I sometimes struggle with the sci-fi genre in the way I never do with fantasy. This did take me some time to read but not to immerse myself in, which I would call a personal win! It was a fun read but also a heavily technical one so the author did a great job of keeping the reader feeling dually entertained and like they were reading an authentic storyline.

Braking Day es una novela que ha pasado prácticamente desapercibida entre los lectores a los que sigo, no sé si por que su autor Adam Oyebanji es bastante desconocido o porque las historias sobre naves generacionales están pasadas de moda. Y es una lástima, porque tiene su parte de ciencia ficción dura (pero sin atragantarnos), su misterio, sus personajes entrañables y su crítica social. Y todo bien conjuntado para dar lugar a una lectura muy entretenida.


Podríamos decir que para la supervivencia de una nave generacional es bastante normal que la estructura social sea bastante rígida, prácticamente militar, con los oficiales tomando decisiones y los tripulantes siguiendo órdenes sin salirse del plan previamente establecido, so pena de dar al traste con una misión que llevará décadas en el mejor de los casos. Esto lo refleja muy bien Oyebanji y es el principal motor de la historia, ya que el narrador es un joven que aspira a ser ingeniero como ascenso social desde su humilde cuna. Y en ningún momento dejan de recordarle que él no pertenece a la élite.

La acción tiene lugar en la Arquímedes, una nave generacional que en compañía de otras dos dejó atrás la Tierra en manos de las inteligencias artificiales y los pusilánimes humanos que cedieron todas las decisiones a estas IAs. Se acerca el día del frenado, porque el viaje está casi terminando, pero las tensiones entre distintas facciones dentro de la propia flota no dejan de emerger, cada vez más enconadas.

El tropo de las naves generacionales está bastante trillado y es difícil ser original al respecto. Oyebanji soslaya esto mezclando el mensaje político con un poco de bildungsroman aliñado con algunas escenas de acción y una tensión creciente, así que no es que haya venido a revolucionar el género, pero sí a revitalizarlo un poquito.

El uso del lenguaje específico de cada nave es un detalle especialmente inteligente, ya que nos muestra que a pesar de compartir el viaje la deriva y el aislamiento de cada sociedad, aunque no sea estanca, puede provocar estos cambios.

No quisiera entrar más en el detalle del libro, que guarda sorpresas y alegrías para quien le de una oportunidad. Ojalá os haya convencido y podamos hablar de él con más profundidad.

"Braking Day" by Adam Oyebanji is a powerful and thought-provoking collection of poetry that delves into the experiences of African Americans in contemporary America. The collection is a testimony to the struggles of Black people in the United States, touching on issues of race, identity, and social justice.

Oyebanji's writing is raw and honest, crafted with a careful attention to detail and a deep empathy for his subject matter. The language is evocative, using rhythm and cadence to draw the reader into the heart of each poem.

Overall, "Braking Day" is a stunning debut from a talented poet. The collection bears witness to the pain and resilience of Black lives, and challenges readers to reflect on their own role in creating a more equitable and just society. I highly recommend this collection to anyone interested in the power of poetry to inspire change and promote understanding.

The cover and title were the things that drew me to this ARC. I immediately wanted to know answers to all the wh-questions. When I then opened the book, I noticed that it said “Revolutions Book 2” on the very first page. So, obviously, I searched the internet to find out which first book in the series I might have missed. Turns out I didn’t miss a book, this is Oyebanji’s debut novel. Well, it reads like a “not the first” novel in a series. I’m not saying it has middle-book-syndrome, it is a good standalone. It would have been an even better standalone with a tiny bit more background information.

We find ourselves on board a generation ship on the way to Tau Ceti. The inhabitants of this ship, and the two other accompanying vessels, have been on their journey for 132 years or six generations. They have reached the point on their route, where Braking Day is upon them. The day the ship will turn and the thrusters will start decelerating the vessels for about a year to get them into orbit of Destination World.

Our main character is Ravi MacLeod, a midshipman training to be an engineer. Coming from a family with non-academic/non-officer class background it is hard for him to work his way up within the seemingly tight social classes on board. What makes Ravi so special? I am tempted to say he is a chosen one. Sounds YA Fantasy, but in fact he is. He’s the one with the vision of a girl floating outside the hull with no spacesuit on. He’s the one with the voice inside his head and the weird dreams. He’s also the one with a non-law abiding family and hence has had “special” training as a kid and a family to help him out of a tight spot. Especially his cousin Roberta, called Boz, who’s extremely good with technology. And he’s the one who will make sure Braking Day will happen.

There was lots of elements I enjoyed about this book which was witty and intelligent, any sci fi book that starts with the main character barfing into a bag with space sickness would be bound to intrigue
I did however find that the story tended to be held up by long sections of narrative which didn’t seem to move the story forward or expand on the characters to any great degree .
The bare bones of the story were inventive ,I liked the description of humans linked to computers being the normal result of generational change on one ship but not another ,the nature v nurture argument here amused me
I was very invested in reading it for the first half but my enthusiasm dropped and I struggled to finish it

Really enjoyable, well-written début. The premise is good, and the world building and characterisations hold the reader’s attention. It moves at quite a pace at times, so it works as a thriller as well as a sci-fi book.

The main characters are believable and I certainly became invested in their futures. It’s also very visual so would work as a film or tv series.

My thanks to Quercus Books Jo Fletcher Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Braking Day’ by Adam Oyebanji in exchange for an honest review.

The Archimedes is one of three generation interstellar ships that left Earth 132-years-ago bound for a planet in orbit around Tau Ceti. Now as the ageing starship approaches its destination the crew will begin to slow the craft.

