Monday, April 27, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Goldilocks by Laura Lam


Full Disclosure:  This novella was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on May 5, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

Goldilocks is an upcoming scifi novel from Scottish Author Laura Lam.  The book is being advertised as "Handmaid's Tale" meets "The Martian" - with occasional other advertising comparisons to Station Eleven and The Power as well.  That's a hell of a group of novels to be compared with, and gives you a general gist of what I guess the novel is supposed to be going for - post apocalyptic (Station Eleven), dystopian in a misogynistic/chauvinist fashion (Handmaid's Tale), with entertaining science digressions (The Martian).  And that is for once not a terrible description, although the sexist dystopian parts of the background for this novel mainly are used as the background for decisions made rather than as a center of this novel - a similar thing could be said about "The Martian"-esque sciency digressions.  They are present, but this is its own novel rather than a duplicate of those earlier works.

And Goldilocks is a really interesting novel that is well worth your time.  The story, of a group of women stealing a spaceship meant for men to first make landing on a healthy exoplanet to provide the start of an escape for humanity from a dying dystopian Earth, is captivating throughout, even as it bounces between time periods for explanations at various points.  Its world is very easy to imagine happening, especially given who is in power in today's United States, and its characters are very believable from beginning to end, as they grapple with various ethical issues.  I'm not quite sure I agree with some of the ethical implications of a major part of this book, but it's certainly interesting in its entirety.  I'll also add that despite The Handmaid's Tale comparison, this is not a book that ends in a depressing fashion, despite it all, if that's what you are or aren't looking for.


--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
30 Years Ago, Naomi Lovelace and the Atalanta Five did something that made them infamous and changed history forever, but she has never told the whole story.....until now.

Back then, Earth was a world on the verge of destruction, from climate change and other destructive man-made acts, with no more than 30 years left.  In the meantime, the United States has responded by turning to sexist/misogynist leaders who have imposed policies directed towards such aims: no legal abortions, only one child permitted without paying additional taxes, and favoring heavily men in the workplace.  So when brilliant CEO Valerie Black - whose Hawthorne Group had made innovations and rich developments in multiple industries - works with NASA to plan a journey through space - using new time-space bending technology - to a habitable exo-planet named "Cavendish", she finds at the last minute her project taken from her, and her all female crew replaced by men.

So Valerie and her crew - botanist Naomi, engineer Lebedeva, pilot Hixon, and doctor Hart - decide to steal the ship, the Atalanta to make the journey themselves and to claim humanity's future for women.  Naomi had always dreamed of going into space, and since Valerie adopted her as a child, she has always worked towards that goal, while also trying to fend off (often sexist) accusations of nepotism.  But once in space, heading towards a new planet, it all seems like it should be irrelevant, as long as she can do her job.

But things on the Atalanta didn't go as expected, with situations emerging that Naomi would never have anticipated.  And soon it becomes apparent that Naomi's job on the journey would not just be scientifically trying to keep everyone alive, but in figuring out what is happening, and her decisions would have moral implications for their journey and for everyone....forever.
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Goldilocks is a story told by an unknown narrator, not revealed until the end of the novel, telling the main story of this novel from 30 years in the future from the rest of the story.  As a result, the reader from the beginning is well aware that things in some way didn't go according to plan: Naomi went up into space but somehow wound up back on Earth on trial, giving testimony and becoming infamous in the process - but still mysterious, never telling the full story until telling the narrator just now.  This setup also makes it subtly clear from the start that something better came out of the ruins of what once was.  This is not a book heading necessarily for a depressing future ending, even if it's setup begins as such.

And well it's a depressingly plausible setup given our current state.  This is a world where the United States has fallen under control of fascist sexist classist racist* (etc) men who have responded to the deterioration of the world via global warming with draconian measures.  Moreover, such measures may be most prominent in the US, but they haven't escaped the rest of the world either.  So abortion has been made illegal, parents are heavily taxed for having any child after the first and women are supposed to obtain an IUD after having that first child, etc.  Perhaps most importantly, women are being forced out of the workforce - while they are still technically allowed to work, these rules promote women leaving the workforce voluntarily, and in certain jobs the culture has emerged to try and force women out if they don't accept these inducements - and to pass over them for jobs which they are fully qualified.  Such as to be astronauts going into space, for instance.

