The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

See my entire review here: https://allisontshannon.wordpress.com/2019/05/19/things-slowly-degrade-review-of-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet/

Although this is essentially a space opera setting, it doesn't focus on the sorts of things that space operas normally focus on. Instead, it's a story about the crew of an unarmed vessel that drills hyperspace tunnels for other ships to travel through. While there are some dramatic moments - especially towards the climax - they're a pretty minor part of the book, which is more about the mundane lives of the characters.

Every member of the crew is a viewpoint character at some point, and we learn how and why these people decided to take up such a rootless existence, and how they have found a new family in each other. This does mean that the story is quite slow and sedate, at least for the most part, but it's worth it for the pay-off at the end. It's not going to be to everyone's taste, with rich setting and characterisation, but little of the sort of action that tends to populate most space opera. Personally, I enjoyed it as a fresh change of pace, with an upbeat, optimistic worldview, despite the fact that the setting is far from a utopia.

Din păcate, nepotrivire serioasă de caracter între mine și Wayfarers 1.
Prea multă vorbărie, prea puține fapte (titlul extra-lung ar fi trebuit să fie un indiciu).
Prea multă mâncare și îngrijire corporală, prea puțină poveste (care poveste?!).
După ce a picat cu brio testul celor 100 de pagini, am făcut o excepție și am insistat până la 200, apoi 300, pentru că e recomandată cu entuziasm de prieteni în care am mare încredere literară, ca Horia Ursu, Alex Lamba sau Liviu Szoke.
Dar tot degeaba, fiindcă e doar un ME (Mass Effect - rase multiple și foarte variate, trăind împreună într-o federație, ba chiar majoritatea raselor se potrivesc la caracteristici, în afară de nume, deci și doamna autor a jucat jocul) după ce-i scoți adrenalina, acțiunea și miza. Bune au fost doar personajele, dar și acolo unele sunt subdezvoltate (Corbin, Ashby), altele exagerat de dezvoltate (Kizzy, atât de enervantă, Dumnezeule, și tocmai ea e atât de peste tot!). Mi-a plăcut doar de Chef. Și, sincer, de Corbin.
Deloc pe felia mea. Sorry.

Really liked this. After the quality reads of James SA Corey, this felt familiar and somehow grounded in scientific fact. Nothing felt too weird to break the world the book builds.

1: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet ★★★★★
#2: A Closed and Common Orbit ★★★★.5
#3: Record of a Spaceborn Few ???

This review can also be found on my blog.

I don't know if I've ever been so sad to have a book end.

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but I'm just glad I finally got around to it. Everyone has been singing praises of The Long Way for what feels like ages, but I kept putting off reading it because for some reason I get intimidated by “hard sci-fi” books even though I almost always end up loving them. Luckily, I managed to win a giveaway thrown by Debbie's Library back in August, and received a copy of it then! I finally got around to picking it up and wow am I glad I did.

With a terrible silence, the sky ripped open. It swallowed them.Rosemary looked out the window, and realized that she'd never really seen black before.

As is typical of a longer book with a larger cast, it took me a bit to get into The Long Way. Chambers does a skillful job of introducing us to the world and the characters, but I always get overwhelmed anyway. Once I made it through the first hundred pages or so, I was hooked. The majority of the book takes place aboard a spaceship called The Wayfarer, as the multispecies crew is joined by their newest member, Rosemary. While there's a decent amount of action, what I really fell in love with was the world and the characters that Chambers has created.

Being alone and untouched... there's no punishment worse than that.

The characters are all so unique in wonderful ways, but my favorites are definitely Sissix and Rosemary. It felt like Rosemary was our portal into this otherwise foreign world – she had grown up planetside and was unfamiliar with a lot of the ins and outs of space travel (although through her studies she had learned a lot about different alien cultures). This was a nice way to ease the reader in without making it seem like they were being spoon fed every piece of information about the world. Meanwhile, I really loved learning about Sissix's culture. She comes from a lizard-like bipedal species that's polyamorous as hell and relies strongly on physical contact to express affection. I found it interesting to learn more about them, and to see how Sissix is able to modify her own methods of socialization in order to mesh better with the crew.

