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the_reading_wren's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- 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
This one is less adventure and more reflective than the previous books in this series, covering heavy themes. Chambers guides us through these topics with masterful writing, while enveloping us in a world so well developed it feels like a home from home. I think it was a work of genius weaving the reader’s role of bearing witness into Sawyer’s storyline in such a profound way…
Content Warnings
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
mercerhanau's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is slower paced and less dramatic than the previous two books. I personally found the “slice of life” style less compelling, but still cozy and enjoyable to read. It continues to flesh out the galaxy Becky Chambers has created, focusing on the people living on “homesteaders” (generation ships, but self-sustaining and not heading to a new planet), especially from the perspectives of teenagers, parents with ordinary jobs, and elders. The author does her usual great job of having characters explore what they really want from life.
It’s fun to read sections of an ethnography about humans by a Harmagian. Interesting to see a human culture described by an outsider and compared to squishy, slug-like aliens with different rituals and cultural norms around birth and death.
Real-world themes the book touches on: (hidden for some minor spoiler details)
* Collective trauma, mass death (at the very beginning of the book)
* How we handle the dead, relationship to resources in a closed system (whether planetary or in a spaceship), human composting.
* Communal living
* Sex work (pro! As an important, legitimate, unstigmatized profession with regulations and safety measures for all involved)
* Ethical non-monogamy (mentioned more briefly than previous books)
* Challenges of solo parenting with a partner who travels frequently
* Children and toddlers using technology like video games (“sims”)
* Shared labor: everyone healthy and over 14 years old in the fleet takes turns working on sanitation so it isn’t out of sight or out of mind. Nothing is left to “lesser people.” Other roles are more specialized, but this shared responsibility both breaks up undesirable tasks and keeps people humbly in touch with the resource recycling.
* Professions and compensation: Labor isn’t compensated, nor do some professions receive more resources than others. All basic needs are met: food, water, housing, oxygen, etc. It’s rare for adults not to work, but it’s scorned. The question “what do you do?” asks what a person does for the community, for “us”. People thank each other for what they provide: artists for murals, farmers for food, doctors for medical attention, etc.
* Personal property: Property is communal until it enters a family home. Then stealing would be illegal, but people don’t need to steal anyway since their basic needs are met. (Cf. better social support reduces crime, rather than more criminalization and policing)
* Economics with multiple currencies: trade worked fine until outside currency and goods entered the equation. (Cf. Cuba, from my understanding?)
* Caring for aging parents. Some of this book’s topics remind me of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: body mods, medical intervention for failing body parts, community care, alternative economic systems without strict currency
* Pros and cons of this lifestyle, especially for raising kids. Parents struggling to explain traumatic subject matter to their children, but also nice examples of parents being supportive and good listeners regarding their kids’ fears (and possible PTSD)
* Critiques of the inefficiency of bureaucracy meant to ensure fairness. People breaking protocol to claim more resources for themselves.
* Stages of fetal development between different species: a Harmagian reflects on how she doesn’t remember her life as a polyp, so it wasn’t really “her”. The transition between being a polyp and one’s baby self is seen as a death in her culture. Perhaps commentary on pro-life arguments of “life begins at conception”? She’s also bringing it up in the context of grieving for children and human parents holding their children close when they hear of a young person’s death. She has a different, more distant relationship to her own offspring.
* Politicization of the death of a newcomer. Who to blame, who to grieve, what this means for immigration acceptance vs. restriction, outsiders using limited resources, how to prevent future tragedies, etc.
* What kinds of jobs can (and will) be replaced by artificial intelligence
* A Harmagian’s brief reflections on her species’s “superiority” by means of conquest. Regret, reparations, sharing of technology and partnership with those they once harmed. What makes a species “worthy” of membership in the Galactic Commons?
* Archives and museums: what’s the point of keeping old things around rather than repairing/recycling them? Are people studying them and learning useful things? The homesteaders’ archives keep digital records and no physical objects, since space and resources are limited.
It’s fun to read sections of an ethnography about humans by a Harmagian. Interesting to see a human culture described by an outsider and compared to squishy, slug-like aliens with different rituals and cultural norms around birth and death.
Real-world themes the book touches on: (hidden for some minor spoiler details)
* Collective trauma, mass death (at the very beginning of the book)
* How we handle the dead, relationship to resources in a closed system (whether planetary or in a spaceship), human composting.
* Communal living
* Sex work (pro! As an important, legitimate, unstigmatized profession with regulations and safety measures for all involved)
* Ethical non-monogamy (mentioned more briefly than previous books)
* Challenges of solo parenting with a partner who travels frequently
* Children and toddlers using technology like video games (“sims”)
* Shared labor: everyone healthy and over 14 years old in the fleet takes turns working on sanitation so it isn’t out of sight or out of mind. Nothing is left to “lesser people.” Other roles are more specialized, but this shared responsibility both breaks up undesirable tasks and keeps people humbly in touch with the resource recycling.
* Professions and compensation: Labor isn’t compensated, nor do some professions receive more resources than others. All basic needs are met: food, water, housing, oxygen, etc. It’s rare for adults not to work, but it’s scorned. The question “what do you do?” asks what a person does for the community, for “us”. People thank each other for what they provide: artists for murals, farmers for food, doctors for medical attention, etc.
