The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Ratings794
Average rating4.1
I have seen this book accused of being a story in which nothing really happens, but that is decidedly missing the point on this book. This story is about the ensemble, the misfit crew and the journey rather than the destination. It explores some interesting ideas of prejudice and humans place in the universe. Most sci-fi starts with the assumption that humans would be the dominant species in the galaxy. Wayfarers takes an interesting view where humans have petitioned to join a pre-existing galactic council and are very much a minority interest. In this story we have caused environmental collapse on Earth and divided into a rich faction able to live on a terraformed mars and the rest who escaped in colony ships and fled into the galaxy before petitioning the galactic council for aid. Whilst our main protagonist is human, and the majority of the crew of the ship are human, the galaxy decidedly isn't. And whilst the majority of the crew is human, key members are not - namely the dr/chef, the pilot and the navigator. The relationship between the crew forms the beating heart of this book. There is some prejudice, some interesting questions on the morality of various potential scientific advances, interspecies love and a general exploration of different cultures. The world building that gives these distinct cultures is phenomenal - each species feels different, and feels non-human.
Superficially the plot is about the journey to the Galactic center to build a new wormhole for future travel with a new and very alien race. The actual plot of the book is more about the crew interactions and the people and place the crew meet on the way
Diversity, accessibility, inclusivity—giggity! I can't squee enough about this book. It's been a while since a story grabbed me like this, holding on and pulling my focus from other things; all I wanted to do was get back to it and keep reading. And this is the author's first novel? Wow.
The crew of the Wayfarer reminded me a bit of the crew in Farscape: kind of a ragtag bunch who end up as family; it's fun getting to know them individually and as a group. The storytelling is straightforward and compelling. The writing is descriptive enough that I felt like I was reading a film; in fact, I began early on casting actors in the various roles, which isn't something I often do. But I never got mired in the prose.
It was beautiful to read about different species of beings, different cultures, physical attributes, gender identities. I've never seen an author use “xe” and “xyr” before, so that was pretty great. The whole thing just oozes personality and charm and—most of all—love. I would love to see this world and especially these characters come to life on the big screen, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
"People can do terrible things when they feel safe and powerful"
The two books I read before this one were full of hate and prejudice, so this was this perfect antidote to that. I guess three words to describe this book would be.
REALLY REALLY LOVELY
Everything is lovely, the crew are lovely (ok there’s a miserable one who works with algae but in the end even he’s quite lovely). the people they meet and the planets they visit are all really quite lovely. When the ship gets raided, the raiders do it in a lovely agreeable way. Even the ships computer is lovely and is actually called Lovelace (shortened to lovey).
Ok, so why I didn’t give this 5 stars. First off, I did love these great fables about morality and tolerance that are told by the characters, and I don’t think I've come across a sci-fi book, or any book for that matter, that is so easy to read. However, when I got towards the end, the cuddliness did start to wear a bit thin and that’s only because it makes the sci-fi elements feel a little superficial.
Overall, really enjoyed it, really really lovely. It's like being wrapped a huge blanket, and I’m ordering the next one right now, and I really hope its really really lovely like this one was.
Really nice book. The description of the different species and their interactions and prejudices was fun too. Loved the main female lead very much, too. A really fun, feel-good book. Like I read in another review, there are good people and there are bad people, but people are mostly good. Bad things happen, but overall, life is good. Aliens are strange, but so are humans. Prejudices are foolish. Love is love, period. I would like to continue the series, I think.
Next to no plot but the characters are amazing! I love them so much. I feel like I know them and I can't stop thinking about them. This whole book was one long hug.
I quit a third of the way in when they didn't even start their way to the small, angry planet. Yes. They are doing shopping at a market planet and a third of the book is already gone. If that tells you anything about the speed here then I'm happy I could help.
Here we have a space ship where a bunch of different creatures (though mostly humans) live together and do abso-fucking-lutely nothing interesting whatsoever. They get a new clerk and that's cool. I suppose?
So why did I hate this book so much?
