarities in the characters, but a very different universe and plot.
July 30, 2019
I bought this pretty much automatically. It's Melissa Scott, it's sci-fi, two things I usually enjoy. But it didn't work for me this time, maybe because it's so description heavy. I was confused a lot of the time and the characters felt kind of soulless.
February 3, 2019
Intriguing world building, and I liked the characters. But also long descriptions of traveling from one place to another, and the ultimate climax was a huge let-down for me. Harrumph.
July 4, 2019
The Ancestors--who can only be described as gods--lived in great sky palaces--until finally, after almost losing the AI Wars, they fell, or were abandoned. Then, the Sucessors, Now, the humans, scattered on dozens of worlds, some of whom make it their business to salvage the ruins of the great ones, seeking Ancestor artifacts, treasures, lost technological wonders, powerful medicines. Three such salvors are Dai, Ashe, and Cassilde, reunited after the Trouble. While investigating what seems to a rich Claim, they find one of the legendary Ancestor Gifts.
Cassilde's pernicious disease is cured. She has never felt so good before--which doesn't do how she feels justice. But others hear it, and complications ensue--complications that could lead to the return of the banished AIs who almost destroyed everything.
Another amazing tour de force of world-building by Melissa Scott--detailed, rich, a universe with a history that is active in the present. Dai, Ashe, and Cassilde's triad relationship is the heart of this tale. At times, I got a little lost in the technological details--but they are needed, I think. The mythic underpinning--Pandora, Prometheus, the Titans--only adds to the richness of this adventure.
Well done, recommended.
Cassilde's pernicious disease is cured. She has never felt so good before--which doesn't do how she feels justice. But others hear it, and complications ensue--complications that could lead to the return of the banished AIs who almost destroyed everything.
Another amazing tour de force of world-building by Melissa Scott--detailed, rich, a universe with a history that is active in the present. Dai, Ashe, and Cassilde's triad relationship is the heart of this tale. At times, I got a little lost in the technological details--but they are needed, I think. The mythic underpinning--Pandora, Prometheus, the Titans--only adds to the richness of this adventure.
Well done, recommended.
June 26, 2021
Basic setting -- far future after two collapses of civilization, humanity leads an interstellar existence trying to pick up bits of either the first heyday, or bits of the second heyday which was also trying to regain the lost knowledge of the first civilization.
So far, so good -- and there are parts where trying to unravel the mysteries of the old are a focus. Unfortunately the work as a whole reads like fanfic / a Mary Sue fantasy, with the protagonist being frustratingly reckless, and the events that unfold are so full of Deus ex Machina it gets to be boring. A large portion of the prose also describes goings on in ways that don't seem to be relevant to anything, while another large portion paints in bright colors and big letters "this is a bad idea," just so we can know a bit later that yup, it was a bad idea. The characters are left almost entirely undeveloped, and aside from a cardboard cutout of an antagonist there are only the three members of the crew of the salvage ship.
In short, the world's interesting, the overarching plot similarly, but I don't believe I can make myself try to go through the second installment to figure out where it goes.
So far, so good -- and there are parts where trying to unravel the mysteries of the old are a focus. Unfortunately the work as a whole reads like fanfic / a Mary Sue fantasy, with the protagonist being frustratingly reckless, and the events that unfold are so full of Deus ex Machina it gets to be boring. A large portion of the prose also describes goings on in ways that don't seem to be relevant to anything, while another large portion paints in bright colors and big letters "this is a bad idea," just so we can know a bit later that yup, it was a bad idea. The characters are left almost entirely undeveloped, and aside from a cardboard cutout of an antagonist there are only the three members of the crew of the salvage ship.
In short, the world's interesting, the overarching plot similarly, but I don't believe I can make myself try to go through the second installment to figure out where it goes.
June 23, 2019
Salvage operators Cassilde Sam and Dai Winters are barely scraping by hunting for whatever Ancestral relics they can find while dealing with Cassilde's ever deteriorating health due to an ultimately fatal disease. When their former business partner and lover Summerlad Ashe turns up again out of the blue years after he left them both to go fight on the opposite side of an intergalactic war, they are rightly suspicious of his motives, but the proposition he brings them - the chance to salvage ruins likely to contain unimaginable riches - is too good to decline. It soon turns out Ashe didn't tell them the whole story, and an incredible find pulls them into a dangerous game neither wanted any part of.
New Melissa Scott series? Sign me up! Finders offers fastpaced space opera with, as usual, excellent worldbuilding, focussed on a trio of compelling characters who just so happen to be in a poly relationship - more of this, please!
