book talk goes here right?
Dec. 17th, 2018 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kesbeaconYesterday I read A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, a full nine months or more after reading Long Way to a Small Angry Planet; I enjoyed the first one although there was some stuff that was a bit weird. Again, enjoyed ACACO but found some stuff weird.
I really like Chambers' brand of 'cozy' sci-fi - it's a big cold galaxy out there but characters choose each other and choose to prioritise each other. Sidra is wonderful and I empathise deeply with her struggle to be her own person in an existence that was chosen and defined by others, and her complicated feelings about what she can expect from others and what they can expect from her.
Spoilers from hereon out.
But then we get the actual finale and, well. I'm a bit... hesitant about the fact that key parts of the denouements of both books contain the idea of 'the best way to help your friend is to go against their wishes.'
You can conjure up loads of in-text reasons why Sidra had to rescue Owl like that, or why Corbin had to turn Ohan heretic against their will. But why does the narrative make that necessary? Why does it do so, twice? Like, I love Sidra and I cheered when she resisted the upgrade, but all I could think was that Pepper... shouldn't have been kept away. It felt cruel, especially when she and Sidra had clashed over the implications of Pepper's history before.
On the other hand, I love Tak and I love Aeluons.
I really like Chambers' brand of 'cozy' sci-fi - it's a big cold galaxy out there but characters choose each other and choose to prioritise each other. Sidra is wonderful and I empathise deeply with her struggle to be her own person in an existence that was chosen and defined by others, and her complicated feelings about what she can expect from others and what they can expect from her.
Spoilers from hereon out.
But then we get the actual finale and, well. I'm a bit... hesitant about the fact that key parts of the denouements of both books contain the idea of 'the best way to help your friend is to go against their wishes.'
You can conjure up loads of in-text reasons why Sidra had to rescue Owl like that, or why Corbin had to turn Ohan heretic against their will. But why does the narrative make that necessary? Why does it do so, twice? Like, I love Sidra and I cheered when she resisted the upgrade, but all I could think was that Pepper... shouldn't have been kept away. It felt cruel, especially when she and Sidra had clashed over the implications of Pepper's history before.
On the other hand, I love Tak and I love Aeluons.