This story is Tumblr and The Double Standards, The Novel. I doubt anyone has ever created something so kitchy and overly sweet while also being such a piece of shit deep down. This book manages to hit you in the head with the most forced positive sensitive snowflake shit while also being so incredibly two-faced it made me retch. I can explain it all through examples.
- This crew is a big family. They love everyone, they take in everyone, from feathered lizard creatures to humans with physical issues to one of the last members of a dying race that looks like (and I quote) ‘pudding with legs'. How quaint. They also have a single white man on the ship they hate and every single time he shows up everyone gets visibly disgusted by him. Is he nice? Nah. Would I be nice if my OWN CAPTAIN had self-professed issues with getting used to the sight of white people? Fuck no.
- Humans are constantly said to be the lowest of low idiotic pieces of inconsequential shit. Cool. They can do their shit in the galaxy but like... YUCK humans. At the same time Rosemary, the clerk has to think about her privilege because her family is rich. She literally thinks she is ashamed of having privileged ancestors because she had never eaten a certain type of “commoner” food.
- The feather-lizard types are constantly having orgies left and right while also don't give a shit about their offspring, which is considered to be a beautiful, colourful, diverse culture that everyone has to accept and love, Rosemary even repeatedly scolds HERSELF for not being automatically super into it, but humans are treated like total idiots for being monogamous or even just not wanting their long time sexual partners to die a violent death.
- It's horrible to call a space-feather-lizard a lizard even though it is a very mild insult, but repeatedly stealing others' personal hygiene tools they have paid for with their own money because they wanted to take care of their own specific needs is UWU cutesy quirky.
- Doing your job high out of your fucking mind while the life of people depends on you is cool, but not wanting to partake in said drug use makes you an asshole.
Honestly, I absolutely can't stand the fact that this book lacks any form of self-aware thinking when it comes to its own biases that are hiding behind this bullshit Care Bear glitter world. Anything human is automatically hated, anything alien, even when it's not at all nice or kind is magical and lovely. But hey, tolerance, UWU.
The issue of this is not helped by the god awful dialogue, absolutely brought to the highest level of the character Kizzy, who is this hyperactive, annoying ass mechanic. She sounds like a 12-year-old girl on Tumblr.
I have no idea where this book ends up, but if I have to suffer through one more page of Rosemary self-censoring her own thoughts that weren't even bad, just kind of surprised or confused because every fucking alien species of psychos is magically superior and wonderful just because Becky Chambers wanted us to feel like living a life that is considered normal by real world society is bad I am going to scream.
This thing is preachy, treats its reader like an idiot and does things just because being quirky without reasons is so in this season. Also, social constructs. I have heard that's a good buzzword, not like the stupid habits of aliens aren't as much of social constructs as actually not letting your fucking kids die is, but hey. Humanz R doodooheads, lulz.
I do not recommend this to anyone.
Ένα πάνγλυκο βιβλίο, με πάνγλυκους χαρακτήρες. Ο κόσμος που χτίζεται είναι τόσο ζωντανός που ενώ διαβάζεις κάτι πρωτόγνωρο από 34234 διαφορετικές σκοπιές, φτάνεις σε σημείο να τα θεωρείς όλα οικεία. Μια διαφορετική ματιά σε ζητήματα φύλου, σεξουαλικότητας, ύπαρξης, διακρίσεων, ηθικής, εξουσίας. Μια ματιά που θα αποζητούσαμε τριγύρω μας. Θα'θελα η Becky Chambers να είναι φίλη μου.
Το πρώτο βιβλίο αν το δεις σαν κάτι εισαγωγικό/κομμάτι series πχ, είναι εξαιρετικό-τα-το. Τα χτίζει όλα υπέροχα και σχεδόν ξεχνάς ότι δεν υπάρχει πλοκή (γιατί ναι, δεν υπάρχει πλοκή).
Δυστυχώς το 2ο (A Closed and Common Orbit) δεν συνέχισε στα ίδια χνάρια, δεν είπε κάτι που περίμενες. Ωραία ανάγνωση, μεγαλύτερη εμβάθυνση σε χαρακτήσες και πιο στοχευμένη πλοκή, αλλά όχι κάτι που θα διάβαζα ξανά.
