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reviewed Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente (Space Opera, #2)

Catherynne M. Valente: Space Oddity (Paperback, 2024, Saga Press) 4 stars

The Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation …

Exactly what I needed in October 2024

5 stars

Not quite as fun as the first book, but it's just as absurd and chaotic.

I started reading at the beginning of October, in the final weeks of the 2024 election, thinking: wow, this is exactly what I need right now! As things went along it got more cynical, and the story read like a bunch of totally disconnected threads, each with its own flavor of absurdist despair, and I just felt like I do not need this book right now.

And then at the end, everything came together in a moment of catharsis, and I found myself thinking yes, this is exactly what I need right now.

Life is beautiful. And life is stupid. (Unfortunately, beautiful is stuck behind a paywall, while stupid is free.) And we could all benefit from a read-through of Gorecannon's list of Unkillable Facts.

(Cross-posted from my website.)