The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

"* Too much weird poetry

* Nice take on uppity social norms as ""orders"" to inferiors

* Setting is imaginative but too simple"

This sublime novella is beautifully written and shines a bright light on hidden oppression, injustice and enslavement.

I discovered this novella on a list of "best short books." The writing is efficent and the author sets up the dystopia scenario with a brisk, yet mostly effective sketching of a universe in which humans have vacated Earth and now live on mining ships. Although there is an arc to the story, it feels more like an outline with shadows of potential rather than fully fleshed out art with characters who are more than stick figures. I'm not unhappy that I read it, yet am dispointed that there wasn't more to it.

A novella - about class division and suppression on generation ships cruising through space - that could have been a short story. While the prose was initially intriguing with its poetic quality, the world and the premise at its core felt rather old school.

I’ve just finished this (as in, in the last five minutes) so I might come back and revisit this review in a few days once I’ve had time to ruminate on it, but I absolutely bloody loved this. Beautifully written, I loved the Boy and the Woman and thought they extremely well drawn, the world building was fantastic, the plot was engaging and the message really struck a chord. Highly recommended from me!