*It should be noted that while the rulers of Earth in this setting are all of these things, this book barely explores the matters other than the treatment of women.*  

 This all serves as the backdrop for this story, but not it's direct setting: because our characters steal a spaceship, the Atalanta, at the very beginning.  From there, the story jumps back and forth in time back to Earth on occasion, but in space, where only five women are living and trying to survive, is where the story is.  That story is centered around Naomi and Valerie, mother and adopted daughter.  Naomi is a really strong character - a woman struggling with the implications of the background and of what they themselves have done - and what she has done.  Always having wanted to go up in space, but also always wanting to show that she deserved the jobs she was getting and that she was fully qualified.  Most of the book is, since we're essentially reading a memoir of Naomi, slow revelations of Naomi's personal and professional life, as she struggles to make a mark on her very own.  And in the sake of that, her struggle to escape Valerie's orbit - Valerie being not just her mother, but her mentor and the woman she in some way worships, and yet whom Naomi can't quite help feeling is a bit too controlling.

And Valerie is controlling - it's best to think of her as a genderflipped version of Elon Musk, although for the sake of this story Valerie is more action and less talk than Musk is, with a corporation that's actually profitable in multiple areas and her actually seeming to take action towards a public good.  But even there, with her good intentions, a large portion of the plot comes down to conflicts between Naomi (and some of the others) and Valerie, as Valerie has always been in charge as the successful capitalist in the world they are leaving behind, raising questions if she should still be in the world they plan on making.

This is a book about ideas as much as character, and the Valerie-Naomi and Valerie-Everyone Else conflict goes to the book's central ideas as much as anything - what means should be used in birthing a new world?  How capitalist should they be in their new world, and how socialist?  With the five of them being expected to only be pioneers, and well being all women not exactly capable of populating a new world all to themselves, how exactly should they plan to establish the new colony - and how can they obtain consent for that establishment from the world that needs presumably to send them the actual waves of colonists?  And can they use their roles as the first ones on the new planet to ensure the old planet doesn't discriminate in how it sends over the rest of humanity?   As the CEO, Valerie has her own ideas on these methods and her controlling attitude, something Naomi has experienced her whole life, poses the potential to put Valerie in conflict with the others if they don't quite agree.  It all leads to an ending that has some interesting answers to these questions on how things should move forwards, though it has some implications I'm not exactly sure I loved. 

Ending Spoilers in ROT13:  Nf vg gheaf bhg, Inyrevr gheaf bhg abg gb or ba gur yriry.  Fur unf abg bayl ure bja onpxhc cyna bs rzoelbf ba obneq gur fuvc naq unf abg bayl znahsnpgherq n pevfvf gung jbhyq erfhyg va gur Ngnynagn 5 syhfuvat njnl gur 5 zna sebmra onpxhc perj vagb qrngu, ohg npghnyyl znahsnpgherq naq frg ybbfr n ivehf hcba uhznavgl onpx ba Rnegu - nvzrq ng xvyyvat bss gur nqhyg cbchyngvba gurer sbe gur zbfg cneg fb nf gb fgbc nal ubcr bs punfr naq gb qrfgebl gubfr jub jrer perngvat guvf ubeevoyr shgher irefvba bs bhe cynarg, frkvfg, enpvfg naq pynffvfg nf vg vf.  Ba bar unaq, guvf cbfrf na vagrerfgvat vqrn nobhg ubj bar vf abg noyr gb ernyyl ohvyq n arj naq orggre jbeyq haqre gur lbxr bs fbzrbar jubfr yvsr vf gvrq gb fhpu ubeevoyr pncvgnyvfz.

Ohg gur vffhr V unq jvgu guvf gjvfg vf gung jryy, rira gubhtu gur qvfrnfr vf fgbccrq jura Anbzv naq perj svaq ure uvqqra inppvar, vg qbrf rabhtu gb qenfgvpnyyl punatr gur Rnegu.....naq vg nyy JBEXF va n jnl gung jbhyq unir znqr Inyrevr unccl - gur frkvfgf-va-puvrs qvr sebz gur ivehf, naq juvyr gurve ercynprzragf nera'g terng, gurl ner orggre naq gur erfhyg vf n zhpu zber cbfvgvir shgher 30 lrnef, naq rira svsgrra lrnef yngre.  Vg rffragvnyyl pna or nethrq gung Inyrevr jnf evtug - nygubhtu Inyrevr qvqa'g guvax gung gur Ivehf jbhyq erfhyg va nalguvat ohg qrfgehpgvba naq oryvrirq gurl fubhyq fgvyy tb gb Pniraqvfu gb yrnir Rnegu oruvaq.  Ohg fgvyy, univat tbbq pbzr sebz Inyrevr'f rivy zrnaf vf n ivaqvpngvba gung V qba'g ernyyl srry gur nhgube vagraqrq.....

Overall though, Goldilocks is a really interesting novel, and perhaps I'm overthinking the ending a bit.  It's definitely worth a read.
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