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[book rec] Sisters of the Vast Black
Dec. 12th, 2023 04:25 pmbeen trying to work thru the backlog of books that have been on my to-read list for ages now and instead have mostly just been rereading books i've already read lmao. but i DID finally get around to reading Lina Rather's Sisters of the Vast Black, which was an impulse buy back in 2019, and i'm really glad i did because it's excellent. really can't praise this little book enough, and really hope that other people will pick it up too, thus: this frankenstein's monster of a rec/review.
what got me interested in the book in the first place was the premise: nuns in space. Sisters follows a small order of nuns dedicated to providing humanitarian aid across the galaxy, and their convent just happens to be a living (yep!) spaceship. it's just a really neat premise, but i can also see how it might equally make a lot of people pass this one up with a resounding 'nah' due to the assumption of the novella being a religious book (understandable).
but while Sisters is unavoidably a book that deals with faith and religion, it is much more concerned with examining the complicity of organized religion (read: Catholicism) in imperialism, which is placed at direct odds with the responsibility of members of that religion to navigate their duty to their church, and their duty to their mission prescribed by their faith. Sisters is a short book (just 155 pages), so it doesn't go into these issues in depth, but rather focuses on four individual characters and their personal relationships to faith, love, duty, and redemption.
if you're not one for books dealing with religion, i'd still suggest giving Sisters a chance, as it is not preachy (there's only one moment i rolled my eyes at, and it's very, very minor and not emphasized), and not all of the characters are even really believers (gonna get to that in a bit). also, pulling out my trump card here: there are lesbians.
but before we get to any of that, the worldbuilding:
[NOTE: mild/vague spoilers ahead]
( more here )
Sisters of the Vast Black is a very enjoyable read (it gets a score of "made me cry twice") and one that i do strongly recommend. if "nuns hurtling thru the cold void of space in a giant space slug and also there are lesbians" isn't enough to hook you tho, idk what else will lmao.
anyway, if you read the book (or have already read it!) please let me know what you think! c:
what got me interested in the book in the first place was the premise: nuns in space. Sisters follows a small order of nuns dedicated to providing humanitarian aid across the galaxy, and their convent just happens to be a living (yep!) spaceship. it's just a really neat premise, but i can also see how it might equally make a lot of people pass this one up with a resounding 'nah' due to the assumption of the novella being a religious book (understandable).
but while Sisters is unavoidably a book that deals with faith and religion, it is much more concerned with examining the complicity of organized religion (read: Catholicism) in imperialism, which is placed at direct odds with the responsibility of members of that religion to navigate their duty to their church, and their duty to their mission prescribed by their faith. Sisters is a short book (just 155 pages), so it doesn't go into these issues in depth, but rather focuses on four individual characters and their personal relationships to faith, love, duty, and redemption.
if you're not one for books dealing with religion, i'd still suggest giving Sisters a chance, as it is not preachy (there's only one moment i rolled my eyes at, and it's very, very minor and not emphasized), and not all of the characters are even really believers (gonna get to that in a bit). also, pulling out my trump card here: there are lesbians.
but before we get to any of that, the worldbuilding:
[NOTE: mild/vague spoilers ahead]
( more here )
Sisters of the Vast Black is a very enjoyable read (it gets a score of "made me cry twice") and one that i do strongly recommend. if "nuns hurtling thru the cold void of space in a giant space slug and also there are lesbians" isn't enough to hook you tho, idk what else will lmao.
anyway, if you read the book (or have already read it!) please let me know what you think! c:
