Team Hooman discussion

Congrats, you finished our April/May group read! What did you think about it?

I thought this book was so fantastic that I ran and got the second book and read through that one too!

My favorite thing about this series is that Becky Chambers is using really issues that we find today and put them in a different perspective using alien species and futuristic sci-fi cultures and settings.

Identity issues using the Sinat Pair (as well as looking at religious culture). Gender issues with Aeulon and Aandrisk. As well as love and it's expressions. Parenting is looked at through Chef and his species (which I can't remember how it's spelled).

I can't wait to talk more about this book throughout the month with you guys!

What did you guys think about what Corbin did to Ohan?

This book was so good! It was fun, imaginative, and thoughtful - I agree, Rachel, the author addressed a lot of really interesting cultural issues, and the inner science nerd in me delighted every time we started to dive into the workings of a different alien species. The camaraderie was wonderful too, very Firefly, but with so much more.

I was really shocked at what Corbin did to Ohan. I thought that Ashby (it was Ashby, right?) made a good point with Sis about what if he forced her to care for her bio children because morally that seemed wrong to him too. Of course, there are no lives on the line there, however.

It's really a difficult topic - at one point can you try to change someone's culture because it's "wrong"? As a Peace Corps Volunteer, this was definitely a topic of discussion often as some in the country I served in defended things like homophobia and domestic abuse as part of their culture (while homophobia is actually more of a Western import but that's a whole different convo). Obviously these were things that I wanted to change - but when it comes down to forceably injecting someone who professes they want to die...that seems so much more extreme and violating somehow. I thought it was going to happen while they were tunneling out of necessity, that Ohan would ask for it to ensure he helped them make it through!

Heidi - I totally agree about being shocked at the injection of Ohan! But as someone who lives in the Star Trek universe with the Prime Directive, it's fun to read about crews out there who have more leeway for moral debate about cultural difference and make morally gray decisions (without going totally off the deep end in a villain direction.)

Speaking of which, I was expecting Firefly connections but it seemed the author is fluent in most of the major scifi verses and I appreciated various Star Trek shoutouts - like Doctor Chef as a remake of Neelix into an actually compelling character. So much kudos for all the worldbuilding by Becky Chambers!

Yeah, I'm still not sure how I feel about what Corbin did. I think Corbin viewed it as akin to an intervention. Ohan was willing to allow themselves to die and Corbin viewed it like any other self-injurious behavior, rather than a cultural question.

On the other hand, I agree Ohan deserved having the free will to make their own decisions, particularly when it comes to life and death

I felt so conflicted about it too. I was like of course I would do it to save Ohan, but I loved that the author spent so much time giving you context with the culture and seeing both perspectives.