Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

5 reviews

ritabriar's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This series takes another turn, this time with only a tenuous connection to the crew from book #1. (One of the families in the story is related to the captain of the ship.) 

This book is an in-depth study of society, how it's structured, and how we care for and neglect each other. 

At the same time, it has rich, well-developed characters who each have their own personalities. The seemingly-unrelated stories of each do intersect and affect each other, resulting in major life changes for many of them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Explosion of a colony space ship happens in the introduction, but it forms the historical setting of other events. Death is of

a point of view character

due to

accidental air-pressure explosion

Cultural gatekeeping, both to an outside academic and someone trying to re-connect to his cultural heritage

_david_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

3.5

This book had some great moments and I do recommend reading it if you liked the rest of the series! I think the author nailed the use of multiple characters to tell the story about a whole culture. It created beautiful dialogue and told an interesting story about the value of tradition. I adored the characters, especially Isabel and Tamsin since they remind me of my own relationship.

I have two reasons why I've rated it lower than the other Wayfarer books so far. A small downside of especially the beginning of the book is that there are a lot of similar names for characters and a lot of characters without a very clear identifying feature at first. I can imagine that it's very hard to go through this book slowly since you might forget which character did what. The other, bigger downside is how some characters' stories ended. I didn't mind the endings themselves, but for a few of them they were told about it by others. The book expressed its morals by a very much "tell don't show" way. I think it's a shame, it made the book feel very biased, I think the same story could've been told without the very explicit dialogue. The moments I mean are:

Isabel talking to Kip and 'Pop' talking to Tessa. I think the museum scene for Kip and the talk with George for Tessa would've sufficed.

Having said that, I still really enjoyed the book! It's just the weakest in the series so far to me and I wanted to reflect that in my rating. As I've expressed in the beginning of this review, it contains some beautiful moments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism

In the first chapter

Aya is unharmed. She screams because she sees something shocking.

arinheck's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This has been my least favourite Wayfarer book thus far. And yet, it made me laugh out loud and cry just as much as the others have. Although it was a bit slow to get going, Becky Chambers has yet to truly disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Colonisation, and War

novella42's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

In some ways, the darkest of the Wayfarer series, but also the most beautiful. The most human. The central themes of this book remind me of Alice Walker's short story, Everyday Use. What do we preserve? What do we carry with us, and why, and how? What matters most when we're grappling with our own mortality and purpose and connection to other people who live like we do, in frail, mortal bodies in fragile, finite spaces?

I agree with some reviews that this book is slower than the others, and that the teenage character can be hard to empathize with because he's struggling with boredom and purpose. But the payoff. For me, the payoff is everything. I cry throughout this book and feel so peaceful at the end. Like I'm a little bit closer to finding my own purpose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Deportation

There's a prominent scene in the book that needs a tag but isn't among those content warnings listed. Car accident is technically the closest, and I think it could be triggering for someone who had experienced that. But it's more specific, so I'm putting a slightly more detailed one behind a spoiler.

The opening chapters of the book deal with a large-scale disaster that kills tens of thousands of people. It's handled with the gravity and respect it deserves, at times zoomed away and at times very close and high definition. I think anyone who had lived through a natural or manmade disaster, especially in an urban area, would be deeply affected by these themes. It's very well written and the book follows the mental and emotional healing of several different characters, but it's worth a tag.

flavinja's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Bullying and Panic attacks/disorders