New Melissa Scott series? Sign me up! Finders offers fastpaced space opera with, as usual, excellent worldbuilding, focussed on a trio of compelling characters who just so happen to be in a poly relationship - more of this, please!
March 19, 2019
I've loved Melissa Scott's books since I got The Roads of Heaven omnibus from the SFBC back in junior high. I had to re-bind it once I got to university and I still reread it on occasion. It has been quite a while since she has written space opera/ hard scifi and it was worth the wait. I love the fantasy stuff too but this is making me want to pull out some of my other old favorites.
The pacing stays quick and the universe building feels fresh and new. Not everything is laid out for the reader with regards to explanations and definitions but you can guess and figure things out as the story goes. The main characters are not two dimensional but still have a lot of room to be further expanded. I'm hoping that future books will further flesh out Dai and Ashes backgrounds. The story is from Silde's point of view so she is who we know best.
The pacing stays quick and the universe building feels fresh and new. Not everything is laid out for the reader with regards to explanations and definitions but you can guess and figure things out as the story goes. The main characters are not two dimensional but still have a lot of room to be further expanded. I'm hoping that future books will further flesh out Dai and Ashes backgrounds. The story is from Silde's point of view so she is who we know best.
December 2, 2019
This was good! Kept getting more interesting, the world more complex as I kept reading. Carsilde is a salvager - digging in the space ruins of Ancestors (human civilization several thousand years ago, at its technological peak) for usable technology. She uncovers secrets! It's a complete & satisfying story as a standalone, but the universe seems so promising & rich, I really hope for more books.
My only critique is
My only critique is
April 1, 2019
I loved this book. Based on an interesting concept (scavengers reclaim the relics of an earlier age of humans who innovated and then destroyed themselves), the book was fast-paced, easy to slip into, and interesting. The central relationship was a triad and beautiful in its straight-forward, sweet depiction of 3 people in love. There were a few moments that felt a little overdone (didn't need that much navigational detail), but I adored this book and I will eagerly read any and all in the series.
December 15, 2018
Excellent new universe from Melissa Scott
Great backstory including several interstellar dark ages leading to the current to situation that includes the aftermath of a recent war II found the characters to be interesting and believable & I actually cared about what happened to them (even to the least sympathetic character) No spoilers, but it appears to be a setup for further books and I look forward to them
Great backstory including several interstellar dark ages leading to the current to situation that includes the aftermath of a recent war II found the characters to be interesting and believable & I actually cared about what happened to them (even to the least sympathetic character) No spoilers, but it appears to be a setup for further books and I look forward to them
May 3, 2019
I love the normative queerness of all Melissa Scott's writing and this is no exception. It features a three-way poly relationship between salvage operators scrounging the ruins of an inexplicable civilization for the bits and bobs that will keep their remnant tech working. The crew find that there is more going on than they know about and the suspense is set against the low-key renegotiating of their relationship. I really enjoyed it.
Want to read
October 16, 2025Hey! I just wanted to say how much I loved your story, it was a truly amazing read. The visuals came so naturally that it felt like a cinematic experience.
I’m an artist who specializes in comic and webtoon commissions, and I couldn’t help but think of how amazing your work would look as a webtoon series. If that ever interests you, I’d be honored to bring it to life.
You can reach me on Discord (ava_crafts) or Instagram (@Evelyn) if you’d like to chat more or see examples of my work.
I’m an artist who specializes in comic and webtoon commissions, and I couldn’t help but think of how amazing your work would look as a webtoon series. If that ever interests you, I’d be honored to bring it to life.
You can reach me on Discord (ava_crafts) or Instagram (@Evelyn) if you’d like to chat more or see examples of my work.
April 4, 2019
As easy to devour as all of Melissa Scott's, this was an intriguing and enjoyable sf story, and I'm definitely keen to see where else it goes. Enjoyed the triad relationship of our main protagonists, and the world building was interesting and pretty easy to understand. (Though ever since a friend mentioned the trace of Highlander you can feel in the tone I can't unsee it, heh.)
August 16, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read, from the slow start to the chase through the stars, to the finale.
The characters are interesting, the world they inherited from the ancestors is intriguing leading to a great space adventure.
I hope Melissa Scott does manage to write a sequel or two for this as I'd like to see where the characters go next
The characters are interesting, the world they inherited from the ancestors is intriguing leading to a great space adventure.
I hope Melissa Scott does manage to write a sequel or two for this as I'd like to see where the characters go next
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