Reviews with content warning for Racism - Record of a Spaceborn Few

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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the_reading_wren's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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? No

4.75

This one is less adventure and more reflective than the previous books in this series, covering heavy themes. Chambers guides us through these topics with masterful writing, while enveloping us in a world so well developed it feels like a home from home.

I think it was a work of genius weaving the reader’s role of bearing witness into Sawyer’s storyline in such a profound way…

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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Becky Chambers does it again, folks.

Record of a Spaceborn Few is the third book in her Wayfarers series, and her writing style is filled with compassion and enthusiasm for the intricate world - or in this case, galaxy - she has created.

These books are not for those who like their plots fast-paced. Indeed, for the first two-thirds of Record, there is hardly any plot at all.

I would normally count myself among those who prefer a fast pace, but for Becky Chambers I've learned to make an exception. Her books are slow, for sure, but for me, I find the worldbuilding to be incredibly detailed and endlessly fascinating, so I don't get too bored.

Such was the case - yet again - for Record. It took time for me to readjust to the pace, the terminology used in this series, but once I did, I found myself intrigued and absorbed.

Chambers uses Record to explore the concept of something with which we are all familiar: what makes us human. And here's the genius thing: she does this from the point of view of the descendants of the original humans who abandoned earth when it became uninhabitable, and built giant space ships to live in. The characters here are largely human, with a few notable exceptions which I won't spoil here.

I've read criticism that the vision of society depicted in Record is too idealistic to be believable, and I agree that argument has some merit. But for me personally, I'm willing to accept this idealised view, mostly because in the world we live in now, I like to be able to imagine a society where people work and live in harmony with one another. It's a fantasy, sure, but in my opinion we all need a little escapism from time to time.

To sum up, this book shows us Becky Chambers in peak form, and I look forward to reading the final book in the Wayfarers series, The Galaxy and the Ground Within.

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novella42's review against another edition

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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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shadereads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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