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Station Six
A hard science-fiction space opera with a queer protagonist.
Sixty million miles from Earth, in the orbiting city of Station Six, work still sucks. Max is a dockyard worker (with an illegal sideline in hacking and cybersurgery) in the company town of the future. When the LMC Corporation announces its Automated Future Plan, which will turn Station Six into a vacation destination with as few human personnel as needed to stay functional, Max has had enough. They rise from their complacency and joins forces with an underground revolutionary cell as all hell breaks loose. S.J. Klapecki's debut novel about galactic class struggle against impossible odds delivers action, intrigue, and politics, as Max and their friends face constant surveillance, raids, and armored rent-a-cops. Station Six is a story of battling against exploitation, fighting capitalist moguls, union solidarity, and finding hope in the darkest times.
Sixty million miles from Earth, in the orbiting city of Station Six, work still sucks. Max is a dockyard worker (with an illegal sideline in hacking and cybersurgery) in the company town of the future. When the LMC Corporation announces its Automated Future Plan, which will turn Station Six into a vacation destination with as few human personnel as needed to stay functional, Max has had enough. They rise from their complacency and joins forces with an underground revolutionary cell as all hell breaks loose. S.J. Klapecki's debut novel about galactic class struggle against impossible odds delivers action, intrigue, and politics, as Max and their friends face constant surveillance, raids, and armored rent-a-cops. Station Six is a story of battling against exploitation, fighting capitalist moguls, union solidarity, and finding hope in the darkest times.
140 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 7, 2023
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466 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 10, 2023
Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed by this project. As someone who shares the author's politics, I was looking forward to a sci-fi story featuring some of the social and economic issues we face today. But what I found was a bit underwhelming.
I like SciFi because it allows us to extrapolate on big "What If" questions, positing what our socio-economic situation would (and wouldn't) look like with spacefaring technology. But Station Six was rather unimaginative. Instead of taking current themes and applying them to a SciFi world, Station Six is just an Amazon warehouse if the warehouse was floating in space. At somepoints I forgot that it was a space station, as it reads like the story of a 20-something trying to make it as a warehouse worker in Chicago.
The writing is good, but I'd encourage the author to be bolder and really lean into the scifi setting.
I like SciFi because it allows us to extrapolate on big "What If" questions, positing what our socio-economic situation would (and wouldn't) look like with spacefaring technology. But Station Six was rather unimaginative. Instead of taking current themes and applying them to a SciFi world, Station Six is just an Amazon warehouse if the warehouse was floating in space. At somepoints I forgot that it was a space station, as it reads like the story of a 20-something trying to make it as a warehouse worker in Chicago.
The writing is good, but I'd encourage the author to be bolder and really lean into the scifi setting.
March 17, 2023
As someone who likes sci fi and workplace direct action, I figured why not check out the little novel with the union on a spaceship? But, though the premise has promise, and it isn't exactly poorly executed, there ends up not being a ton to sink your teeth into.
The word that came to mind most while reading this book is "thin." It's a thin volume telling a thinly detailed story with thinly fleshed out characters.
As sci-fi, it's almost oddly unimaginative -- there are very few original details presented to show us what kind of future we're in. A lot of stuff, like robots and the spaceship, seem lifted wholesale from a kind of pre-existing stock of sci-fi imagery, and then many pieces of contemporary technology just appear as-is in this future -- the characters all have phones that function more or less like our own, for example. It felt like the story wouldn't be all that substantively different if it were written in the present.
As exciting workplace organizing success story, it's got a little more going for it. Some of the sabotage stuff is fun, for example.
But, again, thin. We get about a chapter's worth of scene-setting before the main character becomes involved in the union's action, and that chapter more so gestures in a "work sucks, right?" direction, rather than really conveying a palpable feeling of psychic pain that the main character is going through.
From there, things quickly escalate. The chapters detailing main character Max's first encounters with the union, the union's first action that we see and the attempts to repress it, are the highlight of the book. But, we still have much to go from the time that first action is wrapped up. Most of the rest of the book details a single mission that the three main characters go on to help further the union's aims and head off retaliation. However, this section, which is kind of the bulk of the book, drags a bit because the the retaliation that prompts the mission is only briefly introduced before the mission begins. In the same way that we're not really made to feel the unique peril of Max's work life, instead just filling in the blanks from our own experience, we can understand that the mission is helpful and important, but the weight of what the characters are up to feels a bit absent--the danger is not strongly enough felt to balance out the dozens of pages of infiltration undertaken to head off that danger.
