Mantivore Dreams by S.J. Higbee

SPSFC SPSFC 2022

On a colony planet, in a hot, dusty village where no one wants to live, is someone who was exiled there a long time ago. Someone who stole something so precious, others are prepared to lie, kidnap and murder to get it back. Drawn into this web of deceit is Kyrillia, a teenager who dreams of running the village’s branch of the Node, the planetwide organic information system, but instead drudges for her mother… Seth, member of the disgraced Priest family who can read and write, but instead toils as a day labourer on the smelliest, most thankless jobs in the village, in exchange for scraps of food and temporary shelter… And Vrox, an ancient, sentient alien who lives only in Kyrillia’s imagination, or so she thinks... When Kyrillia sneaks into the Node and opens up a forbidden site, she triggers a chain of events that not only rips through her own life, but affects those living thousands of miles away in the capital. For when something so precious goes missing, others will stop at nothing to get it back. For fans who enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold

Adult • Science Fiction/First Contact • Science Fiction/Colonization