Native people and their stories are rarely (if ever) given the attention they deserve in American literature. In Orange's first novel, he manages not only to give Native peoples lives and stories their due attention but he also manages to create a narrative that rocks readers to their cores. If I were to compare this to anything I'd say it reminds me of HBO's hit The Wire. There There is made up of vignettes that give texture to each character while also driving its larger plot. At the end of it all there's really only one thing left to do - put on the blues.
Cardenia Wu has a lot to deal with when she unexpectedly becomes the next in line to rule the Interdependency. Empire politics, unwanted marriage proposals, oh yeah, and the potential disintegration of all the interconnected human settlements. Fast and enticing, Scalzi does not disappoint.
Once again Becky Chambers has lived up to my every expectation. Through the perspectives of five very different people (plus an alien for good measure) she unfolds the intersections of life and death, stability and displacement, all through the every-day lives of the citizens of the Exodus Fleet, the original ships that left Earth in search for a better life. As always Chambers' characters feel more real than written, and her proposed future a hopeful, but complex, existence.