He was not a prisoner of those memories. He was their warden.

That's really just the tip of the iceberg as far as the new species and cultures Chambers has come up with. She's also able to navigate some interesting ethical dilemmas that may evolve with more progressive technology, such as advanced body modifications, cloning, and the potential rights that could be given to AI. Somehow she can incorporate all these elements without sounding preachy or like she's squeezing too much into the story.

I'll never understand how the rest of you expect brand new adults to be able to teach kids how to be people.

Overall, I just loved this book and truly didn't want it to end. I felt a wild wave of emotions crest over me when I turned the last page, because in a way I was losing some new friends it seemed I had just gotten to know. While I've been known to get emotional over books, they rarely make me feel quite this strongly. The Long Way is really something special and I highly recommend picking it up if you're interested. I just can't wait to see what Chambers' other books have in store for me.

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I'd give this 4.5 stars (if that was an option). This space opera can be a bit confusing at the beginning because it's not immediately obvious that there are multiple sapient species, or how the human species got to its standing in the galaxy. Continue reading and much will become clearer. The story is well worth it.

There are a variety of recreational drugs and food items that I'd like to understand better. They mentioned coffee once, so while it's nice to know that it will still exist in the future, that tells me that none of the other beverages are equivalent to coffee.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

GAY. ALIENS.

DNF. But it probably deserves another chance. I'm adding it to my 2nd chance challenge list.

Meh. I had heard such good things about this book but I ended up skimming the last 25% of it. I understand the interest in a Sci-Fi novel that is more about characters and less about technology, but the characters were flat (despite the numerous species they represented) and the plotting was slow with little action until the end. The author's message of acceptance of diversity is presented in such a simple manner that it is virtually meaningless. I'm glad this was such a meaningful book for many people but for me it was a chore to finish.

This was a fun, light read. The story and the characters are simple—in some respects, too simple—but it comes together well for an enjoyable read. The book felt very much like a series of TV episodes, very Firefly-esque.

Wow, where do I start?

Thanks for r/suggestmeabook to begin with. I asked for a spacefaring romance, but something where the romance was subtle, not too in your face.

I'll start with the spacefaring. This book definitely has that! 90% of the book is set on The Wayfarer, a wonderfully fun sounding spaceship, with a task of never thought about before, and a multi-species crew.

The technology is always one of they things I like to read about, and there was plenty of it here. The explanations were good, not too in-depth to bore the reader, but deep enough to give a decent understanding.

Where this book really excels though is the characters, particularly in Rosemary, which is the character that grows and changes the most throughout this book.

The book was full of surprises, things that made me smile, and loveable characters. I've already finished book 2!

A little long, but quite good.

The world was well-developed and the characters were great. The plot was a little twisty, but mostly good.

(Written after the body of my review: Another attempt at a book that I marked as DNF once before already. I did finish it this time, but have now realized that I wouldn't have missed much if I hadn't. Original DNF review at the end.)

I...am not sure how I feel about this book. It's very character driven, to the extent that the plot is borderline nonexistent. The chapters are very episodic, just tangentially connected to the ones before and after - and that only through a couple of character arcs. The characters are...kind of bland, honestly. I mean, they were so good and written to be so likable that ... none of them really had any flaws. (Except for Corbin, but that, I think was just so he could do something the rest of the crew wouldn't.) And even that was more of an informed flaw than anything.

The book was a very quick read, so that was a good thing, and the first half to two-thirds went by fairly quickly, but then all these moral questions started popping up and the book just takes the easy way out on every single one of them.

And, honestly, there's problems in this book. I mean, this is sci-fi, humans should have learnt better by now, but it's aggressively human-centric. Also, kinda transphobic and unaccepting of non-binary and asexual folks. Though it does normalize gay relationships and makes an attempt to do the same for poly relationships.

Huh... Looks like I do know how I feel about this book. Sorry guys, I'm going to have to disagree with so many of you. (Like every single person I know that's read this book.) Thanks Goodreads, for letting me figure out my feels in a stream of conscious type review!

