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Arachne's Crime (The Arachne) Paperback – December 1, 2020

by Christopher L Bennett (Author)
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
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Is this a dream... or a nightmare?The crew of the interstellar colony vessel Arachne is roused from artificial hibernation to face a horrific reality, as an alien boarding party takes them into custody to answer for the deaths of tens of thousands of sentient beings.But there is more to their trial than meets the eye, and the threads of intrigue weave a tight web as crewmates and friends are divided between those who feel they owe restitution for the actions of the ship's AI in their defense, and those who refuse to bow down to a judgment they see as persecution.What future can they hope to build among aliens who see them as mass murderers... presuming they have a future at all?
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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 2
    The Arachne
  2. Print length
    240 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Espec Books
  5. Publication date
    December 1, 2020
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.55 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1949691136
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1949691139
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Christopher L. Bennett is a master of words and worlds - readers of his books can always count on being carried away on a fascinating ride!" - John Jackson Miller, author of Star Wars: Kenobi and Star Trek: Discovery - The Enterprise War

About the Author

Christopher L. Bennett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, with a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in History from the University of Cincinnati. A fan of science and science fiction since age five, he has spent the past two decades selling original short fiction to magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact (home of his Hub series of comedy adventures), BuzzyMag, and Galaxy's Edge. Since 2003, he has been one of Pocket Books' most prolific and popular authors of Star Trek tie-in fiction, including the epic Next Generation prequel The Buried Age, the Enterprise -- Rise of the Federation series, and the Original Series prequel The Captain's Oath. He has also written two Marvel Comics novels, X-Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder. His original novel Only Superhuman, perhaps the first hard science fiction superhero novel, was voted Library Journal's SF/Fantasy Debut of the Month for October 2012. He has three collections reprinting his original short fiction, Among the Wild Cybers: Tales Beyond the Superhuman from eSpec Books (containing an original Only Superhuman prequel novelette) and Hub Space: Tales from the Greater Galaxy and Crimes of the Hub from Mystique Press.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Espec Books (December 1, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949691136
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949691139
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.55 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

About the author

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Christopher L. Bennett

Christopher L. Bennett

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Christopher L. Bennett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, with a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. in History from the University of Cincinnati. A fan of science and science fiction since age five, he has spent the past two decades selling original short fiction to magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact (home of his "Hub" series of comedy adventures), BuzzyMag, and Galaxy's Edge. Since 2003, he has been one of Pocket Books' most prolific and popular authors of Star Trek tie-in fiction, including the epic Next Generation prequel The Buried Age, the Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations series, and the Star Trek: Enterprise -- Rise of the Federation series. He has also written two Marvel Comics novels, X-Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder. His original novel Only Superhuman, perhaps the first hard science fiction superhero novel, was voted Library Journal's SF/Fantasy Debut of the Month for October 2012. Other tales in the same universe can be found in Among the Wild Cybers and the upcoming Arachne's Crime, both from eSpec Books. His Hub stories are available in two collections from Mystique Press.

Christopher's homepage, fiction annotations, and blog can be found at christopherlbennett.wordpress.com. His Patreon page with original fiction and reviews is at https://www.patreon.com/christopherlbennett, and his Facebook author page is at www.facebook.com/ChristopherLBennettAuthor.

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
8 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

W.
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent once you get past the first few pages
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2021
The premise of the book is that a colony vessel from earth is traveling at a significant fraction of the speed of light when it is stopped and boarded by aliens who claim the crew are guilty of xenocide. There is a trial and it’s aftermath.

The first several pages made very little sense. There were scenes from an alien perspective with unexplained terminology. There were scenes of a human perspective that were very jumbled and unclear. The transitions between these viewpoints were unclear. It was tough going and really not enjoyable and I almost abandoned the book.

What happened next cleared everything up. The human-perspective scenes were dream images from the dreaming crew, while the alien-perspectives were what happened to the alien habitat as shared with an alien who hadn’t been present. The aliens have a form of artificial extended memory that captures everything, including emotions so the alien experienced the destruction without being present.

