I absolutely love books with nerdy/scientific protagonists. What I extra appreciated about this books, more than the research and exploration of the science was that, from the blurb, you might assume that this is an academic rivals to lovers story. No, our main character is happily married to an alien woman, with kids and stays that way. It's honestly refreshing.

I really like this universe. It’s fun, very far future and everything is dreadfully civilized except when it isn’t. Although as I look at my cat on the couch I think I shall have to presume they’ve genetically tampered with the cats to make them a bit smarter better adapted to space. Because thus fluffy lump before me really wouldn’t cope….

Reading this standalone book in the White Space series has me immediately wanting to go pick up the first 2 books. The world-building is deliciously good. The characters are relatable, despite being so alien and different at times. And the messages and introspection are so on point for current times that I could not think of a better space opera to read right now. I will be navigating through the rest of this series soon enough to be able to enjoy some more of Elizabeth Bear’s writing.

Thank you to @sagapressbooks for the ARC! All thoughts are my own.

The Folded Sky has big, interesting ideas, a colorful cast of characters that are fun to root for or against, and some great action sequences. Unfortunately, and surprisingly for an author as talented as Elizabeth Bear, the pieces struggle to coalesce.

Many of the White Space series strengths continue in this novel. The writing clearly and engagingly communicates big ideas about physics and culture (even if you can’t follow all the physics, like me, you can still clearly follow the implications behind it). Some action sequences towards the back of the novel are truly spectacular in their ability to combine physics, the chaos of conflict, and emotional stakes. And the hopeful world of the White Space series, filled with interesting characters largely trying to make it even better, continues to be a fun place to spend time.

This time though, the story struggles to find narrative momentum or a consistent style. Dr. Sunya Song travels to the edge of the galaxy to study a massive artificial intelligence, known as the Baomind, left behind by an ancient alien race. However, once there, she discovers that the research team is under siege by pirates. Seemingly, the narrative tension will come from her having to do her research while under threat from pirates. Except then, there’s also an attempted murder and it becomes partially about the investigation. The pirates and the research fade. In turn, the mystery often gives way to family drama and fails to really establish a convincing suspect list. Sunya also spends a lot of time lost in her thoughts, another frequent obstacle to narrative momentum. It seems that, admirably, the novel is trying to establish its own unique style by combining different types of stories. Unfortunately, I found that the different elements often worked against each other.

Still, in the novel’s back half I do think it finds a good style and narrative momentum, making for a strong ending (even if I wish it could have explored some of its very interesting ideas more). If you liked the first two White Space novels, you should read this one (even accepting you probably won’t like it as much).

I read the ARC for The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear, White Space #3, following Ancestral Night and Machine. These are standalone stories that share world-building. So you can read in any order really.

In The Folded Sky we follow Dr. Sunyata Song who has left her wife and teen children behind with her wife to travel to a distant space station for a project that is to salvage her career. As they are approaching the space station another ship is blown up by pirates and pirates attempt to stop Sunyata’s ship as well, but they are able to escape. It is unknown if they will be able to leave as the pirates are running a blockade because they are fanatically anti-AI.

Complicating the story, Dr. Song learns that her ex and rival, Dr. Vickee DeVine will be arriving at the space station ahead of her and she feels that is disastrous for her project. DeVine is good at everything especially convincing everyone of how wonderful she is even though she has stolen other people’s work, include Sunyatas. Another surprise, Sunyata’s wife and children arrived on the same ship as Vickee to surprise her.

Okay, the world is fascinating and the pacing of the story is good, but here I found the characters to be the weakest part of the story. They were good – Sunyata is interesting and the concept of ‘right-minding’ is fascinating. Basically the fox imbedded in the brain is able to suppress the reactions/emotions that you show to others. Sunyata uses right-minding a lot. This would make for a fascinating dystopian novel if this was out of the control of the human and AI just determined the right-minding. Vickee, the ex and rival is pretty much a one note character. Salvie, Sunyata’s wife, is practically perfect and always sunny disposition – is such a person real? But, she seems to be as effective as right-minding in putting Sunyata back on track. Another interesting character is Salvie and Sunyata’s daughter Luna who seems to get the real character development.

