Her third outing to the Galactic Commons has Becky Chambers shifting focus to the 鈥榮tay at home鈥� humans of this space 鈥� those who remain on the ExodusHer third outing to the Galactic Commons has Becky Chambers shifting focus to the 鈥榮tay at home鈥� humans of this space 鈥� those who remain on the Exodus fleet several generations after abandoning a ruined Earth. Now far from their origins, among an extensive network of peoples and populated planets the Exodus fleet, although still self-sustaining, is losing population as people wonder why they should say on board when there are planets available to the settled, occupied, or simply to join others on.
She builds the story around five characters, some of whom never interact, making this more like five character studies telling a civilizational story, rather than a small group focused novel. It is these stories and these characters 鈥� Isabel the archivist, Tessa the scrap metal worker, Eyas the carer for the dead, Kip the dislocated teenaged boy, and Sawyer the grounder looking for home 鈥� whose stories weave together to explore the fleet鈥檚 future in conjunction with the ethnographic reports of the visiting anthropologist. At times I felt as if I was reading five loosely connected concurrent short stories, although in other key places the stories link, most significantly Isabel and Kip although the brief Eyas-Sawyer encounter and subsequent events cause her to rethink what it means to be a caretaker 鈥� as her job is known.
In thinking of this as character studies I then began to see it as a novel of ideas, with two powerful aspects sticking with me. The idea of recycling human corpses as plant nutrient is explored carefully and with savvy, linked as it is to the current notion of human composting. This alongside the reverence in which Eyas is held gave me pause to think about the cultural significance and meaning of death and its associated people. The other was much less ontological, and turned on Chambers鈥� care and nuance in writing Tessa鈥檚 struggles in dealing with her daughter鈥檚 trauma, where as a 9 year old she witnessed a crash resulting in the death of several hundred fleet dwellers.
Chambers builds subtle narratives and rich character driven stories, although like writers such as Iain M Banks she also builds stories located in a shared world but independent of each other 鈥� which is a shame: I鈥檇 like to know how they develop, but such is a fictional world鈥�. Yet here she succeeds in building a compelling narrative with no change in context; these characters stay on their ships and those ships keep orbiting their star 鈥� there no journeys (except Sawyer) and little in the way of new social links, just interaction in established networks. Much as the individual stories matter, though, this is the story of the fleet 鈥� and that makes it all the more impressive....more
Handry鈥檚 world is unforgiving, lives shaped by scarcity, harsh predatory wildlife and environments, small communities where survival is precarious, anHandry鈥檚 world is unforgiving, lives shaped by scarcity, harsh predatory wildlife and environments, small communities where survival is precarious, and communalism essential to be get by. Those who don鈥檛 pull their weight and repeatedly violate the rules of mutuality can be expelled, severed, from their community meaning they鈥檒l be ignored and rejected by others as well as the planet making survival unlikely. An accident during a severance ceremony means Handry is also severed, just as his twin sister becomes host to one of the spirits 鈥� ghosts 鈥� who guide, advise, and control the communities.
Eventually taken in by a community of the severed, Handry finds himself both captivated by its prophet and alarmed by his authoritarianism that reflects the ghosts. When forced to choose this becomes a tale of false prophets and fear, revenge and exclusion, compassion and agency, and the ease of acceptance of authority. Tchaikovsky crafts a fine narrative, taking us into Handry鈥檚 world, allowing us to see his developing consciousness even as the past tense lets him comment without letting us see too much. Amid this and despite all the shifting forces and claims to authority it finishes up being a powerfully humanistic story, asserting both the collective and individual, balancing the agency of both and rejecting forms of authoritarianism.
Tchaikovsky鈥檚 work 鈥� in my limited reading at least 鈥� often features exclusion and reconciliation, the drift from the wisdom of those from the past, and the perils of authoritarianism at the expense of agency, which is itself often asserted. Despite these commonalities, his world building keeps his work sharp, and those tropes fresh. This does all those things well....more
Lucy, an aspiring New York writer from dirt poor Illinois, finds herself in hospital with a hard-to-diagnose disease, while her hates-hospitals husbanLucy, an aspiring New York writer from dirt poor Illinois, finds herself in hospital with a hard-to-diagnose disease, while her hates-hospitals husband keeps the kids fed and clothed, and her mother, unseen for many years, sits by her bedside 鈥� and they talk. In many ways their conversations are inconsequential, dealing with barely remembered schoolmates and community members, growing up poor, kin folk who didn鈥檛 get out, and the like. On another level, though, this is infrastructure of Lucy鈥檚 life, marked as it is by recurrent unhappiness 鈥� as the stories of place she鈥檇 not been in many, many, years show her the depth of marital discontent, and her loneliness in the Lower East Side.
