Concluding the Wayfarer Series

I read the 4th Becky Chambers Wayfarer series, the concluding novel. I'm half repulsed at the programmatic wokeness, half impressed and hopeful. You can see the quotes below that echo the same ambivalence. 

I googled "books that make you more intellectually flexible." I didn't see these books listed on them. You don't have to like the empathy, the gently encouraging self monologues, the teamwork, the communication, but every once in a while I wasn't bored. 

Chambers a lesbian author and she wants a world where all kinds of attraction and coupling is explored. Not quite the L Word in space. Even in this future galactic consciousness, there are prohibitions against interspecies flinky, so you can still make people uncomfortable. You mean squares are universal? The square community is going to hate these books. Someone messaged me to give a spoiler to the first one, some crusader from the square community, but I read Romeo and Juliet even though Shakespeare spoils the ending. I read Beloved, even though Morrison spoils it. You wouldn't think the square community would think up aesthetic sabotage. Probably some dude who's wife left him for a woman. Instead of being nicer, he went the other way. Too many angry rogues these days.

Did you see that Cuomo's daughter came out as Demisexual? Demisexual means you only feel sexually attracted to someone when they have an emotional bond with the person. Basically not a man. 

Links:

Nerds of a Feather Flock Together: "It works because the idea of solving problems through individual empathy, while not a replacement for science fiction that grapples with wider systemic change, is just as radical an idea to explore, and it's also an extremely enjoyable wish fulfilment fantasy."

Ink and Plasma Reviews: "I wasn’t completely sold on this one to start with. It started slow, and took me a while to get into properly."

sparklyprettybriiiight: "Diving into any of Becky Chambers wondrously good books is to enter a literal universe of rich possibility and exquisitely well-realised humanity (even when the characters are anything but) that engages you from the get-go and doesn’t let you go until the very end of each thoughtfully-written and insightfully emotive story."