368 pages
English language
Published Nov. 27, 2018 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat.
This book is quite different from the previous two in the series. It has more emotion but less tension. It’s more like literary fiction that just happens to take place in space than science fiction. The characters are vivid and the world-building is excellent. It’s just a bit slow.
Wonderful. There was a lot in this book, but Sawyer’s immigration story and the changes he instigated both gutted and inspired me. I think it’s about time I started doing that volunteering I’ve been planning to do.
This book does some world-building in the Exodus fleet, which was only ever mentioned as a thing that existed in the previous books. I liked this very gentle book, following several people in the fleet, whose lives all intersect eventually. I particularly enjoyed the extended epilogue that makes sure every one of their stories has a happy ending
This one was much different than the first two, but also the only one that gave me actual chills -- like hairs standing up on my arms. (The Harmagian's "who should count as worthy to be part of the GC" scene.)
A great finale for the trilogy (if indeed it remains a trilogy - more stories can certainly fit into the Wayfarer universe), this book follows a different set of characters than the first or second book, with only a very tenuous connection to the Wayfarer crew. The exploration of what it means to be human, what it means to be sapient, and how life could be lived on generation ships - all of these are a background for a truly good story about good people trying to live good lives.
It would be easy for a generally optimistic story to become cloyingly sappy, but somehow Chambers is able to include enough conflict and growth and challenge to keep the tale grounded, while still being hopeful.
Initially, I wanted this to be a traditional series following a central narrative around a core set of characters. Partway through the second book I gave up on this expectation and went along with the author. This book takes place on the fleet, a backwater in the universe with a strong culture and a disintegrating way of life. There are several point of view characters in different stages of life. They are all facing the question of why they are still in the fleet and what it means to them. The backdrop of this gentle and meditative plot line is the incredibly rich and complete world Becky Chambers is constructing. I love these books, the stories, and the world they explore.
I love how Becky explores social topics in a sci-fi setting.
Record of a Spaceborn Few describes the lives of humans who now lived for generations as space nomads in a fleet of space ships launched after Earth stopped being liveable.
Topics that are described are:
- what is home? (Everything can be home)
- human culture as seen from an alien species
- Space nomads versus settlers
- the influence of (new) technology on culture
- technology vs. nature
This is the 3rd book from the Wayfarers series, but is the least well written. There are just too many different characters and storylines that it's hard to keep track of them and this slows the book down considerably.
Big fan of the first book. Second book was good. This one is all world building with a large cast of characters none of them seeing much development at the half-way point. It was ok but I wasn't getting engaged in any of the stories and there's too many other exciting books on my shelf waiting to be read, don't have time for a book that isn't grabbing me. Stopped reading at the 51% point.
This the weekest in the series. Sadly it feels more like a soap opera sometimes.
I love this series, because Becky Chambers writes in a sci-fi universe with heart, which is to say that the science-fiction is the background, while the characters have primary importance. In this, we see what the Exodus Fleet that was mentioned in Book 1, and in passing in Book 2, in greater detail. We understand more what human refugees from Earth left, and what they preserved. We get to see what life is like among the stars.
When I first started reading this, I thought The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was what it means to be a family, even if not by relation, and A Closed and Common Orbit was about what it means to be human.
But I think that's wrong. I think Book 1 is about the importance of family. I think Book 2 is about the importance of the individual, and what it means …
I love this series, because Becky Chambers writes in a sci-fi universe with heart, which is to say that the science-fiction is the background, while the characters have primary importance. In this, we see what the Exodus Fleet that was mentioned in Book 1, and in passing in Book 2, in greater detail. We understand more what human refugees from Earth left, and what they preserved. We get to see what life is like among the stars.
When I first started reading this, I thought The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was what it means to be a family, even if not by relation, and A Closed and Common Orbit was about what it means to be human.
But I think that's wrong. I think Book 1 is about the importance of family. I think Book 2 is about the importance of the individual, and what it means to be a person. And Book 3 is the exploration of the importance of society. They're sneaky-smart books. They're fun books. They're books I will read again.
First of all: Becky Chambers is evil. Don't read her books. She will craft a corner of the galaxy, fill it with complex and believable characters, pull you completely in and leave you sad and bereft once the story is over. Then the next book appears and you eagerly want to continue exploring the world you left behind, but now it's a different corner of the galaxy, and different characters. At first you trudge on, disappointed, but then you start to fall for those people and their stories, too. And then the book ends and-
"Record of a Spaceborn Few" is the third "Wayfarers" book only by name. Like "A Close and Common Orbit" it only has a very loose tie to the predecessor and the "Wayfarer" crew only appears in mentions. But that quickly becomes unimportant, as the new setting - here the human Exodus Fleet - and the …
First of all: Becky Chambers is evil. Don't read her books. She will craft a corner of the galaxy, fill it with complex and believable characters, pull you completely in and leave you sad and bereft once the story is over. Then the next book appears and you eagerly want to continue exploring the world you left behind, but now it's a different corner of the galaxy, and different characters. At first you trudge on, disappointed, but then you start to fall for those people and their stories, too. And then the book ends and-
"Record of a Spaceborn Few" is the third "Wayfarers" book only by name. Like "A Close and Common Orbit" it only has a very loose tie to the predecessor and the "Wayfarer" crew only appears in mentions. But that quickly becomes unimportant, as the new setting - here the human Exodus Fleet - and the five people showing it to us from their unique perspective build up. Other than the first two books there is no real big plot happening. There is one event that happens in the course of the first few pages that spins off the stories of the five characters who all have a different relationship to the massive Fleet, in which humanity once left Earth to find a better place to live. So if you look for a book with a thrilling story to follow or mystery to solve, this is probably not for you. It's more about how five very different persons deal with change, personal challenges and the search for a purpose. The fast pace and suspense is generated, like in the previous books, through the switching perspectives of the characters. Also it is refreshing to read a sci-fi book where humans are not the center of the universe but the strange oddballs having to fight for acceptance.
