The Folded Sky
The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear, published by Simon and Schuster on June 17, 2025, is a science fiction novel that explores the complexities of interstellar travel and artificial intelligence. In this 496-page narrative, Dr. Sunya Song embarks on a critical journey across the Milky Way to connect with Baomind, a moon-sized AI that is essential for humanity’s survival amid cosmic threats. As an archinformist, Sunya typically works at a university near the Galactic Core, but she is thrust into a high-stakes situation that challenges her expertise and her family’s safety.
Readers will find a blend of adventure and suspense as Sunya, accompanied by her teenage children and alien wife, navigates the dangers posed by Freeport pirates who oppose the existence of artificial intelligence. The story delves into themes of preservation and the importance of information in a universe where knowledge is under constant threat. With its focus on alien invasion and first contact, The Folded Sky presents a rich tapestry of challenges that test the limits of human resilience and ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds.
Official synopsis Publisher
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.
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