You know what I like? I like a book that I set down thinking “My God, that was a GOOD book!”
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord is a science fiction novel about refugees and relationships that’s hard to explain without resorting to clichés or other SF media. Basically, the home world of a race of humanoids is destroyed and they must reach out to their very distant relations on another world for refuge. A bit simple except that the race in question is rather like the Vulcans (with LOTS of differences, but it’s the only model that fits) and they have to survive and find a place to fit in and… all of this manages to happen with a very sweet personal relationship building in the foreground.
I wasn’t expecting much when I picked it up to read (I only saw the description at the bookstore) but it wasn’t long before I was captivated by it. Check it out, I recommend it to people who aren’t big into the usual tropes of science fiction especially.
—Chris Blakeley, Seattle
Do you want to add a copy of this paperback to your stack, too? Get a copy from Chris’s local, Queen Anne Book Company, or your favorite indie bookstore. And if you’ve read something you want to recommend, email our editor at [email protected].