Chimera

This is a Sci-Fi Horror “Greek Tragedy”, even if the mythology isn't even the overall story arc, and the story is NOT a myth retelling and it is beyond even claiming that, there's a fair and beautiful amount of foreshadowing and tying in to the plot within this if you read closely. You'd fair best if you understand Gods/Goddesses within Roman & Greek, if even loosely, is my preface before reading this and general biblical figures. Based off of earlier reviews I think this understanding of how mythology played largely in this story gave it a low avg. rating at the start of this books life.

But Alice Thompson is so brilliant, and takes the stories and characteristics of these Gods to create an original, and thought provoking unsettling sci fi and at times horror, space mission. Chimera being uniquely its own, I'd side mention if you liked Becky Chambers To Be Taught if Fortunate for it's slower pacing, more prophetic musings and questions surrounding life and the dynamics of characters on a spaceship for a lonely space mission, this would probably be a good read for you, as Chimera ties in similarly in that way.

The synopsis doesn't touch on anything that would make you think it's tying in themes of mythos and I'm unsure if that's the intent or not, so hence my prefaces so future readers hopefully feel satisfied of this genre blend. It's not a fast paced sci Fi thriller, it builds it's momentum to leave an absolutely insane ending.

At the surface: Artemis is a part of a space mission to get to a new moon to try and find a bacteria that could help consume the carbon in the air on Earth and re-stabilize the environment. Earth is a waste-land, completely ruled by technology. People are lost in their VR worlds, enjoying a fake view vs reality. We have AI Dryads, advanced androids who have human DNA. I imagined Earth in this novel like a Black Mirror esqu episode. Artemis, a Dream scientist researcher joins the mission as it's her duty to ensure the crew has “Dreamless” nights. The reasons being unfold over time, but the main points, it's how dreams and consciousness, desire, humanity all share the same root to Dreams.

My many hints of mythos being in this under the surface to again, hopefully help others in reading this (Thompson at times almost clearly lays this out, specifically a chapter about how the crew base at the moon is designed, but I just didn't see anyone mentioning these things in their reviews!):

We have Jason whose her partner who funded this mission. Think, Jason and the Argonauts.

The Spaceship mission and crew is named Chimera. What do we know of the mythology of chimeras?

Ivan “the terrible”, is the crews biologist.

We have an advanced AI Dryad aboard the crew, named Troy. Cough, Trojan Horse, Cough.

The moon is called Oneiros: in mythology it's of a place that's the land of dreams

There's mentions of labyrinths and minotaurs, we have the failed prior space crew called SIREN: Sirens known as mythological woman with bird heads who sing luring men to death - there's even a mention of the Flannen Isles - known for the popular mystery of how three lightkeepers went missing, many theorizing about Sirens being their reason of disappearence.

Other characters that tie in to this grand mythos: Cressida, Luther, Myra, Daniel, Seth (think Set). Shadows relating to the God of Darkness. Mentions of Sound of The Temple Bells. It's expansive.

And even knowing all of these Gods and stories even at the level of “maybe I recall this from school???”, helps guide you through the story and yet doesn't Spoil any of it! Thompson is unique in her approach in how she weaves these themes and messaging in, giving it's significance at just the right moments, to leave you in awe of what she's mastered in this book.

The characters are individual, motivations varying amongst them. The intricacies of dreams and humanity, the intricacies of technology and how it conflicts with religion and beliefs, in the nest of it all in the AI Dryads and Virtual realities, the driving forces of life, ahhh I'm fangirling!

There's more I can say but I'll leave it at this, if you like the idea of a slow paced sci fi that builds towards deeply unsettling and horrfic conclusions that gets you thinking about life and hidden meanings, you just have to pick it up :)