Goodreads Suspends Ratings After Samantha Harvey's Science Fiction Novel Orbital Gets Review Bombed Over Having A Russian Character
Mainstream publishing has massive problems when it comes to identity politics, and a new science fiction book, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, is allegedly getting review bombed on Good Reads because it features a Russian character.
Over the last decade, science fiction publishing has become completely politicized, especially when it comes to award-winning books. Authors can get canceled for even the slightest violations of whatever current left-wing talking points are, and even the smallest transgressions can stir up an angry mob within the fandom.
Samantha Harvey is both a recipient of this political uplifting and of the backlash that then follows. Her book Orbital is another head-scratcher in the genre. In an interview about the book, she admitted, “I didn’t see it as having an awful lot in relation to [sci-fi],” as the interviewer noticed the book didn’t have “plot-driven” elements to it. The book itself is described on Good Reads as “nature writing from space and an unexpected and profound love letter to life on Earth.”
The book seems to be more of a literary fiction exercise for academia than a standard science fiction novel, undoubtedly leading to its receipt of the 2024 Booker Prize. None of her other books are in the science fiction category.
However, even with its literary signaling toward the establishment and award-winning nature, author Samantha Harvey violated the current political narrative that all things Russia are bad, even having a Russian character in the novel.
The book started receiving one-star reviews, or, as the woke establishment likes to call it, “review bombing,” because it features a Russian character. This prompted GoodReads to suspend the book's ratings entirely.
One user reported on BlueSky saying, “Goodreads has suspended ratings seemingly because as it features a Russian character who isn't unequivocally awful it must be that the book and author is an apologist for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It isn't, she isn't. The book has nothing to do with the conflict. Orbital is magnificent btw.”
He elaborated in a subsequent post, “the character's (and therefore the author apparently) crime was to miss certain things about the Soviet Union, reflect wistfully on his childhood and rue the fact that no cosmonaut had stood on the moon - considering the character is a cosmonaut that seems fair enough.”
The left often accuses the right wing of review bombing works, most famously for the Star Wars: The Acolyte disaster this summer, where viewers rejected the identity politics-heavy show on Disney+. While there was no evidence of anything other than viewers disliking what Leslye Headland and company did with Star Wars, the attempt to invalidate reviews was telling.
It seems once again it’s the woke telling on themselves as they are the ones who go and review bomb books based on the perceived politics of a situation, even one that doesn’t even reflect the views of the author.
When one attempts to leave a review on GoodReads, a reader gets this message, “Rating this book temporarily unavailable. This book has temporary limitations on submitting ratings and reviews. This may be because we’ve detected unusual behavior that doesn’t follow our review guidelines.”
A look at recent one-star reviews does reveal that it seems to be about readers being triggered by a Russian character existing rather than the writing craft of the book.
It goes to show that when traditional publishing caters to people who hyperventilate over “the current thing,” authors take the brunt of flak for violating the narrative. Identity politics is so pervasive in these circles that people can’t even read a science fiction novel without looking for identity checkmarks.
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For a great alternative to mainstream publishing, with sci-fi spy thriller action, read The Stars Entwined on Amazon!
Wow. Some people are so broken. These people would rightfully roll there eyes at someone who is upset about a Muslim or Arab character in a story. But because they have been taught to hate one group, they shall hate.