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rainbowbrarian's Reviews (1.85k)
I've made you all listen to how much I love Becky Chamber's books before and this one was no exception.
This is a space exploration sci-fi story about people exploring space with compassion and kindness at the forefront. I love that despite being in such literally alien spaces the people still felt real and like family. Even when they were put through some really trying experiences they still did their best to act with compassion. We've seen and read the story of people go into space, get stressed and destroy everything. This was the answer to that story where it asked, but what if they actually worked together and no one was an asshole. LOVED this.
I did not see that ending coming, despite the letter beginning at the start. I was shocked, I finished reading this book at 11:45 at night and I had to stay up and read some other stuff to calm myself back down. I must read more of her books.
This is a space exploration sci-fi story about people exploring space with compassion and kindness at the forefront. I love that despite being in such literally alien spaces the people still felt real and like family. Even when they were put through some really trying experiences they still did their best to act with compassion. We've seen and read the story of people go into space, get stressed and destroy everything. This was the answer to that story where it asked, but what if they actually worked together and no one was an asshole. LOVED this.
I did not see that ending coming, despite the letter beginning at the start. I was shocked, I finished reading this book at 11:45 at night and I had to stay up and read some other stuff to calm myself back down. I must read more of her books.
Dex has lost their way in life, in their quest to find their purpose they meet Mosscap, a robot searching for its own answers.
This book was like receiving a hug when you need it most and savoring a perfectly brewed cup of tea. It made me cry good tears and made me FEEL. I spent an afternoon living with Dex and then Mosscap and I felt transported to this beautiful, aspirational world that I’m feeling such yearning for. I wish it were real in the worst way.
It’s a world where people stood at the brink of ecological disaster and made compassionate choices that healed their planet and uplifted all creatures and sometimes the world I live in feels so ugly and harsh and hopeless that it was in some ways painful to inhabit this beautiful alternate world.
I think everyone should read this book. It was beautiful and funny and heartwarming and I cannot wait to read the next on the series.
This book was like receiving a hug when you need it most and savoring a perfectly brewed cup of tea. It made me cry good tears and made me FEEL. I spent an afternoon living with Dex and then Mosscap and I felt transported to this beautiful, aspirational world that I’m feeling such yearning for. I wish it were real in the worst way.
It’s a world where people stood at the brink of ecological disaster and made compassionate choices that healed their planet and uplifted all creatures and sometimes the world I live in feels so ugly and harsh and hopeless that it was in some ways painful to inhabit this beautiful alternate world.
I think everyone should read this book. It was beautiful and funny and heartwarming and I cannot wait to read the next on the series.
The wajinru are the descendants of pregnant Africa slave women who were cast overboard during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Their children were born breathing water and created a civilization beneath the waves of the Atlantic. The Deep is the story of Yetu, a historian of her people, who alone carries the burden of The Remembering. She contains within her all the memories of every wajinru who ever lived, forced to contain and recall every tactile sense memory of the violence and trauma of ancestral pain. But carrying out this duty is slowly but surely killing her. Can she survive being the historian? And what will happen if she abandons her duty and her people?
In The Deep, Rivers Solomon (fae/faer) invites you to explore what it means to inherit ancestral and generational trauma in a fantastic underwater world populated by the wajinru, a mer-person like race of black people who created a civilization in the wake of destruction left by the casualties of the trans-atlantic passage enslaved Africans were forced to take to supply the demand for enslaved workers in the Americas.
Reading Rainbow, the queer book club that I co-lead at DPL picked this book as our March selection. A little background on this book, it was originally inspired by a song by the group Drexciya, then adapted into a rap song by the group .clipping of whom Daveed Diggs is a part. .clipping rejects the use of personal pronouns in their lyrics as a push back against the territoriality of some styles of rap songs, they do not use I, my, me in their lyrics. For The Deep they went even further, using only the phrase “y’all remember”. In Rivers Solomon’s adaptation into the novella The Deep, fae has focused on that phrase and given life to the wajinru and their tradition of The Remembrance. You can read more about the process in the end notes to the book, which I highly recommend!
The Remembrance is a recurring observance where the historian pushes out all the memories to the rest of their people so that they can all remember their collective past for a time before the Historian recalls all the memories and the wajinru can be free with only faint whispers to burden them.
This book was powerful, and a completely recommend listening to the song The Deep by .clipping as well. I heard the song after I read the book and it would be interesting to compare experiences with someone who heard the song first and then read the book. I recognized moments of the novella when I heard the song.
This is a very queer story, the wajinru live in a variety of family styles and shapes, some in polycules and some unpartnered. I appreciated the queernorm of their world, it wasn’t made into a sensational thing, it was just presented as part of their culture. There are a number of queer relationships in the story as well, but the story focuses on Yetu’s life and how she carries the history of her people inside her. Several members of my bookclub read her character as autistic, although that word is never used. I don’t want to give too much else away, because I recommend that you read this novella. The story was both about the burdens caring for community places on a few ‘strong’ individuals and the cost of being a caretaker, especially when you aren’t prepared for that role and didn’t choose it. But it was also a story about community healing and how that can happen in the wake of a massive traumatic event.
