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A review by laurelthebooks
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar
challenging
dark
reflective
4.0
Reading this reminded me not only of Le Guin's work but also 1984 - fascinating combo. Maybe some Rivers Solomon? To be honest, what I got from this is that I should read more of Samatar's work.
There are a fleet of spaceships here with clear classist structures that, of course, try to convince everyone living in them that they aren't truly classist structures. I said that this takes place on space ships, but this novella isn't really about space at all. It speaks to the idea of control, humanity, elitism, labor, meaning, and connection. The prose is lyrical and somehow manages to keep you interested despite the main character never being named. Reading this novella is An Experience.
I was trying to decide how to categorize this in terms of genre and it is like smashing together science fiction, philosophy, and dark academia (or at least, that's the best approximation I've come up with). If you are one for Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" or dystopias and opaque, lyrical prose I cannot recommend this to you fast enough.
There are a fleet of spaceships here with clear classist structures that, of course, try to convince everyone living in them that they aren't truly classist structures. I said that this takes place on space ships, but this novella isn't really about space at all. It speaks to the idea of control, humanity, elitism, labor, meaning, and connection. The prose is lyrical and somehow manages to keep you interested despite the main character never being named. Reading this novella is An Experience.
I was trying to decide how to categorize this in terms of genre and it is like smashing together science fiction, philosophy, and dark academia (or at least, that's the best approximation I've come up with). If you are one for Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" or dystopias and opaque, lyrical prose I cannot recommend this to you fast enough.