Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarer)

This third book from the Wayfarer's series felt a bit more "slice of life" than the other two. There is no real overarching plot, just life stories of various protagonists who try to find themselves.

You learn more about the Exodus fleet and their ethos, which opens up all those questions of how we need to work together as a society if we want to survive as a species when we (inevitably?) make our planet uninhabitable. This is embedded in the day-to-day lives of different protagonists from different backgrounds.

The book paints an optimistic picture about how humanity has learned to finally behave like decent people, while still acknowledging that bad things can and will happen because life is shades of grey.

As with every book by Becky Chambers that I have read, I struggled in the beginning. The pacing is different in each of her books, the characters have loose links to past storylines at best, and I always need time to ease myself into the new perspectives that slowly develop.

But this book! Yes, it starts slow. But when the story finally takes off, when things start to converge, the payoff is well worth it.

I was smitten with the worldbuilding that was even more intricate and well thought-out than in previous books of the series. I loved the characters, the way they explore facets of the society they inhabit. And in the end, I enjoyed the way the story develops.

I also needed tissues, but that's me.

I liked it! After finishing the trilogy-so-far, I think the first book is my favorite (the second was my favorite for a lil bit, but the first one has been growing on me over time). That's not to say this one wasn't great! It's a real cool look at communities trying to preserve their identity and struggling with the loss of identity as they join a larger community. I'm actually real inspired to try and explore this kind of thing in a game project. I love a cozy lil community and the cozy lil community sized problems that come with it. Nothing is overwhelmingly a threat to their survival, but all the problems are about communication, selfhood, individuality, and meaning.