Book Review: Sunward by William Alexander

A cozy debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning writer William Alexander, this story of found family follows a planetary courier training adolescent androids in a solar system grappling with interplanetary conflict after a devastating explosion on Earth’s moon.
Captain Tova Lir chose a life as a courier rather than get involved in her family’s illustrious business in politics. Set in humanity’s far future, hiring a planetary courier is essential for delivering private messages across the stars.
Encouraged by friends, Tova begins mentoring baby bots, juvenile AI who are developmentally in their teens, and trains them how to interact within society essentially becoming their foster mom. Her latest charge, Agatha Panza von Sparkles, named herself on their first run from Luna to Phoebe station. But on their return, they encounter a derelict spaceship and a lurking assassin, igniting a thrilling chase across the solar system.
Tova and Agatha’s daring actions leave Agatha’s mind vulnerable, relying on Tova’s former AI pupils for help. As Tova starts gathering her scattered family around her, she is chased through the solar system by forces who want her captured and her family erased. This debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning author William Alexander is a must-read for fans of Becky Chambers and Ursula K. Le Guin. Lovers of poignant science fiction, where the bonds of found family, the evolution of AI, and the building distrust of centuries of bias, come together in this visionary look at humanity’s future.

This started as a super cute sci-fi novel. Tova trains baby AIs as part of her interplanetary courier work. When flying on their last assignment, they find a derelict ship that seems to have been destroyed by a professional assassin.

I liked reading about Agatha, the baby bot, and how she learns with the help of Tova. This doesn’t last long, as Agatha is soon damaged, and Tova’s ultimate goal isn’t exactly to avoid getting killed but to find a way to help Agatha come back to life with the help of previous baby bots in training.

To add a bit of dynamism to the scenes where Tova doesn’t have anyone to talk to, she makes up an imaginary friend based on Agatha, whom she keeps talking to throughout the book. I didn’t think this added much to the story, but I understand it was added as a plot device to make the first-person narration more dynamic. It felt somehow artificial.

I like cozy sci-fi (hello, Murderbot), but I need the science to make at least a little bit of sense, and details matter, but they need to be realistic. Don’t tell me that Tova can wear a spacesuit and place a red parrot inside her helmet while wearing it! Also, a red parrot, what kind of parrot specifically? A little one like a rosella, a medium one like a female eclectus, or a large macaw? The parrot can also withstand G-forces; it must be a very special parrot with unbird-like bones. The smaller species are easier to hide inside a helmet, but their bones are also more fragile. Is it too evident that I’m really into psitacides?

Another pain point for me was the lack of worldbuilding. We receive some background information, but it’s very thin on details, and the descriptions are mostly nonexistent. The story is more centered on Tova trying to rejoin the bots she taught in the past, and they all become a found family. There’s a theatre scene that didn’t seem to add much to the story. It’s also clear that he used to write books for children, and this is his first venture into books for adults.

The ending suggests this could become a series. While I had high hopes for this book, I found it pretty boring, and the above didn’t help me enjoy it. I don’t plan on continuing with the series.

I think this is my third failed attempt at cozy sci-fi this year (Kitty Cat Kill Sat and Of Monsters and Mainframes come to mind, but I think there was another one that I’m forgetting now). I feel a bit frustrated about it, as I do like cozy mysteries, and Murderbot is cozy literature for me, but I also love hard sci-fi, so I just can’t deal with unrealistic scenarios without rolling my eyes. I also usually find this kind of book to be very plot-thin, with characters that are not significantly developed. I tend to get bored because there’s nothing that holds my interest or makes me care enough.

lomeraniel

My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.

I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.