Overall, I really liked the writing and the world building and I wished for better character development. I’ve given this book 3.75 stars rounded up to four. It is a good read. This book is released today, June 17th and I need to thank Net Galley and Saga Press for my advance reader copy. #SagaSaysCrew

Information doesn’t want to be free. Information wants to vanish without a trace—and in less than a year, that’s exactly what will happen to the Baomind, an ancient AI orbiting a star nearing supernova. Dr. Sunya Song is on a mission to save it, but with enemies at every turn, can she protect the Baomind—and her own family—from destruction?

The Folded Sky is truly immense. It’s a murder mystery, an action-packed space opera, a first contact story, a philosophical debate, and a family drama all at once—and much to my delight, each of these tendrils are woven together with skill and confidence. Readers are dropped headfirst into a future where starships fly through folded spacetime and your boss might just be a dodecapod (tentacles and all!) I’ll admit to spending the first few pages worried that The Folded Sky might be a bit too smart for me, but rest assured—by the 30% mark, you’ll be nodding along to terms like white space travel, archinformatics, and Baomind tessarae like a pro.

On a scale from Altered Carbon to Solaris or The Three Body Problem, The Folded Sky tends toward action over philosophy, but there are still plenty of theoretical questions to chew on in between attempted m*rders and pirate attacks. I loved Bear’s takes on snarky artificial intelligence, alien communication, and the quantum observer effect, and Dr. Song’s struggle to navigate the difficult (yet so often hilarious) dynamics of life with her alien wife, angsty teenage children, two cats, ex-girlfriend turned academic rival, and reconstructed dinosaur Angie reminded me just how much I enjoy reading from the perspective of older female protagonists.

Though technically the third book in the White Space series, The Folded Sky can be read and enjoyed as a standalone, and is one I’d absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a punchy sci-fi adventure that will stretch your brain without breaking it!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 (4.5 stars)

This one just didn't do it for me. I've read the first two in the series. I think I just never fell in love with the main character, Sunya Sung. Because these books are written in first person and you are constantly in the head of the main character, it's a rough read if you haven't bought into that character.

I think the author is trying something different, to show a mom, a scientist, a wife, instead of an action hero. Unfortunately, reading about someone stuck in their bunk, unable to do anything, while pirates attack kept me at a distance too. And I never felt the love between Sunya and her alien wife. They are so mature and self-concerned that I never felt a spark between them. It was long enough since I read the previous books in the series that I was never sure if I'd forgotten something important or not.

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear

I had heard good things about Elizabeth Bear’s White Space novels but hadn’t ever read them before, but I had a hankering for good space opera. I wanted space ships and aliens and galactic civilizations! So I was excited when I got an eARC of her latest novel in the series, The Folded Sky, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. But first I had to read Ancestral Night and Machine, the first two books in the universe, which I enjoyed (Machine much more than Ancestral Night).

When I dove into The Folded Sky, it was everything I had hoped for! Although the motivation behind the pirates felt a little underdeveloped, everything else about this book was a delight. Our protagonist is a data historian/achivist, and she is on her way to a rickety space station to research an old alien artifact before its star goes supernova. Her wife (who is a wonderful nonhuman character) and her kids end up on that station, along with her chief rival (and exgirlfriend). There is a mystery, parenting drama, and fun first contact stuff. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to diving into the author’s back catalog.

3.5/5 Stars rounded up for the plot and continued White Space storyline. I have always loved how Elizabeth Bear invests real effort in the worlds she builds in her novels; you can tell when reading any of her books that a tremendous amount of thought and planning went into the intricacies rendered on the page. As a hard science fiction lover this book delivers, reflections on humanity and space travel all wrapped up in physics, time, and resource management. There's so much to dig into and enjoy whether you enjoy the research aspect or the action-adventure side of things. I feel confident saying that you won't find similar out there in the world of science fiction right now.

That said, the reason for only 3.5 stars comes down to the main character, Sunya Song. I really struggled to relate to her as a character and unfortunately spent a fair amount of time irritated with her inner monologue and choices. I think her struggles as a researcher and parent are very relatable, but it was hard for me to feel sympathy when she's lambasting her teenager while also acting like a child; and not doing much reflection on her actions (outside of what her wife is prompting her to do). I also found her prejudice to be a bit of a non-starter, especially because she's so harshly judgemental and critical of others. This isn't something she confronts in any meaningful way in the course of the book, which I found surprising since so much of Bear's writing is often a reflection on our humanity and choices.

