Name: Ben Myers's review of Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
Item: Record of a Spaceborn Few
Rating: 3
Author: Ben Myers

Becky Chambers

'Chambers is simply an exceptional talent ' Tor.com From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope. The incredible new novel by Becky Chambers, author of the beloved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. #SpacebornFew Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat. Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened. Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it. Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong. When a disaster rocks this already fragile community, these Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? PRAISE FOR THE WAYFARERS 'Never less than deeply involving' DAILY MAIL 'Explores the quieter side of sci-fi while still wowing us with daring leaps of imagination' iBOOKS 'So much fun to read' HEAT 'Warm, engaging, properly science-fictional, A Closed and Common Orbit is a very likable novel indeed' GUARDIAN 'The most fun that I've had with a novel in a long, long time' iO9

Record of a Spaceborn Few

Katheryn

In the grand tradition of siblings everywhere, Tessa wanted to kill her brother. Not permanently kill him. Just a casual spacing to get her point across, followed by a quick resurrection and a hot cup of tea. 

Return to the sprawling universe of the Galactic Commons, as humans, artificial intelligence, aliens, and some beings yet undiscovered explore what it means to be a community in this exciting third adventure in the acclaimed and multi-award-nominated science fiction Wayfarers series, brimming with heartwarming characters and dazzling space adventure. Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way. But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all? A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.

(Bre)anne✨

Humans will never leave the forest, just as Harmagians will never leave the shore.

'Either we are all worthy of the Commons, dear Tamsin, or none of us are.'

SOBBING!!!! THAT WAS WHAT HE WANTED THE WHOLE TIME!!!! THE BELONGING!!!!! WHY DID HE ONLY GET IT IN DEATH!!!!!!!!

They set aside their shovels and lifted Sawyer's body. Slowly, carefully, they laid him in. He was cold now, and heavy, but those things would soon change. He'd followed his ancestors. He'd rejoined their ancient cycle. They would keep him warm.

'Round and 'round the chatter went, at hundreds of tables with hundreds of families. Yet none of them seemed to care about the indisputable truth: a Human being was dead, and no one had come to mourn him.

Human parents always worry. Their offspring developed while attached not to rocks, but to themselves. And unlike Harmagians, who bid farewell to polyps and welcome new children in their stead, their progeny have but once to die.

Perhaps I am completely wrong about linking these two behaviours, dear guest, but I find it likely that there is a connection – even if only a tenuous one – between Humans' heavy parental involvement in child-rearing and how socially unsettled they become around death. 

'Knowledge should always be free,' she said. 'What people do with it is up to them.'

I do not feel I am explaining this experience well, dear guest, but perhaps that is appropriate. Perhaps none of us can truly explain death. Perhaps none of us should.

None of it was love as her younger self had imagined. It was so much better. There was nothing frantic or all-consuming about her and George. They were grounded, sensible, comfy. What more could you ask for?

'From the stars, came the ground,' she said to the body. 'From the ground, we stood. To the ground, we return.' They were words for a funeral, not retrieval, and speaking to corpses was not an action she'd ever practised (and likely never would again). She didn't see the point of filling ears that couldn't hear. But this – 

 was the way they would heal. She didn't know where this body or the others would go. She didn't know how her guild would proceed. But she knew they were Exodan. They were Exodan, and no matter what threatened to tear them apart, tradition held them together. 

Ben Myers

Lovely reflection on generational humanity through an optimistic lens, which feels rare for me to read so that makes it special. Cozy sci-fi writing, not too complex yet still builds an immersive world. I felt that the different stories of the characters felt disjointed at times. The author could definitely have spent more time on their respective development - and made the story longer overall! So far I enjoyed the first book of this series the most:) 

Soph

'The best speculative fiction currently being written' John Connolly. From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope. The incredible new novel by Becky Chambers, author of the beloved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. #SpacebornFew Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat. Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened. Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it. Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong. And when a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? PRAISE 'Richly human, believable [and] compelling . . . underlain with a deep compassion and a feeling for community' Tor.com. 'Terrific. . . a masterly exploration of characterisation and diversity wrapped in intensity, heartbreak and tension.' Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat. 'An emotional, moving look at what it means to be human, and the importance of heritage and legacy' Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. 'Exactly what I hoped it would be and more . . . Moving in what feels like small personal ways but is actually big, universal ways and it is uplifting on the same scale' Forbidden Planet.