The book deals with a lot of the mental processes of the aliens and humans and their sentient AI. The personal justification of all viewpoints including extreme views and the ramifications of these views is explored very well. Both the humans and aliens are split into factions because of the incident, trial and aftermath. Although the aliens pride themselves on being rational some of their reactions are exactly in-line with the “feral” humans.

There is an undercurrent of something hidden by the aliens relating to the history of the humans.

This book is a very good start to the series.

I received a free copy of this book and chose to write a review.
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Jo
3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating premise, meh characters - 3.5 stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2021
I am voluntarily reviewing this novel after receiving a free copy.

This one is hard to rate. There are a lot of things I enjoyed about it, but also a lot of things that fell flat.

First off, the idea and themes explored here have a ton of potential. Basically, the novel tackles the idea of how (or if) someone can be held responsible for something horrific happening, even if they had no knowledge of it or real potential to avoid it. Where does the blame come from? Is it humanity's fault, for engaging in very unsafe space travel? Are the victims partially to blame, for concealing themselves beyond detection, so there was no way to avoid the collision? Is it the AIs fault, for prioritizing their human passengers above all other concerns? And how can a just society react to this sort of horror in a way that's both fair and soothes their people's pain? If that society doesn't go far enough, should their citizens be allowed to pursue their own idea of justice in that society's place?

All of this was super fun. Unfortunately, I think it's a bit undercut by some ideas near the end, as there are hints that this event might have been orchestrated in some way, and that it was in fact necessary to force humanity to accept this larger society. That in itself is a fine idea, but I personally don't find it as compelling as the other ethical quandaries.

I liked the inclusion of the other alien races, though they were a bit too alien at times. The first few pages of this novel are borderline incomprehensible for this very reason, and I can imagine a lot of readers just giving up immediately because everything is so difficult to parse. This continues even into the humans' POVs, at least for a little while. There's definitely a learning curve as you grow accustomed to a lot of the terminology and phrases within this society.

Unfortunately, I think this novel's weak point is its human characters. I can barely remember who was who or what made any of them unique. Most of them were just empty faces needed to fill space. There's a central "romance" between our lead and a female character, but it was bland and empty. There was no build-up, chemistry, or real development between them, so I was totally unmoved by them getting together or any difficulties they experience. Really, this is just the same problem a lot of sci-fi has - impersonal, bland characters on a fascinating stage. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then you should be fine, but if you're looking for meatier characters to suit the meaty subject matter, this won't hit the spot.

I am curious as to where the story will go from here, but I don't know if I'll pursue the series.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Science fiction
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2021
Over all it is a pretty good book. Some parts just didn't do it for me. I love the A.I even if he makes the wrong choice.
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Anonymouse
3.0 out of 5 stars Meh
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020
"Arachne's Crime" is a meditation on empathy, remorse, regret, guilt and legal liability. The ship's AI fires on a seemingly inert obstacle in the flight path, blowing apart what turns out to be a large habitat that uses technologies that the AI did not recognize, resulting in a massive loss of life of an interstellar race. The aliens are enraged and demand justice. The human crew's views swivel around. While everyone is horrified, what else should they feel? They were all in hibernation and had no input into the AI's decision. They had not programmed the AI. There was no malicious intention. The AI screwed up, horribly, but it's an AI.

The aliens act too much like humans. The humans think of sex at the most inappropriate times. The strength of emotions among the humans is odd, given a common Anglo-Saxon law tradition that seems to prevail among them. Remorse? Regret? Guilt? Really?

I received a review copy of "Arachne's Crime" by Christopher L. Bennett from eSpec Books through NetGalley.com.
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Grady Murray
4.0 out of 5 stars A different story
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021
This was a different story has some good and boring spots.
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Haunted Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars First Contact?? Or A.I. Misstep?
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021
First in a Series, ARACHNE'S CRIME is a complex Science Fiction novel of a far-flung scientific expedition of exploration across Space. Operated by an Artificial Intelligence, Arachne, the tripartite expedition and a companion separate expedition travel at nearly the speed of light. Unfortunately, action by Arachne--a misstep or intentioned?--results in a First Contact encounter with an alien species, the Chirrn, with tragic consequences for alien and human travelers.

I reviewed this title via Hidden Gems Books at no cost, obligation, or remuneration. I opted to review.
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