Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Harper Voyager (2018), 368 pages
Pages
400
Description
Return to the sprawling universe of the Galactic Commons, as humans, artificial intelligence, aliens, and some beings yet undiscovered explore what it means to be a community in this exciting third adventure in the acclaimed and multi-award-nominated science fiction Wayfarers series, brimming with heartwarming characters and dazzling space adventure. Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way. But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life-and is it worth saving at all? A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one's story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.… (more)
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2019)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2019)
The Kitschies (Finalist — 2018)
Dragon Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2018)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-07-24 (First UK Edition)
2018-07-24 (First US Edition)
Physical description
400 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
0062699229 / 9780062699220
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User reviews
LibraryThing member elenaj
This book is extraordinary. Five stars doesn't seem like enough. I loved it, and I recommend it highly.
I am glad I came to the book not understanding what its themes were, so that I was able to watch them develop and coalesce, and to be startled by them - at times, shocked into tears. I took a
I am glad I came to the book not understanding what its themes were, so that I was able to watch them develop and coalesce, and to be startled by them - at times, shocked into tears. I took a
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while to warm up to this book, to figure out what it was about, what it was saying. But having finished it, I think that it tells a profound and profoundly moving story, not just about a possible future, but about how to live today. Show Less
LibraryThing member jdifelice
This book was so good. I can't even really form full thoughts on how good this was, and how much I loved it. It just really hit home as to what it means to have a home, how important your culture is, and how sometimes you just need some perspective to appreciate where you come from.
I loved The
Overall, this was such a great book, and everyone should read it.
I loved The
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Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, and I just loved this just as much. It gave me tingly feelings inside, and just made me feel good. I loved how the story flowed, and these characters. Let's face it, this book is all about the characters. Becky Chambers just knows how to create wonderfully deep characters, who are relatable in different ways, and also give you a different perspective on life.Overall, this was such a great book, and everyone should read it.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Superb. A powerful, yet gentle, voice in SF, listen well to the subtleties. I enjoyed the first book, was less impressed by the 2nd but really taken with this one exceeding the grandeur of the 1st whilst retaining all the charm and delicacy.
The setting is just after the conclusion to Long Way but
Through the interactions of the Few with their families and friends, and occasionally each other, we explore the difficulties of immigration and emigration on small communities, on the culture of space fight but also of broader human concerns, the importance of family and the freedom to express yourself and learn lessons with and without consequences. It's all just gentle, charming, important and sympathetic. There's no lack of imagination or clever technologies as needed, but no exposition either, just great writing how SF should be, telling a story but casting shadows on current culture.
Everyone should read this, as an antidote to Epic Space Opera, it's how SF ought to be.
The setting is just after the conclusion to Long Way but
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shares none of the characters or locations. The setting is The Fleet, which I'm sure was referred to obliquely in the early books, but is now detailed. It's the remnants of humanities flight from Earth before they encountered the rest of the Galactic Commons. In clearly delineated chapters we follow five characters as they go about their normal lives, a few years after the prelude - the shocking destruction of one habitat after a bad luck combination of circumstances. In many ways it's a surprise to the fleet that it hadn't happened before, but the ramifications are still being felt. Of greater concern although perhaps less immediately obvious, is the pervasive effect the GC has had on culture and life aboard the Fleet. The Spaceborn Few that we follow are: Isabell an Archivist, her role is to too record everything that happens, from births and deaths through any and all matters of import. She's one of the custodians of the Fleets culture. She's been in contact with an alien sociologist who's investigating the rise of humanity, and comes for a visit. Tessa is more of a menial worker in a storeroom organising stock and the limited commodities that are available to any who can justify their need. Eulo is perhaps the most unusual character, in that she's a caretaker for the dead, and performs the funeral rites before composting the remains to recycle the nutrients into the closed eco-system of the Fleet., It is Eulo's role that symbolizes everything that makes the Fleet human - dignity, efficiency, practicality and concern, and yet she's human too, with wants and needs of her own apart from the role. Kip is a teenager and as all such can't stand the restrictions his parents place on him, and doesn't understand why he can't just hang out with his friends. He can't wait too leave the Fleet. Sawyer is only a little older having been brought up on a colony he couldn't wait to get away and rejoin the history of humanity and claim the food and board that have to be earned everywhere else.Through the interactions of the Few with their families and friends, and occasionally each other, we explore the difficulties of immigration and emigration on small communities, on the culture of space fight but also of broader human concerns, the importance of family and the freedom to express yourself and learn lessons with and without consequences. It's all just gentle, charming, important and sympathetic. There's no lack of imagination or clever technologies as needed, but no exposition either, just great writing how SF should be, telling a story but casting shadows on current culture.