(There's more and better reviews that deal with some of my problems - like a good half of the one star reviews! - but I'm going to leave you a link to this thoughtful one that isn't on Goodreads. https://candidceillie.com/review-a-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet-by-becky-chambers-spoilers-galore/)

DNF - PG 148

Why?

I actually have over a page that I wrote out about what this book does well (everyone's nice and respectful of each other and get along wonderfully) and me saying why it doesn't work for me (characters are boring, nothing happens - ever) at great length. And now I can't find that paper. Ah, well...

Anyway, this book wasn't for me because while the respect the races show each other is wonderful, the romances (human woman/alien female & human man/AI) are sweet and cute, the characters are flawless - which I do not find a good thing - and the writing relies too much on omnipotent narrator for me. But, most importantly, nothing ever happens. There is no plot beyond a slice-of-life space-trip.

Honestly, I would totally feel comfortable recommending this to readers that usually read contemporary or romance or, maybe literature or historical, that are looking to try some sci-fi but don't want the lots of action that usually comes with it. But, if you're a sci-fi fan that likes action and/or plots and/or flawed characters...well, I wouldn't recommend this book.

Didn't hate it, didn't love it; this book didn't inspire much of anything in me.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—

We are all made from chromosomes and DNA, which themselves are made from a select handful of key elements. We all require a steady intake of water and oxygen to survive (though in varying quantities). We all need food. We all buckle under atmospheres too thick or gravitational fields too strong. We all die in freezing cold or burning heat. We all die, full stop.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Wayfarer

Wayfarer

Wayfarer

Wayfarer

in the Wayfarer Universe

This was such a lovely little book (it's actually quite thick – but it reads fast.) Chambers writes a lovely interstellar setting, with seemingly endless diversity of alien cultures, anatomy and biology. I really felt that the world building was stellar and that I could delve into each of the alien races. I also really liked that humans were kind of a lesser-race in the galaxy – nice twist.

As billed, the best part of the book is the chosen-family relationship that develops among the crew of the Wayfarers, despite interpersonal tension, major cultural differences and occasional fights. Their care for each other and the way that they all learned to understand each other was really evident. There's something really satisfying about reading about characters who are deeply-developed and obviously well-loved by their author, and I'm constantly complaining about the dearth of literature on platonic non-familial relationships.

And while I'm annoyed that most of the races in the galaxy were bipedal and used DNA (why DNA? Fine, if it's going to be nucleic acids, RNA, novel sugars, novel bases? There have got to be more self-replicating molecules in the galaxy. Geneticists of the future, I'm jealous.) but at least Chambers lamp-shaded how unlikely this is, and I felt like it was genre-aware.

Don't be swayed into thinking that this book is perfect: it read pretty disjointed. Each chapter seemed more like a TV episode in a semi-serial show than a book chapter – often characters or plots were limited to a single chapter to be explored, concluded and discarded. The character and setting development definitely outshone the plot.

Overall, a really nice debut novel – perfect warm & fuzzy reading, especially for Firefly fans.

4.5 stars oh my stars, what an amazing novel! The diversity amongst this crew is so refreshing. I have a soft spot for Sissix and Ohan. I can't wait to get my hands on the second book in this series.

Sometimes, between all the post-apocalyptical stories, I need to read something that's just good fun. This book is that! I liked the characters, their different struggles and cultures. The overall story is a bit thin, and the book is almost a picaresque, as the title implies, there's a lot of traveling going on.

Wow. It's been a long time (years? an actual decade?) since I've read a sci fi book I've liked as much as this one. It's a soap opera of a sci fi book, with a Star Trek cast as diverse as we can get in this universe, with a plot centering on a broken-down ship with a mission to dig wormholes through space. I lingered over the stories of a man in love with the AI system on the ship and the character connected to a mystical guidance system that will kill him if he continues to allow it to reside inside him and the captain's illicit romance with a non-human being and the hard-to-get-along-with algae specialist...all the characters and all the stories, really. It's a delight of a book. I'm happy to hear book two is already written and on the shelves.

4.5 !
This was a great spacey adventure !!
:)

God I love a good “scrappy crew in space” story and YES OKAY I CRIED. It was good k.

