mercerhanau's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is slower paced and less dramatic than the previous two books. I personally found the “slice of life” style less compelling, but still cozy and enjoyable to read. It continues to flesh out the galaxy Becky Chambers has created, focusing on the people living on “homesteaders” (generation ships, but self-sustaining and not heading to a new planet), especially from the perspectives of teenagers, parents with ordinary jobs, and elders. The author does her usual great job of having characters explore what they really want from life.
It’s fun to read sections of an ethnography about humans by a Harmagian. Interesting to see a human culture described by an outsider and compared to squishy, slug-like aliens with different rituals and cultural norms around birth and death.
Real-world themes the book touches on: (hidden for some minor spoiler details)
* Collective trauma, mass death (at the very beginning of the book)
* How we handle the dead, relationship to resources in a closed system (whether planetary or in a spaceship), human composting.
* Communal living
* Sex work (pro! As an important, legitimate, unstigmatized profession with regulations and safety measures for all involved)
* Ethical non-monogamy (mentioned more briefly than previous books)
* Challenges of solo parenting with a partner who travels frequently
* Children and toddlers using technology like video games (“sims”)
* Shared labor: everyone healthy and over 14 years old in the fleet takes turns working on sanitation so it isn’t out of sight or out of mind. Nothing is left to “lesser people.” Other roles are more specialized, but this shared responsibility both breaks up undesirable tasks and keeps people humbly in touch with the resource recycling.
* Professions and compensation: Labor isn’t compensated, nor do some professions receive more resources than others. All basic needs are met: food, water, housing, oxygen, etc. It’s rare for adults not to work, but it’s scorned. The question “what do you do?” asks what a person does for the community, for “us”. People thank each other for what they provide: artists for murals, farmers for food, doctors for medical attention, etc.
* Personal property: Property is communal until it enters a family home. Then stealing would be illegal, but people don’t need to steal anyway since their basic needs are met. (Cf. better social support reduces crime, rather than more criminalization and policing)
* Economics with multiple currencies: trade worked fine until outside currency and goods entered the equation. (Cf. Cuba, from my understanding?)
* Caring for aging parents. Some of this book’s topics remind me of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: body mods, medical intervention for failing body parts, community care, alternative economic systems without strict currency
* Pros and cons of this lifestyle, especially for raising kids. Parents struggling to explain traumatic subject matter to their children, but also nice examples of parents being supportive and good listeners regarding their kids’ fears (and possible PTSD)
* Critiques of the inefficiency of bureaucracy meant to ensure fairness. People breaking protocol to claim more resources for themselves.
* Stages of fetal development between different species: a Harmagian reflects on how she doesn’t remember her life as a polyp, so it wasn’t really “her”. The transition between being a polyp and one’s baby self is seen as a death in her culture. Perhaps commentary on pro-life arguments of “life begins at conception”? She’s also bringing it up in the context of grieving for children and human parents holding their children close when they hear of a young person’s death. She has a different, more distant relationship to her own offspring.
* Politicization of the death of a newcomer. Who to blame, who to grieve, what this means for immigration acceptance vs. restriction, outsiders using limited resources, how to prevent future tragedies, etc.
* What kinds of jobs can (and will) be replaced by artificial intelligence
* A Harmagian’s brief reflections on her species’s “superiority” by means of conquest. Regret, reparations, sharing of technology and partnership with those they once harmed. What makes a species “worthy” of membership in the Galactic Commons?
* Archives and museums: what’s the point of keeping old things around rather than repairing/recycling them? Are people studying them and learning useful things? The homesteaders’ archives keep digital records and no physical objects, since space and resources are limited.
It’s fun to read sections of an ethnography about humans by a Harmagian. Interesting to see a human culture described by an outsider and compared to squishy, slug-like aliens with different rituals and cultural norms around birth and death.
Real-world themes the book touches on: (hidden for some minor spoiler details)
Spoiler
* Collective trauma, mass death (at the very beginning of the book)
* How we handle the dead, relationship to resources in a closed system (whether planetary or in a spaceship), human composting.
* Communal living
* Sex work (pro! As an important, legitimate, unstigmatized profession with regulations and safety measures for all involved)
* Ethical non-monogamy (mentioned more briefly than previous books)
* Challenges of solo parenting with a partner who travels frequently
* Children and toddlers using technology like video games (“sims”)
* Shared labor: everyone healthy and over 14 years old in the fleet takes turns working on sanitation so it isn’t out of sight or out of mind. Nothing is left to “lesser people.” Other roles are more specialized, but this shared responsibility both breaks up undesirable tasks and keeps people humbly in touch with the resource recycling.
* Professions and compensation: Labor isn’t compensated, nor do some professions receive more resources than others. All basic needs are met: food, water, housing, oxygen, etc. It’s rare for adults not to work, but it’s scorned. The question “what do you do?” asks what a person does for the community, for “us”. People thank each other for what they provide: artists for murals, farmers for food, doctors for medical attention, etc.
