Chapter 13: The Last War: Dr Chef and Rosemary talk about Chef’s species in the Fishbowl. He explains that his species, when left to their own devices, will fight themselves almost to extinction. There are only 300 Grum, Chef’s species, left. He explains that the opposing side, called The Outsiders, used organ cutters to kill his people, which targeted genetic markers of anyone who wasn’t an Outsider. Apparently, the Outsiders stole the tech from Chef’s people who had designed it originally. Chef was a doctor during the war and saw his daughters die in it, and the war later eventually ended. Chef tried to live a quiet life and he eventually became a doctor and was taken onto The Wayfarer by Ashby. Chef believes none of the crew would have an issue with who Rosemary’s father is, just that she lied.

The best recent science fiction novels – review roundup

Lovey was unfortunately killed in the blast and Kizzy and Jenks have to give her a hard reset. Lovey is gone, and replaced by Lovelace. Adam Roberts felt that it was "a huge amount of space-opera-y fun, with some interestingly nuanced perspectives on gender woven into the whole", [7] while James Nicoll observed that although the setting was evocative of the Traveller roleplaying game, he was "more strongly reminded of James Tiptree, Jr.'s short story " And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" … that is, if James Tiptree, Jr. instead of being relentlessly, inexorably depressing, had been a cheerful optimist." [9] Strange Horizons ' Linda Wilson commended Chambers for portraying naturalistic conversation and exposition, and for the relationships between characters. [10]Ashby has to go to a meeting with the GC council to tell them what happened. He says he doesn’t understand why they want to ally with a species that loses their temper and starts shooting so easily. The council seem to listen because they announce later than the alliance is cancelled, or at least on hold. Motherhood. Does it really matter if it´s a real, human, flesh mum or just an AI? Where is the dividing line between a biologically defined, wet wired affection and love towards a kid or humankind (for whatever reason) in general and the simulation of love by a sentient AI? If the AI is so highly sophisticated and developed that it has the bonus of an own identity and understanding of it and would be, let's say, put in a cyborg body, is there still any difference between its/her love and the ape version? It’s time for the first punch, and it’s very confusing and timey-wimey and Rosemary throws up afterwards. But Rosemary isn't the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed. Rosemary Harper is joining the crew of the Wayfarer as a clerk. Captain Ashby hired her because it was said that he’d be taken more seriously if he had a registered clerk on board.

Wayfarers Wiki | Fandom Wayfarers Wiki | Fandom

Sometime after buying the Wayfarer, Ashby met and fell in love with Pei during a visit to Port Coriol. The two have since carried on a relationship largely in secret, as Pei is an Aeluon whose career would be damaged by news of an inter-species relationship. However, after Ashby's near-death on Hedra Ka, Pei decided she no longer cared who knew about their relationship, and would not hide it any more.

I love stories centering on identity (this comes as no surprise), and Chambers does this skillfully and as I said thoroughly optimistically. I adore her ruminations on what makes somebody a person and how this might change as technology adapts. Her themes of belonging and family (born and found) are important. I love how at the core this is not about science as much as about sociology. And I love the warmth her stories have. I cannot wait for the third part to release later this year. This was a hard thing to rate. Thankfully I knew going in that this might not be for me. In fact I put it off for ages - cosy slice of life didn't appeal to me, even if it is sci-fi - but I eventually bought and read it a) because the amount of glowing recommendations really piled up over time, b) because I was just coming off the grimdark military sci-fi of Gaunt's Ghosts and wanted something more chill and optimistic as a palate cleanser, and c) because I wanted a space opera that might remind me of the downtime in Mass Effect games. Another great thing about this book, and series as a whole are the messages the author teaches reader in the books. This book is anti-prejudice in novel form - people use non-binary pronouns until informed otherwise, it shows us many different cultures with differing views on family and sex, it's weird, and fun. Dr Chef tells Rosemary about the civil war on his homeland, where he was an army doctor. Both sides started to use bio weapons, and when Dr Chef’s last daughter was killed, he decided to quit. His people eventually stopped fighting, and pretty much all agreed that it might be best if the species went extinct. The young Jayne story was good, I enjoyed reading about her life on the scrapheap planet, her adventures and her development under Owl. It was written well and thoroughly enjoyable.

Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Some Quelins demand to search the ship and they take Corbin. Turns out he’s a clone of his dad, and Quelins don’t like clones at all. Sissix agrees to help him by becoming his sponsor, and she goes to get him from jail. Plot: Rosemary is a young human woman who had just undergone a sudden change in her circumstances. Her best way of dealing with those circumstances turns out to be joining the crew of a spaceship Wayfarer that punches wholes in space to blaze the trails connecting faraway planets to each other. As she joins the crew, the ships gets an unusual, but lucrative commission to punch a hole connecting the Galactic Conferderacy space with the space belonging to an species that appears to want an alliance. The job requires spending a good part of a year on the ship without time off. The book follows the ship and its crew as they navigate the galaxy and interpersonal relationships. When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched up ship that's seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past. There are some elements that had similar uses in other sci-fi novels and got new and fresh interpretations and necromania: Scalzis´ Old Mans´war body function descriptions, Stephenson´s diamond age educational software for poor little girls, the complete reverse of Taylors´ Bobiverse concept, not putting the human mind in the machine/ body, put putting the AI in a human body cyborg kit. Much of this book, and this series in general, looks at how the intertwined histories of everyone make up a galactic culture that thrives best when everyone is given space to be themselves and value one another. Chambers excels at placing topics from our present day into the sci fi universe and interacting with them in exciting ways that flesh out that universe, such as Tak being the Aeluon “shon” gender, which means Tak switches between reproductive organs and is called he or she depending on the present configuration. And everyone understands and adapts and it’s lovely because honestly it's not hard. We also see how much of the hurt in the universe is from someone trying to lord power over another, or not valuing the existence of another species. For example, Sidra being an AI in a body kit is actually very, very illegal in the galaxy and if caught she will be destroyed, so much of her fears is adapting to “pass” as human and all the existential crises of having to have a self.This is the first book in a space faring tetralogy in which basically everyone is queer and humans are the pity species of the galaxy because we were dumb enough to destroy our own planet. It follows a motley crew as they make their way to a small, angry planet near the galactic core to see if this planet is worthy of entry into the main galactic community. The Wayfarer is a multi-species ship with a sentient AI ship, no not you Bargie!, that welcomes a new human on board at the beginning of the novel. The book is told from various points of view while exploring different worlds and space stations along the way. or so - Spoiler Free/First Impressions Discussion. I know we have spoiler tags here, but I always think this is a good discussion that everyone is free to enter, and it can be used to help convince others to read it. If it is full of hidden spoilers, it won't work the same. I'm not saying you can't do that some, but the point will be to have a discussion that anyone can enter and read most of the comments. When I think about each individual character in the crew, there are some that are definitely stronger than others. I liked antisocial scientist Corbin’s development but it did feel like it kind of came out of nowhere after 60% of a book where he was barely present, while Ashby was a virtual nonentity to me. Kizzy cycled between endearing and extremely grating and the romance between Sissix and Rosemary was sweet but a little out of left field (or maybe I’m just obtuse at reading romantic cues). Ohan was my favorite crew member and I really, really loved their story most of all, while Dr Chef was another favorite. Sidra is still not having a great time being in a body. She just wants to be what she was before. And let me just say that this story has such a happy ending that it made me feel all fuzzy inside and I needed that right now =)