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As Many Ships As Stars
In a future where Earth is ravaged by the greed of the wealthy, one woman's desperate act of defiance becomes a journey of transformation and decolonization.
Leia Wurahapt, a resolute Numunu (Comanche) woman, struggles to support her extended family in near-future Albuquerque. As head of a large household, she balances the weight of her ancestors' wisdom with the harsh realities of a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Working for a private corporation that exploits public resources, Leia finds herself helping construct escape ships bound for Mars, a last resort for the world's elite to flee their self-inflicted crisis.
But Leia has other plans.
Fueled by a fierce determination to protect her loved ones and reject the colonial structures that have oppressed her people for centuries, Leia and her former sister-in-law, Olga, hijack one of the ships. With their family and friends in tow, they embark on a voyage to the stars aboard The Futura, leaving Earth behind forever.
What follows is an epic, multigenerational tale of survival, resilience, and rebirth spanning 30,000 years. As Many Ships As Stars invites readers to reimagine progress through traditional ways. Weyodi OldBear weaves a visionary narrative that is both a tribute to her heritage and a bold vision for the future.
Leia Wurahapt, a resolute Numunu (Comanche) woman, struggles to support her extended family in near-future Albuquerque. As head of a large household, she balances the weight of her ancestors' wisdom with the harsh realities of a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Working for a private corporation that exploits public resources, Leia finds herself helping construct escape ships bound for Mars, a last resort for the world's elite to flee their self-inflicted crisis.
But Leia has other plans.
Fueled by a fierce determination to protect her loved ones and reject the colonial structures that have oppressed her people for centuries, Leia and her former sister-in-law, Olga, hijack one of the ships. With their family and friends in tow, they embark on a voyage to the stars aboard The Futura, leaving Earth behind forever.
What follows is an epic, multigenerational tale of survival, resilience, and rebirth spanning 30,000 years. As Many Ships As Stars invites readers to reimagine progress through traditional ways. Weyodi OldBear weaves a visionary narrative that is both a tribute to her heritage and a bold vision for the future.
204 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 21, 2024
My relationship with this book is complex. There is a slow build that hits some very exciting and great science fiction and character moments. After that there is a lull I am just not really a fan of but I certainly love the last chapter.
The parallels drawn to the book's near future and our current future are clear and often invoke a sense of real dread. Even with a sense of foreboding and dark moments there is always hope.
At a certain part of the book it seems everything the characters need is lucked upon at exactly the right moment. I understand it but I prefer a bit more of a struggle.
I think the book is worth reading and I would read it again. The highs are much higher than the lows are lows.
The parallels drawn to the book's near future and our current future are clear and often invoke a sense of real dread. Even with a sense of foreboding and dark moments there is always hope.
At a certain part of the book it seems everything the characters need is lucked upon at exactly the right moment. I understand it but I prefer a bit more of a struggle.
I think the book is worth reading and I would read it again. The highs are much higher than the lows are lows.
January 7, 2025
The story covers 30,000 Earth years, with a few time jumps that had me wishing for more. A work of Indigenous Futurism, the story focuses on Leia, a Comanche woman working as an engineer on the spaceships that will take the richest families off a dying Earth (due to climate change), while knowing people like her will be left behind. So she decides to steal one of the ships.
The first third of the book shows how tough life is for her and her people, but the scenes felt too similar and I almost stopped reading because nothing much was happening. The book finally takes off pun intended, when she and her family and friends launch the spacecraft. Things get interesting, and the cultures of the Indigenous spacefarers come into play. But after the slow moving opening section, the rest feels rushed. I'd love this to have been at least twice as long. One quibble: the typesetting is awful, with words being split at the right margin in weird places with not a hyphen in sight. I do hope OldBear tries her hand at novels.
The first third of the book shows how tough life is for her and her people, but the scenes felt too similar and I almost stopped reading because nothing much was happening. The book finally takes off pun intended, when she and her family and friends launch the spacecraft. Things get interesting, and the cultures of the Indigenous spacefarers come into play. But after the slow moving opening section, the rest feels rushed. I'd love this to have been at least twice as long. One quibble: the typesetting is awful, with words being split at the right margin in weird places with not a hyphen in sight. I do hope OldBear tries her hand at novels.
