I’ve been fascinated by the generation ship idea in science fiction for a long time now. The idea of a group of humans isolated for hundreds, even thousands, of years, makes for fascinating possibilities.
One of the classics is Orphans of the Sky by Robert Heinlein, where the ship’s inhabitants no longer even understand that they’re on a ship. Their culture has devolved into a quasi-medieval farm village way of life. On another extreme is The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank Robinson. The inhabitants of this ship are painfully aware that they are on an endless journey of exploration, and they have developed an utterly unique society built around that fact with a rather…freer approach to sex and relationships, shall we say.
Phoebe North’s Starglass is a unique hybrid of generation ship ideas, and a unique YA book that transcends some the YA clichés and turns them on their head—most of all, the love triangle. The Asherah is one of many ships that fled Earth to avoid a comet, with a mission to preserve Jewish culture. Over the centuries the ship’s culture has become a rather village-like culture, keeping only a tenuous connection with their roots as their society changes. The emphasis is on subordinating yourself to the good of the ship and its mission, living traditionally, having babies, taking the job that’s given to you without complaints.
It’s a very stratified society, with farms, stores, and schools. And of course, there are ambiguous rebels who want to upend all this before the ship finally reaches its destination.
I liked hit story for tackling big issues like sexuality and religion. I thought Terra, our heroine, was fairly believable – her grieving father can’t seem to move on from Terra’s mother’s death (apparently) by cancer, and he takes out his rage and grief on his daughter. She’s trying to find a place in this world, trying to deal with her own needs, with her family, and with the rebellion.
I enjoyed the world building in this story, but had a few quibbles. I think I buy the hierarchical society, because it’s pretty clear that a ship would have a different classes, with officers and the Captain at the top. I don’t quite understand how a starship could have a money economy, though. I also don’t quite know about the artificial womb thing—women don’t carry fetuses—this detail seemed oddly out of place in this society. Isn‘t that what traditional cultures have always pressured women to be – baby vessels?
I do think this story could have been tightened up—I felt like there was a lot of repetitive scenes with her abusive father, her unhappy first engagement with a boy who can’t love her, and her conflicted yet sexy relationship with the boy who’s bound to be the next Captain. The story hinges around a murder that Terra witnesses very early the story; she says it bothers her a lot and that she thinks about it a lot, but for such a shocking thing it doesn’t seem to change anything or affect her, not really.
As a writer, I can understand how this happens. Something that you’ve defined as a pivotal event I your plot gets sort of dropped as the story continues and we get drawn into new events, and new characters…and the Important Thing trickles away, losing its urgency.
So I have some mild reservations. But in the end I really recommend Starglass as a unique spin on YA and science fiction tropes, with a compelling world. Hoping to read the next book in the series soon…