Sci-fi Reading Roundup
Aug. 1st, 2024 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaI've been chugging along reading various books, usually in the sci-fi or romance department. I'm planning to post about my latest romance reads later, but wanna put down some thoughts for my three most recent sci-fi reads.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Genuinely SO lovely. It depicts a hopeful future of humanity kind of managing to come together and do better for the planet and live in nature while also enjoying technological advances that make life easier. Shows a lot of community, but also focuses on one person who is still somehow yearning for more. So it's a very warm environment with gorgeous worldbuilding that gives space for a character to explore the timeless question of "What am I doing with my life?"
Though it takes awhile for the robot in question to show up, I loved them!! I love their way of looking at the world, and the way robot culture is described fascinated me. This character was an absolute treat for me.
Recommend for anyone who likes sci-fi but also may want a short and/or cozy book, or people who are grappling with a bit of aimlessness in life.
Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee
If you've seen a mecha story, you'll know what this book is going to do. Oooh the mecha CHOOSES it's pilot, and the main character is the last to go "meet" the mecha, and the mecha have rejected almost everybody else, and there's one ultra-powerful mecha that hasn't chosen a pilot in YEARS.... gosh I wonder what's going to happen. It's predictable, but you know what? Still delighted me. "By-the-book", but the book it's going by is popular for a reason--it's a fun setup and the plot points have nice punch.
I think it helps that the vibes around the story have a specific charm that gives it a unique spin--it's based on Korean culture, so there are a lot of cool cultural notes and worldbuilding that are enmeshed with Korean culture. There were also intriguing mechanics involving cultural unity and strength of gravity which played really well with a space setting and has some big metaphor opportunities. I'll also say that it is just well-written--I spent the last several chapters having to stop and pace around bc I got so excited by the stakes of the final scenes/battles.
The characters are not particularly deep, often fall into an archetype you'd expect from the genre, but they're certainly likable. This is more about the action/world/universe than anything else, and although it's a mecha story I will say the mecha take awhile to show up and the mecha-pilot relationship isn't really focused on as much as I would have liked.
This is book one of a trilogy. I'm curious to see if this book is just using a cookie-cutter to establish the setup then go somewhere new, or if the next book is going to tread familiar genre lines again. Either way, the mix of an unfamiliar cultural background I get to marinate in and a generally competent writing that gets me excited means I'll be interested in the sequel.
Endurance by Elaine Burnes
A tourism spaceship gets flung through some sort of wormhole and ends up 4 light-years from Earth--further than they can ever travel in their lifetime. What ensues is a gripping survival story as the captain of the ship has to manage her crew and passengers through great crisis.
There's a lot of "Oh shit [X] is going wrong and we need to fix it", especially as the tourism ship was NOT built for long-term residency, it was meant to be just a few months jaunt to Jupiter! They were meant to resupply at certain points and get software updates on their AI etc etc. I've never read The Martian, but I suspect if you like that book you'll like this one, as it's going from one crisis to another, though the subject and stakes vary. I'll say despite the stress there's a decent thorough-line of hope; I found myself inspired at times at how the captain and those around her faced adversity together.
I enjoyed that there was a strong focus on community and leadership. It's a large group stranded together, and although there are plenty of physical/resource crises, there are also crises in regards to how the community copes and how individuals handle the situation. The captain is really admirable--she's not the best socially, but she knows how to manage her crew and enlists their help in managing the social issues that could escalate to something dangerous if unchecked. The pressure the captain is under is enormous, I really admired her throughout for her strength and ability to push forward, even though there were times when she struggled and faltered.
This was definitely a stressful read, but I was relieved by the ending. I would recommend it to sci-fi lovers, especially those who like a survivalist edge, and perhaps those who prefer their sci-fi come with some cultural aspects--there's a nice diversity of characters who have backgrounds from all over Earth and who have different religious or philosophical perspectives.
