appel@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)
Review of 'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Cozy sci-fi with a whole lotta heart.
Paperback, 404 pages
English language
Published July 16, 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton.
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.
Cozy sci-fi with a whole lotta heart.
A lovable and diverse spaceship crew on an adventure. What's not to like. The main plot almost fades into the background because there's a lot of focus on the different characters of the crew, their lives, emotions and character development throughout the book.
I'm looking forward to reading the other books from this series.
Bien heureuse de ne pas avoir lu la 4Ăšme de couverture avant de terminer, elle raconte presque toute lâhistoire !!
Câest assez rare les livres de SF et les spaces opera oĂč lâon est agrĂ©ablement confuse presque tout le long de lâhistoire sur lâapparence, origine, us et coutumes des diffĂ©rentes espĂšces (au point que je me disais quâil y avait un tome Ă lire avant celui-ci).
Jâai entendu parler de ce livre grĂące au podcast Les couilles sur la table oĂč il a Ă©tĂ© recommandĂ© comme alternatif Ă la science-fiction classique masculine avec beaucoup dâarmes et de guerres dans lâespace. Ă la place, cette histoire se concentre beaucoup plus sur les personnages et leurs interactions entre eux. Je suis complĂštement dâaccord avec cette analyse, et jâai adorĂ© tous les personnages. Jâai eu lâimpression de passer un bon moment avec des potes en lisant le livre. Tout le monde a une histoire et une personnalitĂ© bien distinctes. Jâai aussi apprĂ©ciĂ© que lâautrice a rĂ©ussi Ă crĂ©er des personnalitĂ©s pour les personnages non-humains et elle a pu Ă©viter le raccourci qui se trouve dans beaucoup de science-fiction que tous les ĂȘtres dâune mĂȘme espĂšce non-humaine aient les mĂȘmes caractĂ©ristiques et ne soient pas vus comme des individus. Le livre parle avec douceur des sujets comme la diversitĂ© et âŠ
Jâai entendu parler de ce livre grĂące au podcast Les couilles sur la table oĂč il a Ă©tĂ© recommandĂ© comme alternatif Ă la science-fiction classique masculine avec beaucoup dâarmes et de guerres dans lâespace. Ă la place, cette histoire se concentre beaucoup plus sur les personnages et leurs interactions entre eux. Je suis complĂštement dâaccord avec cette analyse, et jâai adorĂ© tous les personnages. Jâai eu lâimpression de passer un bon moment avec des potes en lisant le livre. Tout le monde a une histoire et une personnalitĂ© bien distinctes. Jâai aussi apprĂ©ciĂ© que lâautrice a rĂ©ussi Ă crĂ©er des personnalitĂ©s pour les personnages non-humains et elle a pu Ă©viter le raccourci qui se trouve dans beaucoup de science-fiction que tous les ĂȘtres dâune mĂȘme espĂšce non-humaine aient les mĂȘmes caractĂ©ristiques et ne soient pas vus comme des individus. Le livre parle avec douceur des sujets comme la diversitĂ© et la comprĂ©hension entre les gens. Mais il sâagit non seulement des diffĂ©rences entre les espĂšces fictives mais aussi des diffĂ©rences causĂ©es par de vrais handicaps. Il peut mĂȘme y avoir de la neurodiversitĂ© entres les individus dâune espĂšce non-humaine par exemple.
Jâai lâimpression que le livre a Ă©tĂ© Ă©crit comme une sĂ©rie de tĂ©lĂ©vision. Les chapitres sont comme des Ă©pisodes de la sĂ©rie avec des histoires sĂ©parĂ©es qui nâont pas toujours un grand rapport avec lâhistoire centrale du roman.
La description sur le dos du livre fait croire que Rosemary est la protagoniste et que lâhistoire va se dĂ©rouler autour dâelle. Mais finalement elle nâest pas plus importante que les autres membres de lâĂ©quipage et la narration change souvent de point de vue pour se concentrer sur un autre personnage, ce qui donne encore plus lâimpression de regarder un soap.
Bien que la description du livre dise que lâhistoire Ă©vite les guerres de la science-fiction classique, il y en a quand mĂȘme dans lâunivers du livre ainsi que des politiques intergalactiques. On pourrait bien se croire dans lâunivers de Star Wars. La diffĂ©rence principale est juste que tout ça est Ă lâarriĂšre-plan de lâhistoire et on le voit du point de vue des gens ordinaires qui ne sont pas des hĂ©ros et qui ne peuvent pas beaucoup lâinfluencer.
Du coup, je recommande fortement le livre.
Wow this book is incredible! Thereâs so much to say that Iâm afraid I donât have the words to convey it all. Becky Chambersâ 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 Iâm 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 âŠ
Wow this book is incredible! Thereâs so much to say that Iâm afraid I donât have the words to convey it all. Becky Chambersâ 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 Iâm 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 how this influences their relationships with each other. I also really enjoyed that our window into their world was initially that of an outsider, Rosemary, and that as I grew more accustomed to the crew, so did she.
(Kizzy is my absolute favouriteâ€ïž Jenks asking âare you making them hats?â absolutely killed međ)
Becky makes expert use of the interpersonal relationships between this small cast of quirky characters living in tight quarters to explore themes of identity, family, gender and sexuality effortlessly. It never feels heavy handed and the variety of species only made it more natural. It was refreshing to discover a universe where multiple gender pronouns, sexual orientations and found families are the norm.
All this set against the backdrop of the Galactic Commons and the political concerns of different planets and species. The destination, Hedra Ka - the small angry planet of the title - is only found after a long and meandering journey, but what a journey. This is a story thatâs all about what happens when you take the long way round and itâs SO worth it. I adored this book.
Iâm really sad that itâs over - a little stunned to be honest - but Iâm so grateful for the heartwarming, emotional story that now lives rent free in my brain. Better still, I am delighted to discover that, not only is there a sequel, this is the first book of four in the Wayfarer series. The little preview of the second book was a nice teaser and Iâm looking forward to what comes next. Highly recommended.
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 âŠ
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 being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.
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 âŠ
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 being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.