The Folded Sky, Elizabeth Bear
The Folded Sky, Elizabeth Bear
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The Folded Sky

Author: Elizabeth Bear

Narrator: Sarah Slimani

Unabridged: 14 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/17/2025


Synopsis

Dr. Sunya Song embarks on an interstellar journey across the Milky Way to connect with the artificial intelligence known as Baomind, a moon-sized entity that holds the key to humanity’s survival amidst cosmic challenges and unforeseen threats in Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear’s next epic science fiction novel.

Information doesn’t want to be free. Information wants to vanish without a trace.

Sunya Song’s job is to stop that from happening.

She’s an archinformist: a specialist historian whose job usually involves sitting at a console at her university job near the Galactic Core, sorting ancient documents and restoring corrupted files.

But now, the research opportunity of a lifetime has sent her—along with her teenage children and alien wife—halfway across the galaxy to preserve the data and aid in the retrieval of the archaeological find of the century: an ancient alien artificial intelligence called Baomind. As vast as a stellar system, the Baomind orbits a dying red giant, and the star’s time has nearly ended.

The isolated research station and its small fleet of ships come under attack by fanatic Freeport pirates who believe that artificial intelligence is an abomination that must be destroyed, putting the lives of Sunya and her family at risk.

Tens of thousands of lightyears from home, isolated from all help, Sunya is the only one who can save them all.

About Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear won the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer in 2005 and has since published fifteen novels and numerous short stories. She writes in both the science fiction and fantasy genres and has won critical acclaim in both. She has won the Hugo Award more than once. She lives in Massachusetts. Visit her on X @Matociquala.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kat on March 16, 2025

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......more

Goodreads review by Dee on June 17, 2025

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......more

Goodreads review by Laramie on June 18, 2025

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 continu......more

Goodreads review by Allison on May 07, 2025

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 o......more

Goodreads review by Genna on June 16, 2025

Book Review: The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear Thanks so much to the author and Saga Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion! 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......more


Quotes

"Slimani’s vibrant narration complements this character-driven sci-fi mystery...A perfect pairing of performance and writing makes listening a treat.