Mastodawn

So, maybe that makes a difference? At least for me, it makes "The Vela" feel a bit like a story stuck in "good, pure country folk vs. spoiled exploitative city dwellers' mode, especially as the rural outer planets are not responsible for the sun's demise and the terrorists are criminals in other ways as well.

"The Expanse" has a bit of that dynamic in the Martian attitudes too, but it's different: the Martians are neither innocents nor oppressors.

(4/n, n=4)

#TheVela #TheExpanse

In "The Expanse", we meet the Belters as workers, as an industrial proletariat: as welders and mechanics and miners, represented by unions, and organizing as terrorists as well as a political arm. They live in built, "urban" spaces.

In "The Vela", we meet the outer planet folks a country dwellers: as farmers, hunters, foragers, as living in clans and extended family groups, as singers of songs and tellers of folk tales. Their landscapes are important to them.

(3/n)

#TheVela #TheExpanse

Living conditions in the outer planets are hostile, so the inners are seen as soft and spoiled, freeloaders having it easy.

So that's a similar setup, isn't it? And we have refugees and ex-military running around in it in both cases, as well as a big technological disruption.

But "The Vela" felt different, and I wondered why.

And I think part of the reason is how and as what we meet the outer planet folks. That makes for different tales.

(2/n)

#TheVela #TheExpanse

So I managed to find a reason why #TheVela feels so different from #TheExpanse.

The world's framework feels similar: a solar system, with sublight interplanetary travel possible, but usually not fast, using both gravity assists and high-g burns. The outer planets as basically colony worlds, exploited by the inners for water and other materials. Refugee waves if something goes wrong, and prejudice against outer planetary folk in general. Political systems not being democratic.

(1/n)

But it's not all grimdark. There are characters who care, even though they make messy compromises. There is stark beauty in different landscapes, in poetry, sweets and family ties. But they are small glimpses against a hostile world.

I liked the gritty realism, even if it's not really what I want right now: the many disabled characters, the many hurts and pains. I liked that literally everyone we know something about is queer. And the major plot twist is neat.

(4/n, n=4)

The "Vela" is a refugee ship gone missing, and very probably more than it seems to be - as is Niko, the hapless privileged sidekick of a hard-boiled soldier. And both of them are sweeped up in the system's politics and struggle for the future.

"The Vela" is a climate change allegory, and a depressing one at that. Everyone tries to survive, even if that means leaving others behind; even the ending is nothing more than a desparate scramble of getting out first.

(3/n)

As this affects the outer planets first, there are many refugees from the outer into the inner system. Which is being dealt with by letting their scrap ships come apart and putting the ones who make it into overcrowded camps in orbit.

Amidst this backdrop, we follow what's on the surface a rescue mission: Asala (mercenary who's also a refugee from outer planet Hypathia) and Niko (hacker kid of inner planet Khayyam's president) are tasked with finding the "Vela".

(2/n)

So, "The Vela", a collaborative science fiction novel written in relatively self-contained chapters by @slhuang, @deuceofgears, Becky Chambers, and Rivers Solomon.

Set in a solar system with many inhabited planets, each with its on distinct politics and culture - without them being monocultures.

But there's a problem here: the sun is slowly going out, because some inner planets overdid the Hydrogen harvesting. This renders the planets uninhabitable one by one.

(1/n)

Jules Apr 16, 2023

All that quoted poetry between sisters gives me Lieutenant Awn and Basnaaid feelings. Even if the dynamic is quite different, the sibling's connection isn't. (💙)