Everyone should read this, as an antidote to Epic Space Opera, it's how SF ought to be.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
This is the third book in a loosely connected series that also includes The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit. I really, really enjoyed those two books. I enjoyed this one, too, but I'm afraid not quite as much.
I remember commenting, after reading the first one, that I
Well, with this one, I did notice that very little was happening, and I did care. It felt a little slower, a little less satisfying, I'm afraid. There was still a lot to like about it, though. The universe Becky Chambers has created is still entertaining and interesting. The characters are likeable and very real-feeling, even if their personal stories are not quite as compelling as those of the main characters from A Closed and Common Orbit. And there's some nice, thoughtful thematic stuff about human restlessness, the disruption that happens when two cultures encounter each other, and the importance of finding your own place in the world while still carrying the heritage and history of your community with you. I did find the ending somewhat emotionally affecting, too.
So, bottom line, it was still an enjoyable read, but I'm afraid the first two got my expectations up just a little too high. In any case, if she writes more in this series, I will absolutely be there.
I remember commenting, after reading the first one, that I
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found it so much fun, found the worldbuilding so interesting and the characters so charming that I was at least a hundred pages in before I realized that very little had actually happened, and that much of what I was reading could reasonably described as exposition. Even after realizing it, though, I just didn't care. Well, with this one, I did notice that very little was happening, and I did care. It felt a little slower, a little less satisfying, I'm afraid. There was still a lot to like about it, though. The universe Becky Chambers has created is still entertaining and interesting. The characters are likeable and very real-feeling, even if their personal stories are not quite as compelling as those of the main characters from A Closed and Common Orbit. And there's some nice, thoughtful thematic stuff about human restlessness, the disruption that happens when two cultures encounter each other, and the importance of finding your own place in the world while still carrying the heritage and history of your community with you. I did find the ending somewhat emotionally affecting, too.
So, bottom line, it was still an enjoyable read, but I'm afraid the first two got my expectations up just a little too high. In any case, if she writes more in this series, I will absolutely be there.
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LibraryThing member LibroLindsay
It took me forever to finish this...not because I didn't like it, but I happened to start it right as I embarked on a big-decision cross-country move. My attention was necessarily thwarted; my energy often sapped; and, consequently, the constantly rotating POVs resulted in my having a difficult
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time following the action until I was able to really just sit down with this book. This is not a criticism--I like that style, and I like how it worked with this novel, but I did find myself frequently flipping back to figure out which story belonged to which person before it sank in (which may have, admittedly, taken longer than the average reader because of life circumstances). I am glad that this read did coincide with my move, though--I cleared my schedule yesterday to just sit in my new place and knock out the second half of this book, and so much of it resonated with what I have and am experiencing with this first big move of my life. The notions of community, tradition, being in one place for a long part of your life and uprooting it, the concept of finding meaning in work and the various extents to which that can factor into your life...it all hit me in fairly significant ways. I also love the Easter Egg of the "Part" titles. :) How beautiful. I remain steadfastly in Camp Becky Chambers. Show Less
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
I had a hard time with this at the beginning - Kip was such a teenage idiot, Sawyer wasn't much better with all his flailing, Eyas and Isabel and Tessa were too...stable? Ordinary? Stubborn? Something. But I kept reading and it kept getting richer. There are a lot of POVs here, and it takes them a
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long time to converge (they do, eventually, more or less). But the people I see at the end are better in a lot of ways than they were when I first met them - happier, both in themselves and in how they see their world and their work. And that's the sort of story I love. Fascinating setting - long-term ship living, generation ships that are being kept up (rather than the usual "the ship is dying and the people don't know it because they've forgotten outside"), and links to the other stories in this universe. I won't read another Chambers immediately - this was hard work - but I will read more by her in the long term. Show Less
LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
Again. This book is written about a different part of Chambers' fictional universe. This book tells the stories of Isabel, Tessa, Kip, and Eyas, as they intertwine.