* Personal property: Property is communal until it enters a family home. Then stealing would be illegal, but people don’t need to steal anyway since their basic needs are met. (Cf. better social support reduces crime, rather than more criminalization and policing)
* Economics with multiple currencies: trade worked fine until outside currency and goods entered the equation. (Cf. Cuba, from my understanding?)
* Caring for aging parents. Some of this book’s topics remind me of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: body mods, medical intervention for failing body parts, community care, alternative economic systems without strict currency
* Pros and cons of this lifestyle, especially for raising kids. Parents struggling to explain traumatic subject matter to their children, but also nice examples of parents being supportive and good listeners regarding their kids’ fears (and possible PTSD)
* Critiques of the inefficiency of bureaucracy meant to ensure fairness. People breaking protocol to claim more resources for themselves.
* Stages of fetal development between different species: a Harmagian reflects on how she doesn’t remember her life as a polyp, so it wasn’t really “her”. The transition between being a polyp and one’s baby self is seen as a death in her culture. Perhaps commentary on pro-life arguments of “life begins at conception”? She’s also bringing it up in the context of grieving for children and human parents holding their children close when they hear of a young person’s death. She has a different, more distant relationship to her own offspring.
* Politicization of the death of a newcomer. Who to blame, who to grieve, what this means for immigration acceptance vs. restriction, outsiders using limited resources, how to prevent future tragedies, etc.
* What kinds of jobs can (and will) be replaced by artificial intelligence
* A Harmagian’s brief reflections on her species’s “superiority” by means of conquest. Regret, reparations, sharing of technology and partnership with those they once harmed. What makes a species “worthy” of membership in the Galactic Commons?
* Archives and museums: what’s the point of keeping old things around rather than repairing/recycling them? Are people studying them and learning useful things? The homesteaders’ archives keep digital records and no physical objects, since space and resources are limited.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Xenophobia
Minor: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Drug use, and Alcohol
dreamersmind's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This book took me forever to read. It started out very slow and I was worried I wouldn’t like it as much as the first 2 books of the series but it rounded out very nicely in the end and I was left with a familiar warm cozy feeling that I had in the other books.
Things I liked in this book:
1. Getting to see more world building and getting to understand fleet society
2. Each character brought interesting parts to the story to allow the reader to get a fuller picture of the fleet.
Things I didn’t like in this book:
1. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and it took a while to get my bearings and stop confusing characters with each other.
2. The first half of the book was extremely slow paced.
“Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why were great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story or maybe the people kill the King, because they don’t like his story, and have begun to tell themselves a different one. When our planet started dying our species was so caught up in stories. We had thousands of stories about ourselves —that’s still true, don’t forget that for a minute— but not enough of us were looking at the reality of things. Once reality caught up with us and we started changing her stories to acknowledge it, It was too late.”
Things I liked in this book:
1. Getting to see more world building and getting to understand fleet society
2. Each character brought interesting parts to the story to allow the reader to get a fuller picture of the fleet.
Things I didn’t like in this book:
1. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and it took a while to get my bearings and stop confusing characters with each other.
2. The first half of the book was extremely slow paced.
“Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why were great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story or maybe the people kill the King, because they don’t like his story, and have begun to tell themselves a different one. When our planet started dying our species was so caught up in stories. We had thousands of stories about ourselves —that’s still true, don’t forget that for a minute— but not enough of us were looking at the reality of things. Once reality caught up with us and we started changing her stories to acknowledge it, It was too late.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Xenophobia
scifi_rat's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
Plot: 3.75★
Prose: 3★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4★/4★
Characters: 3.25★
Worldbuilding: 4.5★
Ending: 3.25★
Prose: 3★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4★/4★
Characters: 3.25★
Worldbuilding: 4.5★
Ending: 3.25★
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Drug use, Grief, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Alcohol
Minor: Cursing
novella42's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
In some ways, the darkest of the Wayfarer series, but also the most beautiful. The most human. The central themes of this book remind me of Alice Walker's short story, Everyday Use. What do we preserve? What do we carry with us, and why, and how? What matters most when we're grappling with our own mortality and purpose and connection to other people who live like we do, in frail, mortal bodies in fragile, finite spaces?
I agree with some reviews that this book is slower than the others, and that the teenage character can be hard to empathize with because he's struggling with boredom and purpose. But the payoff. For me, the payoff is everything. I cry throughout this book and feel so peaceful at the end. Like I'm a little bit closer to finding my own purpose.
I agree with some reviews that this book is slower than the others, and that the teenage character can be hard to empathize with because he's struggling with boredom and purpose. But the payoff. For me, the payoff is everything. I cry throughout this book and feel so peaceful at the end. Like I'm a little bit closer to finding my own purpose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Vomit, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, and Chronic illness
Minor: Death of parent, Deportation, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual content, Genocide, and War
There's a prominent scene in the book that needs a tag but isn't among those content warnings listed. Car accident is technically the closest, and I think it could be triggering for someone who had experienced that. But it's more specific, so I'm putting a slightly more detailed one behind a spoiler.vanadiumbean's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol and Xenophobia
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