Wayfarers 3

wept multiple times while reading — made me existential in the best way

mira lee

A slow burn that really hits heavy by the end. Solidly done storytelling that ties characters together through exploration of a common theme.

Simon Crocker

Vicky  Nuñez 

I really enjoyed this book, but unlike the others it did not resonated with me as much as the others. It was a fun ride, but that was it.

Becky Chambers has done it again with Book 3 in the Wayfarers series and once again I feel in love the settings, descriptions and characters that await you in this adventure. I think it’s safe to say that this must be a favourite series of mine and it’s been lovely to fall in love with a new genre of book!

Whilst the 3rd in a series this is not a direct sequel to the events of The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet, but it is set at the same time as the events in that one is finishing.  We follow a host of entirely new host of characters, all of whom are connected to, or interested in, the Exodus Fleet. One of these characters has a tie to Ashby from the first book, she's his sister, but other than that, there's not a lot of connections between the characters, it's more about a new focus within the same universe. This threw me to start with as it took me a while to get my head around all the connections but one, I got over that I fell back and just escaped into the book.

What I love about Becky Chamber's writing is that it never feels like a big space battle, but more of a focus in on the everyday lives of those who live in this universe and done in such a beautiful way. She's very good at showing you a society where things are better, people are more open and accepting, and she can draw you into the narratives of the characters too. I really think her books are about people who just so happen to be in Space, as they are thought-provoking and honest and emotional.

Ian Brakspear

Becky Chambers has done it again with Book 3 in the Wayfarers series and once again I feel in love the settings, descriptions and characters that await you in this adventure. I think it’s safe to say that this must be a favourite series of mine and it’s been lovely to fall in love with a new genre of book!

 

Whilst the 3rd in a series this is not a direct sequel to the events of The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet, but it is set at the same time as the events in that one is finishing.  We follow a host of entirely new host of characters, all of whom are connected to, or interested in, the Exodus Fleet. One of these characters has a tie to Ashby from the first book, she's his sister, but other than that, there's not a lot of connections between the characters, it's more about a new focus within the same universe. This threw me to start with as it took me a while to get my head around all the connections but one, I got over that I fell back and just escaped into the book.

 

What I love about Becky Chamber's writing is that it never feels like a big space battle, but more of a focus in on the everyday lives of those who live in this universe and done in such a beautiful way. She's very good at showing you a society where things are better, people are more open and accepting, and she can draw you into the narratives of the characters too. I really think her books are about people who just so happen to be in Space, as they are thought-provoking and honest and emotional.

'The best speculative fiction currently being written' John Connolly. *THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES* From the ground, we stand. From our ship, we live. By the stars, we hope. The incredible new novel by Becky Chambers, author of the beloved The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. #SpacebornFew Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened doors for many, those who have not yet left for alien cities fear that their carefully cultivated way of life is under threat. Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened. Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it. Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong. And when a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? PRAISE 'Richly human, believable [and] compelling . . . underlain with a deep compassion and a feeling for community' Tor.com. 'Terrific. . . a masterly exploration of characterisation and diversity wrapped in intensity, heartbreak and tension.' Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat. 'An emotional, moving look at what it means to be human, and the importance of heritage and legacy' Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. 'Exactly what I hoped it would be and more . . . Moving in what feels like small personal ways but is actually big, universal ways and it is uplifting on the same scale' Forbidden Planet.

Denaiir

I still loved the writing style and anything "foreign", however I liked it way less than the other ones because it focused on the human race. It was the whole point of the book, but as a result it lacked an exotic feeling that we had in the first ones. I didn't connect with the characters that much and it was hard to see a common plot until pretty much halfway through. Love this world but wanted to see more of it!

