Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth Bonesteel

April 3, 2025 3:35 PM

Elizabeth Bonesteel's standalone sci-fi novel set on a frozen extra-solar colony planet is a slow-burning, genre-blurring delight.

Imagine the best possible blend of Tarkovsky's Solaris, Fargo and True Detective season 5 (Night Country) and you'd be getting kind of close, but more than anything, this is really a novel about two incredible but half-broken women somehow finding what they need in each other in a vast and cold universe.

IMHO this book is an absolute gem, and one of the best things I've read in years. Bonesteel is an incredible writer who is able to really speak to the vastness of the universe with a rare emotional intelligence.

Someone needs to option this for TV, and quickly.

posted by Chairboy (5 comments total)

Well, you've convinced me to pick it up. I wasn't all that impressed by The Cold Between, but I'm willing to give Bonesteel another shot.
posted by kyrademon at 4:55 PM on April 3 [1 favorite]

I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I did give The Cold Between a try as well, but didn't like it anywhere near as much as this, if that's any consolation? TBH it felt a bit like The Murderbot Diaries without the humour.
posted by Chairboy at 5:01 PM on April 3

Sounds like a good pairing with LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:47 PM on April 4 [2 favorites]

There's also some rather lovely music by Richard Tunley inspired by the book here.
posted by Chairboy at 6:28 PM on April 4

Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed this book
posted by dhruva at 9:39 PM on April 15