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A review by simonator
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Becky Chambers' books are always a cozy, lighthearted read - this one even more than her others. Scene after scene, we get to know the domesticity and lived reality of the inhabitants of an enormous human fleet drifting in space and poverty, but under some form of space communism. In lengthy, lengthy dialogues, the characters discuss their lives and how they feel about it. Frankly, that gets hella boring at some point - which is, too, a theme for the Wayfarer series. The communist nature of the fleet society is interesting for a second of fans of organised space life, but it lacks a serious, deeper foundation based on a critique of capitalism or even understanding of planned economies/societies (especially regarding the incessantly brought-up topic of money and trade). Everybody's just an emotionally mature hippie who doesn't like money and who's fluent in therapy-speak - that's communism, apparently.
If you're waiting for a plot in the first third, don't get your hopes up too much. The author prefers much mroe to revel in the little moments and little lives of her creations, letting them yap for pages on end, with not much of a plot, or even problems, to spur them on. Then, halfway in, a genuinely intriguing plot takes shape of an immigrant who falls through the fleet society's cracks, hangs out with the wrong people, and tries to make a living in the wake of a major industrial disaster. And THEN, two chapters later, that plot just ... fizzles out off-page. The rest of the book's THIRD is about the remaining cast DISCUSSING what just happened - even though most of them didn't even have anything to do with the events! I wanted to scream at this waste of a great story idea.
I still finished this book fairly quickly, though, as the writing is charming at times, and the world-building undeniably creative, combining hard sci-fi geekdom with fantastically alien aliens. But I think this'll be the last book of the author for me.
If you're waiting for a plot in the first third, don't get your hopes up too much. The author prefers much mroe to revel in the little moments and little lives of her creations, letting them yap for pages on end, with not much of a plot, or even problems, to spur them on. Then, halfway in, a genuinely intriguing plot takes shape of an immigrant who falls through the fleet society's cracks, hangs out with the wrong people, and tries to make a living in the wake of a major industrial disaster. And THEN, two chapters later, that plot just ... fizzles out off-page. The rest of the book's THIRD is about the remaining cast DISCUSSING what just happened - even though most of them didn't even have anything to do with the events! I wanted to scream at this waste of a great story idea.
I still finished this book fairly quickly, though, as the writing is charming at times, and the world-building undeniably creative, combining hard sci-fi geekdom with fantastically alien aliens. But I think this'll be the last book of the author for me.