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A review by sollie
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
5.0
By far Chambers' most existential read that I've read thus far, in a good way. What I love about her Wayfarer series (and why I'm so happy I can finally continue it) is the hope and nurture that shines through everywhere. There's something so human about the questions she explores and the way she does it in a world full of fictional politics and aliens. It's speculative fiction at its finest.
The worldbuilding is important but also secondary. You're not here to read a page-long info-dump about the inner workings of a space engine, but you also care about such things when the current protagonist cares. Just like the previous two books, this one is (almost aggressively) character-driven. Although the universe isn't described in extravagant detail, all the information you need for immersion is there--again, if a character cares, you care. Or at least that's how it was for me.
In this story, we follow people connected to the Exodus Fleet, a fleet of ships that left a ruined Earth for the great unknown space, hoping to one day find a planet to settle on. The fleet left ages ago, and by the time this story unfolds, it has long since reached its goal by finding the other sapient aliens of the Galactic Community and the multiple planets and civilizations within. Many humans chose to leave, to spread out, but a few million remain on the Fleet because it is familiar, because it is home, because it has developed a culture and a way of life of its own. There is no money system, because everyone is already given what they need, and everyone cooperates to make the civilization a functional one. Everything is recycled, reused, re-traded, remembered. They are also somewhat isolated and because of the pride over their unique ways, the people of the Fleet are sometimes defensive or hostile toward change and/or outside influence. The Fleet promotes community, yet has a slightly bitter us-versus-them-attitude always present.
We follow Eyas, who cares for the dead and all the rites and rituals that comes with it, all the nurturing and consoling that comes with it. She also cares intensely for the Fleet and its traditions, the safety and warmth it holds.
We follow Isabel, (a 75-year-old lady who's gay and happily married--I can't think of any other book with such a character and I just had to point it out, we need to see more of this!) who takes care of the Archives where all information about Earth and the Fleet and everything in between is stored, and she spends most of her page-time showing an alien journalist around which works to give a deeper understanding of the Fleet for the reader as well.
We follow Kip, a teen who's sick of the Fleet and doesn't know what to do with his life, because what the Fleet offers feels so finite, but the world outside it is unfamiliar.
We follow Sawyer, a 20-something who has lived a pretty sucky life on a planet and wants to try to turn to the Fleet for community and purpose, but he struggles to fit in.
We follow Tessa, a mother of two who loves the Fleet and doesn't want to leave it, whose job in the Fleet might not exist soon because of "outside" technology, and whose daughter doesn't feel safe on a spaceship because she witnessed a terrible accident when she was very small.
Out of everyone, Eyas was my favorite. I think I cried a few times because of how her duties and existential thoughts intersected, how beautifully Chambers has crafted the rituals Eyas performs. Eyas is a space priest of sorts and even if there isn't a common religion of a kind among the Fleet, rituals are what make a community even here, in a speculative future universe. Even though we don't think about that stuff all the time, or even most of the time, it is still somehow the core of who and what humanity is. Something that has been a constant throughout our existence. I don't know if I'm able to put my thoughts down properly but long story short, Eyas and everything about her made me emotional.
This book was less "Mass Effect"-vibes and more like a parent patiently explaining that the ways of the world and the purpose of life is as much a mystery to them as it is to you.
The worldbuilding is important but also secondary. You're not here to read a page-long info-dump about the inner workings of a space engine, but you also care about such things when the current protagonist cares. Just like the previous two books, this one is (almost aggressively) character-driven. Although the universe isn't described in extravagant detail, all the information you need for immersion is there--again, if a character cares, you care. Or at least that's how it was for me.
In this story, we follow people connected to the Exodus Fleet, a fleet of ships that left a ruined Earth for the great unknown space, hoping to one day find a planet to settle on. The fleet left ages ago, and by the time this story unfolds, it has long since reached its goal by finding the other sapient aliens of the Galactic Community and the multiple planets and civilizations within. Many humans chose to leave, to spread out, but a few million remain on the Fleet because it is familiar, because it is home, because it has developed a culture and a way of life of its own. There is no money system, because everyone is already given what they need, and everyone cooperates to make the civilization a functional one. Everything is recycled, reused, re-traded, remembered. They are also somewhat isolated and because of the pride over their unique ways, the people of the Fleet are sometimes defensive or hostile toward change and/or outside influence. The Fleet promotes community, yet has a slightly bitter us-versus-them-attitude always present.
We follow Eyas, who cares for the dead and all the rites and rituals that comes with it, all the nurturing and consoling that comes with it. She also cares intensely for the Fleet and its traditions, the safety and warmth it holds.
We follow Isabel, (a 75-year-old lady who's gay and happily married--I can't think of any other book with such a character and I just had to point it out, we need to see more of this!) who takes care of the Archives where all information about Earth and the Fleet and everything in between is stored, and she spends most of her page-time showing an alien journalist around which works to give a deeper understanding of the Fleet for the reader as well.
We follow Kip, a teen who's sick of the Fleet and doesn't know what to do with his life, because what the Fleet offers feels so finite, but the world outside it is unfamiliar.
We follow Sawyer, a 20-something who has lived a pretty sucky life on a planet and wants to try to turn to the Fleet for community and purpose, but he struggles to fit in.
We follow Tessa, a mother of two who loves the Fleet and doesn't want to leave it, whose job in the Fleet might not exist soon because of "outside" technology, and whose daughter doesn't feel safe on a spaceship because she witnessed a terrible accident when she was very small.
Out of everyone, Eyas was my favorite. I think I cried a few times because of how her duties and existential thoughts intersected, how beautifully Chambers has crafted the rituals Eyas performs. Eyas is a space priest of sorts and even if there isn't a common religion of a kind among the Fleet, rituals are what make a community even here, in a speculative future universe. Even though we don't think about that stuff all the time, or even most of the time, it is still somehow the core of who and what humanity is. Something that has been a constant throughout our existence. I don't know if I'm able to put my thoughts down properly but long story short, Eyas and everything about her made me emotional.
This book was less "Mass Effect"-vibes and more like a parent patiently explaining that the ways of the world and the purpose of life is as much a mystery to them as it is to you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Drug use
Minor: Bullying
One main character dies on-page. Another uses a cannabis-like drug on-page. There is a mention of a child having been bullied and "pranked" by her bullies, thinking they were going to kill her.