What I like about Becky Chambers books is that there is hardly any "good" and "evil" and no easy, one-fits-all solutions, but that things like friendship and respect pay off in the end. She writes books that make you feel better and at the same time sad that they end. And desperately long for more. As I said: She is evil, do not read her book.
4.0
I've enjoyed all three of Becky Chambers' books so far, though I don't love them as much as a lot of people do. Something about the way her characters talk to each other feels...didactic. Like, "Here's how people in a functional relationship talk to each other. Here's how mature human beings should communicate with each other." It's definitely not enough to keep me from enjoying the books, but it does keep me from loving them wholeheartedly as I otherwise might.
Anyway, what I appreciated most about this book was that it's an everyday life kind of book--only in space. Most scifi is all about plot; this book doesn't even have a plot. It's just snippets in the lives of various people about the Exodus Fleet that generations before left Earth. There's lots and lots of fun worldbuilding, explorations of how humans could live in space and what kind of …
4.0
I've enjoyed all three of Becky Chambers' books so far, though I don't love them as much as a lot of people do. Something about the way her characters talk to each other feels...didactic. Like, "Here's how people in a functional relationship talk to each other. Here's how mature human beings should communicate with each other." It's definitely not enough to keep me from enjoying the books, but it does keep me from loving them wholeheartedly as I otherwise might.
Anyway, what I appreciated most about this book was that it's an everyday life kind of book--only in space. Most scifi is all about plot; this book doesn't even have a plot. It's just snippets in the lives of various people about the Exodus Fleet that generations before left Earth. There's lots and lots of fun worldbuilding, explorations of how humans could live in space and what kind of systems we'd design. It's fun to just live in this world, see how it works, imagine how we might be better in the future having learned from our past.
You know when you finish a book with multiple narratives, and the last bits are all the narratives winding up in that beautiful satisfying way? The conclusion to this filled me with so much joy and tears! It's a wonderful piece of like, slice of life sci fi with beautiful cute healthy relationships, new and old, and it took a part of this universe I personally wasn't super interested in (the Exodan fleet) and made me so incredibly invested in not only the characters in the story but their whole way of life. Huge recommend.
The Exodus Fleet carried humans from a broken Earth to new planets, but not all chose to leave those ships. A Record of a Spaceborn Few explores the lives of those who live on board the Asteria and the customs developed over centuries of life in space. It's about belonging and the journey you take to find where you belong in the universe.
It starts with tragedy, an explosion on board one of the fleet's ships, witnessed by a little girl. This develops into a phobia for her, living on a ship yet scared to go near walls, to look out the windows and the great expanse of nothingness. Yet she is not the only one who craves life on solid ground. Kip is a teenage boy, constrained by life on board. He wants to experience the full breadth of life, and he can't do that here.
This tragedy introduces …
The Exodus Fleet carried humans from a broken Earth to new planets, but not all chose to leave those ships. A Record of a Spaceborn Few explores the lives of those who live on board the Asteria and the customs developed over centuries of life in space. It's about belonging and the journey you take to find where you belong in the universe.
It starts with tragedy, an explosion on board one of the fleet's ships, witnessed by a little girl. This develops into a phobia for her, living on a ship yet scared to go near walls, to look out the windows and the great expanse of nothingness. Yet she is not the only one who craves life on solid ground. Kip is a teenage boy, constrained by life on board. He wants to experience the full breadth of life, and he can't do that here.
This tragedy introduces the job of caretaker and the death rites on board a ship. What do you do with bodies in space? Use them to grow crops of course, to be part of the cycle of life and help feed future generations. Eyas is respected yet lonely as a caretaker. She visits a tryst club for companionship and sex, the sex workers having as much a valid place in the workings of the fleet as anyone else.
A Harmagian is visiting the Asteria, on a anthropological mission to learn more about Exodans. We see them through her eyes as part of her logs, and learn about the prejudice afforded humans, the newcomers to space. It acknowledges the affects of colonialism as science fiction can do, not bound by the history of Earth. If humans did go out into space and find intelligent life, we would be treading on toes, and we might not be the top species any more.
It's really a book exploring culture, there's not much of a grand plot, but Becky Chambers is so good at this sort of thing. It loosely follows Sawyer, an outsider who is looking for something different and has come to stay in the Exodan Fleet to see if he can find it there. He's feeling isolated, apart from the community and viewed with suspicion by some. Just a tourist, they think.
He's then offered a job, a place where he could belong. He's very trusting and I was immediately suspicious of the situation. Close communities are all very well when you're inside them, but it can be hard being an outsider.
If you're already a fan of the Wayfarers then you'll love this book. They are all standalone but would I suggest reading them in order to get the most out of them.
So I finished this. Don't feel it was quite as good as the others somehow. I guess because I like AIs and this didn't really have many in. I continue to love the the SW, LGBTAI accepting future. It makes me nearly cry how wonderful they are about that stuff.
It left me feeling a strange sort of nostalgia for a future past. It... It's good. I think I felt this way about the others too.
Lacked drama for me though, or a drive behind the plot.