Yet it鈥檚 neither a sad nor a maudlin book 鈥� but subtly observed, superbly crafted, and elegantly structured as we are continually reminded this is a story of Lucy鈥檚 current world but of her maternal relationship, her past, and the world she grew up in. Strout builds reflexivity into the narrative as Lucy struggles to write the story we are reading, attends writing workshops, goes into therapy, and wrestles with the form and content of the book in our hands. So it is clever but not too clever, beguiling but not deceptive, and throughout slyly humorous without the contempt of so much writing about poverty-past. Not my usual thing 鈥� and delightful for it. ...more
Arriving mysteriously and without advertising, the night circus is unlike the usual late 19th century affair. For a start, there鈥檚 the colour 鈥� or lacArriving mysteriously and without advertising, the night circus is unlike the usual late 19th century affair. For a start, there鈥檚 the colour 鈥� or lack of it; everything is in black and white monochrome. Then there is the ever growing plethora of tents, many containing what might be expected for a circus 鈥� acrobats and the like 鈥� but some containing more mysterious things, such as a cloud maze, or a frozen garden鈥� but then this is not a typical circus. Here we have magic hiding in plain sight in a circus as playing field or battle ground, where skilled practitioners play out a proxy war set up by two mysterious figures eager to prove a point, although what is left unstated.
Morgenstern鈥檚 world building is impressive as she formulates a narrative running at different speeds for various of her characters, interweaving non-contemporaneous story-lines yet drawing them together to a climax and heartening denouement. While her core characters 鈥� Celia and Marco, the names barely matter 鈥� are clear, less obvious is which of the secondary characters matter, and while the battleground 鈥� the circus 鈥� is central, the more significant factor for me was how the relationships between the characters develop. That is to say, for me the characters matter more than the narrative, even as they are dependent on that narrative 鈥� so, just as the circus is both the site and the product of the battle as it plays out, the narrative creates the space for the Celia-Marco and Widget-Poppet-Bailey clusters to shape events while other characters get more page space than their role in the end deserves and others get less. These imbalances are vital to the plot, while the world-building crucial to the charm and appeal of the novel.
As pleasurable as all this is, the novel takes a while to get going 鈥揵ut that鈥檚 OK, it becomes obvious why 鈥� but the Celia/Marco narrative conclusion/climax feels frustratingly a little too convenient even as I see the coherence with the rest of the story. And yet it remained engaging to the point of being captivating, and more than delightfully diverting....more
Set in the early 23rd century, space exploration has got as far as colonising Mars, yet little is going as it should. A mid-22nd century war between MSet in the early 23rd century, space exploration has got as far as colonising Mars, yet little is going as it should. A mid-22nd century war between Mars and Earth resulted in Mars breaking off, claiming independence, and relations settling into a strained conflict centred on state and systems of government as much as anything. Mars, with its centralised, hierarchical state system, Earth with its rule by corporations, with each marked by distinct notions of freedom 鈥� Mars freedom from, Earth freedom to鈥�
In building this world Hao Jingfang has constructed a not-so-subtle image of the mid-20th century Cold War, but her concern is not much with geopolitics as it is with stories and experiences within those system. She has managed to construct a tale through an ensemble cast with diverse focus on the honesty and integrity of both systems. At the core of the story is Luoying, grand-daughter of the head of the Mars government, recently returned from a 5 year student study visit to Earth, and with many of her fellow students uncertain about how and where to fit into the old Mars.
