The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain was a very poignant little piece that definitely made me hunger for more from Sofia Samatar. 

It’s a tiny book, so even a full summary feels like a lot here, but a brief overview: a child who has always lived beneath the ship among the Chained is brought up to the elite through a scholarship program. The professor who pulled him upstairs can’t quite seem to find her footing in academia, and the two of them together start to unlock the metaphorical chains of their world. 

This novella tackles systemic oppression and the fight for dignity when you are forced again and again to the bottom of the hierarchy. It reminded me quite a lot of An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, which also takes place on a spaceship with a caste system organized physically onboard. 

It reads like a parable - and I often felt myself yearning for something a little more grounded - but I think it offers a lovely conversation starter.

It’s dark yet optimistic, nuanced, and thoughtful. It’s a warm hug to all the dreamers in our world who can see that transformation is possible through community. It’s an ode to power in solidarity.

CW: death (parent/child), slavery, confinement, panic attacks, police brutality, trafficking, classism, colonization

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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)