Athena’s
Comments
(group member since Sep 01, 2016)
Athena’s
comments
from the The Long Way... To a Common Orbit flash group group.
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MrsJoseph wrote: "Carol. wrote: "I was surprised at how much Jane's story intrigued me."I was completely wrapped up in Jane's story."
Me too. If the focus had been Sidra I wouldn't have gotten far with the book - her story didn't start grabbing me until near the end, although there was a bit of 'will she be outed' anxiety in a couple of the public scenes.
Beth - great point about Blue! That's a weakness of the book for me, he's not as fleshed out/real a character as he could've been (and as Chambers did so ably in Long Way with some of the secondary characters).
Emily wrote: "Would they have deliberately programmed things like kindness into ship AI's?"Good point! There's an almost throwaway line in the latter half where Chambers describes ships' AIs and kindness & caring for crew being amongst their primary directives (yes, I originally typed Prime Directives 😊). Perhaps that would've been better had it been moved earlier in the text, as clearly many readers would question Owl's acting so like a person. I assumed her 'person-ness' from the almost-mourning that Owl seemed to have for her (wacked-out evangelistic) previous crew, that brought her to Jane's world, so I anthropomorphized her from the beginning ... but I tend to anthro inanimate objects so that's just me!
yum ... pop taaarts ... I need to reread esp because of the Sidra story - Jane was so compelling for me that Sidra-reading was just due diligence until the last quarter of the book.
I found the Jane storyline to be the most compelling for about 80% of the book, to the point of being cranky to have to go to a Sidra chapter. Like Long Way, this book sucked me in & needs a re-read to get the full effect of it!
Harryo wrote: "I love "Socks! ... Match my hat!" So much I put it to music and walked around singing it as loud as I could for about a week"Sistah!! I wonder how many of us have sung Socks! Match My Hat? It'd be a great name for a Becky Chambers Fan Group!
A review of AC&CO from Tor (haven't read it all yet, don't want to hit spoilers!):AC&CO Review by Niall Alexander
Only at p.63, but Chambers' description of Jane 23's childhood mixed in with the description of Sidra's 'childhood' is gorgeous. (view spoiler)
Data-ette! Currently rewatching STNG (from the beginning this time) ... Gods, season 1 sucked dilithium waste ...
Carol. wrote: "Moving on! Very excited, and I don't say that lightly :)"SWEET! Congrats, luck, & Enjoy Yourself!!
Me too! {happy dancin'!}
Beth wrote: "Space pirate bird (?) people! … The situation between [Jenks] and Lovey ...sounds more like she's conceding to his desires …"Space Pirate Bird People is a wonderful phrase! And I like your take on Lovey's ability to consent, she seems to be "in love" with Jenks because … he's there? She says something along the lines of 'loving him from the moment she was installed' which wasn't as touching as perhaps the author meant it to be; more kinda creepy. She 'loved' him because he was the first person she'd ever met?
Edited to point out: three, count us THREE! historians on this read. We will ROCK you, world! Back to what took me forever to type up:Another great flash read! Thank you, Carol! And you put your finger on some of the discomfort, the 'mini-adventures' not linking to the overarching storyline: spot on.
Good point I hadn't thought of, Corbin (subconsciously?) trying to connect with Rosemary by pointing out the shipboard dangers. That really works well with his later reveal of being raised by a single, asocial parent with little emotional warmth.
Amelia - I saw that she Kickstarted the end of the book & think your take on it is more on-target than mine, which was 'cool! she could concentrate on writing!' … prob not so much, tho ;)
Yippee for the confirmed 2nd book! Hope she works the Wayfarer into Lovelace's life (while hoping that it doesn't go all soggy Jenks-Meets-Lovelace-and-Looove, not that I don't like Jenks but that's just too predictable).
GREAT point about Chambers bringing in psycho-emotional dysfunction for Aandrisks: I hadn't thought of that in terms of the Corbin-Sissix relationship. Interesting that Sissix easily creates a bridge between an unknown dysfunctional Aandrisk but can't do so with her shipmate: she seems comfortable enough with humans to recognize 'stuff' going on with Rosemary/Santoso, but can't do the same with Corbin. Another 2nd book issue?
Mikhail - I love that term, 'First-Book-Itis'! You're right that Wooding's experience served him better for Ketty Jay; I liked that this was a bit lighter but def. choppy.
