Another Life in Solarpunk

May 28, 2023 Ruxandra Grrr rated it liked it

Shelves: novella-novellette, arc, solarpunk

I love the idea of solarpunk as a genre and I always read it in order to gain some hope for the future and also take a look at the possible practical solutions we are working on to like... save the world! I was very excited for this, and on this specific thing - the closer-to-us-than-we-think scifi elements -, it really did not disappoint. We're dealing with a sustainable community with a non-hierarchical structure, cool communal living, satisfyingly explored re: what do we do about labor and th I love the idea of solarpunk as a genre and I always read it in order to gain some hope for the future and also take a look at the possible practical solutions we are working on to like... save the world! I was very excited for this, and on this specific thing - the closer-to-us-than-we-think scifi elements -, it really did not disappoint. We're dealing with a sustainable community with a non-hierarchical structure, cool communal living, satisfyingly explored re: what do we do about labor and the jobs that people are supposedly not willing to do?

The worldbuilding is in that sweet spot of: not too much, not too little. There are tantalizing elements outside of Otra Vida: a civil war in the past, the splitting off of states, California has a Basic Income program (that's apparently not enough), while the cops are a bit scifi and are called Protectors, and the media is very firmly Verified and connected to the state apparatus. All of this is pretty great.

When entering into this, I was wary about the idea of reincarnation in a realistic scifi setting, but I was very pleasantly surprised of the scifi explanation for this - I successfully suspended my disbelief. But I wasn't super happy with how this storyline was followed through the end.

Galacia, our main character, and the moderator of conflicts in Otra Vida, turns out to be the reincarnation of an Elon Musk-like billionaire, who ended up killing a bunch of people when trying to get to Planet B (a fun play on those climate protest signs 'There is no planet B!') with his spaceship. Galacia takes most of the book to process this information and 1. we don't get to see her in action as a fully involved & competent moderator, 2. she gets very distracted by this and ignores a bunch of things happening at the margins and 3. (view spoiler)

I think what has left me unsatisfied about most solarpunk writing so far is the overwhelming focus on technology and pragmatic matters and not so much on the people and their relationships. So, are these the people that would live in that community? Because they feel sort of like current day anarchists, maybe even a bit recent past anarchists. I think that people who would live in that community in the future would be a bit different. Around a third of the way through, Galacia is called to moderate a conflict, and it is very summarily described (we don't even know what the conflict is, actually) and waved away and that felt disappointing. I wanted to actually see her in action.

There's also a generational conflict subplot that I thought was well handled, because it turns out that separating the people who live in that community as Founders, Petitioners and Inheritors could create a class structure? Could create biases in moderating conflict!

I wasn't super happy though with the procedure for kicking out someone in the community - it's just a petition, that feels cold. In general, when it came to the people, I got the vibes that they were all doing their own thing and not actively trying to keep creating the best community they could have. But I guess that's very much my own thing and this was a work-in-progress sort of thing. Bottom line: I personally wanted more of the people of Otra Vida and maybe less of the explosive plotline.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an ARC. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Jul 26, 2024 H谩kon Gunnarsson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american-literature, solarpunk

Solarpunk is my favorite science fiction sub genre. I mean, in a world that seems obsessed with dystopias, solarpunk is the genre were we actually tackle climate change in a positive way. But that is not the only unusual thing about this genre. For most parts it has been a genre of short stories. It is just now that we are starting to get longer works, novellas and even novels. I鈥檝e read a whole lot of solarpunk anthologies, but this is only the third long solarpunk work I've read.

It takes place Solarpunk is my favorite science fiction sub genre. I mean, in a world that seems obsessed with dystopias, solarpunk is the genre were we actually tackle climate change in a positive way. But that is not the only unusual thing about this genre. For most parts it has been a genre of short stories. It is just now that we are starting to get longer works, novellas and even novels. I鈥檝e read a whole lot of solarpunk anthologies, but this is only the third long solarpunk work I've read.

It takes place after apocalyptic events, when the world has finally had to slam down the breaks on fossil fuel, and it takes place in a solarpunk city. The mediator of the city has been there from the start, she is one of the founder, well liked, but now things are heating up for her. Turns out that in a past life she had been the one responsible for the worst climate catastrophe. That is going to haunt her in her role as a mediator, and to make matters worse, there are terrorists that seem to have connection to the solarpunk city putting it in the hot seat with other communities.

I鈥檓 not much of a believer in previous lives, nor, for that matter, in after lives of any sort, but for this story it works. It makes for interesting musings on innocence and guilt. Is anyone fully to blame, and is anyone completely blameless? That is the question, and there are probably lots of answers to it. So even though I鈥檓 not much of a believer the idea of previous lives, I still found it an interesting plot line.

It鈥檚 a short book, a novella, and for a long time I wasn鈥檛 sure where this was going, but in the end I saw that it is actually well structured story where everything makes sense in the end. There was one place where I had to backtrack a bit because the resolution was so quick that I missed it, but other than that, it moves at a nice pace, and the characters are believable. And the city itself? The setting? It is functional. You can see the city working, and it is liveable. Given the change, I鈥檇 probably move there. At least, it is a much more interesting place to me, than any I have ever come across in a dystopian literature.

One thing about dystopias vs. solarpunk. The best solarpunk stories aren't utopias. To me, solarpunk it is not about perfect, no conflict places. It is about imagining workable solutions to our climate crisis. It is about mediating conflict, rather than letting it turn into war. It is about people coming together in a positive manner, not about eliminating conflict altogether.

You see, I came across an argument about conflict in solarpunk in one of the solarpunk groups I belong to, and some felt there shouldn鈥檛 be any conflict at all there. How boring would that be? No conflict. No passion. The reality is that one can disagree with someone even though you are on the same path. And I think this novella is a good example of that. There is conflict between the solarpunk city and some other groups, but also between people within the city, but it still functions as a solarpunk city.

I think, this may be my current favorite solarpunk work. It really is an excellent story. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2023 Angela Mckenna rated it it was amazing

I love Solarpunks. This is a great read. Great ideas from a thoughtful writer. I enjoyed the world-building and exploration of social organisation. The ending is a totally satisfying resolution, but hopefully more stories to come?

Like · see review