Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Record of a Spaceborn Few

I love these books because the detail is so well thought out, almost all of the tech and traditions make such logical sense. The detail is incredible, the descriptions are entrancing, and the characters are relatable. I'm sad I only have one more in the series, but I'll be keeping an eye on Becky Chambers for new releases in the future.

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wanderonwards's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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lily_k8y's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful reflective medium-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

3.0

I'd been avoiding reading the third book of the Wayfarers series for quite some time... I think somewhere I wanted to know I had more to read before I started it... and since the 4th book came out in 2021, I needed to pick this one up and read it! It's been 3 years since I cried through A Closed and Common Orbit and I set up expectations too high... It wasn't as emotional of a read as I expected. I found the beginning of the book quite slow as I adjusted to the different character view points.

I still enjoyed this book; I love all the characters in their own ways, but I didn't find the same level of "cannot put this book down" reading blitz I had before. Definitely still planning on picking up the 4th book, and going to try not to leave it sitting on my bookshelf for three years again ;)

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flavinja's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.25

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hatterell's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Disappointed to say that this is my least favourite Becky Chambers novel so far. This makes me nervous for the final book (Wayfarers 4) as I have rated the first 3 in the series 5, 4, and 3 stars.

Something about Chambers' writing feels very different in this piece. I felt no connection to the characters, and the writing was filled with cliches and easier tropes than I'm used to seeing from this author. I'm not sure if it's due to this change in writing, or due to this being the most perspectives Chambers has written so far, but I think the characters will be forgettable.

I liked the idea that the blurb of the book promised, "what is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?", but I think Chambers built this theme too late into the narrative for me to be invested. I think this could have been a really poignant theme to read about during lockdown, but found that the discussion of it, through mouthpieces such as Isabel, unfortunately just felt like Chambers indulging in wanting to write incredibly length, "meaningful" passages.

My favourite part of the book was the passages from the Fleet's Harmagian visitor, reflecting on aspects of Exodan life, and I would've liked to see more of these. It disappoints me that these were my favourite sections when I'm usually such a fan of Chambers' characters!

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goblingirlreads's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Chambers has created a beautiful world in this book. The Exodans are the humans who left Earth behind and started a new society on big ships and all of their ancestors. They live in a society with access to healthcare, shelter, and food. Everyone has access to counseling, sex work is respected and normal, and the dead are composted and returned to community gardens. Everything is recycled and nothing is trashed. They have rebuilt a human culture that does right by people. It's a fantastic speculative future. Aaaand the book fell flat to me. It's a "slice of life" book that follows several unrelated characters and because of that there was no central conflict. The people of the Exodans fleet still dealt with very human problems but they were all so...well adjusted. There was so much healthy communication that solved problems. A lot of the scenes felt like the characters giving each other therapy and things ended so sweetly. I wanted more spiciness, drama, miscommunication and conflict. There was one chapter about a group of thieves and that was my favorite part. But that's not at all what this book is trying to do and I respect that. I can't say I found it very fun to read for more than the first hundred pages but I appreciate immensely this imagined future.

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mischka's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Die letzten Absätze des Buchs haben mich zum weinen gebracht - nicht, weil es so traurig gewesen wäre, sondern weil es so schön war. Ich bin bewegt, inspiriert, und hoffnungsvoll. Eigentlich würde ich gerne immer weiter lesen, aber wie es aussieht, muss ich wohl auf ein viertes Buch von Becky Chambers warten. Ich würde das Buch allen Menschen empfehlen, die noch nicht ganz die Hoffnung in unsere Möglichkeiten verlieren wollen!

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troisha's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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