Chambers does an excellent job of telling a fictional tale, while weaving into it a political landscape as well as the particulars of
Chambers does an excellent job of telling a fictional tale, while weaving into it a political landscape as well as the particulars of
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life. I enjoyed it a lot. Show Less
LibraryThing member SpaceandSorcery
No two books end up being the same. This is indeed what one should be aware of when approaching a new novel in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, because each one takes the readers in a different direction from the previous ones. And so I went from the group of space travelers in The Long Way to a
The story starts with a catastrophic explosion aboard one of the vessels in the Fleet and with the aftermath - emotional, psychological and also practical - of this event, seen through the eyes of a number of characters: Isabel is one of the Archivists, people tasked with recording the history of the Fleet, as well as presiding over the births, and the deaths, of its members; in the latter case, Eyas the Caretaker pays homage to their remains and their return (sort of) into the cycle of life; Tessa (the sister of Captain Ashby from book 1) works in the salvage department and has to deal with huge issues like her daughter’s trauma after the explosion, her father’s failing health and the need to move to a different job; and then there’s young Kip, who’s still trying to find his way and is not sure that his future will take place in the Fleet. The only non-Fleet character we follow in the novel is that of Sawyer, a descendant of former Exodans who choose a planet-bound life: he takes the inverse journey and comes aboard the Asteria - the ship on which most of the story takes place; his destiny will cross that of a few of the people mentioned above, influencing their outlook and their choices for the future.
There are many themes I enjoyed in the novel, not least the one about a space-faring society that forsook a ground-based life to forge its existence in the depths of space, with all the interesting social modifications that such a life implies: there is a similarity here to one of my favorite SF tropes, that of generation ships forging the unknown, and even though the Exodans have established their society in the proximity of a sun they were allotted by the Galactic Commons, their way of life is not so different from that depicted in generation arks traveling in search of a new planet to colonize. The sense of community is the strongest element at play here, together with that of legacies passed from one generation to the next: one of the most fascinating details comes from the descriptions of the quarters allotted to the various families and of the way each group of dwellers left the imprint of their hands on a wall, as a mark of their passage and as an encouragement to those that came after to improve and build on that ground. Exodans left their home with the keen awareness of having mortally wounded their home planet, and with the burning desire to avoid such mistakes in the future: keeping score of their progress toward a better society, a better breed of people, is indeed a way to try and avoid those mistakes - as Isabel says, we tend to be:
[…] a longstanding species with a very short memory. If we don’t keep records, we’ll make the same mistakes over and over.
It’s not surprising, then, that a similar focus on trying to create what sounds like an utopia, and a sort of insistence on traditions, might feel suffocating for younger generations, here represented by young Kip who struggles between the love for his family and his desire to look beyond the metal walls of a ship, no matter how comfortable or secure that existence might be. So it’s interesting that he ends up being profoundly touched by the inverse journey taken by Sawyer (who does not seem much older than he is) when he chooses to join the Fleet and finds himself on a very unexpected path. (I apologize if this sounds a little cryptic, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers…)
Given all these intriguing premises, it came as a surprise that I was not as invested in this story and these characters as I hoped: while I enjoyed the book overall (by now I know that Becky Chambers’ novels will always play well with me), I felt as if something was missing, and I’m still struggling to understand what it was. My involvement always remained on the surface, and while interested in what was happening to these people, I could not form any emotional ties with them, even in the direst of situations. Probably the contrast with the more adventurous bent from the first book, or with the deep personal journeys of the second, led me to believe that I would be able to get the same level of in-depth perception here, but the chronicle form of the narrative seemed to prevent that - even though the title itself should have represented something of a warning…
Still, Record of Spaceborn Few turned out to be a pleasant read, and my hope is that with the next issues in this series I will be able to recapture the sense of wonder and the character involvement that I experienced in the previous books.
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Small, Angry Planet to the personal journeys of Lovelace and Jane 23 in A Closed and Common Orbit, only to find myself sharing the lives of the people from the Exodus Fleet - a cluster of connected spaceships that had left the Earth in its decline to create a space-faring society - with Records of a Spaceborn Few.The story starts with a catastrophic explosion aboard one of the vessels in the Fleet and with the aftermath - emotional, psychological and also practical - of this event, seen through the eyes of a number of characters: Isabel is one of the Archivists, people tasked with recording the history of the Fleet, as well as presiding over the births, and the deaths, of its members; in the latter case, Eyas the Caretaker pays homage to their remains and their return (sort of) into the cycle of life; Tessa (the sister of Captain Ashby from book 1) works in the salvage department and has to deal with huge issues like her daughter’s trauma after the explosion, her father’s failing health and the need to move to a different job; and then there’s young Kip, who’s still trying to find his way and is not sure that his future will take place in the Fleet. The only non-Fleet character we follow in the novel is that of Sawyer, a descendant of former Exodans who choose a planet-bound life: he takes the inverse journey and comes aboard the Asteria - the ship on which most of the story takes place; his destiny will cross that of a few of the people mentioned above, influencing their outlook and their choices for the future.
