The Celestial Seas: Chapters 17–22

by T. A. Chan
In a futuristic, spacefaring version of Melville's Moby-Dick, Ishara Ming is a ship captain with a misfit crew vengefully hunting the Ballena — a legendary sentient spacecraft that haunts space.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–16, Chapters 17–22, Chapters 23–30
15 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lithe
    moving and bending with ease
    She approaches my dart and runs a hand along its hull before swinging herself into the cockpit with lithe grace.
  2. coveted
    greatly desired
    She shoots her twin a soft grin and takes Leo’s coveted chair.
  3. deviate
    cause to turn away from a previous or expected course
    A rapid beepbeepbeep peppers the air as a warning’s triggered on the Alacrán—two of the six unknown ships are deviating from their course, swinging in toward the whaler.
  4. synchronized
    operating in unison
    The blast drones spread out with synchronized precision, each one charged with an explosive powerful enough to cripple a dart at close range.
  5. vulnerable
    susceptible to attack
    I draw my arm back and lunge forward, fist aimed for the vulnerable gap beneath his chin.
  6. fortuitous
    lucky; occurring by happy chance
    After our fortuitous encounter at Mira, I acquired a list of all the ships that had recently passed through the station.
  7. reverberate
    ring or echo with sound
    I grit my teeth as the sound reverberates in my skull.
  8. strident
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    I flinched at Garcia’s strident voice bursting over the comms.
  9. ramification
    a consequence, especially one that causes complications
    My mind’s clear now, the ramifications of the scavenged memory cutting deeper into my conscience.
  10. stilted
    artificially formal or stiff
    Quinn rolls her eyes, but the gesture is stilted, tense.
  11. ambrosia
    the food and drink of the gods
    My ribs ache, and I’m sucking down air like it’s ambrosia as I wedge the dented door into the opening.
  12. momentum
    an impelling force or strength
    I wheeze, using my suit’s thrusters to slow my momentum.
  13. trajectory
    the path followed by an object moving through space
    He uses the EVAL’s weak propulsion system to adjust his trajectory.
  14. tenuous
    weak or unstable
    Half a beat later, the Ballena hurtles through the remnants of the whaler, the tenuous connection keeping the Marina in one piece breaking. The two halves of the ship spiral apart.
  15. cerulean
    bright blue in color, like a clear sky
    But the Ballena remains motionless, suspended in nothingness, its eye on the side of its scarred head flickering, swirling in cerulean shades.
Created on Sun Oct 04 20:04:41 EDT 2026 (updated Thu Oct 15 17:20:38 EDT 2026)

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