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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
"From the ground, we stand. From our ships, we live. By the stars, we hope."
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers is book three in the Wayfarers series. I really enjoyed this cozy scifi story, although it didn't hit me as hard as the previous two books did. I'm really enjoying that there is very little plot to speak of. These are self-contained stories that build on the world-building established in book one.
This story focuses on the human Exodan Fleet. We follow five characters: Kip, a teen who is struggling with what he wants in life and wants to leave the Fleet; Isobel, an older lesbian Archivist who is hosting a Harmagian guest researching the Exodans; Eyas, a Caretaker of the dead for the fleet who feels like something is missing; Sawyer, a young man from a Harmagian planet that has never set foot in the fleet before, but wants to try something new; and Tessa, Ashby's sister who is also looking for something better for her family.
It was so great to finally explore Exodan culture! We get to see the way the homesteaders are run, the importance of cooperation, sharing, and letting nothing go to waste. We even get a little bit of their history in the form of articles from Isobel's guest. I love that we got to learn about the fleet's funereal rites of composting their dead. We even see how sex work has been an expected and respected profession. We see a slice of life from each of these five characters.
The themes were about human identity, community, and change. Sawyer wanted to feel connected to his ancestors and accepted into the fleet despite his ignorance of the culture. Tessa wanted her daughter to feel safe while also struggling with the thought of leaving the fleet behind. Kip learned he needed perspective in order to appreciate what was right in front of him, and the importance of remembering and preserving your history.
I'm curious and excited to see what the next story brings us!
Moderate: Death
Minor: Bullying
_david_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I have two reasons why I've rated it lower than the other Wayfarer books so far. A small downside of especially the beginning of the book is that there are a lot of similar names for characters and a lot of characters without a very clear identifying feature at first. I can imagine that it's very hard to go through this book slowly since you might forget which character did what. The other, bigger downside is how some characters' stories ended. I didn't mind the endings themselves, but for a few of them they were told about it by others. The book expressed its morals by a very much "tell don't show" way. I think it's a shame, it made the book feel very biased, I think the same story could've been told without the very explicit dialogue. The moments I mean are:
Having said that, I still really enjoyed the book! It's just the weakest in the series so far to me and I wanted to reflect that in my rating. As I've expressed in the beginning of this review, it contains some beautiful moments.
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Bullying, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Alcohol, Xenophobia, and Racism
Minor: Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Classism, War, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Violence, and Drug use
In the first chapterthe_reading_wren's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, War, Bullying, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death
Minor: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Murder, Racism, Confinement, and Cursing
waqupi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Bullying
onthesamepage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Death
Minor: Bullying
mleiv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Bullying and Death
tallulahlucy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, and Death
Moderate: Classism and Colonisation
Minor: Confinement and Bullying
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Medical content, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Xenophobia
annamorgan27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Death, Cursing, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, and Grief
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Record of a Spaceborn Few is a cozy sci-fi novel about several humans in the Exodan fleet--descendants of those who left Earth centuries earlier in search of life elsewhere in the galaxy. They found it, and many humans now live planetside or work as spacers, but many others still live in the fleet itself, a socialist society without money where everyone is guaranteed food and housing and where the dead are recycled--and treated with honor.
All of our main characters have unique relationships to the Exodan fleet, its customs, and its history, and they give us a window into the questions that the fleet--and humanity at large--is grappling with. Why stay in a ship that has reached its destination? What happens to a post-money society in a galactic context that still uses currency? How do you avoid feeling worthless when your entire species seems so much smaller and more helpless than so many others, and when you are dependent on others for so much of your everyday existence? Is humanity inherently tied to Earth? What are we without it?
Becky Chambers doesn't attempt to answer any of these questions. She just explores them and has characters muse on them and produces a lovely, character-driven story in the process.
There IS death in this one. Quite a bit of it. So be warned.
My only gripe is the continued existence of law enforcement, honestly, but the Exodan model was never going to be perfect, so it's okay.
Graphic: Death
Minor: Bullying