Το 3ο αναμένεται 25 Γενάρη του 2018.
A rollicking space adventure with a lot of heart When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The patched-up ship has seen better days, but it offers her everything she could possibly want: a spot to call home, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and some distance from her past. And nothing could be further from what she's known than the crew of the Wayfarer. From Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the chatty engineers who keep the ship running, to the noble captain Ashby, life aboard is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. That is until the crew is offered the job of a lifetime tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet. Sure, they'll earn enough money to live comfortably for years, but risking her life wasn't part of the job description. The journey through the galaxy is full of excitement, adventure, and mishaps for the Wayfarer team. And along the...
If you're a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, & Mass Effect, this book may be the book you never knew you needed. It's cemented my love for the space opera genre, and it's catered to my love of space-related stories. The book is about a tunneling crew and basically focuses on their lives during a long-haul tunneling job to a hostile race's section of the galaxy. It is not very plot driven until the very end. Each character narrates their point of view somewhere along the way. It's a diverse crew of different species of aliens and humans. You learn about their cultures, their customs, and their history. You also hear the alien's perspectives on humans and it's HILARIOUS. The world building was very well done and reminds me of Mass Effect in that respect.
Pros:
- Diversity: lots of aliens and humans. It also shows how the races coexist and how they view each other.
- Funny: Kizzy is hilarious!!! The first half of the book made me laugh so much. The banter between the crew is amusing, scandalous at times, and light-hearted.
- Lovable Characters: if you don't like the characters, you won't enjoy the book because it just focuses on them.
- Family elements: the crew considers each other family. You see moments of love, friendship, hate, anger, bickering, and forgiveness. This is a big element of the story and Chambers portrays it beautifully. Not everyone gets along, but they always look out for each other. Crew is family here.
- Different sexualities, genders, pronouns, etc.
- Beautiful family ending that left me feeling tingly and giddy with happiness.
Cons:
- Quick fixes: although bad things happen on the journey, they're resolved a little too quickly for my liking. I would have enjoyed prolonging my suffering a little more (funny enough).
- I can't find other stories like it!!
Currently, there is a sequel but it focuses on two minor characters. A third installment will be released in July but is centered around new folks. I only wish Chambers would write a sequel to hear what happens to the crew of the Wayferer because there is so much she can expand upon!!! I want more!!! So beware, this is a great story of a space family and truly one of a kind.
TL;DR
I didn't enjoy this book very much because it doesn't have a main story. It feels like it's a normal workday in the life of the people on this spaceship. You see them work on the ship, go to a planet to get supplies, eat, argue with each other... I prefer when there's a main story clearly defined.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Almost non existent, it's a mission to create a tunnel from place A to place B. Nothing more so it's no interesting and it's definitely no the focus of the book.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): They weren't that interesting and most of them lead to nothing. Like Rosemary, her backstory doesn't mean anything because it's brushed off and never had an impact on her crew or the main story.
✓ - Characters: They were all nice, every one felt like their own distinct individual. Can't say anything bad about them because they written in a way where you don't dislike them at all.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: I liked the ship, and all the different planets and stations they visit. They were all descriptive and cool to imagine.
X - Ending: Like I said since there's no main story there isn't an ending per se, the mission ends and there's that.
Extensive Review
There is a "main story" but it's so insignificant that it's not even worth mentioning. They have to create a tunnel from point A to point B. And by the end of the book nothing changed, the mission is over but the galaxy is the same. It felt like everything they did was a waste of time. I can understand people who like this book because of the characters and that cozy feeling it can create. The book is not bad it's just that I prefer story focused ones better I think.
"Ninety percent of all problems are caused by people being assholes."
I struggled a bit with this at the start but I realized it was because I was definitely looking for something more action packed after what I had recently finished. Once I settled in, I started to enjoy this quite a bit. I adore the Wayfarer and everyone on it, even Corbin.
