Review: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

The good

• As in the previous books in the series, this one is strong on empathy, kindness, and acceptance.

• Cool idea about how an “exodus fleet” might be designed: the need to reuse/recycle everything; the design of the habitat into a honeycomb consisting of larger and larger rings of 6 (6 rooms in an apartment; 6 apartments in a block; and so on); the idea that your family name is based on the apartment you live in, rather than your partner’s name; the need for everyone to have a job, and all the roles you’d need in such a fleet (e.g., caretakers).

The not so good

• As with the previous books, everyone in this one is just a bit too nice and empathetic; far beyond what real human societies actually behave like. Reading this in 2021 and thinking about how many humans couldn’t even rally around doing the right thing to fight a global pandemic gives me serious doubts that we would be peaceful enough to make an exodus fleet work.

• Seems to include none of the characters or storylines from either of the previous two books. It’s the same universe, with the same aliens, but other than that, there’s really nothing in common with the previous stories, which is a bummer, as I enjoyed those (especially the first book).

• Follows several different characters in parallel, and while each one is mildly interesting, but it doesn’t quite add up to be larger than the sum of the parts. I preferred the deeper focus of the first two books.

Rating: 3 stars