This is one of my new favorites, easily sneaking its way into my top ten of all books. I am in love! It's both a fun and fascinating sci-fi novel exploring ethics and morality through that lens, it's a happy and hilarious comedy about a make shift family that harkened parks and rec feels! Read it!!!!!

• I thought this was entertaining but in the way of me watching.. I dunno.. Disney movies because of the happy endings and two dimensional characters. It's just easy to digest.
BUT in Disney movies there is actual drama, action even. This story never gets too intense. For me, I needed things to go deeper.

THIS WAS LOVELY! The characters were lovely, the relationships were lovely, everything was lovely!!!

I really enjoyed how broad and diverse the cast was, including the aliens that were just straight up WEIRD (from my meager human perspective). Not all the alien species were humanoid with just one or two different physical features, they were unique and well thought-out and so very different from humans—physically, mentally, and culturally. But despite the crew of the Wayfarer being so drastically different from each other, they were a family. And if you know how I feel about found family stories (I ADORE THEM), you'll understand why this book was such a pleasure for me. The relationship between the crew as a whole, plus the relationships between many of them one-on-one, felt so genuine. They fought sometimes, they annoyed each other sometimes, but at the end of the day you could feel the love, respect, and support flowing through the Wayfarer.

The positivity of this book was so refreshing. So often, sci-fi is depressing as hell, and that's fine, that makes sense, I enjoy that sometimes. But I also enjoy a bunch of lovable characters zooming around in space and eating dinner together and watching giant flying crickets together. There were some obstacles and there was some angst, but you always knew that the characters would get through because they had each other—they had their crew, their family.

The first time I read this book, I thought it was pleasant, but there seemed to be something missing.

On second reading, I realized that the book is differently oriented, compared with most of the sf that I've read. I've been reading sf for well over 50 years, and generally speaking the point of it is that you enjoy the scenario, the plot, and the situations. The characters are there to implement the plot, and to serve as incidental decoration. If the characters are good, so much the better, but they're not the main point of the thing.

In this book, the characters and their interactions are the main point of the thing. The plot serves to provide a series of opportunities for them to interact in new ways. There's certainly a plot, but it's episodic, and secondary to the characters. Once I understood this, I appreciated the book better. Although I like some episodes better than others.

Broadly speaking, the scenario is not unusual. It's a future universe with interstellar travel, in which humans interact with various other intelligent species from other solar systems. But this one is somewhat original in its details, and carries conviction, being well imagined in some depth. The author isn't just making it up as she goes along, she probably has detailed background notes and knows more about her universe than she's telling us.

The book struck me as pleasant even at first reading, because the main characters are mostly likeable and good company; although there are also some characters that are less likeable and even malevolent. When she has time, the author tries to explain things from their point of view, to show why they behave in that way. I like that.

It comes as a relief to get through a novel in good company, after all the other novels out there in which the company is less congenial. The characters suffer serious problems at times (thus making a story of it), but on the whole this is a feel-good story with a positive attitude. The snag is that the likeable characters are rather too likeable to be completely plausible, giving me a slight sensation of watching a jolly children's television programme.

We have here a universe in which humans are not the Top Species: they're working their way up from the bottom. However, they're making progress, and are at the time of the story adequately respected by most other species. The other species are devised with varying degrees of ingenuity; the most interesting are the Sianat Pairs, who co-exist with a virus that gives them a unique ability but shortens their lifespan; and the Aeluons, who communicate with each other by rapidly changing the colours of their skin. Aeluons lack voices and need artificial talkboxes to communicate with other species.

Overall, this book is a good effort for a first novel, enjoyable and worth rereading. Full marks for world-building.

The story is divided quite sharply into separate chapters with distinct themes, almost like a connected series of short stories; that's not necessarily a fault, but most novels seem to flow more smoothly, somehow.

The characters seem slightly too cute. However, we come to know each of them in some detail, not just their personalities but their backgrounds and secrets and worries. This is not a story that concentrates on one protagonist: all members of the Wayfarer's crew are more or less equal protagonists, and are all given attention.