December 27, 2024
What an incredibly rich work of Indigenous futurism that sings and drums and buzzes and hums on every page. As Many Ships As Stars heard the dread deep inside my mama heart and threaded it with storied, multilayered interconnectedness and hope even as it never shied away from the sticky center of family, culture, and society.
I couldn't have loved Leia (She-Searches) more. She’s a fierce protector of her family, and throughout the first half of the book set in Albuquerque, it felt as though I were chatting with a trusted comadre, side-eyeing and whispering secrets together, even as this chilling not-too-distant future gutted me with its persistent nearness.
OldBear hits every note. Wry humor—the kind where we have to laugh or we’d sob. The belly laughs of sisterhood and the noticing and appreciating each other in our communities. The ache of understanding—of knowing that even as we have created a place for each other to grow, we can’t predict or confine the boundaries of that growth. The wonder, joy, and curiosity of creation. The monstrous twisting and precarious prickling of allowing people to make of our creations whatever they will. The tenacious audacity of survival.
I highlighted half the book as passages I want to retain and teach and learn from. Weyodi OldBear is a tremendous storyteller, and everyone should read this book. She’s forged her own narrative style and nonlinear mode, and I’m here for it. Even as I missed Leia through the second half, her presence in the deep fabric of her people felt spot on. This is how you transform. This is how we carry on.
The copyediting issues didn’t distract me from the powerful voice and necessary story. Read this with your whole heart. You won’t be disappointed.
I couldn't have loved Leia (She-Searches) more. She’s a fierce protector of her family, and throughout the first half of the book set in Albuquerque, it felt as though I were chatting with a trusted comadre, side-eyeing and whispering secrets together, even as this chilling not-too-distant future gutted me with its persistent nearness.
OldBear hits every note. Wry humor—the kind where we have to laugh or we’d sob. The belly laughs of sisterhood and the noticing and appreciating each other in our communities. The ache of understanding—of knowing that even as we have created a place for each other to grow, we can’t predict or confine the boundaries of that growth. The wonder, joy, and curiosity of creation. The monstrous twisting and precarious prickling of allowing people to make of our creations whatever they will. The tenacious audacity of survival.
I highlighted half the book as passages I want to retain and teach and learn from. Weyodi OldBear is a tremendous storyteller, and everyone should read this book. She’s forged her own narrative style and nonlinear mode, and I’m here for it. Even as I missed Leia through the second half, her presence in the deep fabric of her people felt spot on. This is how you transform. This is how we carry on.
The copyediting issues didn’t distract me from the powerful voice and necessary story. Read this with your whole heart. You won’t be disappointed.
December 6, 2024
ah, I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Unfortuanely, editing issues affected general readibility and pacing.
This is a near-future story with a large cast of Native characters. The story starts on a climate-ravaged earth; each scene is introduced with the time and temperature, which does a nice job of short-handing a lot of detail into a few numbers. Other details of daily life do a good job of sketching out this future world without lecturing or belaboring. Native cultural elements are included throughout and become a focus of the people on the ship, and seem authentic and woven smoothly into the story.
Time seems to move in fits and starts during the story; narration eventually moves to a few snippets several hundred years in the future, but the passage of time always felt a little off. There's a very large cast of characters for such a thin book-- and several experience name changes later in the story: I had trouble keeping track of everyone. Poor copy-editing had a big impact on my ability to smoothly read the story-- words were often broken up over a line break but there was no hyphen indicating the join, and it was frequently one lonely letter that was after the line break. Problems with punctuation and the placement of quotations marks were also present throughout. It matters because I rely on grammar and good punctuation to offset my dyslexia; it's an accessibility issue.
This is a near-future story with a large cast of Native characters. The story starts on a climate-ravaged earth; each scene is introduced with the time and temperature, which does a nice job of short-handing a lot of detail into a few numbers. Other details of daily life do a good job of sketching out this future world without lecturing or belaboring. Native cultural elements are included throughout and become a focus of the people on the ship, and seem authentic and woven smoothly into the story.