And for the characters, we mostly have three, and they're pretty thin as well. You learn right away that Max is trans non-binary, and if you're like me you think "oh fun!" but that ends up being more or less incidental. They're a nervous hacker is what makes up most of their personality. I did enjoy the depiction of them overcoming their fears to act courageously and decisively. There's Joseph, who's a kind of weird combo of annoying coworker, reliable comrade, and old friend. And then Vic, who's probably my favorite of the three, just because her tired seasoned organizer vibe resonates -- not a ton else going on with her either, though.
So, mostly this just kind of left me feeling a bit flat. I wasn't head over heels for the writing style either, a kind of casual cuss-heavy tone that I guess does convey a certain dismayed, sarcastic attitude of a bitter worker. The prose, though, ranged from feeling just sufficient to moderately distracting. I suppose the main takeaway from this is supposed to be an excitement and invigoration at the possibilities of victory over capital, but while there were glimpses of those feelings while reading, the novel lacked the detail and engagement to really drive that feeling home.
The word that came to mind most while reading this book is "thin." It's a thin volume telling a thinly detailed story with thinly fleshed out characters.
As sci-fi, it's almost oddly unimaginative -- there are very few original details presented to show us what kind of future we're in. A lot of stuff, like robots and the spaceship, seem lifted wholesale from a kind of pre-existing stock of sci-fi imagery, and then many pieces of contemporary technology just appear as-is in this future -- the characters all have phones that function more or less like our own, for example. It felt like the story wouldn't be all that substantively different if it were written in the present.
As exciting workplace organizing success story, it's got a little more going for it. Some of the sabotage stuff is fun, for example.
But, again, thin. We get about a chapter's worth of scene-setting before the main character becomes involved in the union's action, and that chapter more so gestures in a "work sucks, right?" direction, rather than really conveying a palpable feeling of psychic pain that the main character is going through.
From there, things quickly escalate. The chapters detailing main character Max's first encounters with the union, the union's first action that we see and the attempts to repress it, are the highlight of the book. But, we still have much to go from the time that first action is wrapped up. Most of the rest of the book details a single mission that the three main characters go on to help further the union's aims and head off retaliation. However, this section, which is kind of the bulk of the book, drags a bit because the the retaliation that prompts the mission is only briefly introduced before the mission begins. In the same way that we're not really made to feel the unique peril of Max's work life, instead just filling in the blanks from our own experience, we can understand that the mission is helpful and important, but the weight of what the characters are up to feels a bit absent--the danger is not strongly enough felt to balance out the dozens of pages of infiltration undertaken to head off that danger.
And for the characters, we mostly have three, and they're pretty thin as well. You learn right away that Max is trans non-binary, and if you're like me you think "oh fun!" but that ends up being more or less incidental. They're a nervous hacker is what makes up most of their personality. I did enjoy the depiction of them overcoming their fears to act courageously and decisively. There's Joseph, who's a kind of weird combo of annoying coworker, reliable comrade, and old friend. And then Vic, who's probably my favorite of the three, just because her tired seasoned organizer vibe resonates -- not a ton else going on with her either, though.
So, mostly this just kind of left me feeling a bit flat. I wasn't head over heels for the writing style either, a kind of casual cuss-heavy tone that I guess does convey a certain dismayed, sarcastic attitude of a bitter worker. The prose, though, ranged from feeling just sufficient to moderately distracting. I suppose the main takeaway from this is supposed to be an excitement and invigoration at the possibilities of victory over capital, but while there were glimpses of those feelings while reading, the novel lacked the detail and engagement to really drive that feeling home.
August 17, 2023
This was a fine little sci-fi romp, but I have a feeling this might be one of the most forgettable books I've read this year.
Max is a dockworker on a massive space station that's in the process of going fully automated and turned into a tourist destination, such that all of the existing human workers will be relocated (read: "laid off en masse and redistributed to shittier outposts"). Said workers don't appreciate that, and stage a lockdown of a portion of the station that initially goes a lot better than everyone expected. When things go to shit however, Max gets tapped to go on a mission with some underground organization to get communications back online so the strikers can control the narrative with the outside world. Hijinks ensue.
