In any other author you might think this was a recipe for dullness, in Chambers however, with her ability to populate her universe with flawed, three dimensional and just plain lovable people, this is nothing of the kind. Here however, Chambers pretty much says from the get go that there will be little by way of narrative structure or direction, and that the entire book will be essentially episodes from the lives of her five principle characters. Angry Planet had a fairly casual ongoing plot corresponding to the Wayfarer’s voyage, whilst Common Orbit’s attempt at a continuous plot was perfunctory at best. One of the most astounding things about Spaceborn Few is that Chambers is both able to play to her strengths as an author, and at the same time give us something new.
In this atmosphere of change we follow five human residents of the Exodan fleet, living with them day to day, and understanding their hopes, fears and expectations from life. It’s been a couple of generations since the Exodus fleet made contact with the galactic commons, and things are changing, imports from technology to currency threaten the carefully balanced Exodan way of life, even as the younger generation are leaving their homesteader ships to settle elsewhere. Two hundred years ago, The Exodus fleet left Earth, a group of people bound together by a common cause forming a close-knit community, trying not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Spaceborn Few also resembles our eclectic friend in that even as it plays fast and loose with authorial convention and usual literary organisation, it’s a massive amount of fun!
We of course assured him that it would be no trouble, even though we know he will turn the kitchen into a bomb site whilst cooking for us, and probably have us up until dawn discussing every subject under the sun over cocktails, and that the rest of life will probably have to be put on hiatus while he’s with us, since he is just not quite like anyone else we know. So when Record of a Spaceborn Few came up, it was as if we’d opened the front door to find that close friend standing outside, suitcase in hand, casually explaining that he was in the area and wondering if we would mind if he crashed on our spare bed for a few days. In my review of Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I agreed with Michelle Herbert’s assessment of the book as like a hug from a close friend.
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