I was on a fence about reading this novella, but then I noticed I actually read the author before and enjoyed it. That plus my overall love for novellas as a format was enough to end the fence sitting, though having read it, not sure it was quite the right thing for me.
It stands to mention first and foremost that Tobler has a very specific narrative style, it’s very dreamy, very poetic. Normally I don’t care form that sort of thing, but sometimes it gets done just right. In Grand Tour Tobler did it just right. And here it was still good, but to a lesser extent. Or maybe it was just the mood I was in.
Anyway…this is a story of first contact. An older woman with rapidly failing memory meets an alien in her garden. A nice story with lovely descriptions, plus it’s always a bonus to have an elderly female protagonist, two in fact here, but something about it didn’t quite wow. Maybe it was too subtle for its own good.
It worked though, both as a meditation on aging and on…well, aliens. There’s a lot about climate too, this technically can be categorized as a climate science fiction, since science fiction authors and scientists are the only ones seriously talking about the deleterious effects of climate change. The rest either nod along seriously, recycle their $4 water bottles and then get into their SUVs and drive away or outright deny it.
The language is lovely, if you’re into lovely language. The rest wasn’t especially memorable, though this is in no way a pun on the main character’s memory condition. At least it isn’t meant to be one, though puns are kind of irresistible. Thanks Netgalley.

Actual rating: 3.5/5

The Necessity of Stars examines a snapshot of diplomat Bréone Hemmerli’s life. A woman in her 60s who has ‘outlived’ her usefulness to her employer, Bréone starts to see strange visions in the shadows but wonders if she can trust her own mind. A thought-provoking near-future examination of dementia, climate change, memory, experience, and love. While some elements of the worldbuilding could have been explored further, the beautiful prose, older queer protagonist, and clever use of structure and narrative callbacks to distort perception made this an enjoyable and reflective read.

Thank you Neon Hemlock Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This novella was so so so beautiful! While it was short, it packed such a punch. It is rare that a novella manages to do so much both thematically and with character in such a small amount of pages, but this one absolutely nailed it!
The story is set roughly one hundred years in the future, and the planet is ravaged by the consequences of climate change - which I though was handled very well. While this was not the main focus of the story, it was still a very much present theme. In particular, I loved the themes of what constitutes memory, and what they make of us.
I also really loved the main character, and her personality (and the other characters) was established so quickly and so well that I felt I knew them all after just 10 pages! The prose itself was also simply gorgeous, and I will definitely be checking out other stuff by this author!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

This was a quick and interesting read. In a world ravaged by climate change, we follow a U.N. worker who is an older woman with a failing mind. Her inability to remember things is a constant throughout the story. As well as the fact that people tend to disregard women once they're older.

The ideas of where our use comes from and, in my opinion, how useful we are once we age, especially based on our gender, are the points explored.

It's not long so there's not a lot of room for really deep exploration of those ideas, especially when we get into the meat of the story. The ending was okay, a little rushed because it's a short read but, it wasn't set up as well as it could be.

I didn't need another twenty pages, just another sentence added in before we got to the end to really tie it in.

The characters were ok.

Doesn't make waves but a decent enough read to kill an hour or so.

Of course there's no real diversity. There's some queerness in the characters' relationship which I appreciate but it's not enough. Everyone is the same race.

And I'm tired of that.

If an author can write a world and come up with a story, they can make it diverse. And if they can't that's a weakness on them.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two (2) stars.

Pretty interesting read. A thoughtful if somewhat undercooked exploration of themes like aging, the future of our planet, making choices, and the way older people are often unseen in society. Always love to read a story with an older protagonist. Nice prose, too.