Considering the tenor of other books put out by this publisher and the fact that I bought this book at an anarchist bookstore in Philly (shoutout to Wooden Shoe Books!), I was expecting a way more heavy-handed political message than I got, and I kind of wished it had leaned harder into making a point. Instead I'm left walking away from this book feeling like I just watched a small group of people ruin their lives by making a stand that will ultimately be crushed, that they know and openly expect to be crushed violently, and will not have any effect whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. I'm not asking for a feel-good unrealistic ending, but in retrospect, this book was downright bleak in it's warning against fighting capitalism.
Between all that and feeling like the protagonist was not a fundamentally different character at the end of the story than they were at the beginning (or even particularly interesting to be attached to), I'm not sure who I'd recommend this book to. It's not bad, but it isn't anything noteworthy either.
Max is a dockworker on a massive space station that's in the process of going fully automated and turned into a tourist destination, such that all of the existing human workers will be relocated (read: "laid off en masse and redistributed to shittier outposts"). Said workers don't appreciate that, and stage a lockdown of a portion of the station that initially goes a lot better than everyone expected. When things go to shit however, Max gets tapped to go on a mission with some underground organization to get communications back online so the strikers can control the narrative with the outside world. Hijinks ensue.
Considering the tenor of other books put out by this publisher and the fact that I bought this book at an anarchist bookstore in Philly (shoutout to Wooden Shoe Books!), I was expecting a way more heavy-handed political message than I got, and I kind of wished it had leaned harder into making a point. Instead I'm left walking away from this book feeling like I just watched a small group of people ruin their lives by making a stand that will ultimately be crushed, that they know and openly expect to be crushed violently, and will not have any effect whatsoever in the grand scheme of things. I'm not asking for a feel-good unrealistic ending, but in retrospect, this book was downright bleak in it's warning against fighting capitalism.
Between all that and feeling like the protagonist was not a fundamentally different character at the end of the story than they were at the beginning (or even particularly interesting to be attached to), I'm not sure who I'd recommend this book to. It's not bad, but it isn't anything noteworthy either.
March 3, 2023
Here is a novella that really surprised me in my love for it. It’s one of the shorter sci-fi stories I’ve read and it could have easily been 400+ pages or a series. I am still kind of hoping we get a second book..
The book follows Max who is a dockyard worker. They are worried about their future after the station they’re working on is announced to be automated and turned into a vacation destination. They get involved with a workers union that turns into a rebellion. Max is a hacker outside of their normal job and this puts them central to the unions plans to occupy their section of the station. Once the internet is shut down to the outside, Max and two of their union members go on a mission to restore their access to the internet.
The book is equally plot and character driven and I think it worked really well here. There’s a balance of what is going on in the story and how the character feels about everything. There isn’t major character development, I feel like Max just kind of gets swept along in these missions, but they push through despite being incredible anxious about it all.
The story is never really wrapped up. There’s an open-ended invitation for you to decide what happens next. I really felt like the story ends as soon as it’s beginning. We have the foundation set up and exciting plot development and then the story is finished.
Themes explored are capitalism and workers rights. Although the book is set in the future, it’s very relatable. Workers are trapped into contracts they can’t pay off, stuck to work in low-paying jobs with no protections. The elite live in beautiful high-rises and relish in their privilege. Automation looms.
A great debut novella.
The book follows Max who is a dockyard worker. They are worried about their future after the station they’re working on is announced to be automated and turned into a vacation destination. They get involved with a workers union that turns into a rebellion. Max is a hacker outside of their normal job and this puts them central to the unions plans to occupy their section of the station. Once the internet is shut down to the outside, Max and two of their union members go on a mission to restore their access to the internet.
The book is equally plot and character driven and I think it worked really well here. There’s a balance of what is going on in the story and how the character feels about everything. There isn’t major character development, I feel like Max just kind of gets swept along in these missions, but they push through despite being incredible anxious about it all.
The story is never really wrapped up. There’s an open-ended invitation for you to decide what happens next. I really felt like the story ends as soon as it’s beginning. We have the foundation set up and exciting plot development and then the story is finished.
Themes explored are capitalism and workers rights. Although the book is set in the future, it’s very relatable. Workers are trapped into contracts they can’t pay off, stuck to work in low-paying jobs with no protections. The elite live in beautiful high-rises and relish in their privilege. Automation looms.
A great debut novella.
March 21, 2024
I enjoyed this, though there's not a strong sense of what is being worked toward or how, and I'm a little fuzzy on what the purpose of the station or Max's sector even was. But it was fast paced and entertaining despite the brutality, and now I can mark another borrowed book off my TBR!
