The Runabout by Kristine Kathryn Rusch science fiction book reviewsThe Runabout by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Runabout by Kristine Kathryn Rusch science fiction book reviewsFinally we get to explore more of the Boneyard in The Runabout (2017), the fifth full-length novel in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s DIVING series. It was actually published after The Falls, but it works better if you read it between Skirmishes and The Falls. (And this is what the author suggests, too.)

After the discovery of the Boneyard, Boss and her companions have removed several fleet ships and commandeered them for their own use. After all, the fleet is no longer around to stop their ships from being stolen.

During the diving expeditions, Boss and Yash (one of the officers from Coop’s ship who studies anaconda drives) notice a strange anaconda signal coming from a small ship, a model known as a Runabout. This is odd because anaconda drives are not used in Runabouts, or at least they weren’t in Yash’s time in the fleet (5,000 years ago).

Boss and Yash want to figure out what’s going on. Why was an anaconda drive used in this Runabout? And does its strange signal suggest the drive is going to malfunction and cause the kinds of problems we’ve seen with failing drives in the past? Is the Boneyard, the source of all their new ships, unsafe?

Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn RuschWell, there’s a lot of discussion of these topics (a little repetitive and boring, in my opinion) before Boss, perhaps recklessly, finally decides she’s going to dive the Runabout. This turns out to be dangerous, as Boss had been warned. It also turns out to be pretty exciting (finally). They discover that the ship is weird in other ways, too, and the information they gather may turn out to be important for Boss, Yash, Coop, and his crew.

The mysteries won’t be solved in this novel, but some of them will be solved in the next novel, The Falls. Together, the two books make an exciting DIVING story that reaches across space and time.

As usual, Jennifer Van Dyck does a nice job with the narration of Audible Studio’s audiobook edition.

Published in 2017. A graveyard of spaceships, abandoned by the mysterious Fleet thousands of years earlier. Boss calls it “the Boneyard.” She needs the ships inside to expand her work for Lost Souls Corporation. Yash Zarlengo thinks the Boneyard will help her discover if the Fleet still exists.Boss and Yash, while exploring the Boneyard, discover a small ship with a powerful and dangerous problem: The ship’s active anacapa drive.To escape the Boneyard, Boss must deal with the drive. Which means she’ll have to dive the ship on limited time and under extremely dangerous conditions. And she can’t go alone.A heart-stopping adventure that continues the thrill ride of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s award-winning Diving series.

 

Author

  • Kat Hooper

    KAT HOOPER, who started this site in June 2007, earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and psychology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and now teaches and conducts brain research at the University of North Florida. When she reads fiction, she wants to encounter new ideas and lots of imagination. She wants to view the world in a different way. She wants to have her mind blown. She loves beautiful language and has no patience for dull prose, vapid romance, or cheesy dialogue. She prefers complex characterization, intriguing plots, and plenty of action. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Richard Matheson, and C.S. Lewis.

    View all posts