The writing of this story is very lyrical in places and sometimes I became confused about who was narrating because of the lack of personal pronouns, but I don’t find this to be a fault of the writer, just an adjustment of my thinking as we work towards being more identity inclusive. A good stretch of the brain for any reader. It’s a beautiful piece of well-crafted story telling and I liked how it ended. Recommended 100%!
In The Deep, Rivers Solomon (fae/faer) invites you to explore what it means to inherit ancestral and generational trauma in a fantastic underwater world populated by the wajinru, a mer-person like race of black people who created a civilization in the wake of destruction left by the casualties of the trans-atlantic passage enslaved Africans were forced to take to supply the demand for enslaved workers in the Americas.
Reading Rainbow, the queer book club that I co-lead at DPL picked this book as our March selection. A little background on this book, it was originally inspired by a song by the group Drexciya, then adapted into a rap song by the group .clipping of whom Daveed Diggs is a part. .clipping rejects the use of personal pronouns in their lyrics as a push back against the territoriality of some styles of rap songs, they do not use I, my, me in their lyrics. For The Deep they went even further, using only the phrase “y’all remember”. In Rivers Solomon’s adaptation into the novella The Deep, fae has focused on that phrase and given life to the wajinru and their tradition of The Remembrance. You can read more about the process in the end notes to the book, which I highly recommend!
The Remembrance is a recurring observance where the historian pushes out all the memories to the rest of their people so that they can all remember their collective past for a time before the Historian recalls all the memories and the wajinru can be free with only faint whispers to burden them.
This book was powerful, and a completely recommend listening to the song The Deep by .clipping as well. I heard the song after I read the book and it would be interesting to compare experiences with someone who heard the song first and then read the book. I recognized moments of the novella when I heard the song.
This is a very queer story, the wajinru live in a variety of family styles and shapes, some in polycules and some unpartnered. I appreciated the queernorm of their world, it wasn’t made into a sensational thing, it was just presented as part of their culture. There are a number of queer relationships in the story as well, but the story focuses on Yetu’s life and how she carries the history of her people inside her. Several members of my bookclub read her character as autistic, although that word is never used. I don’t want to give too much else away, because I recommend that you read this novella. The story was both about the burdens caring for community places on a few ‘strong’ individuals and the cost of being a caretaker, especially when you aren’t prepared for that role and didn’t choose it. But it was also a story about community healing and how that can happen in the wake of a massive traumatic event.
The writing of this story is very lyrical in places and sometimes I became confused about who was narrating because of the lack of personal pronouns, but I don’t find this to be a fault of the writer, just an adjustment of my thinking as we work towards being more identity inclusive. A good stretch of the brain for any reader. It’s a beautiful piece of well-crafted story telling and I liked how it ended. Recommended 100%!
As with all short story collections this one is somewhat mixed. Some of the stories are great and some are lukewarm.
My favorite of them was one called "Dragons Name Themselves" which is a cool queer take on what an inclusive queer wizard school could be if it wasn't created by a TERF. I loved the making of magic through music and I LOVE a good hearted queer matchmaker. Especially when it's the school BUILDING itself.
I also liked the first one about the student who was expelled and then found another queer student and they decided to go rescue other kids who were kicked out and teach them how to do magic more freely.
My favorite of them was one called "Dragons Name Themselves" which is a cool queer take on what an inclusive queer wizard school could be if it wasn't created by a TERF. I loved the making of magic through music and I LOVE a good hearted queer matchmaker. Especially when it's the school BUILDING itself.
I also liked the first one about the student who was expelled and then found another queer student and they decided to go rescue other kids who were kicked out and teach them how to do magic more freely.
I received this ARC from Book Sirens.
This was a solidly decent book of poetry for middle schoolish age kids I think. And I swear I didn't read their description ahead, but it IS like Shel Silverstein and Neil Gaiman collaborated on some creepy poetry and hired the illustrator for Scary Stories to tell in the Dark to do the art work.
There's some good horror-lite in the poems, I liked the one about everyone smiles in this town, and I enjoyed the burning at the stake poem as well. The art makes it too scary for younger readers and there's a little gore that you would want to be aware of in case you've got sensitive kids.
I think without the creepy art it wouldn't be as good.
This was a solidly decent book of poetry for middle schoolish age kids I think. And I swear I didn't read their description ahead, but it IS like Shel Silverstein and Neil Gaiman collaborated on some creepy poetry and hired the illustrator for Scary Stories to tell in the Dark to do the art work.
There's some good horror-lite in the poems, I liked the one about everyone smiles in this town, and I enjoyed the burning at the stake poem as well. The art makes it too scary for younger readers and there's a little gore that you would want to be aware of in case you've got sensitive kids.
I think without the creepy art it wouldn't be as good.