March 31, 2023
Taking a chance on a debut novel from a new small publisher you sometimes win, you sometimes lose. This, sadly, was a loss. First disappoinment was that it isn't a novel, it's a short story packaged to look like a novel. That's my own fault. I should have checked the length before buying. The next annoyance was the use of they/them for a gender neutral pronoun. It frequently lead to confusion as to who was being referred to. There were far too many instances where 'they' could have meant either the protagonist or the group of people the protagonist was with. The final problem is the brevity of the story means the plot is very thin. About of half the story is simply spent running away from security having pulled a simple b and e into the central computer room. I get no sense of any of this taking place on a space station, which it allegedly days. The tactics of the strikers with their barricades and security trying to push through them is simply farcical. In that sort of situation on a station the management would simply turn of the electricity and/or air until the strikers gave up. The environment of a space station dosen't allow the sort of standoff this book is based on. This is an occupy action from Earth simply moved into space without thinking through any of the logistics or tatics of a radically different landscape.
The writing was reasonable good though so I won't totally write this author off. They just need to spend more time thinking about their world building and their story and less time on polemic.
The writing was reasonable good though so I won't totally write this author off. They just need to spend more time thinking about their world building and their story and less time on polemic.
January 4, 2023
Station Six is a sci-fi novella that feels dismayingly realistic in its grim portrayal of futuristic capitalism.
Indentured worker Max is millions of miles from Earth, struggling through dull days of labor and hoping to make ends meet – while secretly offering cyber-hacking services on the side. They’re roused to action after the threat of being replaced by automatons, and they connect with an underground revolution in order to stage a strike. Things escalate quickly, and Max struggles with their own anxiety and their desire to forge a livable future for themself and their friends.
The novella takes place over a very short time period, and it’s filled with action. I enjoyed the writing and Max (as well as the supporting characters), but felt almost like this was a prelude to the story I truly wanted to read. What happens next? How are these characters effectively battling capitalism? Does their union succeed?
Max’s anxiety is portrayed with thoughtfulness and care, and again, I would have loved to see this explored over a longer time period for the chance to have a larger arc.
Overall, this was a bleak-yet-fierce glimpse into an intriguing world. I’d be thrilled to read more from author S.J. Klapecki. I’m so curious!
CW: police brutality, violence & gun violence, classism, injury, blood, death (mentioned), medical content, anxiety
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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Indentured worker Max is millions of miles from Earth, struggling through dull days of labor and hoping to make ends meet – while secretly offering cyber-hacking services on the side. They’re roused to action after the threat of being replaced by automatons, and they connect with an underground revolution in order to stage a strike. Things escalate quickly, and Max struggles with their own anxiety and their desire to forge a livable future for themself and their friends.
The novella takes place over a very short time period, and it’s filled with action. I enjoyed the writing and Max (as well as the supporting characters), but felt almost like this was a prelude to the story I truly wanted to read. What happens next? How are these characters effectively battling capitalism? Does their union succeed?
Max’s anxiety is portrayed with thoughtfulness and care, and again, I would have loved to see this explored over a longer time period for the chance to have a larger arc.
Overall, this was a bleak-yet-fierce glimpse into an intriguing world. I’d be thrilled to read more from author S.J. Klapecki. I’m so curious!
CW: police brutality, violence & gun violence, classism, injury, blood, death (mentioned), medical content, anxiety
Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
May 6, 2023
A very mixed bag. On the one hand, the writing was awkward. Way too much internal monologue for my tastes, some weird pacing, and it's at that difficult length where it feels like it should've been cut way down to be a short story, or expanded into a proper novel.
On the other hand, it's a really interesting look at a rebellion from the point of view of someone completely lacking in leadership, charisma, physical courage-- any of the things one might expect to find in the protagonist of a story set on the front lines of a blockade. Granted, that doesn't always make it a very fun book to read. Max, the main character, is basically soaked with cold sweat and self-recrimination the ENTIRE time. But it felt like it captured something realistic and interesting about the social dynamics that can exist in activist communities. There's this kind of soup of people who are in it for the glory, people who just want to put their head down and do the work, and people who desperately don't want to be there but feel the world has gotten so bad they just plain don't have a choice.
I think my final verdict is that I didn't think it was objectively the best book this author will probably ever write in their life. But I didn't hate it, and everything about the setting and characters and subject matter were aligned with my own interests enough that I'm looking forward to seeing what Klapecki does next.