All this is to say, this is NOT a bad book. I think the story is very enjoyable and unique, something that I appreciate as so many books all feel kind of the same nowadays. Yes, the main character misses the mark for me in some very important respects; but I do think Sunya Song has an interesting character arc. And there's something to be said about book characters not being perfect, I just found myself very frustrated at times. So all in all, if you love hard science fiction and complex worlds; this book is for you, and you should give it a shot!

Elizabeth Bear's "The Folded Sky" is a captivating addition to her much-lauded "White Space" series, promising a thrilling odyssey of space opera. This intricate narrative unfolds within a meticulously crafted cosmos and centers on Sunya Song, an archinformist whose lifeblood is the preservation of knowledge throughout the galaxy. Sunya embarks on a high-stakes mission to salvage the Baomind, an extraterrestrial artificial intelligence adrift near a dwindling red giant star. Her journey is laden with a multitude of obstacles, ranging from cutthroat academic competition to the personal intricacies of familial relationships, all while the menacing shadow of Freeport pirates looms large.

Elizabeth Bear's "The Folded Sky" had pretty much everything I look for in engaging science fiction: Faster than light travel, space ships, exploding space ships, alien cultures, dark matter, scientific research (and rivalry :-), a local star about to go supernova, attempted murder, machine intelligence (one of which being the size of a solar system), and even pirates!

As the third book in a successful series, existing readers will likely have certain expectations. It certainly does take place in the White Space "universe", and perhaps it might not have had the impact of the earlier books, I very much enjoyed this book. I look forward to more books in this series.

I thank Elizabeth Bear and Saga Press for kindly providing an electronic advanced readers copy.

I received a free copy from Saga Press via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Publish date June 17th.

I was intrigued by this book's premise of space historians and first contact. In The Folded Sky, archinformist Sunyata Song has been chosen for a mission to study an ancient alien AI orbiting a dying star. But when Sunya arrives, she discovers that not only did her academic rival beat her there, but the station is under threat by pirates, not to mention a mysterious attempted murder...

Almost from the first chapter, I was struck by the rich worldbuilding of The Folded Sky. Ships and habitats are run by complex AIs who are major characters in their own right. A docked clade is a person who's one mind sharing many bodies, and apparently they can get divorced. Sunya has several recorded human minds called ayatanas stored in her brain. Humans have a computer called a fox in their heads and they choose to manually adjust the intensity of their emotions through "rightminding," which is intended to make people less ruled by petty impulse and more prosocial. Although this is apparently the third book of a series, I had no trouble at all following any of the worldbuilding elements or introduced characters. (I assume the books are shared world rather than a tightly linked trilogy, I haven't read the first two myself.)

However, as much as I enjoyed the worldbuilding, the plot was glacially slow. The characters spent a lot of time talking and thinking, and remarkably little pagespace on major plot elements, like the murder investigation or Sunya's research. Sunya herself is inclined to second-guess and ruminate over her thoughts. Part of this is, I think, her culture. Due to rightminding, Sunya has been brought up with a heavy emphasis on regulating emotions and correct thought. Unfortunately, Sunya's self-consciousness tends to make the interpersonal dynamics, for a lack of a better word, heavily therapized. There's a heavy focus on analyzing what other characters might be thinking in order to say the most politely correct thing possible. The one partial exception is Sunya's tempestuous relationship with her nemesis and toxic ex, Victorya. (Although heads up that it's not a romantic relationship, as Sunya's happily married.)

What a fantastic premise, but I found the execution rather lacking, particularly the slow pace. If you enjoyed Ada Hoffman or Skrutskie's The Salvation Gambit, you might enjoy this book regardless of its issues.

Very different, not related at all to other books. A little too PC/touchy feely for my taste. Liked the first 2, not sure if I read the next.

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear is White Space #3, following Ancestral Night and Machine, both of which I have previously read. The series shares world-building, but is not strictly sequential.

