Book: Chaotic Orbits by Beth Revis
Reviewed by Rallie X
Rating: 5/5
Oh my god. OH MY GOD. I opened this book and was immediately sucked in to Beth Revis' incredible first person narration - you want a scoundrel who is just as clever and devious as she thinks she is? Ada is that girl. What a fun, fast paced serial adventure with a stinger that leaves you screaming for more (it's happening, right? Please lord tell me it's happening?).
Chaotic Orbits is a delightful romp across the galaxy made into a masterpiece of sci-fi heists and spacemance through Revis' gift for dialogue (and monologue - really it's Ada's internal monologue that takes this book over the top). But this isn't just lighthearted japery (affectionate), there are moments of gravitas where Revis channels real history: I'm talking about the o-rings, about failsafes - about the story-ship the Rose and the real-ship the Challenger as an ongoing point of reference for the characters.
I loved Ada's occasional forays into space-existentialism (alien archaeologists in the far future finding a crashed spaceship in the deepest stratographic layers of their planet; only ever finding human ghost ships; a pharaoh's liver on a distant planet; etc) as a tacit reminder that this is a deeply intelligent woman and not just a wily (and lucky) criminal. Actually, I just love everything about Ada. I'm her lawyer and my client has done nothing wrong.
The villain. What an excellent example of Snidely Whiplash-ery that avoids cartoonishness by virtue of his similarity to certain South African trillionaire we know. Every step of the way when Ada hoodwinked him it filled me with a little 😏😎 energy and I think we all need a little more 😏😎 against the capitalist overlords in our lives.
Rian was the absolute silliest goose and Ada's magnetic attraction to him made perfect sense - here's a guy who genuinely believes in the morality of the state, living with the cognitive dissonance of recognizing corruption and is just about smart enough to keep up with Ada's game of 3D chess while still being at least one step behind. It was fun to imagine him banging his head against the wall after one of Ada's great escapes, and the epistolary sections at the end of each novella were the perfect way to include his perspective without interrupting or diverting Ada's flow.
This is a book for people who want exciting eco-futurism packaged in a series of brilliantly orchestrated multi-layered heists driven by a woman who knows more than you and won't fully let you in on it until she's ready to knock over the first domino (we love an unreliable narrator in this house!) I truly hope Beth Revis plans to continue writing the adventures of Ada and Rian because as Ada says,
UNKNOWN: I know you love the chase.
UNKNOWN: Almost as much as you love me.
UNKNOWN: And if you want me, you’re going to have to come and get me.