REVIEW - Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

This is not so much a novel as a set of short stories (or perhaps novellas) that taker place in the same world. That world is one built by Chambers in two other novels, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit. Though part of the Wayfarer series, each book can stand on its own. The stories take place in the Galactic Commons, hundreds of years after the last humans boarded ships as part of the Exodus Fleet. As they spread throughout the galaxy, over generations, they were accepted into the community of other galactic species.

…Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?
A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.
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This installment follows the stories of a few of these descendants, as noted above, alternating between them throughout, who deal with various societal and personal aspects of living in space for so long. Some struggle to fit in among the various races, others are just trying to find a life, some want to go planet-side and start a life anew with a sky above. Others chose to stay on the ships, working within the society that evolved spaceborn life.

Chambers’ writing is charming and her characters come to life. She has done an excellent job of building the world, and the various plot lines are interesting.

The novel almost reads more like a literary experiment to explore how individuals and societies would work, live, love, struggle, and triumph in the world Chambers has invented. Perhaps this runs the risk of being contrived, but her skill with character development and action makes it realistic and a fun read.

This was not a book that I could not put down. Yet each time I took it up to continue, I looked forward to which character’s story would appear in each subsequent chapter, what would happen, and how they would respond.

Though not a novel that I will remember forever, or touched me in a deep way, it was interesting and enjoyable—enough so that I am inclined to read the first in the series.