This is very much 鈥榣iterary鈥� science fiction, grappling with big philosophical issues and exploring the limits of ambition, responsibility, collectivity, and autonomy alongside the problem of generation, political power and statecraft. It鈥檚 also an ensemble piece so although Luoying provides much of the narrative insight, her life is woven into others that in various ways weave into each other both through and around her 鈥� so the visiting Earth-based film maker Eko Lu was trained by a former Mars resident who returned to Earth and seems to have a key but tangential role in the wider tense political relations and Luoying鈥檚 unsettled past. Hao is adept at building subtle relations and in doing so pointing to the networks that run behind and within both political and corporate power, although her focus is very much on the Mars setting. Yet even within this centralised state she highlights the vital role of individual agency: it鈥檚 a subtle balance well crafted.
This kind of political metaphor is not my usual thing with 鈥榮erious鈥� or literary science fiction, but Hao build a compelling narrative with characters I came to care about even as the centrality of Luoying鈥檚 vision left some a little flatter than I would have liked, and she manages a narrative with multiple moving parts and players to a convincing resolution. As I read more serious literary science fiction coming out of China, the more I am taking by it 鈥� there seems to be a vibrant literary culture that I hope leads to more work being available in translation. ...more
A sentient warship, including part of human and canine DNA, develops conscience after following orders to commit a genocide/ecocide, develops conscienA sentient warship, including part of human and canine DNA, develops conscience after following orders to commit a genocide/ecocide, develops conscience, resigns is commission to do humanitarian work, and finds itself confronting former members of its team/pack and on the verge of kicking off a new interplanetary war. It鈥檚 a tried and tested trope (think Iain M. Banks or Ann Leckie for close-to-home parallels, but it is common against a whole range of genre 鈥� war, 鈥榗owboy鈥�, crime, spy thriller, and this category we call space opera). It might be my genre-preferences, but to make it work I need something special.
Some of what Powell does here works well 鈥� the multiple voiced narration, the frustration of functionaries, the agency that helps regardless 鈥� very Red Cross like, but there鈥檚 too much that didn鈥檛 work for me. The core of the story is concentrated into a few high tension days so there鈥檚 little chance for character development, even with the shifting perspectives. More to the point there is the deus ex machina resolution to the conflict (a pet peeve), which Powell tries to link into the backstory of the agency and one of the characters, but like most of this kind of technique feels too much like a solution to a narrative problem, even as it seems to set up the terms of the rest of the series, or at least has the potential to.
Even so, it kept me reading, engaged, and invested enough in the characters to want to know what happens 鈥� but I鈥檒l not be rushing off for the rest of the series. All that is to say, it didn鈥檛 work for me 鈥� but then I鈥檓 not really a big fan of the space opera, so maybe this was destined....more
With the school destroyed, or so it seems, and her (status unclear) friend/boyfriend/lover killed with it, a grief stricken El finds herself drawn intWith the school destroyed, or so it seems, and her (status unclear) friend/boyfriend/lover killed with it, a grief stricken El finds herself drawn into the problem of who or what is destroying the elite institutions of the wizard-world. As with the second in the series, The Golden Enclaves picks up at moment the previous volume ends, with El ejected from the school to a glade in west Wales and her waiting mother, where the strain of the last year and death of Orion (鈥榟e whose status was unclear鈥�) after her failure to recover him from having stayed behind sends her into a collapse that she only jolts out of when two former classmates (friends they were not) arrive seeking her assistance with a supernatural attack on the home of London鈥檚 wizard world 鈥� one of the biggest and most powerful.
This sets up the two stranded narrative taking in the west Wales commune, Portugal, Beijing, New York, Dubai, and Maharashtra 鈥� find Orion to do what needs to be done, and sort out the attacks. In both, Novik twists the narrative in surprising and unsettling ways, even as they are consistent with all that has been laid out so far. In retrospect, there are hints of both plot twists, although Novik intensifies them by making both profound dangers to El鈥檚 small circle of friends and allies.