There are many themes I enjoyed in the novel, not least the one about a space-faring society that forsook a ground-based life to forge its existence in the depths of space, with all the interesting social modifications that such a life implies: there is a similarity here to one of my favorite SF tropes, that of generation ships forging the unknown, and even though the Exodans have established their society in the proximity of a sun they were allotted by the Galactic Commons, their way of life is not so different from that depicted in generation arks traveling in search of a new planet to colonize. The sense of community is the strongest element at play here, together with that of legacies passed from one generation to the next: one of the most fascinating details comes from the descriptions of the quarters allotted to the various families and of the way each group of dwellers left the imprint of their hands on a wall, as a mark of their passage and as an encouragement to those that came after to improve and build on that ground. Exodans left their home with the keen awareness of having mortally wounded their home planet, and with the burning desire to avoid such mistakes in the future: keeping score of their progress toward a better society, a better breed of people, is indeed a way to try and avoid those mistakes - as Isabel says, we tend to be:
[…] a longstanding species with a very short memory. If we don’t keep records, we’ll make the same mistakes over and over.
It’s not surprising, then, that a similar focus on trying to create what sounds like an utopia, and a sort of insistence on traditions, might feel suffocating for younger generations, here represented by young Kip who struggles between the love for his family and his desire to look beyond the metal walls of a ship, no matter how comfortable or secure that existence might be. So it’s interesting that he ends up being profoundly touched by the inverse journey taken by Sawyer (who does not seem much older than he is) when he chooses to join the Fleet and finds himself on a very unexpected path. (I apologize if this sounds a little cryptic, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers…)
Given all these intriguing premises, it came as a surprise that I was not as invested in this story and these characters as I hoped: while I enjoyed the book overall (by now I know that Becky Chambers’ novels will always play well with me), I felt as if something was missing, and I’m still struggling to understand what it was. My involvement always remained on the surface, and while interested in what was happening to these people, I could not form any emotional ties with them, even in the direst of situations. Probably the contrast with the more adventurous bent from the first book, or with the deep personal journeys of the second, led me to believe that I would be able to get the same level of in-depth perception here, but the chronicle form of the narrative seemed to prevent that - even though the title itself should have represented something of a warning…
Still, Record of Spaceborn Few turned out to be a pleasant read, and my hope is that with the next issues in this series I will be able to recapture the sense of wonder and the character involvement that I experienced in the previous books.
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LibraryThing member Shrike58
This is not a book of adventure, though its foundation is a desperate adventure of survival. Nor is it really a drama, though there is personal drama involved. What one essentially has here is a portrait of a human community that was forged when there was no other choice and the question that has
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risen is whether this community is really worth persevering with now that there are new opportunities. By this point it's clear that you read Chambers for her consideration of what the every-day order of business looks like under extraordinary circumstances and how individuals cope with this state of affairs. Show Less
LibraryThing member Herenya
The Exodan Fleet was designed to transport the Earth’s last inhabitants and their descendants for however long it took them to find a new planet. But even though the Exodans have joined the rest of the galaxy, the Fleet remains home to a permanent community.
This is a multi-generational story
This might have been an easier book to review if the characters crossed paths with each other more often, or revolved more around common events, but instead it’s a book where what ties these storylines together is themes about culture, traditions and what happens when a community’s context changes. Exploring these themes from different perspectives allows for more nuance -- acknowledgement that there isn’t always one right answer, one right way of living.
Like Chambers’ other novels, this story is touching, inclusive and hopeful. It’s focused on personal matters: home, relationships, finding your place, finding meaning in what you do. It’s portrayal of families is positive, lively and believable.
I took longer than I’d expected to warm to the story, but once I did, I really liked it. I was fascinated by its ideas of how a space-born community might be organised -- exactly the sort of worldbuilding I like.