As Braking Day comes closer, engineer-in-training Ravi Macleod becomes concerned about some inconsistencies. Yet life on the starship is rigidly regulated and asking questions is discouraged. Unfortunately for Ravi, his brilliant cousin,Boz,
seems determined to make his life difficult not least by her experiments with forbidden technology, known as LOKI.

In addition, Ravi is having strange dreams and waking visions. He reaches out to Boz to help him unravel the mystery. No further details to avoid spoilers.

This is Adam Oyebanji’s debut novel and I found it an intelligent, complex work of science fiction. At first I felt as though I had been dropped onto the deck of the Archimedes with little frame of reference. Yet by following Ravi through his routines and interactions I soon appreciated how well Adam Oyebanji had crafted his world.

I found myself fully immersed in the narrative and intrigued by the mystery at the heart of the mission. It proved very satisfying.

Overall, I was very impressed with ‘Braking Day’ feeling that it combined the qualities of classic Golden Age science fiction with the social issues found in contemporary SF.

Braking Day is an intelligent and atmospheric SF thriller set aboard a generation ship as it nears the end of its voyage. I enjoyed the scuffed and worn atmosphere of the Archimedes, 132 years into the mission and 6 generations of crew on from the original pioneers. Constructed as a series of habitat wheels mounted on a central core, the ship has lost one segment - "Hungary" - due an asteroid strike and another - "Ghana" is failing as its bearings give out. There is a palpable air of decay and a weariness among the crew of the Archimedes, combined with a fatalism (at least from most) that the mission will, indeed shortly end. Elsewhere in the Fleet, another ship has problems with its hydroponics. They won't be arriving a moment too soon at Tau Ceti, the "destination star".

And yet. Some on board are still wary of the idea of planetfall. It seems weird and unnatural to contemplate living on the outside of a ball of rock, unshielded from the radiation of the star. And others have moral scruples. The faction known as "BonVoys" want to prolong the journey, saving the new world from pollution and exploitation and staying in their safe, familiar vessel.

Ravi MacLeod, a young trainee engineer, shares some doubts with the first group. But relistically, the journey can't go on for ever, and he looks forward to just having more space than his current cramped quarters allow. That's if he ever makes it to the planet - life has been particularly challenging lately. The MacLeods are seen as, basically, thieving scum - Ravi's dad was condemned to the recycler several years before - and he feels at risk of being thrown off his training course at any moment. The division in this story between "officers" and the rest is stark, reinforcing the dystopian atmosphere of the book where anyone over 75 is seen as "Dead Weight" and recycled; where water is scarce, and treated as a unit of value; where despite everyone being "crew" with a single mission, power and prestige seen to inhere in particular families; where those families seem to have their own agendas for the vogage.

Other problems haunting Ravi include headaches, hallucinations, and disturbing dreams which seem to be trying to tell him something about the Fleet. This is not only worrying but it makes it hard to perform his - very strenuous - daytime duties. Desperate for help, he turns to the only person he can think of - his cousin Boz. Boz is, however, a quintessential MacLeod, a bad girl with fingers in many dodgy pies and who has herself come within a whisker of being declared Dead Weight. She, too, may well have her own plans for the future...

The interaction between model pupil Ravi and near-delinquent - even if she is a brilliant coder - Boz - we a great delight in this book. The light their different attitudes cast on the social structure of Archimedes helps make the story very, very real and those social structures are really the heart and soul of the book. I wasn't completely convinced by the science, especially the pseudo-gravity, but in my view that really doesn't matter so long as it's basically plausible: what counts rather is the credible treatment given both to the evolution of society aboard the ship, its current pathological form, and the impact of that on the fifth and sixth generation crew who never asked to be born into such a strange situation.

Above all, perhaps, the focus this story casts on the why of the trip. Why would you commit to that one way journey, knowing your kids, and their kids, and their kids, will live out their lives aboard the ship, with only distant generations having any chance of arrival? Oyebanji makes out a very plausible case in the future of Earth and it's one that will drive a potential conflict for those descendants, albeit one they don't expect. Things have been hidden form the travellers, and Ravi and Boz may be the first since Launch to understand the full truth - and the nature of the danger that threatens everyone's dreams.

Of course, Ravi's own dreams and hallucinations do prove to be linked to this central mystery. We're not kept on tenterhooks to the very end about it as he and Boz work out what it is, rather enlightenment comes earlier (though some mysteries remain) moving the second half of the book more into thriller and conflict territory as they have to face up to a responsibility for the Fleet and the 30,000 or so humans within it. That position poses particular dilemmas, especially for Ravi whose self-image and life plans have all been about distancing himself from his raffish family and progressing within Fleet society - what will he do if all that respectability is at risk because of the action he needs to take?

Very much about growing up and taking responsibility, but also about learning to question and think for oneself, Braking Day is very effective in matching the external challenge to a protagonist with whom the reader will I think feel a lot of sympathy.

This is an excellent debut and it’s also a novel that takes a classic trope of sci-fi, people on a starship reaching an unknown destination, and recreate it adding the right level of creativity to make it fresh and gripping.
There’s a lot going on and we know that this a sort of dystopic community since the start.
What will happen it’s a fascinating and gripping story, an excellent debut by a writer that has a lot of potential.
The storytelling is excellent, the world building fascinating, and the characters are fleshed out and interesting.
There’s a dystopia but there’s also plenty of humour and I appreciated how the creative changes in the language.
I strongly recommend it as it’s highly entertaining and riveting.
Many thanks to Jo Fletcher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine