Review – The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: 93 pages
Publisher:‎ Tordotcom
Release Date: April 16, 2024
ASIN: B0C1X7L542
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

“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.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.

Thoughts: This is an intriguing little sci-fi read. I was impressed with the world-building and amount of story in this shorter novella. Things are a bit ambiguous, but I still enjoyed it.

This story is about a boy who is raised as a Chained (one of the people who toil in the core of a mining ship). When this boy shows an ability to draw fantastic drawings, he finds himself pulled upstairs to become part of a class of the educated. He is sorely out of place and ends up bonding with the professor who supported the program that allowed him to be lifted up to the this new level. Together, they end up working to free themselves from their “chains”.

You are thrust into a world that is a bit confusing at first, but you figure it out as you go through the story. It was interesting to see the boy, who was raised in what we would consider miserable circumstances, long for his previous life. He just felt he had more human connection in his chained life. It was also interesting to watch him use those abilities of connection to go against what the “enlightened” people of the university knew to be true and start to dismantle the system.

If I sound like I am talking about this book somewhat vaguely, I am. That is just how this book is. You are thrust into the middle of a complex world, and you are seeing things mostly through the eyes of a boy who doesn’t understand this new world he’s been put in. I was slightly puzzled by the ending and am not sure what’s actually going to happen to our characters in the future. However, I believe that is part of the story, so I actually enjoyed the ambiguity in this case.

This was written in a somewhat ambiguous but strangely beautiful style. I enjoyed the story and liked that it was different from traditional sci-fi stories.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. It was a small time commitment for an intriguing little sci-fi story. I liked watching the boy adjust to his new environment and watching him challenge the basics of the society he is thrust into. The writing is lyrical and beautiful and a bit ambiguous. You aren’t really sure exactly what happens at the end, but given the tone of the rest of the story, that matches well. I liked this enough that I might check out other books by Samatar, although from the brief look I took at her writings, most of them are more literary than sci-fi.