Danny Werhane

This book has so many points of view but somehow absolutely no plot. Isabelle was definitely my favorite character, I love old queer people who are happy. If it weren’t for the little bit of plot the last 20% had that I enjoyed this would have been 2 stars.

Bo Jeanes

I started reading this earlier in the year, but then got distracted with other life things and didn't pick it up again until on vacation this month. Once I had the space in my life to read this, I raced through it. Absolutely excellent. I cannot wait for more!

Jamieson

“From the ground, we stand. From our ships, we live. By the stars, we hope.”


Hey Becky Chambers .... if you're listening ..... *slides across a $5 note* .... write more of these

This entire series has been such a pleasure to read and I am so sad it is over. Although this is probably my least favourite of the three I still enjoyed reading it and even felt a bit emotional at the end with the thought of this series ending. Everything about this series is so wholesome. I love the simple message of hope and a future where people are just better to eachother, and coming out of reading these books I always feel so warm and good. I LOVE that about them. These books are just such a bright sweet spot in my heart. 

In Record of a Spaceborn Few we dive into life on the Fleet, examining how Exodan humans have lived and adapted to life in space. Told partly through a documentary being conducted on the humans by an alien from the outside, the worldbuilding is admittedly fascinating. I loved the focus on humans as space refugees, and how the narrative reinforced the inherent value and worth of people. Using a podcast to tell a part of the story was one of my favourite concepts here, I loved the formatting and the alien perspective on human activities was funny and endearing. Of all the books, this probably has the best worldbuilding, or it is at least equal with book one. And I've always loved this books soft take on science fiction, as well as the careful detail and bountiful creativity Chambers put into constructing her vision of space. It absolutely shone in this book. 


  “The guilt lingered, even so. Ghosts were imaginary, but hauntings were real.” 



that all being said I didn't quite connect to this one as much as previous books in the series. I was hoping old characters would reappear but they did not. On top of that, there is literally no plot until 70% through. And while these books aren't exactly plot driven, I get annoyed when an entire books feels like the first 100 pages - setting up the characters and world of an event that will supposedly eventually happen. 

I also just didn't connect to the characters as much. I found them a bit confusing and sometimes got them mixed up. There was a lot of POV's and I felt like some of them weren't adding a lot to the story some of the time. 

🚀 Tessa: Tessa's brother is Ashby from the first book. I loved this connection between book one and three. I enjoyed Tessa's character most of the time but I found her arc quite predictable. I also felt that the character growth wasn't really there until the last kinda 10%. 

🚀 Kip: Probably my favourite character in the book. Kip is a teenager sick of living on the fleet and eager to escape into wider space and discover his true meaning. I think Kip was fun to follow, he's angsty and moody but I found him funny and endearing and I loved his character growth. His arc had the perfect ending, and I was getting totally teary eyed over it. Also, he is gay, so we love a queer icon. 

🚀 Eyas: My second favourite character. Her role in society is to turn the remains of people into soil to be used in the colony. I loved Eyas and her relationship with Sunny. It was cool to see a positive and empowering representation of a sex worker here. Eyas role was extremely interesting and I enjoyed the pondering introspective tone of her chapters. 

🚀 Isabelle: I appreciated her chapters because her wife was often present and that good sapphic content made me happy. But I also felt like her chapters didn't add a whole lot to the story until the ending? I did enjoy her interactions with Kip though. 

🚀 Sawyer: Potentially where this novel falls down the most is in the characterisation and role of Sawyer. The main conflict relies on the reader feeling sorry for Sawyer but I was never that invested. Failing to make me really care about him or his plight, which is what the entire novels hinges on, definitely contributed to why I felt so disconnected to the story at times. 


  We are the Exodus Fleet. We are those that wandered, that wander still. We are the homesteaders that shelter our families. We are the miners and foragers in the open. We are the ships that ferry between. We are the explorers who carry our names. We are the parents who lead the way. We are the children who continue on.


If you're into space operas, and space stories that focus heavily on people and worldbuilding rather than space battles and action DEFINITELY pick up this series. It's quite and introspective and focusses a lot on working out what makes humans, human. I really appreciated that philosophical thread throughout this series, but particularly in Record of a Spaceborn Few. Although it is not my favourite of the three, it was still very beautiful and gave me that warm, wholesome feeling I love about this series. I am definitely sad I don't have any more books in this series to look forward to.