I'm still all 'Kizzy Fan Club' (even tho Chambers did sort of infantilize her a bit at times, i.e. "tummyache" from a 30 y/o woman!), and also still singing Socks Match My Hat to a loud thumping bass line while making dinners, cuz who doesn't dig a great thundering 'bottom' to loud music! What was that quote? Something like 'who cares about the official lyrics!' … :)
Agree with you both, Amelia & Carol. I really like the book, enough to reread it immediately, yet on the 2nd pass I skipped the places that didn't gel during the first read; enough that by the end it had that 'first book from a young author' feel to it. Which ain't bad, but it is a factor.Preachy in places, spinning basic therapy as Alien Wisdom in others (such as Dr. Chef referring to himself as the 'warden' of his memories), and going on about the oddity of humans seeking constant happiness (what, most sentients seek out pain?), etc.; that bogged down the story.
I didn't have an issue with Rosemary's reinvention of herself though, as someone did. It made sense to me: she couldn't find work anywhere & her family fortune was, I assumed, confiscated by the gov't (her comments about having spent everything she had). Governments are all about confiscating; might be partly why human societies are frequently so committed to draconian punishments.
Sissix's biology didn't work so I made up my own Sissix, with a snout so she could smell. :) Rambling explanation here: (view spoiler)
The story wrapped awkwardly, the Toremi Ka were just sort of TV-level Bad Guys. I was moved by Jenk's reaction to Lovey's death (not the death itself) but it still felt like the Obligatory Tragic Moment: she was a minor character. It would've worked just as well had Lovey not been killed off, or been guttingly tragic had, say, Dr. Chef or Sissix or Kizzy been killed.
I like Corbin evolving from Algae Guy Jackass to bad-with-people-but-trying, though it felt like a planned reveal rather than a character's evolution. Perhaps she didn't trust the readers enough? A bolder author might have fleshed him as an utterly unlikeable dickhead, but given us his flashes of feeling for the crew that he couldn't process. A touchpoint for his evolution would've made saving Ohan more powerful too.
I really DID like the book and want to see it go to at least a two-booker if not a series (the Toremi might make more sense after book 2). Chambers writes interestingly believable characters with good dialog, backstory and realistic motivations. She good at cheerful, decent folks and that's a Very Good Thing for modern fiction. I enjoyed the time I spent on the Wayfarer and I'd like to see where she takes them with the potential for bigger jobs.
Solid 4 stars.
I haven't read SG, but put it on the list - it's been released as collections and one reviewer called it 'pacifist SF comfort food' which sounds good to me. I like the dark side but sometimes I just want some happy, which desire Long Way certainly fulfilled. Sometimes I need Socks Match My Hat! :)
I have Dr. Chef brain-scanned as a giant glob of Silly Putty with a head and 6 clunky limbs … in an aloha shirt … ;)
For language, I have a vague theory that current-era English speakers are between words for expressing sympathy. The tail end of using 'alas' as a less clinical way of saying 'you have my sympathy' was almost gone during my childhood and then 'bummer' came in vogue & has stuck around as a sympathy phrase for (non-tragic) situations. Wish I could peek ahead 100 years to see what evolves!For the Toremi, yeah, jarring! The whole situation (the Nib-to-Rosemary note she pointedly doesn't see but do, and the Toum scenes) is the only non-Wayfarer perspective we get & it feels clunky, like Chambers had a hard time filling in the actual attack scene. You're right, it makes much more sense that Toum would attack the Mother, in person or from the ship where, presumably, he's joined the splinter group, although the emphasis on Toremi violence & unpredictability might explain it.
Her writing is very strong in characterization & personal interaction in this book; I think her skill with big penultimate drama will come with more experience. Also makes me wonder if she may be setting up a next book that might have more Toremi in it? I wouldn't mind revisiting this crew! :)
One of two places where Chambers missteps and it jarred me out of the flow of the book, although it's just a little thing - on p. 225 an Anglo-centrism that I don't think would evolve in the Esperanto-esque single language humans seem to be using: 'Rosemary's hand went to her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said. Such a quintessentially Human thing to do, to express sorrow through apology.'English speakers do this, but it's sympathy for another's pain, not sorrow; other cultures use words meaning 'your grief is mine' (like the Irish mó bhron).
I think the Human Diaspora would've developed more & better emotional connection phrases than current modern English uses, since they're either cooped up together on ships or in colonies on hostile environments.
Cue Seedy Galactic Spaceport MUSIC: Kizzy singing "Socks Match My Hat" (which I was singing as I made diner last night) is now on my spaceport music list. She's a bit over-the-top and a skosh stereotypical (the wacky tech) but terribly endearing. Not that I can be thick, but it wasn't until p.62 of the reread that I realized 'genetweaks' is pronounced Gene Tweaks and not Jeanette Weeks … lmao!