Ahaha they were all sci-fi, but they each had different moods. Warmth/comfort, adventure/excitement, and stress/hope... All were good! Though I will especially recommend Endurance, as it's released by a smaller press and I think deserves some more hype :D.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Genuinely SO lovely. It depicts a hopeful future of humanity kind of managing to come together and do better for the planet and live in nature while also enjoying technological advances that make life easier. Shows a lot of community, but also focuses on one person who is still somehow yearning for more. So it's a very warm environment with gorgeous worldbuilding that gives space for a character to explore the timeless question of "What am I doing with my life?"
Though it takes awhile for the robot in question to show up, I loved them!! I love their way of looking at the world, and the way robot culture is described fascinated me. This character was an absolute treat for me.
Recommend for anyone who likes sci-fi but also may want a short and/or cozy book, or people who are grappling with a bit of aimlessness in life.
Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee
If you've seen a mecha story, you'll know what this book is going to do. Oooh the mecha CHOOSES it's pilot, and the main character is the last to go "meet" the mecha, and the mecha have rejected almost everybody else, and there's one ultra-powerful mecha that hasn't chosen a pilot in YEARS.... gosh I wonder what's going to happen. It's predictable, but you know what? Still delighted me. "By-the-book", but the book it's going by is popular for a reason--it's a fun setup and the plot points have nice punch.
I think it helps that the vibes around the story have a specific charm that gives it a unique spin--it's based on Korean culture, so there are a lot of cool cultural notes and worldbuilding that are enmeshed with Korean culture. There were also intriguing mechanics involving cultural unity and strength of gravity which played really well with a space setting and has some big metaphor opportunities. I'll also say that it is just well-written--I spent the last several chapters having to stop and pace around bc I got so excited by the stakes of the final scenes/battles.
The characters are not particularly deep, often fall into an archetype you'd expect from the genre, but they're certainly likable. This is more about the action/world/universe than anything else, and although it's a mecha story I will say the mecha take awhile to show up and the mecha-pilot relationship isn't really focused on as much as I would have liked.
This is book one of a trilogy. I'm curious to see if this book is just using a cookie-cutter to establish the setup then go somewhere new, or if the next book is going to tread familiar genre lines again. Either way, the mix of an unfamiliar cultural background I get to marinate in and a generally competent writing that gets me excited means I'll be interested in the sequel.
Endurance by Elaine Burnes
A tourism spaceship gets flung through some sort of wormhole and ends up 4 light-years from Earth--further than they can ever travel in their lifetime. What ensues is a gripping survival story as the captain of the ship has to manage her crew and passengers through great crisis.
There's a lot of "Oh shit [X] is going wrong and we need to fix it", especially as the tourism ship was NOT built for long-term residency, it was meant to be just a few months jaunt to Jupiter! They were meant to resupply at certain points and get software updates on their AI etc etc. I've never read The Martian, but I suspect if you like that book you'll like this one, as it's going from one crisis to another, though the subject and stakes vary. I'll say despite the stress there's a decent thorough-line of hope; I found myself inspired at times at how the captain and those around her faced adversity together.
I enjoyed that there was a strong focus on community and leadership. It's a large group stranded together, and although there are plenty of physical/resource crises, there are also crises in regards to how the community copes and how individuals handle the situation. The captain is really admirable--she's not the best socially, but she knows how to manage her crew and enlists their help in managing the social issues that could escalate to something dangerous if unchecked. The pressure the captain is under is enormous, I really admired her throughout for her strength and ability to push forward, even though there were times when she struggled and faltered.
This was definitely a stressful read, but I was relieved by the ending. I would recommend it to sci-fi lovers, especially those who like a survivalist edge, and perhaps those who prefer their sci-fi come with some cultural aspects--there's a nice diversity of characters who have backgrounds from all over Earth and who have different religious or philosophical perspectives.
Ahaha they were all sci-fi, but they each had different moods. Warmth/comfort, adventure/excitement, and stress/hope... All were good! Though I will especially recommend Endurance, as it's released by a smaller press and I think deserves some more hype :D.
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Date: 2024-08-01 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-06 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-18 01:11 pm (UTC)I can't even say "maybe it wasn't the right message for me" because I think it's the kind of things I need to hear, like many other people, but the way it was packaged really didn't work for me.
No shade on anyone who found it meaningful though!
no subject
Date: 2024-08-19 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-04 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-06 02:01 am (UTC)