The narrative arc across all three books is impressive as is the shift in tone form the sardonic darkness of A Bad Education to the existential threats and bleakness of The Golden Enclaves. Impressively also, Novik leaves threads unresolved 鈥� although the key characters have settled into a pattern, and shifts in the leadership of the wizard world mean some of the existential danger is mitigated, those leadership changes are partial and unstable, the political economy of mystical power contains a danger of a return to the old ways, and the balance of forces is inconclusive. Yet, this is not a sense that Novik is setting us up for further books, but more that leaving these threads lose is a more satisfying conclusion, suggesting the world goes on and we鈥檝e merely had a glimpse into it. This makes these a much more satisfying series than the simplicities of the gung-ho heroism of that popular boy wizard鈥�. Time to hunt out more of Novik鈥檚 work....more
Picking up from the moment its precursor left off, the warning El has received about her heroic maybe boyfriend turns out to be a subtextual doubt wovPicking up from the moment its precursor left off, the warning El has received about her heroic maybe boyfriend turns out to be a subtextual doubt woven through this slightly unexpected middle volume of three. Middle volumes, Act 2, can be tricky needing to provide their framing texts with development and preparation, while also requiring internal integrity. The Last Graduate does more than that. Here El鈥檚 world develops in quite unexpected ways, with shifts in character relationships and contexts as well as a significant plot development that, while unexpected, is not out of keeping with the narrative to date.
Despite growing recognition of her significance by some she remains wracked with self-doubt about what seems to be an emerging alliance, and while still sardonic and bitter, there are hints of hope in narrator鈥檚 voice, and a development that points to a post-school life 鈥� if she survives graduation 鈥� outside the power hierarchy in a way that may well undermine its distinctiveness.
This takes place against a background of the arrival of a new freshman class who bring in some cases disturbing news from the outside (the school is almost totally cut off from the wider world, so student spend four years in isolation), and a seeming shift in the ways that 鈥榤als鈥� act where they seem to have largely disappeared from the school, except for attaching El 鈥� further evidence of her outsiderness for most, and for her that she is a danger to the school as destroyer of worlds. Yet, this too is mistaken.
Novik keeps us slightly wrong-footed throughout, adding a small number of impressive new characters not quite to the core group but significant, and twisting the narrative to suggest an even more significant denouement in the concluding volume. And with this it remains a cracking yarn and compelling reading....more
The kids-in-school motif is a recurrent literary trope 鈥� since Tom Brown headed off the school if not earlier; the magical kids in school motif has beThe kids-in-school motif is a recurrent literary trope 鈥� since Tom Brown headed off the school if not earlier; the magical kids in school motif has become rather a juggernaut in the last few decades, with age group and intra-group rivalries and malicious fantasy figures threatening the equilibrium. In this sense, Novik is on solid ground in this entertaining fantasy 鈥� yet with a twist; here the school is out to kill its pupils. It鈥檚 protections against the marauding 鈥楳als鈥� are inefficient at best, with graduation including the death of anything up to half the graduating class at the hands of those assorted creatures.
If that鈥檚 not enough, our central character 鈥� Galadriel, but don鈥檛 call her that; she answers only to El 鈥� is a sad loner, a junior (in North American terminology) trained in her magic skills but well outside the powerful and elite of the magical world鈥檚 protective enclaves. What鈥檚 more, she鈥檚 the prophesised destroyer of worlds, most competent at destructive spells or those that kill鈥� there鈥檚 a few other student who tolerate her presence, mainly because showering or walking to meals with several others enhances protection against the 鈥榤als鈥�. And yet she attracts the attention of her year鈥檚 resident heroic 鈥榤al鈥� killer, himself a strangely poplar outsider, but from one of the most powerful of all enclaves.
El, as narrator, has a fabulously sardonic, slightly bitter, tone and eye 鈥� alert to the injustice of the power structure, aware of her own vulnerabilities, more than a little scared of her own power, but as tensions arise as the senior class nears its graduation, and as the situation seems abnormal, she begins to be recognised as perhaps the one with a vital role to play in a solution; useful, but neither liked nor trusted 鈥揳nd seen by many as perhaps evil.
It鈥檚 a good set-up, a cracking yarn well resolved, but left hanging on a powerful uncertainty that promises much for its sequel....more
Hammad, a novelist of rare talent, delivered this Edward Said Lecture at Columbia University 鈥� I鈥檓 left wondering that event鈥檚 future in Trump鈥檚 ColumHammad, a novelist of rare talent, delivered this Edward Said Lecture at Columbia University 鈥� I鈥檓 left wondering that event鈥檚 future in Trump鈥檚 Columbia 鈥� a few weeks before the Palestinian raid on southern Israel in October 2023 and Israel鈥檚 genocidal assault on Gaza that followed. It is superb scholarship and a compelling, elegant exposition of the form, place, and dynamic of moments of recognition 鈥� what Aristotle called anagnorisis 鈥� in narratives, here linked to Palestine. And yet the subsequent events reveal the tragic irony of the misrecognition of Palestine revealed and exacerbated by that settler colonial war.
