The Practice, The Horizon, and the Chain

Sofia Samatar
Completed 6/2/2025, Reviewed 6/3/2025
4 stars

I was completely surprised at how much I liked this dark science fantasy novella, considering I didn’t like Samatar’s award winning A Stranger in Olondria.  While the prose was lush and similar to her Olondria novel, it worked for me.  Perhaps it was the shorter length.  Perhaps it was the science fantasy fusion.  Most likely, it was those things, as well as the mysticism and self-actualization that were the themes of the story.  It’s about taking chances, breaking bonds, and fighting against oppression.  It spoke to me deeply and it’s reflected in my rating.

On one of a fleet of generation ships whose main goal is the mining of rocks which power them, a boy of about seventeen is taken up from below where he had been chained and forced to work the mines.  The conditions were horrendous, but he formed a bond with a man he called the Prophet.  The Prophet trained him in “The Practice,” a way of centering and dealing with the harsh conditions.  It also taught the boy to embrace his gifts, one of which is drawing.  Once above, he is lost and confused.  He slowly bonds with the woman he knows as the Professor.  She runs the program which brought the boy from below to have an education like the elite class.  However, both he and she have anklets for tracking and controlling, since the elite fear those from below and their descendants, which the Professor is.  When the boy has a vision of the Prophet’s daughter on another ship, he convinces the Professor to take him there to bring her back, igniting a chase as well as a fire within them for freedom from their chains.

The boy is an intriguing character.  He doesn’t want to leave the mining below because that is all he has ever known.  He misses the food, the hard floor, and of course, the Prophet.  The Professor tries to integrate him into the upper deck society, which is the goal of this program she runs.  However, with their anklets, they are still clearly not part of the elite.  Because of her mentoring the boy, her eyes are opened as missteps produce punishments and her relationships fall apart.  She soon realizes that she must do something to put a crack in this horrible caste society.  

The pacing of the novella is rather slow.  There is a lot of prose and minimal dialogue.  With the third person narration, we are almost always in the boy’s and the Professor’s heads.  Despite all the descriptions and inner dialogue, it’s where the transformations occur and it is a most satisfying experience.  I think if this were a longer book, I might have been bored.  Instead, I was captivated by them and completely wound up in the somewhat surreal climax.  

Having read this book, I would give Samatar another chance on a longer novel.  I give this book four stars out of five.  It inspired me and gave me hope in this time when everything seems so dark.  Not a light read, but definitely satisfying.