* Personal property: Property is communal until it enters a family home. Then stealing would be illegal, but people don’t need to steal anyway since their basic needs are met. (Cf. better social support reduces crime, rather than more criminalization and policing)
* Economics with multiple currencies: trade worked fine until outside currency and goods entered the equation. (Cf. Cuba, from my understanding?)
* Caring for aging parents. Some of this book’s topics remind me of A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: body mods, medical intervention for failing body parts, community care, alternative economic systems without strict currency
* Pros and cons of this lifestyle, especially for raising kids. Parents struggling to explain traumatic subject matter to their children, but also nice examples of parents being supportive and good listeners regarding their kids’ fears (and possible PTSD)
* Critiques of the inefficiency of bureaucracy meant to ensure fairness. People breaking protocol to claim more resources for themselves.
* Stages of fetal development between different species: a Harmagian reflects on how she doesn’t remember her life as a polyp, so it wasn’t really “her”. The transition between being a polyp and one’s baby self is seen as a death in her culture. Perhaps commentary on pro-life arguments of “life begins at conception”? She’s also bringing it up in the context of grieving for children and human parents holding their children close when they hear of a young person’s death. She has a different, more distant relationship to her own offspring.
* Politicization of the death of a newcomer. Who to blame, who to grieve, what this means for immigration acceptance vs. restriction, outsiders using limited resources, how to prevent future tragedies, etc.
* What kinds of jobs can (and will) be replaced by artificial intelligence
* A Harmagian’s brief reflections on her species’s “superiority” by means of conquest. Regret, reparations, sharing of technology and partnership with those they once harmed. What makes a species “worthy” of membership in the Galactic Commons?
* Archives and museums: what’s the point of keeping old things around rather than repairing/recycling them? Are people studying them and learning useful things? The homesteaders’ archives keep digital records and no physical objects, since space and resources are limited.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Xenophobia
Minor: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Drug use, and Alcohol
laurel616's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
3.75
I really enjoyed this read. It's been a while since I have read the first two books in this series, and I think that helped my enjoyment of this book.
This book is exactly what I would think of when I think of character study books. There was also good atmospheric descriptions that kept me entertained. However, I was hoping that the character viewpoints we read would interact more with each other in the end.
We also got a bit in the prologue about this terrible event that happened in the past, but then we really minimally returned to that event, and really only saw the effects of that event on one character and her family. I feel that could have been expanded on greatly, how a trauma like that could effect everything.
This book is exactly what I would think of when I think of character study books. There was also good atmospheric descriptions that kept me entertained. However, I was hoping that the character viewpoints we read would interact more with each other in the end.
We also got a bit in the prologue about this terrible event that happened in the past, but then we really minimally returned to that event, and really only saw the effects of that event on one character and her family. I feel that could have been expanded on greatly, how a trauma like that could effect everything.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Xenophobia
dreamersmind's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.25
This book took me forever to read. It started out very slow and I was worried I wouldn’t like it as much as the first 2 books of the series but it rounded out very nicely in the end and I was left with a familiar warm cozy feeling that I had in the other books.
Things I liked in this book:
1. Getting to see more world building and getting to understand fleet society
2. Each character brought interesting parts to the story to allow the reader to get a fuller picture of the fleet.
Things I didn’t like in this book:
1. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and it took a while to get my bearings and stop confusing characters with each other.
2. The first half of the book was extremely slow paced.
“Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why were great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story or maybe the people kill the King, because they don’t like his story, and have begun to tell themselves a different one. When our planet started dying our species was so caught up in stories. We had thousands of stories about ourselves —that’s still true, don’t forget that for a minute— but not enough of us were looking at the reality of things. Once reality caught up with us and we started changing her stories to acknowledge it, It was too late.”
Things I liked in this book:
1. Getting to see more world building and getting to understand fleet society
2. Each character brought interesting parts to the story to allow the reader to get a fuller picture of the fleet.
Things I didn’t like in this book:
1. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and it took a while to get my bearings and stop confusing characters with each other.
2. The first half of the book was extremely slow paced.
“Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why were great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story or maybe the people kill the King, because they don’t like his story, and have begun to tell themselves a different one. When our planet started dying our species was so caught up in stories. We had thousands of stories about ourselves —that’s still true, don’t forget that for a minute— but not enough of us were looking at the reality of things. Once reality caught up with us and we started changing her stories to acknowledge it, It was too late.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Xenophobia
solenekeleroux's review
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
strange_little_ranger's review
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Colonisation, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, and Xenophobia
scifi_rat's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cursing
athryn's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
A really fascinating read, these almost slice of life stories that Chambers does, but they just work their way in to you. Reminds me a little bit of the Emily St. John Mandel books I read earlier this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Drug use and Grief
Minor: Xenophobia
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
This definitely felt more character-driven than the previous two books in the series. We've got a new cast again (I miss Rosemary!) but by the end they had grabbed my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Xenophobia
Minor: Drug use
librarianmage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Murder and Xenophobia