The cultural and technological milieu of book 3 is similar to the earlier ones in the series – relics of prior Koregoi civilization, pan-species cooperation among alien beings, brain-implanted foxes and ayatanas, time measured in dias (days) and ans (years), AI shipminds, clade persons, and rightminding. The gobbledygook physics borrows current vocabulary – the sort of thing I expect from fantasy writers working in science fiction, such as benevolent shadow-beings made of dark matter, and extravagant extrapolation of particle entanglement. The descriptions of Dr. Sunyata Song’s work – “archinformation” seems to be straight-forward pattern detection. All of the information from the ancient Baomind arrives serialized as Baosong, and Sunya writes parsers. But the really challenging part of understanding alien language should be context and semantics rather than syntax. Her ayatanas provide that somehow.

“Information doesn’t want to be free. Information wants to vanish without a trace. It wants to slurp down the drain like soapy water planetside, a slick Coriolis whirl and then – gone. Vamoosed. Kaput. Books crumble, digital media degrade. Evern holographic storage crystals grow lossy over time. As the universe expands, every cubic meter holds a little less information than it did the instant before. The sun’s rim dips. The stars rush out. At one stride comes the dark. Entropy requires no maintenance. Order and intelligibility do.”

Characters are a more important factor in this writing than the speculative science. There is a passive-aggressive first-person narrator, Dr. Sunyata Song, who uses her fox to rightmind her emotions and mitigate her personality traits. I find rightminding to be the most interesting and perplexing concept in the White Space books. It already requires a high level of self-awareness to know when rightminding is called for. With rightminding by outside intervention, from a shipmind AI for instance, what is left of free will? I feel the concept could easily go dystopian. But in this third novel, rightminding is used almost exclusively for interception of emotional reactions, so as to allow more considered decisions or action. At any rate, Sunya’s character evolves towards physical action when her children are threatened.

The main concern of the writing in this novel is Sunya’s relationships. Most important is her relationship with her sulky teenaged daughter. Most of the growth is on the part of daughter Luna, while Sunya’s rightminding allows her to not react disastrously to Luna’s provocations. Sunya’s relationship with her ex-lover and academic rival Vickee DeVine takes up way too much space, and doesn’t really go anywhere except as a recurring need for Sunya to rightmind herself. Finally, Sunya’s wife Salvie is a Mary Sue; a tirelessly saccharine alien warrior-wife and mother to their children. There are men in this world, but almost all of them are bad guys or pirates. Even the closer ones are described superficially, with no interior personality. I’m aware that superficial treatment of women was common in golden age SF; it was a failing of the genre in those times. Contemporary reversal is also.

There are multiple waves of female kickass action in space and within the ships and stations, with good attention to gravitation (or lack thereof), radiation, and visual display. I expect that aspect of the novel to be quite popular, but my primary interest is in conceptualization and world-building. This setting and plot further develops Bear’s White Space.

I read an Advance Review Copy of The Folded Sky in an ebook format, which I received from Saga Press through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 17 June 2025.

The setup is fascinating—ancient AI, deep-space archaeology, and an isolated research station under siege—but the execution felt a little underwhelming. While Sunya’s perspective was engaging and the worldbuilding had potential, the pacing dragged at times, and some character decisions felt frustratingly contrived. The stakes were high, but the sense of wonder didn’t quite land the way it should have.

Interesting job. Great plot and backstory. Filled with great characters. Does stand alone. Must read for SciFi fans

I enjoyed this third White Space book and found it brisk and readable but ultimately not memorable. The characterization of the viewpoint character is good and there is sufficient creativity to the environment to create a sense of the alien and the possibilities of the future. I found the piracy and murder themes to be interesting but not wildly believable. I also thought certain plot developments - the attempted murder, for example - pop up without sufficient development or sense of “wow.” In fact, given the local setting - a sentient astronomical sized object circling a dying star - and the overall post-scarcity future, the book lacked the sense of wonder I craved. I like Bear as an author and would read her next book without question but this didn’t feel like her best effort.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

This felt like the final book within the White Space series (a loosely connected series about individuals suffering from certain ailments facing incredible odds) and I felt like the book lacked something in its core. The characters were fine and the revelation of betrayal was well done but many of the other decisions by these supposedly smart characters left me surprised. There was also a little bit of hand waviness and plot armor that took away from my enjoyment of the book.