Hammad brings this out indirectly in her afterword, where she links the destruction of Gaza to Jean Genet鈥檚 powerful, similarly tragic, 4 Hours in Shatila about the 1982 assault by Israel鈥檚 fascist allies, the Falangists, on Sabra and Shatila refugee camps near Beirut in the wake of Israel's invasion of Lebanon in that year. I found myself sublimely alternating in wonder at the beauty and elegance of Hammad鈥檚 discussion while teetering on the brink of falling into the monstrous horror of what came next....more
In the first of Connie Willis occasional Oxford time travelling historians series, a talented undergraduate makes the first trip to the Middle Ages inIn the first of Connie Willis occasional Oxford time travelling historians series, a talented undergraduate makes the first trip to the Middle Ages in an effort to gather some background on a site that has become an archaeological dig focused on a medieval village. Sounds simple, but not so much鈥�. Competent as the student is, the ambitious history department faculty member driving it has pushed through a poorly prepared trip, while the technician running the time jump 鈥� the most capable in the university 鈥� had picked up an infection that was the beginning of a city wide epidemic and quarantine, meaning the jump didn鈥檛 go quite as planned.
Willis then build her narrative around these problems at both ends of the timeline: a student in the wrong time, a university unable to manage the recovery 鈥� but neither aware of the predicament the other is in: the student sure she鈥檒l be pulled out; the faculty confident they know where she is, at least for a while.
It鈥檚 a well-crafted story with Willis letting the problems play out and become increasingly obvious to us as the characters realise 鈥� there is little in the way of the bird鈥檚 eye view voice telling us where we鈥檙e going. We鈥檙e allowed to suspect the jump has gone wrong; there are hints of what that wrongness might be, but there are also red herrings to distract us and unexpected connections between the eras introducing a sense of symmetry to each time鈥檚 predicament.
While the two core characters are well-crafted, the student is more convincing with the faculty members with their disputes and egos a little two-dimensional (which, to be fair, might be an effect of this reader having spent several decades still working in academia), making the medieval era more rounded and compelling. Yet, in a post-pandemic world the Oxford quarantine seems alarming prescient for a book first published in 1992, with powerful quarantine objectors and anti-vaxxers disrupting events and an 鈥榚nd of time鈥� sect seeing the illness as divine punishment 鈥� although that also might be a sign of how deeply ingrained those views are.
This is an entertaining standalone book in a world Willis has returned to on other occasions; satisfying with a sense of the tragic about it 鈥� and well deserving of the awards it picked up along the way. ...more
Andreas Malm, best known recently for his work on the climate crisis, is perhaps not the most obvious choice as a discussant of the war on Gaza and thAndreas Malm, best known recently for his work on the climate crisis, is perhaps not the most obvious choice as a discussant of the war on Gaza and the ongoing assault on Palestine, yet in this short, compelling, analysis he grounds the last 180 or so years of European and US imperialist engagement with the countries along that eastern Mediterranean coast in the development of fossil fuels. Opening with the Royal Navy steamship driven assault Ottoman posts along the coast of Lebanon and Palestine and on into Egypt in 1840, he shows the vital role deployment of or access to fossil fuels has played in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the western alliance鈥檚 continuing support for Israel.
It鈥檚 an historically nuanced analysis that challenges dominant narratives, critiques the 鈥榗apture by the Israel lobby鈥� position in discussion of US foreign policy, highlights the diversity of views in the Palestinian resistance to look beyond the simplicities of seeing everything as the action of Hamas and Hezbollah, and explores the consistency principles and interests underpinning western alliance policy and actions in Palestine and in climate negotiations and actions. He does so and retains a degree of optimism in the face of the asymmetrical relations in the region and inherent interests of fossil capitalism making this a valuable rethinking of the forces underpinning Israel as settler colonial state, and its international supporters, while recognising the power and limitations of the Palestinian resistance. This gives the discussion 鈥� and the two responses to earlier critique 鈥� resonance well beyond the war of Gaza, and allows it to become a base from which to build a useful strand of insights. Sharp, accessible, and engaging. ...more
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