L'Espace d'un an

I enjoyed this thoroughly and don't think I've ever read anything else which so aptly weaves relatable examples of how to be kind into an engaging story. That said, it's not just a story which is a container for giving examples of #kindness. The worldbuilding seems quite strong and consistent to me and reminded me favorably of Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought, right down to the way data streams are presented, but containing a lot more admirable behavior.

I listened to the #Booktrack edition, which gave the audiobook a pleasantly cinematic feel. Some of the choices for background music didn't really seem to fit, but in most cases the production was nicely done, especially the sound effects.

The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).

I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).

This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.

The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).

I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).

This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.

Awwww.

A friend told me that this was feel-good sci-fi, and it really is. Not that it isn't clever, because it is. Not that it doesn't ask the reader to think about things like racism, consensus thinking, cultural differences and gender roles, because it does. Not that horrible things don't happen in it, because they do.

But it's just... if the distinction between hard and soft sci-fi still holds, this definitely falls in the latter camp in more than one way. Chambers is happy to throw some technobabble at the obvious problems ("The ship is powered by algae, OK? Somehow.") so she can get past that to the question of how people (humans and others) relate to each other. It's funny how the real-world baseline of the novel - how the internet and worldwide mass media have become the new normal in how we interact (or don't) with each other and the world - would itself have been hard sci-fi 50-60 years ago. And into this world of multiple alien species and cultures trying to co-operate as well as they can, Chambers throws a plucky little Firefly-esque crew of workers doing their job. And it's all just so damn... optimistic. Not carefree, but caring.

My only real complaint is that it feels too short; there are things here I would have loved to dwell on, characters I would have liked to get to know better.

But still: Awwww.