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A review by yevolem
Generation Ship: A Novel by Michael Mammay
5.0
Generation Ship is among the best political drama SF I've ever read. Mammay has also excelled in providing a depiction of the crew members daily lives, how and why their government functions, and the technology required to maintain their society. I believe the limitations inherent to the setting provide for some rather intriguing dynamics.
The Voyager is a first-of-its-kind colony ship with 18,000 people, a number that is strictly adhered to, that is only months away from completing its 250 year journey to Promissa, a planet in Zeta Tucanae, thought to be habitable with 97% confidence. The expectation that everything is soon to change disrupts the routines that have lasted for centuries and many start to question the value of the traditions and laws that have brought them this far. Each chapter opens with how many days remain. It's at least somewhat allegorical about the contemporary United States.
There are five viewpoint characters and each provides a distinct societal perspective. I don't know if they were literally meant to represent these concepts, but I saw them as Science, Outsider, Populism, Enforcement, and Authority. This allowed for a nuanced and panoramic view of how these forces interact and present their side of the story to each other. This is a character drama and each one felt appropriately written. I enjoyed them all.
In other terms of representation there's a lesbian, a gay guy, two nonbinary characters, and an aromantic woman. There's various context clues that at least a few characters are neurodivergent. None of that is a focus, though doesn't it feel like a checklist either. It's simply who they are and it's only relevant when the situation involved something related to it, which isn't often. There may have been more, but that's what I noticed. All of is this is presented as a normal way of being.
The lead up to the ending and the ending itself were the only parts I didn't like as much as it introduced an idea that I'm as biased against as I'm biased for generation ships. I've never liked it in any media that I've come across and this wasn't an exception. It's not so much that it detracts from my enjoyment as it that I have a preference against its inclusion because it bothers me on both a practical and metaphorical level. That and other late introduced ideas that I felt were out of place did lessen my enthusiasm, but the momentum leading up to it and that this is a book much more about the journey than the destination, let me put aside my misgivings.
Although Ursula K. Le Guin's Paradises Lost, a superb novella, focuses on religion while this doesn't at all, I was often reminded of it while reading this, especially about its ecological concerns. I'll definitely be reading Mammay's prior works, as though they are different from this, it's also the sort that I'm able to enjoy.
I received this DRC from Harper Voyager through NetGalley.
Rating: 4.5/5
The Voyager is a first-of-its-kind colony ship with 18,000 people, a number that is strictly adhered to, that is only months away from completing its 250 year journey to Promissa, a planet in Zeta Tucanae, thought to be habitable with 97% confidence. The expectation that everything is soon to change disrupts the routines that have lasted for centuries and many start to question the value of the traditions and laws that have brought them this far. Each chapter opens with how many days remain. It's at least somewhat allegorical about the contemporary United States.
There are five viewpoint characters and each provides a distinct societal perspective. I don't know if they were literally meant to represent these concepts, but I saw them as Science, Outsider, Populism, Enforcement, and Authority. This allowed for a nuanced and panoramic view of how these forces interact and present their side of the story to each other. This is a character drama and each one felt appropriately written. I enjoyed them all.
In other terms of representation there's a lesbian, a gay guy, two nonbinary characters, and an aromantic woman. There's various context clues that at least a few characters are neurodivergent. None of that is a focus, though doesn't it feel like a checklist either. It's simply who they are and it's only relevant when the situation involved something related to it, which isn't often. There may have been more, but that's what I noticed. All of is this is presented as a normal way of being.
The lead up to the ending and the ending itself were the only parts I didn't like as much as it introduced an idea that I'm as biased against as I'm biased for generation ships. I've never liked it in any media that I've come across and this wasn't an exception. It's not so much that it detracts from my enjoyment as it that I have a preference against its inclusion because it bothers me on both a practical and metaphorical level. That and other late introduced ideas that I felt were out of place did lessen my enthusiasm, but the momentum leading up to it and that this is a book much more about the journey than the destination, let me put aside my misgivings.
Although Ursula K. Le Guin's Paradises Lost, a superb novella, focuses on religion while this doesn't at all, I was often reminded of it while reading this, especially about its ecological concerns. I'll definitely be reading Mammay's prior works, as though they are different from this, it's also the sort that I'm able to enjoy.
I received this DRC from Harper Voyager through NetGalley.
Rating: 4.5/5