Strange Horizons review of Adam Oyebanji’s Braking Day

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Braking Day Cover (two figures, one in a blue jumpsuit and the other space-suited, float freely in deep space before a massive vessel)
(Cover Illustrator: Kekai Kotaki)
Strange Horizons recently published a review I wrote of Adam Oyebanji's novel Braking Day. This book is a far-future science fiction story focusing on a generational starship that is about to arrive at it's destination. Part of the plot concerns a dispute that breaks out as the ship prepares to decelerate, with many in the crew debating whether or not arriving at their destination means they should dismantle the unjust social hierarchies that have governed their lives for hundreds of years.

This conflict is juxtaposed with a surreal mystery which the book's main character uncovers regarding the history of the rigidly defined society in which he lives. Eventually, the novel comes to explore themes of how social privilege and bias manifest differently in different individuals. An excerpt from my review is below:

Set aboard the generational starship Archimedes during the final months of the ship's voyage, Braking Day in part depicts a social conflict that develops among the vessel's crew. Specifically, much of the novel takes the form of a coming-of-age story focusing on Ravinder MacLeod (more commonly known as simply "Ravi"), a young engineer-in-training who is studying to become one of the Archimedes's officers. Having come from a low-status family residing in one of the ship's rearmost habitat rings, as the novel opens Ravi has defied not only the wishes of his now deceased father by taking the difficult officer's entrance exam, but also challenged the casual bigotry that his teachers and classmates in the officer training program routinely levy upon him due to his family name. (The MacLeods regularly face discrimination aboard the Archimedes due to an unjust reputation for being a family of career criminals.)

On the whole I thought that Braking Day was a really fascinating and well-paced story. The book has a lot of pretty weighty social themes which it explores, but Oyebanji balances this with an engaging mystery that drives the plot forward, while still also allowing the reader the time to pause and reflect on the elaborate world and history which the narrative slowly builds as the story develops.

The complete review of Braking Day that I wrote for Strange Horizons can be read here.

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