Record of a Spaceborn Few

My favorite of this series

I love the way Chambers builds complex communities and cultures out of simple biological and environmental restrictions. The way she describes the exodus culture makes me believe this is where we'll be in a few thousand years.

 Honestly, pretty boring. I get that this author focuses on characters, but there's literally nothing driving the “story” until the very end. I also didn't understand how Tessa's narrative fit in with the rest; at least all the other characters were directly affected by Sawyer's death. Tessa and her family basically just use it as a reason to move to a planet. I'm not sure that was a worthwhile arc to include in this book. 

Becky Chambers is one of those authors who writes in a way where the core themes of her novels hit on a deep emotional level. The characters and stories are so much more than just words on the page. There are meanings behind every action, every dialogue, and every scene.

In Record of a Space Born Few, there are several characters looking for more in their life, searching for something missing yet not all can pinpoint what that something could be. Tessa is happy with her life at the Fleet, yet things are changing and it makes her feel as though she is losing her place. Kip bounces from one job trial to another, never satisfied with the work. He yearns to do more and to explore the world. Sawyer has lost everything and searches for a community to reconnect with. Isabelle is a Fleet archivist and host to Ghuh’loloan, a researcher who opens her eyes to new possibilities for the Fleet. And lastly, there is Eyas, a caretaker for the dead who knows her purpose, enjoys her work, and yet still wants to do more, but doesn’t quite know what.

Following each of these characters will take readers on thought provoking and touching journeys. Some will find their way, some will be lost, and others will be caught up in things greater than themselves. Not everyone’s story ends happily, but each serves as a catalyst for the next, unknowingly helping one another in their search for something more. The writing is so well done. Each piece fits smoothly together, giving readers a complex yet simple to understand network of characters and stories.

Readers who enjoy stories focused on the characters and wonderful themes need to try out Becky Chambers' books. While they don’t have to be read in order, each one has a small tie back to the original novel. And each one brings to light another hard hitting theme in a way that harmonizes with the reader and characters. Yes, they are in sci-fi settings, but even those who don’t normally read sci-fi will enjoy Record of a Space Born Few and the other novels.

hm, would have liked it more if there were fewer POVs. liked the eyas and sawyer stuff.

There was a point where I thought this one was the least favorite of the three I read so far but the way a part towards the end was written actually brought me to tears. Each of the series installments really is it's own thing. You can't really compare them.

This was a little slow for me to get into at first–there are a lot of POVs and at first it's not clear how they're all connected–but once I was on board I was really here for it. I loved seeing everyone gradually come together and just learning about the different future cultures. It made me feel so optimistic which is HARD THESE DAYS.

This one is a deep dive into the culture of “The Fleet” and follows several characters around in their day to day lives. It's a character study - not much plot to move the story along. Did not enjoy this one as much as the two prior books. I appreciated the extended world building.

Just like any book in the wayfarers series I loved the exploration of cultures and species and customs. And this iteration is probably more focused on that aspect than any of the others, truly exploring one group of people.  Their daily lives, their worries, their dreams. And although I found it a beautiful story I found it slightly lacking.

Because it was about so many different people there are always some you simply don't care about. I found that extra in this book because there really isn't an overarching story. All of the characters are mostly separate, only some interaction in some tiny way. I found it hard to be engulfed in the story because it wasn't really going anywhere. It wasn't leading you through it at all. 

I got the same magical feeling I always have reading these books, but the directionlessness made it harder for me to actually finish it. 

This was my favorite so far. I think perhaps it was because it was written from the perspective of youth? A mother of young children, a teen, a young adult, and then characters that were older or “closer” to death. The play between innocence and death and everything in between was just...so excellent. It felt like there was more to this than your typical sci fi, and it definitely let me thinking.

Guess I forgot to review this one. From my memory, this was a struggle and I DNFed it initially. It had the slowest build of the four in the series, but at the end of the day I enjoyed the weaving of the story and was very satisfied, it just all happened too late.

This is Becky Chamber's third book in her exploration of the Universe she has created.

Of the three books I found this the hardest to get into. It was very character driven like her previous books, but it just seemed to be very scattered in its approach.

‘The long way to a small angry planet' (her first book) was focused on the crew of a spaceship. It was a team exploring the Universe together, interacting together and sharing their experiences.
‘A closed and common orbit' (her second book) was two storylines of two characters that live together so there was a mixing of experiences and communication between those characters.
This book has a range of the characters that it explores. Some are linked to each other, others have absolutely no relation to others at all. Well apart from living within this spaceship fleet orbiting a sun.

