Title: Supernova
Description: "C. A. Higgins's acclaimed novel Lightless fused suspenseful storytelling, high-caliber scientific speculation, and richly developed characters into a stunning science fiction epic. Now the dazzling Supernova heightens the thrills and deepens the haunting exploration of technology and humanity--and the consequences that await when the two intersect. Once Ananke was an experimental military spacecraft. But a rogue computer virus transformed it--her--into something much more: a fully sentient artificial intelligence, with all the power of a god--and all the unstable emotions of a teenager. Althea, the ship's engineer and the last living human aboard, nearly gave her life to save Ananke from dangerous saboteurs, forging a bond as powerful as that between mother and daughter. Now she devotes herself completely to Ananke's care. But teaching a thinking, feeling machine--perhaps the most dangerous force in the galaxy--to be human proves a monumental challenge. When Ananke decides to seek out Matthew Gale, the terrorist she regards as her father, Althea learns that some bonds are stronger than mortal minds can understand--or control. Drawn back toward Earth by the quest, Althea and Ananke will find themselves in the thick of a violent revolution led by Matthew's sister, the charismatic leader Constance, who will stop at nothing to bring down a tyrannical surveillance state. As the currents of past decisions and present desires come into stark collision, a new and fiery future is about to be born"--

"The events of Lightless set off a revolution that torches the oppressive government surveillance state--and instates a new ruler who may prove just as tyrannical. But the story finds the human element in this political saga: Constance, the leader of the revolution, has won the galaxy, but may be losing her soul. Althea, the heroine of Lightless, has devoted her life to protecting her ship--which has now become sentient, and is learning what it means to be human"--
Subjects: Space ships, Women engineers, Artificial intelligence, Fiction