Time seems to move in fits and starts during the story; narration eventually moves to a few snippets several hundred years in the future, but the passage of time always felt a little off. There's a very large cast of characters for such a thin book-- and several experience name changes later in the story: I had trouble keeping track of everyone. Poor copy-editing had a big impact on my ability to smoothly read the story-- words were often broken up over a line break but there was no hyphen indicating the join, and it was frequently one lonely letter that was after the line break. Problems with punctuation and the placement of quotations marks were also present throughout. It matters because I rely on grammar and good punctuation to offset my dyslexia; it's an accessibility issue.
March 10, 2025
I want more books like this! This is exactly what I'm looking for in my science fiction. I want to imagine possible futures that are complex but optimistic. I want to see people organize and resist billionaires and colonizers. I want to see alternatives to capitalism and authoritarian hierarchies. I want stories that center cultures and value systems other than those of the dominant mainstream in the US. Weyodi Oldbear has my gratitude and enthusiasm for delivering on all of this! I can't wait to see what she writes next!
I took off one star because the story felt somewhat disconnected and the pacing was inconsistent. My favorite parts were when we were on a spaceship watching a new society develop. Although I loved the story that led up to that, I wish there had been less time spent on that part.
I took off one star because the story felt somewhat disconnected and the pacing was inconsistent. My favorite parts were when we were on a spaceship watching a new society develop. Although I loved the story that led up to that, I wish there had been less time spent on that part.
February 9, 2025
I really liked and enjoyed this for 3/4 of the book- and then suddenly, mid-chapter, it took a huge time jump forward, and from that part on the rest of the book was nowhere near as well done or as compelling. The time jump could have simply been a single chapter or an epilogue and accomplished the same things, I think.
Which speaks to the fact that I think this needed way more editing- both the writing itself, but then also the printed version of the book had some typos as well as some off-set printing that could get frustrating at times to read.
But 4 stars for the first 3/4 of the book, as the characters, situations, and plot of that part of the book was excellent.
Which speaks to the fact that I think this needed way more editing- both the writing itself, but then also the printed version of the book had some typos as well as some off-set printing that could get frustrating at times to read.
But 4 stars for the first 3/4 of the book, as the characters, situations, and plot of that part of the book was excellent.
October 4, 2025
Picked this up at the Seattle Worldcon, which had an entire section of the Dealer's area set aside for local and indigenous authors. Absolutely wonderful apocalyptic look at how climate change will effect all people and the fantastic scheme to fight back in the most life-affirming way possible. Love the surprises all the way through, but especially at the end. Highly recommend Weyodi Oldbear, will be keeping an eye out for more.
January 28, 2025
This one is tough to rate. The first half was too long for me and dragged. I also couldn’t quite get what the author was doing with the temperatures. Trying to show how volatile the climate was, I think? But I don’t think it can work like that, even in extreme climate distress?
The second half though? Awesome! Loved whipping through all the generations.
The second half though? Awesome! Loved whipping through all the generations.
August 28, 2025
Wow. I was so immersed into this story that it took me several minutes afterward to acclimate that I was here on today's Earth and had actually just read a book. OldBear is a brilliant writer, able to express vast depths of humanity - I will insta-read anything else Weyodi OldBear writes.
July 5, 2025
Fantastic read!
September 3, 2025
I definitely do not understand all of what I just read. I really like reading sci-fi growing out of Indigenous cultures. I liked Leia as a character, although much of her family drove me nuts and some of their behavior was atrocious. It also stretched the imagination to believe that a group of people, only a few of whom were trained in relevant fields, could be building new spaceships within a couple of generations. The book got weirder and weirder as more time passed until I sorta lost the plot.
I'm still glad I read it and would read more in this genre in the future.
Oh, a note: it seems like this was published with almost no proofreading and there were TONS of times where a word was split between lines and not even hyphenated. Also, there were grammatical or word choice errors (like marquise instead of marquee - could be confusion, could be autocorrect).
I'm still glad I read it and would read more in this genre in the future.
Oh, a note: it seems like this was published with almost no proofreading and there were TONS of times where a word was split between lines and not even hyphenated. Also, there were grammatical or word choice errors (like marquise instead of marquee - could be confusion, could be autocorrect).
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews