teaxmillions'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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
tallulahlucy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I don’t understand this being marked medium paced - it’s slow. Don’t go in expecting anything else and you won’t be disappointed. Think of it as a documentary about the fictional Fleet rather than a single story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, and Death
Moderate: Classism and Colonisation
Minor: Confinement and Bullying
solenekeleroux's review against another edition
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Xenophobia and Drug use
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
Through the grief, this book is still wonderfully hopeful. It was really hard for me at first to keep all the narratives straight, but it got easier as I got to know the characters better. It was beautiful how they all intersected with each other and with the first book in the series.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Medical content, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Grief, and Xenophobia
crom's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
annamorgan27's review against another edition
hopeful
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Cursing, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug use, and Grief
generalmalfoy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I read this book in German.
The book has 5 points of view, one of the characters was briefly mentioned in the first book of the series, all other characters are completely new. The story is set on an Exodan spaceship, which was also briefly mentioned before.
I did not care about most of the characters points of view, so reading was not as enjoyable, as for some of the characters, reading their points of view felt more like a chore (especially Kip and Sawyer's POVs got on my nerves a lot, as they felt a lot like stupid teenage boys). I only cared about 1 of the characters plotlines (Eyas) from the beginning, and only started caring about some more after happens about 3/4 into the book and the other's character development really picks up and some of their stories started to overlap. Unfortunately, for the most parts, it was reading 5 independent characters' stories that happen to take place on the same Exodan spaceship.
All in all, I only loved the last 100 pages or so, and the rest felt more like "okay", as I did not care about many characters for the most part, which is rather unfortunate for a character-driven story.
I still really enjoyed the story at the end, so my final rating is 3.5 stars. If the story was as enjoyable in the first 3/4 as in the last 1/4, I would have given it 4.5 stars.
The book has 5 points of view, one of the characters was briefly mentioned in the first book of the series, all other characters are completely new. The story is set on an Exodan spaceship, which was also briefly mentioned before.
I did not care about most of the characters points of view, so reading was not as enjoyable, as for some of the characters, reading their points of view felt more like a chore (especially Kip and Sawyer's POVs got on my nerves a lot, as they felt a lot like stupid teenage boys). I only cared about 1 of the characters plotlines (Eyas) from the beginning, and only started caring about some more after
Spoiler
Sawyer's deathAll in all, I only loved the last 100 pages or so, and the rest felt more like "okay", as I did not care about many characters for the most part, which is rather unfortunate for a character-driven story.
I still really enjoyed the story at the end, so my final rating is 3.5 stars. If the story was as enjoyable in the first 3/4 as in the last 1/4, I would have given it 4.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
New favorite Becky Chambers book? I think yes.
Record of a Spaceborn Few is a cozy sci-fi novel about several humans in the Exodan fleet--descendants of those who left Earth centuries earlier in search of life elsewhere in the galaxy. They found it, and many humans now live planetside or work as spacers, but many others still live in the fleet itself, a socialist society without money where everyone is guaranteed food and housing and where the dead are recycled--and treated with honor.
All of our main characters have unique relationships to the Exodan fleet, its customs, and its history, and they give us a window into the questions that the fleet--and humanity at large--is grappling with. Why stay in a ship that has reached its destination? What happens to a post-money society in a galactic context that still uses currency? How do you avoid feeling worthless when your entire species seems so much smaller and more helpless than so many others, and when you are dependent on others for so much of your everyday existence? Is humanity inherently tied to Earth? What are we without it?
Becky Chambers doesn't attempt to answer any of these questions. She just explores them and has characters muse on them and produces a lovely, character-driven story in the process.
There IS death in this one. Quite a bit of it. So be warned.
My only gripe is the continued existence of law enforcement, honestly, but the Exodan model was never going to be perfect, so it's okay.
Record of a Spaceborn Few is a cozy sci-fi novel about several humans in the Exodan fleet--descendants of those who left Earth centuries earlier in search of life elsewhere in the galaxy. They found it, and many humans now live planetside or work as spacers, but many others still live in the fleet itself, a socialist society without money where everyone is guaranteed food and housing and where the dead are recycled--and treated with honor.
All of our main characters have unique relationships to the Exodan fleet, its customs, and its history, and they give us a window into the questions that the fleet--and humanity at large--is grappling with. Why stay in a ship that has reached its destination? What happens to a post-money society in a galactic context that still uses currency? How do you avoid feeling worthless when your entire species seems so much smaller and more helpless than so many others, and when you are dependent on others for so much of your everyday existence? Is humanity inherently tied to Earth? What are we without it?
Becky Chambers doesn't attempt to answer any of these questions. She just explores them and has characters muse on them and produces a lovely, character-driven story in the process.
There IS death in this one. Quite a bit of it. So be warned.
My only gripe is the continued existence of law enforcement, honestly, but the Exodan model was never going to be perfect, so it's okay.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Bullying
jessikalange's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
queersicles's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Drug use, Death, and Alcohol