Libration

The dual stories, told in short, impactful chapters is such a powerful mechanism, and Becky Chambers wields it perfectly.

Both stories are riveting for their own, very different reasons. But both have to do with social justice, and personhood denied.

I found myself getting to the end of one chapter and being oh but I want to stay with this character! only to get embroiled in the other character's chapter immediately.

It's like an anti-cliffhanger. Rather than leaving you hanging, it pulls you in to the next segment, and then pulls you right back into the following.

If you liked The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - the previous entry by Becky Chambers, then I can super-recommend this.

Easy to read, difficult to put down once you started.

Thoroughly enjoyed the worldbuilding and the story, but I felt like I had to do the work to relate to the characters. They both start off at points in their lives that are unique, interesting - and hard to wrap my head around. The author does a great job giving them distinct voices and letting them grow over time, but I just found them too far removed to really get into the book.

The secondary characters, however! I really loved reading about them from the perspectives of the protagonists, and as always, the interactions are wonderfully crafted.

Druha cast navazuje volne na predchozi dej, kdy Sidra, byvala lodni UI Lovelace, obyva lidsky telo. Je to opet poklidny, pohodovy cteni a plyne nak tak samo.

Kdyz se nad tim zamyslim vic, tak flashback cast je dost slusne propracovana a pride me tenhle dil o poznani kvalitnejsi.

Second story focuses on (not only) troubles of former spaceship AI moved to human body. There's also flashback to Chilli's childhood, painting careless society growing genetically modified kids for labor. It's somewhat more complex than first part and I like different timelines, despite being it a bit predictable.

More feel-good scifi. (No spoilers:) It's Pepper backstory, and another minor character from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. I think this one benefits a lot from taking it slowly and focussing on just two characters.