“We are the Exodus Fleet. We are those that wandered, that wander still. We are the homesteaders that shelter our families. We are the miners and the foragers in the open. We are the ships that ferry between. We are the explorers who carry our names. We are the parents who lead the way. We are the children who continue on [...] By our laws, [this baby] is assured shelter and passage here. If we have food, she will eat. If we have air, she will breathe. If we have fuel, she will fly. She is daughter to all grown, sister to all still growing. We will care for her, protect her, guide her. We welcome you, Robin, to the decks of the Asteria, and to the journey we take together.”
This is a multi-generational story
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about community and change. Isabel, the Fleet’s oldest Archivist, is hosting a visiting alien scholar, and the scholar, Ghuh’loloan, discovers that her method of documenting observations of the Fleet could spark changes. Tessa, a cargo-bay worker (and the sister of Ashby from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet), lives with her aging father and her two kids. Eyas, a woman in her early 30s, is a funeral worker. Sawyer, a young man who has grown up planetside, is seeing if the Fleet could become his home. Kit, a frustrated teenager, is going through job trials. This might have been an easier book to review if the characters crossed paths with each other more often, or revolved more around common events, but instead it’s a book where what ties these storylines together is themes about culture, traditions and what happens when a community’s context changes. Exploring these themes from different perspectives allows for more nuance -- acknowledgement that there isn’t always one right answer, one right way of living.
Like Chambers’ other novels, this story is touching, inclusive and hopeful. It’s focused on personal matters: home, relationships, finding your place, finding meaning in what you do. It’s portrayal of families is positive, lively and believable.
I took longer than I’d expected to warm to the story, but once I did, I really liked it. I was fascinated by its ideas of how a space-born community might be organised -- exactly the sort of worldbuilding I like.
“We are the Exodus Fleet. We are those that wandered, that wander still. We are the homesteaders that shelter our families. We are the miners and the foragers in the open. We are the ships that ferry between. We are the explorers who carry our names. We are the parents who lead the way. We are the children who continue on [...] By our laws, [this baby] is assured shelter and passage here. If we have food, she will eat. If we have air, she will breathe. If we have fuel, she will fly. She is daughter to all grown, sister to all still growing. We will care for her, protect her, guide her. We welcome you, Robin, to the decks of the Asteria, and to the journey we take together.”
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LibraryThing member LisCarey
Chambers' Wayfarers stories are set in the Galactic Commons, a galactic federation of intelligent species, most of them significantly older than the newcomer humans. Each has looked at a different part of life in the Galactic Commons. This one is set in the Exodus Fleet, the fleet carrying the
They're a distinctly different culture from the humans who settled Mars and the outer planets prior to that final collapse. Originally, they were looking for an Earthlike planet to start over on, and they wanted their descendants to be prepared for planetary life. In addition to their quite functional food- and oxygen-producing farms, they have decorative oxygen gardens, theaters that show nature videos of Earth, murals on the walls that, functionally, don't need to be anything but bare metal.
They also guard against the development of the competition and divisions that helped destroy Earth. Everyone has windows onto space in their living quarters. Everyone is guaranteed "if we have food they will eat, if we have air they will breathe, if we have fuel they will fly." Their economic system is barter.
And membership in the Galactic Commons has brought changes, changes that can disrupt this system.
Tessa is a supervisor in salvage operations--managing and sorting what comes in, sending it on to where those materials are most useful, making sure nothing goes to waste. She has two children, a husband with his own ship and work that takes him and that ship out of the fleet for extended periods, and an aging father. Her husband, George, is earning the Galactic credits the Exodan fleet didn't need before joining the Galactic Commons. Her father has failing eyesight and needs an eye replacement that is Galactic tech, not fleet tech--and which will need those credits George is earning.
Those credits, in larger context, may also be about to buy AI technology that will eliminate the job Tessa has been doing for twenty years, and which she loves. If it happens, she'll find other work, and the security of her family won't be threatened, because this is the Fleet, but...it's making her uneasy, and restless.
Isabel is an archivist. This means the obvious keeping and preserving of records, but it also mean being the officiant at weddings, births, and funerals. She has a love of history and knowledge; she corresponds with scholars outside the fleet. One, a Harmargian, a member of a species that was distinctly divided on whether humans should be admitted to the Commons, has come to visit and observe.
