Radiant Star

Leckie (Lake of Souls) returns to the setting of her Hugo and Nebula award-winning Imperial Radch series for this striking standalone novel, which travels far from the heart of the Radch empire to the backwater ice planet of Aaa. Aaa doesn’t even have its own star. Its single city, Ooioiaa, is dominated by groups arguing about how best to practice the idiosyncratic local religion, and a lone Radch ship supports its uninterested Radchaai governor, Charak Svo. It’s also home to one extremely rich man, Serque Tais, who is dying. When one of the religious groups successfully convinces Governor Charak that Serque should become the final living saint seated in the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, Charak fails to foresee that the transfer of Serque’s wealth and power will destabilize Aaa’s social order. But she has bigger problems: the Radch has abruptly cut communications and stopped sending ships, and without their cargo, everyone in Ooioiaa will starve. Composed almost entirely of side characters, this perfectly showcases Leckie’s tremendous talent for finding small, tender, human stories even in the most expansive of settings. It’s an unexpected and delightful turn for the series. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Co. (May)