Space opera is the best opera! Years after the war with the Architects (vast, incomprehensible creatures who sculpt entire spaceships and planets into art-nouveau loops and whirls, without a care to whether or not other life-forms are affected), veterans of the fight have faded into obscurity (some more successfully than others). Idris, one such veteran, stumbles upon a damaged ship with new signs of Architect damage, a discovery that sets off an explosion of interplanetary drama, as well as personal drama for his misfit salvage crew. Definitely more on the fantasy side of sci-fi (interstellar travel is through a haunted hyperspace), and the alien biologies and politics are delightfully inventive. Really fun ride. First in a series.
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