The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

by

128 pages

ISBN:
978-1-250-88180-9
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5 stars (3 reviews)

The boy was raised as one of the Chained, condemned to toil in the bowels of a mining ship out among the stars. His whole world changes—literally—when he is yanked “upstairs” and informed he has been given an opportunity to be educated at the ship’s university alongside the elite.

Overwhelmed and alone, the boy forms a bond with the woman he comes to know as “the professor,” a weary idealist and descendent of the Chained who has spent her career striving for validation from her more senior colleagues, only to fall short at every turn.

Together, the boy and the woman will embark on a transformative journey to grasp the design of the chains that fetter them both—and are the key to breaking free.

2 editions

reviewed The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

Sparse, intense

5 stars

Wow.

In some ways this is radically different from the Olondria books, which are the other things I've read by Samatar so far: where those are an overwhelmingly rich feast with many interwoven strands, this is a short, very sparsely written story with a very tight focus. But Samatar is an exceptionally good writer, and part of what makes all of them work is simply that. And I see something of a continuity:

A Stranger in Olondria: one person's very self-centred account of some epochal changes in a place he doesn't entirely understand Winged Histories: 4 peoples' accounts of how their stories weave in and out of the events of A Stranger in Olondria. This book: all about connection, imposed or chosen.

...which is probably as much as I can say without spoilers. #SFFBookClub

reviewed The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain

4 stars

The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain is a lyrical science fiction parable whose strength is in the development of its titular metaphors through its characters and worldbuilding.

The book follows an unnamed boy released from physical labor in the hold of a starship into the care of a woman professor, as part of an uplift university program. We get to see her world through his eyes, as he copes with unwanted changes to his life and as she learns to trust him. It turns out that she too her own set of different chains.

There's a lot of details I really enjoyed: names as a class distinguisher, interrogation of university politics, some horrifying about-face character and worldbuilding reveals, and also just the strength of the chain metaphor to show that what binds us also connects us.

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