On the other hand, it's a really interesting look at a rebellion from the point of view of someone completely lacking in leadership, charisma, physical courage-- any of the things one might expect to find in the protagonist of a story set on the front lines of a blockade. Granted, that doesn't always make it a very fun book to read. Max, the main character, is basically soaked with cold sweat and self-recrimination the ENTIRE time. But it felt like it captured something realistic and interesting about the social dynamics that can exist in activist communities. There's this kind of soup of people who are in it for the glory, people who just want to put their head down and do the work, and people who desperately don't want to be there but feel the world has gotten so bad they just plain don't have a choice.
I think my final verdict is that I didn't think it was objectively the best book this author will probably ever write in their life. But I didn't hate it, and everything about the setting and characters and subject matter were aligned with my own interests enough that I'm looking forward to seeing what Klapecki does next.
July 14, 2024
Weighing in at 155 pages this book should win praise for conciseness, but this brevity might have come at the expense of some character development. We don’t get to know them except in a mono-dimensional way. What really carries this novel is the plot. Our protagonist is a dockworker and hobbyist hacker employed at a large space station that is about to be converted into a tourist destination, thus reducing the need for human employees who are asked to locate “opportunities” elsewhere. Nevermind that those who elected to come work on the station in the first place face miserable wages and mounting debt to the company, which in addition to being the employer, is also the sole source of everything from food to rent. So they essentially are working for the company store. Understand that these workers are subject to all the dignity and respect one might find at a fulfillment center, which is to say all work speed ups and no bathroom breaks. No spoiler alert here - they decide to go on strike. This is such a rare perspective in much of the literature we read that I decided to give this book four stars. It is pretty damn real for a work of science fiction. How the act of going on strike changes our characters is the spoiler here so you will just have to read the book to learn how that turns out.
December 23, 2023
I regret that I cannot give a rave review to Station Six, S. J. Klapecki’s debut novel. It has several appealing elements. Its gay hero, Max, is a working stiff on a space station sixty million miles from Earth. I have always been drawn to working-class characters in space opera, rare though they are. Klapecki makes a credible attempt at describing the microeconomics of station life—Max’s “everything burrito” includes everything but meat. Finally, the novel poses a worthwhile question of how a worker’s movement could gain traction in such a dangerous, controlled environment.
Sadly, the novel’s style and world-building need work. Dialogue is flat, and the macroeconomic details are lacking. For example, why sixty million miles? How does the station fit into the solar system’s larger economy? One reviewer said the station seems to be an Amazon warehouse in space. But who knows? Suggestion to the author: read the Ceres sections of The Expanse to see what you missed.
Sadly, the novel’s style and world-building need work. Dialogue is flat, and the macroeconomic details are lacking. For example, why sixty million miles? How does the station fit into the solar system’s larger economy? One reviewer said the station seems to be an Amazon warehouse in space. But who knows? Suggestion to the author: read the Ceres sections of The Expanse to see what you missed.
July 7, 2024
AK Press' Black Dawn imprint has a pretty reliable set of characteristics by which they select stories to publish: short works of fiction whose politics are unabashedly within the anarchist/libertarian-socialist tradition and whose world-building borders on didactic. Station Six, like Margaret Killjoy's 'A Country of Ghosts' before it, tells an engaging story of normal people fighting against being ground to dust by the forces of capitalism and empire, and gives specific examples of how we could continue that fight in our world too.
December 18, 2024
Finished it in one sitting. Oddly prescient given the recent unaliving of the CEO in NYC. Class struggle and labor action on a space station. Some hard sci-fi but also a lot of social consciousness. I found the internal dialogue of the protaganist true to the stressful situation they were in. Rebellion, violence, chaos, lack of control, a warlike situation all feels exactly as the author presented it. (At least in my experience.) The doubts and decisions, the drive and fear all coalesce exactly like it was presented in this story. If you want a hint of what it is like to walk in those shoes, read this book.
November 29, 2025
This book had some real promise. The protagonist is unsure of himself but competent. The plot is mildly engaging but ultimately goes nowhere. The whole book seems to be a pointless setup for an even more boring, anti-corporate universe. If the themes and conflict have any meaning they're pretty heavy handed in presentation.
