The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

(Wayfarers #1)

Paperback, 404 pages

English language

Published July 16, 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton.

ISBN:
9781473619814

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5 stars (4 reviews)

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that's seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past. But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer. The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful - exactly what Rosemary wants. Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime: the chance to build a hyperspace tunnel to a distant planet.

15 editions

More soap opera than space opera

3 stars

Reading this feels a lot like watching a soap opera. It's very much a character driven story with the plot serving merely to prod the story along as and when needed. And the characters are an entertaining and likeable bunch of misfits, doing their job and surviving as best they can.

It's also worth noting that this is a really nice story. The characters have spent years learning to get along with each other and... they get along with each other. What tensions there are are relatively minor and never distract from the fact that these people are looking out for each other.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is a very easy read and a solid debut from Becky Chambers.

An incredible story. A real delight.

5 stars

Wow this book is incredible! There’s so much to say that I’m afraid I don’t have the words to convey it all. Becky Chambers’ book gave me so many FEELINGS. Each new page revealed some unexpected delight or curiosity that kept me hooked right to the end.

I love science fiction, but especially stories that involve both the minutia of the daily lives of spacefarers or colonists and the sweeping grand scale of interstellar travel and galactic politics. Combine this with a healthy dose of chunky, tangible tech, sentient AIs and a variety of different races and cultures and I’m in my happy place.

The Long Way delivers on all of this and so much more. The multi-species crew of the Wayfarer are all fleshed out as distinct individuals, each with their own personalities, belief systems, desires and struggles. It was thrilling to discover little snippets of their backstories and …

a story that thrives on its characters

5 stars

The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).

I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).

This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …

a story that thrives on its characters

5 stars

The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).

I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).

This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …