3.5
I’m curious how an author goes from writing space Odyssey to Eco futurism. And this Novella is a very telling bridge between both of Becky Chambers series. In some way, it does kind of feel like a practice round where it’s a little clunky sometimes or the balance of Exposition is just too hefty to be carried on the shoulders of the plot. However, there were some absolutely lovely passages that were super grounded in evolutionary biology or chemistry, that really marveled at the concept of life TM. At first, I was a little bit irritated by the plot gimmick of losing connection from earth. I feel like that’s such a trope that mission control goes down leaving the crew fully autonomous to do weird shit and that’s the rest of the book. However, at the end it was quite turned around which I liked. It’s funny because Chambers did a really good job with explaining these complicated scientific ideas as beautifully as poetry, and yet sometimes the descriptions of the astronauts or interpersonal exchanges just felt a little off to the point of bringing me out of the story. Nice little read, and I’m happy it exists if only that it gave us the monk and robot series.

“I was taught to be objective, as a scientist. But I cannot help the fact that I am also and animal with instincts of my own”