For no logical or apparent reason the author uses "them" and "they" pronouns for the protagonist. It was annoying and slowed down reading enough to be frustrating. Grammatically it was used right, logistically it made this book one I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
For no logical or apparent reason the author uses "them" and "they" pronouns for the protagonist. It was annoying and slowed down reading enough to be frustrating. Grammatically it was used right, logistically it made this book one I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
November 28, 2022
A solid anti-capitalist space opera about the start of a worker-led uprising. STATION SIX suffers a little from its short length — it feels like the story has really just found its feet when it wraps — and almost-crippling anxiety being our protagonist Max's main character description, to the exclusion of other elements that would paint a more complete picture.
May 30, 2023
Black Dawn continues to dazzle, and I’d happily devour more from Klapecki’s Station Six crew and beyond.
+
“And so I'm not just here for concessions. I want the whole damn thing to change. It's not enough that they get brought to heel, bring in a new CEO and pay us a bit better. They can't be allowed to treat us like this in the first place.”
+
“And so I'm not just here for concessions. I want the whole damn thing to change. It's not enough that they get brought to heel, bring in a new CEO and pay us a bit better. They can't be allowed to treat us like this in the first place.”
June 8, 2023
I think that if you're coming at this book from a political/workplace action standpoint you might be disappointed. If you're looking for sci-fi with a nonbinary protagonist, but you're tired of preachy coming out stories and just want to see enby rep without teaching moments, you'll enjoy this.
March 10, 2024
I've been clamoring many a year for genre fiction that embraces and expounds radical and anarchist values and AK Press now has the Black Dawn series of fiction.
While this has some first novel shortcomings, it is a good SF novel with an interesting setting, set-up, and various set-tos.
While this has some first novel shortcomings, it is a good SF novel with an interesting setting, set-up, and various set-tos.
January 18, 2025
I enjoyed this! I found Max both frustrating and relatable, and the other characters had a similar realness. There were times where I felt bored by the writing, but overall this was fun. Props for GREAT first and last lines though!!
March 11, 2023
pretty much every aspect of this novel (except the cover picture) lacks depth. style of writing indicates some potential though
March 26, 2023
starting reading this for the trans rights readathon, obviously this book gripped me with its anti capitalist, anarchy, workers solidarity premise all while in space. what not to love
November 23, 2023
Love a space union story, although the 'in space's bit is somewhat undercooked. Ultimately about a protagonist feeling their way through joining an radical union and participating in direct action.
September 3, 2025
Hands down probably the worst written book I've ever read. The characters are all annoying, poorly written and none of them are likable. The world building is practically non existent...This book is not worth your time if I could give it 0 stars I would.
August 24, 2023
Station Six by S.J. Klapecki is a queer science fiction novella with big ideas centering a fight against capitalist exploitation. The concepts in this novella were fascinating and deeply relatable in our increasingly exploitative world; while futuristic, it’s really not that far off from present-day situations playing out in the world today. It’s refreshing to see a trans character whose transness is both centered and not - it impacts their life but does not serve as the focal point of their struggle.
However, what the novella had in rich ideas thinned out when it came to the execution. Characters feel underdeveloped and more archetypes than fully realized individuals. Max is dragged along from situation to situation with little agency; though lack of agency against the overpowering machinations of capitalism is definitely a theme of the book, it took almost until the very end for Max to come to any meaningful decision about their role. And with how little the science fiction elements came to be a part of it, I almost wonder if the novella wouldn’t have been better served and punchier by playing out a contemporary setting.
All that being said, this is still an interesting novella with an important political backbone of union solidarity, worker’s rights, and the ongoing fight against an inherently oppressive capitalist system. As this is a debut, I would definitely be curious to read more of Klapecki’s writing in the future.
Thank you to AK Press and Edelweiss for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
However, what the novella had in rich ideas thinned out when it came to the execution. Characters feel underdeveloped and more archetypes than fully realized individuals. Max is dragged along from situation to situation with little agency; though lack of agency against the overpowering machinations of capitalism is definitely a theme of the book, it took almost until the very end for Max to come to any meaningful decision about their role. And with how little the science fiction elements came to be a part of it, I almost wonder if the novella wouldn’t have been better served and punchier by playing out a contemporary setting.
All that being said, this is still an interesting novella with an important political backbone of union solidarity, worker’s rights, and the ongoing fight against an inherently oppressive capitalist system. As this is a debut, I would definitely be curious to read more of Klapecki’s writing in the future.
Thank you to AK Press and Edelweiss for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
January 1, 2024
Good book, I expect the author will continue to grow. Would pick up their next book if I saw it in the store.
December 13, 2023
forgettable. i've already mostly forgotten it.
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