Chambers continues to craft worlds and cultures that exist a step beyond patriarchal origin and they are inspiring and grand. Give yourself the gift of this journey

Steve C

I was honestly in tears multiple times throughout this book. It really hit me in the historian/librarian feels on so many levels. Plus everything about Sawyer's story really just gutted me. Probably my favorite of the series, just because it hit so many of my personal interests so very well.

Cindy Lieberman

This is the weakest of the series. Still interesting but slower and without the character development of her other novels. As others have noted, the author missed a huge opportunity to focus on the accident at the space elevator that opens the book or on one or two characters. Instead we get snapshots of a variety of people and places that don’t satisfactorily engage. I didn’t get to know or care about them sufficiently for this to get a higher rating.

Josefina

3.75*
so far this has been my least favorite in the series, but it doesn't mean much because i still like so much how Becky Chmabers writes, i just had some troubles with some of the characters, but we eventually moved on and it got better

Kate B-L

I'm sad that the series is over, while also feeling so happy and lucky to have stumbled upon it in the first place. 
More than anything else, these books are real and laden with philosophical questions and concepts that are presented so well that it doesn't feel like you're being lectured on what it means to be alive, just an overwhelming sense of humanity and wonder.

Laura Kehoe

This such a beautiful and fun book! I’ve loved all of the books in this series, but I feel like this one was especially good. I loved learning more about the humans who lived in space, as well as the universe as a whole. It was so fantastic!

Alexandria Wilkie

I didn't like this as much as books 1 and 2, I think because it felt less like following a coherent ensemble of characters with dynamics and relationships being built throughout the book. It came together, and a lot of the dialogue between characters was still meaningful to me, and I generally think this author is great on just writing things that show the truth about humanity, if that's not too grandiose a thing to say. In this book, however, because the ensemble of main characters mostly don't spend time in each other's lives during the plot, it just wasn't as much fun as the prior two.

I think I also just didn't identify with or enjoy most of the characters as much. The detail about the Exodan Fleet and all of that sort of examination of their society was great, just it's not the sort of thing that drives main enjoyment of a book for me.

Jude Silberfeld

If you’re hoping for breathtaking space fights and loads of action, go find another book. Becky Chambers is much more interested in her characters and their reactions to events than in events themselves.

I love the way Chambers sets the atmosphere in her books, and that is almost enough for me to enjoy them. I’m also very character-driven and as I wrote above, so is she. I was therefore content, at first, to simply listen to what almost felt like a documentary on another culture. The Booktrack music is very mellow and it was all quite relaxing.

It doesn’t mean that nothing happens in this story. On the contrary, it begins with a catastrophe and the days that follow then goes forward five years, with the people in the system involved still going through the consequences of that catastrophe, while another – less massive but more personal – is in the making.

Each chapter is told in third person from the point of view of one of five main characters:
Isobel, an archivist in her late seventies, married to another woman, Tamsin;
Kip, a teenager, bored and smarter than he believes;
Sawyer, a “grounder” looking for a better life;
Eyas, a caretaker, i.e. someone whose job is to dispose of dead bodies in accordance with the Fleet’s rituals. Some of her scenes are the best in the book;
Tessa, a mother of two, whose oldest child, Aya, suffers from PTSD after witnessing the events from the prologue. The other child, Ky, is a rambunctious toddler, who made me laugh out loud more than once. Remember Ashby from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? Tessa is his older sister.

Even though Record of a Spaceborn Few focuses mainly on human characters, “Exodans”, most of them born and raised in the Exodus Fleet, another very important character is Ghuh’loloa, a visiting Harmagian archivist, whose account of their observations provides thought-provoking perspective on humans.

This third book in the Wayfarers series can be read as a standalone. I’ll always recommend reading series in order, but if you really want to start with this one, you’ll have no problem understanding anything. As usual with Becky Chambers, gender identities and sexual orientations are diverse and not an issue that needs questioning and analysing. They just are.

