Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from Goodreads Giveaways.  Arrrrr!  In return I will write an honest review.  So here are me honest musings . . .

I have been meaning to read this author's work for a while now.  I heard about this book from Matey Sarah.  The gorgeous cover and the mention of the spaceship being "insides of a spacefaring beast" is what made me click this cover and enter the giveaway.  And then I won!  This book was quite an experience.  I really enjoyed this introduction to the author's writing with some quibbles.

I loved:

- The ship of course!  I enjoyed the concept of the ship being inside a live creature and how organic it felt.  People worked or lived in all areas of the ship from the heart to the stomach to the rectum.  Ichor, fluids, wastes, etc. are described in (sometimes icky) detail.  The ship felt alive and real.
The world building - Besides the awesome ship, I liked getting some backstory into how the society, politics, and culture of the ships had changed over the generations.

- The familial structures - I really liked the idea of the matriarchal political structures and how each child was raised by multiple adults of both genders.  I thought the significance constellations and family lines in terms of hair-braiding was cool.

- The characters - I particularly enjoyed the character of Adala and kinda wish she had been the main focus.  She had the most interesting character development and I loved watching her grow into her own person.

- The diversity - I loved that this story focused on the black experience and had f/f, and polyamorous in addition to hetero-normative relationships.

- I loved the other ships in the fleet and differences that entailed.  I wouldn't have minded more exploration of these issues.

I didn't love:

- The main character - While I was cheering for Seske in the beginning, she wore on me by the end.  She felt resourceful and yet did not live up to her earlier potential.

- The characters in general - Besides the main couples, ye really did not get enough of a feel for any of the other people onboard.  They felt a little two-dimensional.

- The writing structure - The majority of the book was engrossing and fun.  But towards the end, a lot of the story fell apart and shattered me verisimilitude.  Characters acted in manners contrary to earlier behavior, several major plot lines were dropped (rebellion, embryos, sisterkin), and the resolution just felt rushed.  This book should have either been restructured a bit to remove the dangling plot points or made into a duology to better explore some of the issues involved.

- The romance - I did not enjoy how the f/f romance turned out at all.  It was too convenient and unbelievable.

- Alien tentacle sex.  Aye, I was warned about it so it didn't shock me but there were several different plot choices that could have been made that would have a) made more sense; and b) furthered the narrative in a more appropriate fashion.  Alternatively the author could have made the ship more alien and its motives more mysterious to the protagonists but that choice would have changed the tone to more of erotic body horror maybe.

A lot of me thoughts about the ending are summed up in Matey Nella's review:

"the problem . . . is the lack of catharsis. We have this huge amount of build-up - complex, flawed characters with complicated dynamics, and a beautifully created world - and then shit hits the fan and everything get Bad, and none of it gets the time needed for a satisfactory finish. The last third of the book feels almost like checking off a list, with way too much stuff that doesn't get properly dealt with."

That said, I am glad I got this book and was able to read it because the ship itself was so cool.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Goodreads Giveaways and Harper Voyager!