Eyas is a caretaker; she prepares the bodies of the deceased for composting and return to the soil that helps the fleet live, and counsels the families of the deceased. It's work she loves, finds meaningful, and always wanted to do. Yet she fells there's a piece missing, something more she could be doing as well.
Sawyer is a young man descended from a family that left the Fleet, to settle on a planet. They moved around, never really staying on one planet, and then an epidemic struck for which Galactic medicine didn't yet have proper treatment for humans. They developed it quickly, but Sawyer was the only survivor. At 24, he's decided to go check out his family's original home, try something new to him. He meets Eyas, who impatiently gives him a little advice about how to start fitting in with the Exodans. And he meets a man who connects with with job salvaging materials from a wrecked ship.
Kip is a teenager feeling restless and dissatisfied. He has no idea what he wants to do, he's not sure he wants to stay in the fleet, and he has a friend with perhaps more intellectual firepower (not that Kip isn't smart), but perhaps not as good judgment or concern for others.
They're all trying to find their way, all being affected by the changes that are coming to the fleet, now that they're part of the Galactic Commons and have been settled, not on planet, but around an otherwise unused star. Their culture is surviving, but also growing and changing. This is a story about how they cope, how they adapt, what they feel and think and do. It's about decent people trying to make the right decisions, for themselves and those they care about, in changing circumstances.
For me, that makes it the best kind of story. Chambers makes these people you can care about, and want good outcomes for.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
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descendants of the last humans to leave Earth, fleeing its environmental collapse.They're a distinctly different culture from the humans who settled Mars and the outer planets prior to that final collapse. Originally, they were looking for an Earthlike planet to start over on, and they wanted their descendants to be prepared for planetary life. In addition to their quite functional food- and oxygen-producing farms, they have decorative oxygen gardens, theaters that show nature videos of Earth, murals on the walls that, functionally, don't need to be anything but bare metal.
They also guard against the development of the competition and divisions that helped destroy Earth. Everyone has windows onto space in their living quarters. Everyone is guaranteed "if we have food they will eat, if we have air they will breathe, if we have fuel they will fly." Their economic system is barter.
And membership in the Galactic Commons has brought changes, changes that can disrupt this system.
Tessa is a supervisor in salvage operations--managing and sorting what comes in, sending it on to where those materials are most useful, making sure nothing goes to waste. She has two children, a husband with his own ship and work that takes him and that ship out of the fleet for extended periods, and an aging father. Her husband, George, is earning the Galactic credits the Exodan fleet didn't need before joining the Galactic Commons. Her father has failing eyesight and needs an eye replacement that is Galactic tech, not fleet tech--and which will need those credits George is earning.
Those credits, in larger context, may also be about to buy AI technology that will eliminate the job Tessa has been doing for twenty years, and which she loves. If it happens, she'll find other work, and the security of her family won't be threatened, because this is the Fleet, but...it's making her uneasy, and restless.
Isabel is an archivist. This means the obvious keeping and preserving of records, but it also mean being the officiant at weddings, births, and funerals. She has a love of history and knowledge; she corresponds with scholars outside the fleet. One, a Harmargian, a member of a species that was distinctly divided on whether humans should be admitted to the Commons, has come to visit and observe.
Eyas is a caretaker; she prepares the bodies of the deceased for composting and return to the soil that helps the fleet live, and counsels the families of the deceased. It's work she loves, finds meaningful, and always wanted to do. Yet she fells there's a piece missing, something more she could be doing as well.
Sawyer is a young man descended from a family that left the Fleet, to settle on a planet. They moved around, never really staying on one planet, and then an epidemic struck for which Galactic medicine didn't yet have proper treatment for humans. They developed it quickly, but Sawyer was the only survivor. At 24, he's decided to go check out his family's original home, try something new to him. He meets Eyas, who impatiently gives him a little advice about how to start fitting in with the Exodans. And he meets a man who connects with with job salvaging materials from a wrecked ship.
Kip is a teenager feeling restless and dissatisfied. He has no idea what he wants to do, he's not sure he wants to stay in the fleet, and he has a friend with perhaps more intellectual firepower (not that Kip isn't smart), but perhaps not as good judgment or concern for others.
They're all trying to find their way, all being affected by the changes that are coming to the fleet, now that they're part of the Galactic Commons and have been settled, not on planet, but around an otherwise unused star. Their culture is surviving, but also growing and changing. This is a story about how they cope, how they adapt, what they feel and think and do. It's about decent people trying to make the right decisions, for themselves and those they care about, in changing circumstances.