Having finished the book now I can understand what it was communicating, why it was created, and what it was saying about it's characters, but it just was nowhere near as compelling as the first two books. She still has written a fascinating exploration of society and people within it, but it lacked the hook that gripped me in the first 2 books.

This is the third in Chambers's “series” but like the other two it's standalone. I will always recommend starting with the first one (Long Way to a Small Angry Planet), but this one my be my favorite so far.

I'm trying to wrap my head how she can keep everything so human in space. You think about science fiction stories and the problems are always new ones, or focussed on what's different, but Chambers chooses to focus on what's the same. What doesn't change when we go into space.

There will always be bored teenagers, parents who struggle to lift their kids as they get bigger, naivety, brashness, braggarts, thoughtfulness, selfishness, life, and death.

I loved learning about the Fleet and its inhabitants. And like most of my favorite fiction, it gives me hope.

more 3.5, really a nice addition to the previous books, though it didn???t draw me in quite as much - maybe because of the more dispersed narrative? i liked all the characters but didn???t feel as much drive in myself to follow where they were going. but even so i still love becky chambers??? vision of space so much!

Lots of daily living of folks I just couldn't get interested in. I think this is the same thing I said about book 2 in the series.

As always, Chambers gives us a great set of characters and a snapshot of their lives at pivotal moments. This instalment looks a lot at traditions and inter-cultural (or, in the book, inter-species) relations. Understanding others who are different from yourself. Beautifully written, cosy sci-fi.

I enjoyed this, not as captivating as the others of hers I've read, but it was good. Chambers has such a wonderful writing style, I love her attention to detail in creating inclusive, interesting characters and races.

Have to admit that I ran out of steam on this installment. Felt a bit too YA or simply targeted for a younger audience than me, I am 53 years old. It has all the warmth, interesting characters, and excellent world building I've come to expect from Chambers. Good book but not my cup of tea.

This was really a 2.5/5 stars. The story telling is really good but I want to find out more about characters I have already been introduced to, not constantly having to find out about new ones. I wont be continuing with this series.

A zoomed out view of the universe that Chambers' has created mostly from the human species point of view.

After reading Becky Chambers' first book I've been absolutely in love with the universe that they created.

What draws me in so much is the beautiful characters that Chambers' creates and lets us share a slice of their life.

This story starts with an event that's mentioned very much in passing in the first book about a collosal tragedy that results in the loss of one of the starships carrying the human species. That first chapter in itself is mind boggling, and the sheer tasks of collecting the bodies in space to offer the families a respectful funeral.

The story then jumps some amount of time forward (which initially I didn't realise) and we're introduced to more (I think) characters. There is also a tiny bit of connection to the first book (but sadly we don't get to revisit the original characters that I was so fond of).

For me the I struggled to keep track of the characters for around the first third of the book. I've found that Chambers' characters are drawn so vividly that this had not been a problem, but for this book I really struggled to distinguish the human characters (and I wasn't even sure if I had met them from the earlier section of the book).

Thankfully, eventually, the characters did settle out for me and I was able to tell them apart properly so I could understand who's story I was following.

As usual, the stories have a great deal of love and heart behind them and make me wish for a world like this.

It's a lovely book and story. Not my favourite of the series, but the bar was set so spectacularly high with the first it's almost impossible - that's to say that this is still a pretty darn good book on its own two feet.

This is a hard one to rate. It took me ages and ages to read. I kept leaving it and coming back to it and in the end I have to say I really liked it.

It's the third novel in the same universe. Rather than follow any particular character or sorry as the previous two did this seeks to explore the Exodus fleet which in the future is the remaining heart/home of humanity.

It is not so much that nothing happens as in there is no real obvious plot although by the time you get to the end you can see there was one in the background.

I suspect I would have enjoyed this much more had it not been for the pandemic. The sudden lack of life in general didn't lend itself to books without a clear plot.

This is perhaps closer to a 3.5 stars but for the moment it's sitting with a 3.

Becky Chambers just writes the warmest, most comforting books. Writing in her characteristic episodic manner, she shows us what life is like for the Exodans – humans who stayed on the generation ships originally built to go off in search of a new human homeland, but which have instead become the long-term homeland themselves.

My friend who recommended it to me said: “there's something so profoundly Jewish about it.” I think she's right (although I doubt that was Chambers' intention). This is a diaspora story about a people who leave their homeland with the plan to return to a new home shortly and instead spend generations in space, learning to redefine who they are as a community and culture and their relationship to physical spaces.

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

Still set in their ways
resentful of outsiders
learn from our mistakes.

This was a “slice of life” book for the Wayfarers' universe. It was enjoyable, though I didn't like it as much as the previous two books. It rounded out the series nicely.