This is a novella very unlike Chamber’s Wayfarer series - perhaps more akin to Samatha Harvey’s Orbital. It follows the lives and inner thoughts of a handful of interstellar explorers, cutoff from Earth by the effects of time dilation, as they perform a scientfiic exploration of a series of alien worlds. The philosophical weight of travelling into the unknown, unsure if the world you left behind can still make sense of your communications, unsure if you will still recognise that world upon your return. There is more plot here than is characteristic of Chamber’s work, but ultimately like her other work, it is the insight into the fragile human condition within an living, breathing universe that keeps you glued to the page.

I saw a recommendation for this book go by on social media, and gave it a shot. Chamber’s worldbuilding reminds me a lot of Iain M. Banks’ Culture series, but there is a different perspective here that is fascinating: where Banks tends to gloss over the personal, Chambers puts it directly in focus. I think a lot of folks may bounce off how sparse the plot is here; most of the books in this series encompass at most one or two actual events, and do not dwell on the action. But the result is an intimate picture of lives intertwining within the aspirationally-utopian (but still flawed in many ways) culture of the Galactic Commmons.