As You Wake, Break the Shell
A Novel
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4.6 • 24 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Explore a universe of stubborn survival and found family, of persistent danger and quiet wonder in the first installment of a heartfelt new duology from Hugo Award–winning author Becky Chambers.
Life on the resource-poor planet of Fortune is challenging, but for its inhabitants, it’s home. For two of them, Signy and Cora, this home might no longer be enough.
Signy is a brilliant but reclusive botanist who bio-prints medicine from her small plant shop, often bending the rules to help those the system leaves behind. Her life is filled with the green of her store, the warmth of her one elderly friend, and the quiet determination to help others without putting herself in danger.
Cora is a rorqual pilot, one of the few with the unique ability to navigate the massive, living ships that connect the scattered settlements of their solar system. Her bond with her rorqual, Colibri, is profound—a connection that is both her greatest gift and a threat to her career.
It is that threat—the “mindbleed,” a dangerous side effect of her piloting—that brings her to Signy’s shop, and her appearance puts Signy in the danger she so fears. But it’s soon apparent it’s not just about losing her license—this delicate balance between risk and trust has the potential to change everything for them.
Told in an alternating timeline of their initial coming together and a not-so-distant future where they have found domestic bliss, this is a story harrowing and haunting, heartfelt and hopeful. Through a love story centered around survival, we are given a glimpse into the very best of what Becky Chambers does in her writing: explore what it means to be human, and what it means to come together.
Customer Reviews
A deeply resonant exploration of what it means to be alive
How many of us have wanted more despite knowing we should be grateful for what we do have? Is it innate human nature to want more, to try more, to long for freedom? Or is it the nature of all beings to want those things—and more?
Chambers, as usual, delivers characters impossible not to embrace and a series of inevitable events that test them. I can’t wait to see how they go into the end.
I should pay attention to the known duologies. Now I’m going to have to wait until who knows when for As You Grow, Seek the Light is published!
A Song of a Story
Another masterwork from Becky Chambers. I felt emotions I've not felt in many years. For that, I am grateful to the author for crafting such a gently unfolding, powerful, and awe-inspiring song of a story.