I already loved Patricia Rodríguez’s narration in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit, but she impressed me even more in this one, especially with the younger characters.

I was slightly worried when I first started listening, I was afraid I’d get bored with so little seemingly happening. In reality, however, Record of a Spaceborn Few is deceptively quiet. In hush tones, in between daily chores and kid shenanigans, tragedy looms. It brings growth too, and, for some, the hope of a better future, that can only be found in honouring the past, remembering where one comes from and the journey to the present, while not allowing that past, that journey to overwhelm and stifle.

I’ll be reviewing the fourth and final Wayfarers book, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, soon. Watch this space!

These books are what I like to call slice of life but set in space. I always leave them wanting to know what happened next to the characters. But I guess in a way I know...they continued to live their lives.
 
I love all the little details in the worldbuilding and would definitely pick up more works set in this universe. I haven't been disappointed by any of the books in the series that I have read. 

Can't wait to read the next one.

3.5 stars, may raise it after I reread the series.

As much as I LOVED the first two books, this one fell quite short for me. I'm not quite sure why...maybe it was too many perspectives, not enough diversity (the other books had more alien species present, while this one followed only humans and a Harmagian), more children than the other books...whatever it was, I just didn't enjoy this one as much.

All of the perspectives were also pretty isolated from one another until about halfway through. I understand they were all different perspectives from people living on the Fleet, which was different than the previous two books, but I just didn't find myself caring about these people as much as I did the ones in the first two books, and the connections between them were tiny or non-existent until most of the way through. In fact, Tessa's chapters really didn't connect at all from what I remember, so I didn't care about her chapters much at all (especially since a lot of it was parenthood type stuff, which I can't identify with nor do I want to). My favorite people/storylines were Isabel and Sawyer. I liked parts of Eyas and Kip's storylines, but parts of their chapters bugged me as well. By the end though, I enjoyed them all but Tessa really.

 I definitely think I need to reread the series, as I think I missed some world-building details in the previous books that may help me appreciate this one more. It will still be my least favorite though, as I didn't connect with the characters as much in this one, but maybe I'm being too harsh/misunderstanding parts of the book.

I did highlight a couple passages though, under a spoiler but not really spoilery:

(view spoiler)[p. 124 - "He hadn't talked to the same clerk as before, so he'd missed out on the satisfaction of returning to say aha, look, I have passed your test! Learning that there was an expected order of vocational initiation had felt significant to Sawyer. The clerk hadn't conveyed the same, but why should he? What was significant about filling out the same formwork he probably filled out dozens of times a day? What had Sawyer expected? A knowing nod? An approving smile? That's exactly what he'd wanted, he knew, and he felt stupid about it."

p. 315 - "'We die one way or another. That's a given. What's not is being remembered after the fact. To ensure that, you have to put in some effort...Our species doesn't operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why we're great, and that story is enough to make us go kill people who tell a different story. Or maybe the people kill the king because they don't like his story and have begun to tell themselves a different one. When our planet started dying, our species was so caught up in stories. We had thousands of stories about ourselves--that's still true, don't forget that for a minute--but not enough of us were looking at the reality of things.'" (hide spoiler)]

Dina

I am a mess of emotions because of this book, but I loved it and shall forever hold it dear.

zilver 

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!

Ben Nathan

This is good, but definitely the worst of the series. It was well written with good characters but the story was never really engaging. I think my expectations were SKY HIGH after the second book. I like her and hope there's more in the series.

Dani

I'm really confused on what to rate this book.

Seriously, we need 1/2 star ratings enabled in Goodreads ASAP.

This would be an easy 3.5, mainly because it's a bit underwhelming compared to the previous books, BUT it's still a nice and comforting book which can be the first step to many other stories.
I was a bit bored at times with some characters, and was desperate for more developments on others, but it is what it is. 
Still a nice light read.

Lisa Beasley

I love this series so much! The different lives we follow in this one are amazing and Becky has such a wonderful descriptive talent. As with the previous book I listened to the audio and adored her voice once again.

Ben Myers &
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

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