Boneyards

Rusch follows Diving into the Wreck and City of Ruins with another fast-paced novel of the far future. Lost Souls Corporation owner Boss, her employees, and the crew of the Ivoire, a vessel flung 5,000 years into the future, search planetside ruins for clues about the fate of the Ivoire’s long-vanished fleet. Meanwhile, Boss’s friend, former scientist Squishy, conducts a dangerous unauthorized mission to destroy the Enterran Empire’s research into stealth tech, the technology that powers the Ivoire and which, in the empire’s untrained hands, has resulted in several deaths. Though Rusch’s writing is sometimes choppy and plagued by redundancy and technological hand-waving, her feminist sensibilities will endear this book to readers looking for a light, quick space adventure with strong female protagonists. Agent: Richard Henshaw Group. (Jan.)