It is a novel that is far more confident in staying within this personal space that is nonetheless shaped by political and cultural events. If anything, the focus on this aspect is greater than in previous stories and oddly, I found it better for that. There is conflict but it is either resolved or accommodated by people finding ways to get along. The stakes are galactically-low and focused on the personal.

The story very much fits the expectations of a Chambers novel. Although there is a major medical emergency late in the book, the events are mainly driven by each of the guests learning more about themselves and their lockdown comrades. In the process, each one works through some of their personal dilemmas around the journey that was interrupted. The characters clash and connect as Ouloo does her utmost to accommodate the extended stay of the diverse group.

Ouloo and Tupo: the host and their child who are both Laru: four-legged furry beings with long flexible necks.

Speaker, a small arboreal being who interacts with the others via a mech-suit due to her need for a methane atmosphere.

Roveg, a multi-limbed being with a hard shell who is an artist and an exile from his people.

One of the guests, Pei, was heading to visit Ashby, the human captain of the ship from Chambers’s debut novel. When an unexplained accident shrouds the upper atmosphere in debris, the guests of the Five-Hop One-Stop are forced to extend their stay.Įach of the guests (and the hosts) is alien and humans only appear tangentially. The numerous domed living spaces provide amenities to travellers and one such is the Five-Hop One-Stop: a kind of space motel. The planet Gora is a rocky wasteland of a world that is only inhabited because of its convenient location to a hub of wormholes-like “tunnels”. This novel isn’t a specific covid-narrative but the circumstance in which a group of travellers find their journey’s interrupted by a planetary lockdown adds plenty of parallels to recent experiences.

The galaxy and the ground within review