A review by queersicles
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing slow-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? Yes

5.0

I love this book so much, have read it probably 15 times in the last 8 months. I struggled with this book the first time I read it because there were so many characters and I listen to audiobooks so I found it tricky to keep track of who I was listening about. Once I had a grip on who was who, multiple rereads have been super rewarding for me. I think the core theme of this book is being slightly and not very specifically dissatisfied with life, and trying to figure out how to engage with life differently to solve the unspecified, uncertain problem. Each character walks through doing that slightly differently, each "solution" is not created equally. Exceptionally generous to the internal life of each character, I felt like I was able to inhabit each so easily. I fell in love with the logic of living in the fleet, the community minded ethos, and at the same time the inherent infighting to all human civilizations was there too. It felt so hopeful but also so grounded in how humans truly behave. Left me wanting to live differently. An excellent read!! Also! I can't make a content warning for a mass casualty event, but this book does cover being witness to and the aftermath of a mass casualty. The cause of which was an accident, but still over 40,000 people died. I have made a request for them to add that as a content warning but as of now this is the best I can do.
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