Take a photo of a barcode or cover
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
j'ai lu pas mal d'avis sur ce livre et, pour beaucoup, c'est le pire de la saga.
pourtant, moi c'est celui que j'ai préféré, je crois.
les sujets sont plusse concrets que les autres, nous touchent plusse que les autres. oui, dans chaque tome, les sujets font écho à des gros problèmes que l'humanité a actuellement, comme le racisme, le classisme, etc, mais ce tome là particulièrement parle de tout ça avec plusse de justesse et surtout en parle de manière plusse concrète.
j'ai adoré découvrir The Exodus Fleet à travers le point de vue des différents personnages, même si je les ai toujours pas aimé.la mort de Sawyer m'a complètement pris.e au dépourvu parce que, ok, je sentais la merde arriver, mais qu'il meurt vraiment ? on n'avait encore jamais vu ça dans un livre de Becky Chambers. pour le coup, j'ai trouvé que c'était le tome le plusse dur à lire d'un point de vue émotionnel. on garde le côté livre-doudou et très reflective mais il a un impact bien différent que les autres.
on y parle du désastre environnemental en cours, de la nécessité de faire communauté, mais faire communauté correctement, on y parle de la mort, de la vie, de tout ce cycle, de l'importance de l'entraide et de la valorisation de tout ce qui nous permet de vivre ensemble "million interconnected parts", de mémoire/d'archives, de l'importance de se souvenir pour s'échapper du cycle de violence.....
franchement, je comprends pas comment on peut ne pas ou moins aimer ce tome, alors que les questions et réflexions qu'il soulève sont les plusse actuelles qui soient. et tout ça dans un environnement humain, qui ne laisse que peu de place à l'abstraction de ces réflexions, contrairement aux autres tomes de la série où elles peuvent être mises au second plan. donc si on aime, quelque part, c'est qu'on doit pas être d'accord politiquement ahah.
bref, tout le monde devrait le lire, il est excellent, incroyable, important. je ne me tairai jamais sur à quel point le travail de Becky Chambers est extraordinaire et à quel point on nécessite davantage de livres comme ça.
pourtant, moi c'est celui que j'ai préféré, je crois.
les sujets sont plusse concrets que les autres, nous touchent plusse que les autres. oui, dans chaque tome, les sujets font écho à des gros problèmes que l'humanité a actuellement, comme le racisme, le classisme, etc, mais ce tome là particulièrement parle de tout ça avec plusse de justesse et surtout en parle de manière plusse concrète.
j'ai adoré découvrir The Exodus Fleet à travers le point de vue des différents personnages, même si je les ai toujours pas aimé.
on y parle du désastre environnemental en cours, de la nécessité de faire communauté, mais faire communauté correctement, on y parle de la mort, de la vie, de tout ce cycle, de l'importance de l'entraide et de la valorisation de tout ce qui nous permet de vivre ensemble "million interconnected parts", de mémoire/d'archives, de l'importance de se souvenir pour s'échapper du cycle de violence.....
franchement, je comprends pas comment on peut ne pas ou moins aimer ce tome, alors que les questions et réflexions qu'il soulève sont les plusse actuelles qui soient. et tout ça dans un environnement humain, qui ne laisse que peu de place à l'abstraction de ces réflexions, contrairement aux autres tomes de la série où elles peuvent être mises au second plan. donc si on aime, quelque part, c'est qu'on doit pas être d'accord politiquement ahah.
bref, tout le monde devrait le lire, il est excellent, incroyable, important. je ne me tairai jamais sur à quel point le travail de Becky Chambers est extraordinaire et à quel point on nécessite davantage de livres comme ça.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Murder
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
emotional
hopeful
reflective
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
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
This is one of the best books I've had the pleasure of reading. Becky Chambers' writing and range is brilliant. This book is unique and reflective. Even though the narrators are at such different stages in life I felt as if I could connect to each of them so easily through the writing. Though at first I was frustrated that Sawyer died so soon and with so little connection to his Hex and overall community I grew to understand the importance of such a choice on Chambers' part. It was real and driving and tragic. I especially loved the inclusion of Ghuh'loloan's writings. The fictional creative nonfiction is something I didn't know I needed until now and now I need more. I also (always) appreciate the diversity of romantic and sexual relationships portrayed in Chambers' work but this book really takes the cake in my opinion. Isabel & Tamsin, Eyas & Sunny, Tessa & George, they all were beautiful and real and made me so happy. I've never written a review so long but wow there is just so much to love in this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Car accident
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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)
* 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: Death, Xenophobia, Grief
Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic