nikvo

This book benefits a lot from its focus on two characters, in contrast to Long Way, which was very fun but felt like a bunch of B-plots in a trench coat. The two threads contrast against each other nicely and pull out a bunch of ideas to chew on – stuff like identity, existentialism, family, community, intelligence. Sidra's story, though quite serious at times, also helps counterbalance the heaviness of Pepper's.

Pepper's plot reminded me a lot of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, and it would surprise me if Chambers hadn't read it. Both Ness and Jane's stories are equal parts heart-wrenching and compelling. (Chambers and Stephenson both provide a lot of asides that are catnip to folks like me who love an extra little bit of worldbuilding.)

I love me a good woke novel, but sometimes the moralism can feel a bit tacked-on and hokey. Chambers does a good job embedding themes of tolerance and social justice in the two novels of hers that I've read, enhancing the story rather than distracting from it.

The last two stories are much better than the rest of the book. If you're not gelling with the sort of weird uncle humor that this book is dishing out, I would just skip ahead to those.