As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers

I’ve been anticipating Becky Chambers’ new novel for a while. Her award-winning science fiction is known as hopepunk, set on other worlds in a future that is sometimes happy. They are sometimes called cozy science fiction. This is the first book in a duology, to be followed by As You Grow, Seek the Light.

Signy and Cora take turns narrating this novel, with brief interactions with Colibri. Cora is a pilot, paired with Colibri, a rorqual. Colibri is large, loves to fly, and they bring cargo such as ice and ore back to Fortune. Fortune is a volcanic planet, with four active volcanoes.

Signy has a plant shop. Secretly, she also grows medicinal plants for a few clients, including her older friend Otto. Now she is going to bioengineer medicine for Cora as well. Cora has a young foster sibling, Twig, who is often in trouble, and occasionally shares her tiny room.

Alternate chapters are set a while in the future, on the moonlet Cypsela, which orbits around the ice giant Solace, further out in Fortune’s solar system. On Cypsela, Cora cooks and fixes things while her partner Signy has an amazing garden in their cozy cavern. So, the reader knows that life will be sweet in the future for Cora and Signy, and that they’ll be a couple.

Back on Fortune, everyone wears what seems like hazmat suits outside, because of the ash and acid rain from the volcanoes, and there are occasional earthquakes. Cora may get in trouble for making medicine, while Signy’s flights with Colibri also have an element of risk.

The author’s worldbuilding is really lovely, and the page-turning plot and characters I really cared about make for a memorable read. I felt a sense of loss when I finished the story, with a wait for the sequel. Chambers has quite an imagination! Compared to her other books, the section set on Fortune is somewhat bleaker than her other books, while the sections set on Cypsela make it a place I’d love to visit. This absorbing read may be her best book, which I’ll determine after reading As You Grow, Seek the Light. I am disappointed that her book tour included a nearby bookstore and I missed it. Next book, perhaps. If you’re new to her work, you could start here or with A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet or A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

Brenda