I really wanted to like this book, but just couldn't get into it. The premise seems sound enough. A woman with a hidden past joins a crew of worm-hole tunnellers on the big run that can set them up for life. Unfortunately, I gave up reading after little over a hundred pages as nothing happens. There's a lot of talking, a lot of eating. There seemed to be no plot development other that this big job was on the horizon. I never got a sense of who the crew were, just how different they were from other humans. I did get that preferred pronouns are a big deal to aliens for some unknown reason, and that the main character must remind herself that speciesism is inappropriate. The injection of modern day identity politics seemed completely out of place because they didn't add anything to the story. So, all in all, I have to say that this book was not for me.
The Wayfarer is a worm-hole building spaceship. That's right, they build those things. And there's a crew. So next time you are driving past a road building team with stop/go guy, leaning on shovel guy, digger driver guy, roller driver guy, think your way into the future about traveling through a worm hole to a distant planet. Somebody made that super fast interplanetary motorway called a worm hole.
The Wayfarer crew has a captain, a pilot, a navigator, a repair/techie, a computer guy, an office manager, a doctor/cook, a fuel guy, and a sentient AI that controls the ship. Three of them are human, the others are aliens of different species, and they have different levels of affection or antipathy to each other. It's a small operation doing mainly 'local roads', until a major job appears. Along the way various crises occur, each impacting one or other of the characters and causing shifts in their relationships.
The book is strong on character development and world building but Chambers' prose doesn't get the most from those strengths. I'd just come from reading Christopher Ruocchio whose prose is extraordinary, so Chambers had a challenge from the start. However, the book was short listed for the Arthur C Clarke award, so maybe I'm being a bit tough on her.
The bulk of the story is about 'the long way' but towards the end of the book we find out where this worm hole is taking them. And that's where everything hits the fan.
Great characterisation but rambling plot. Luckily the characters kept interest because little happens. Series of incidents rather than a whole.
I actually really loved this book for several reasons. I loved the way it explored all these different alien cultures and explained both the bad and the good of almost every one of them. There were a lot of characters but all of them had their own stories and relationships. Tho there were many characters and species to keep track of which made it a little harder to follow the story.
I feel like the way they introduced Ohan was a little rough. Rosemary is surprised by the plural pronoun (they) which is just incorrect. They has been used as a singular in language for longer than the plural form and also used in the book. It seemed like this and other parts were supposed to be a comment on gender but it failed at that. I realise that they as plural is correct in Ohans case but it's poorly introduced. Especially since this has the LGBTQ+ tag I am kind of disappointed.
I also didn't like the way to book left off the characters. Most have gone through some big attitude or personality changes very last minute. The character development went very rapidly sometimes and now it is just left totally unexplored. Which bothers me especially when I know the other book in the series stars two totally unexplored characters. I would have love to know more about Ohan, Corbin, Jenks, Ashby and Pei, and Rosemary and Sissix.
The plot was kinda lackluster and the pacing seemed a little off at times, but the CHARACTERS are where this book shone! Once the characters started interacting with one another, it was difficult to put the book down.
Loved this. Couldn't put it down. Can't wait to start the next book in the series!
This is a feel-good sci-fi story centered around the multi-species crew. Loved the characters, and really liked the story. The world-building was interesting and engaging.
This isn't your hardcore sexist sci-fi of the 50s & 60s - if you're looking for Asimov or Bradberry, look elsewhere - this isn't going to float your boat. This is more cozy meets Star Trek with a dash of whimsy - and plenty of snacks on hand. If you liked the Illuminae Files series, you'll probably like this.
4.0
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a cozier, character-driven sci-fi exploring what it means to be human. The multi-species cast of the Wayfarer are each developed through vignette-ish subplots as the ship makes the titular long journey. I loved all the characters and I hope some of them will make appearances in the rest of the series.
I would have liked a bit more description of the different planets and ships, they didn't feel as fully realized as the characters.
Overall I enjoyed The Long Way and will read more books in this series. I'm eager to meet more characters and learn more of the history and politics of this universe.
Honestly speaking this is a fantastic and wholesome read.
It made me laugh, cry, question my worldview, and wish to hug my family and friends tight.
I can't wait to read all of them.