For me, that makes it the best kind of story. Chambers makes these people you can care about, and want good outcomes for.
Highly recommended.
I bought this book.
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LibraryThing member Andorion
3.5 stars.
Becky Chamber's style of slice of life was a much better read in the cozy confines of a small spaceship than across the sprawling expanse of an interstellar fleet. While some of the individual stories were excellent, I did not feel that intimate interconnectedness of A Long Way to a Small
Becky Chamber's style of slice of life was a much better read in the cozy confines of a small spaceship than across the sprawling expanse of an interstellar fleet. While some of the individual stories were excellent, I did not feel that intimate interconnectedness of A Long Way to a Small
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Angry Planet. Show Less
LibraryThing member Hobbitlass
I like Becky Chamber's books very much, but sadly this one was my least favourite of hers. The writing is good, but I felt like there were too many characters, and not enough time to get to know them all, or emotionally get involved in their stories.
LibraryThing member tronella
Great. I liked the previous book better in terms of plot and pacing, but the characters, world-building and writing style were all still fantastic.
LibraryThing member infjsarah
If you have read the first two books by Ms Chambers then you know what you are getting - sci-fi without the space battles. There is a death but it's only a very small part of the plot. I enjoyed this but not quite as much as the first two books. Sometimes it did feel as if there were too many POVs
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and yet looking back there is no character I would like to remove as you would lose part of the whole culture if you did. Fun, light read. Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
About as absorbing an fast moving as a novel with 6 viewpoints can get. This is an exploration of the changing culture that developed on the generation ships that were the final flight of humans from a devastated earth. 4 of the narrators are local, a grandmother, a mother, a caretaker for the
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dead, and a teenage boy, one is an alien essentially blogging it's visit, and the third is an immigrant looking for something new. The slight connection to earlier books is Wayfarer Captain's sister Tessa. The characters are interesting and well developed and the conflicts do not seem at all artificial. I wasn't really into the teenage angst bits, but they support the the work in it's entirety. Show Less
LibraryThing member ClareRhoden
This is an amazing book, and I loved every minute of it. It's my first Becky Chambers and now I have to read more.
Here are my three top quotes:
"Yet it was a quiet grief, an everyday grief, a heaviness and a lightness all at once."
"That's how we'll survive, even if not all of us do."
"Our species
Yes!
I loved the cast of diverse characters and the plot threads that connected them all. I loved the worlds and the perspectives, and the clarity of this story. I was a little impatient with teenager Kip, but hey, that's what teenagers are for! The alien viewpoints were also fascinating.
One of the best reads of 2018, for sure.
Here are my three top quotes:
"Yet it was a quiet grief, an everyday grief, a heaviness and a lightness all at once."
"That's how we'll survive, even if not all of us do."
"Our species
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doesn't operate by reality. It operates by stories."Yes!
I loved the cast of diverse characters and the plot threads that connected them all. I loved the worlds and the perspectives, and the clarity of this story. I was a little impatient with teenager Kip, but hey, that's what teenagers are for! The alien viewpoints were also fascinating.
One of the best reads of 2018, for sure.
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LibraryThing member Kellswitch
After reading the first book in this series I swore that was the most character-driven story I've ever read. And then the next one came out and THAT was the most character-driven story I've ever read. Until this one. I love these books, they keep delving deeper and deeper into the cultures of this
The whole point of this book is to explore what it means to be an Exodan, the decedents of the first groups to leave Earth.
The author created such a deep and layered culture here so much so that I wish I could go there.
All of the characters felt believable and relatable, sometimes heartbreaking so, and the worlds felt lived in and you could see how it all fits together. So much effort and thought went into creating this world and yet you can't feel the weight of that work, it just seems to all flow naturally.
I really can't say enough how much I loved this book, it actually made me sad to finish it.
These books seem to just get better and better and while I hope the author keeps writing in this universe, it will be interesting to read stories by her in other settings.
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universe and I love it.The whole point of this book is to explore what it means to be an Exodan, the decedents of the first groups to leave Earth.
The author created such a deep and layered culture here so much so that I wish I could go there.
All of the characters felt believable and relatable, sometimes heartbreaking so, and the worlds felt lived in and you could see how it all fits together. So much effort and thought went into creating this world and yet you can't feel the weight of that work, it just seems to all flow naturally.
