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A review by savaging
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
2.0
I love a sentient mollusk more than anyone, but...
This book focuses on humans, whose ancestors were the last on a dying earth and melted down old buildings and things to create a fleet of ships and seek out other planets. As I read, a sensation crept up on me that this sweet 'cozy' story was ... evil? Like: how could Earth ever be worse than space? At least until the sun expands to a red giant in 5 billion years, space is infinitely more hostile than the most abused and poisoned earth. Does this book play into the myth of an inevitable post-earth future for humans, which in turn guides current environmental recklessness? And the humans who have returned to earth -- the Gaiists -- why are they portrayed as crazy, benighted, and violent hunter-gatherers?
The cozy tale starts feeling like Manifest Destiny on steroids. It doesn't help that the entire galaxy apparently operates on (occasionally philanthropic) capitalism.
Chambers is so smart and so creative, bucking many other bad sci-fi cliches. So the ones that remain feel even more insidious.
This book focuses on humans, whose ancestors were the last on a dying earth and melted down old buildings and things to create a fleet of ships and seek out other planets. As I read, a sensation crept up on me that this sweet 'cozy' story was ... evil? Like: how could Earth ever be worse than space? At least until the sun expands to a red giant in 5 billion years, space is infinitely more hostile than the most abused and poisoned earth. Does this book play into the myth of an inevitable post-earth future for humans, which in turn guides current environmental recklessness? And the humans who have returned to earth -- the Gaiists -- why are they portrayed as crazy, benighted, and violent hunter-gatherers?
The cozy tale starts feeling like Manifest Destiny on steroids. It doesn't help that the entire galaxy apparently operates on (occasionally philanthropic) capitalism.
Chambers is so smart and so creative, bucking many other bad sci-fi cliches. So the ones that remain feel even more insidious.