I really can't say enough how much I loved this book, it actually made me sad to finish it.
These books seem to just get better and better and while I hope the author keeps writing in this universe, it will be interesting to read stories by her in other settings.
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LibraryThing member bluesalamanders
For some reason, this one didn’t grab me like the previous two did. I enjoyed it, certainly, the characters were interesting, the setting was fascinating, the worldbuilding was as lush as ever, but I don’t know, something about it just didn’t quite click for me. Which is not to say that I
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don’t recommend it; I definitely do! I thought it was good. I just didn’t immediately fall in love with it like I did the first two. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
Humans had to leave Earth because it could no longer sustain life, and they set off in spaceships that were meant to be temporary homes until they found new homes, but they ended up choosing to stay on those spaceships for many generations. This book examines the culture that has developed on those
All in all, the world building is really good here, and it's nice to soak it in. However, the story moves really slowly and there's not much action. In some ways, all of the stories feel too tidy - they are all wrapped up neatly at the end, and even though the characters of the different storylines don't interact much, their stories all dovetail very tidily. On the other hand, given how much sci-fi is dystopian these days, it's refreshing to read about people and cultures who ultimately get along with each other.
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spaceships by following the stories of several different characters with varying degrees of satisfaction with their culture.All in all, the world building is really good here, and it's nice to soak it in. However, the story moves really slowly and there's not much action. In some ways, all of the stories feel too tidy - they are all wrapped up neatly at the end, and even though the characters of the different storylines don't interact much, their stories all dovetail very tidily. On the other hand, given how much sci-fi is dystopian these days, it's refreshing to read about people and cultures who ultimately get along with each other.
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LibraryThing member barlow304
I admire Becky Chambers's character-driven novels. I very much enjoyed the first two Wayfarer novels, which nicely balanced character and plot. They could even be science-fictiony and yet have enough realism and investment in the characters to tug at your heartstrings.
Record of a Spaceborn Few,
Becky Chambers has real talent in her ability to create and inhabit the minds of aliens. Here she has concentrated on humans, but in my opinion, the plot needs more action.
Record of a Spaceborn Few,
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however, is long on character and short on plot. While it is a fascinating creation of a human exodus fleet and the measures necessary to keep it functioning, its plot is quite diffuse as we follow a number of characters for a few years. Some of these characters could clearly be the centers of their own novels, but too little time is spent with each.Becky Chambers has real talent in her ability to create and inhabit the minds of aliens. Here she has concentrated on humans, but in my opinion, the plot needs more action.
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LibraryThing member lavaturtle
This is a lovely book! Much like in [The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet], there's not a lot of "action-y" plot. But Chambers fills that space instead with a bouquet of compelling, distinctive characters that all experience growth over the course of the story. And the worldbuilding is great -- I
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feel like I really understand what it's like to be on the Exodus Fleet. Show Less
LibraryThing member Davidmullen
This is more of the same by which I mean it's a very good yarn about people. There are no carried over characters from the earlier books, although the captain from book1 Ashby gets mentioned.
We see a bit more of the galactic commons this time the human fleet. As before there are no spear carrying
We see a bit more of the galactic commons this time the human fleet. As before there are no spear carrying
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villains just a bunch of people being people and living with the consequences. I enjoyed this almost as much as book1 and I prefer it to book2 Show Less
LibraryThing member livingtech
Such a quiet and purposeful book. Full of small stories about everyday people... but living in a far future that is so well depicted and described that you believe the mundanity. All the narrative threads do intertwine, but they take their time getting there. It was definitely about half the book
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before there was a hint of conflict. And the conflict was not even the main focus of the story, though I suppose it was in a way. Anyway, I’m not necessarily saying those are flaws, and I definitely loved a lot of aspects of this book. Anyway, definitely worth reading, though I think I liked the other two in the series better. Show Less
LibraryThing member CharlotteBurt
Wow
I loved this book. It follows the lives of five people who all live in space aboard the fleet, the crafts built to carry the remaining humans away from their dying planet. This character-driven and a fairly plotless book is charming and warm nonetheless.
I loved this book. It follows the lives of five people who all live in space aboard the fleet, the crafts built to carry the remaining humans away from their dying planet. This character-driven and a fairly plotless book is charming and warm nonetheless.