The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)

by Becky Chambers

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 

'A quietly profound, humane tour de force' Guardian 

The beloved debut novel that will restore your faith in humanity

#SmallAngryPlanet

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The ship, which has 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 reptillian 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. They'll earn enough money to live comfortably for years... if they survive the long trip through war-torn interstellar space without endangering any of the fragile alliances that keep the galaxy peaceful.

But Rosemary isn't the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

PRAISE FOR THE WAYFARERS

'Never less than deeply involving' DAILY MAIL

'Explores the quieter side of sci-fi while still wowing us with daring leaps of imagination' iBOOKS

'So much fun to read' HEAT

'Chambers is simply an exceptional talent, quietly and beautifully redefining the space opera' TOR.COM

'The most fun that I've had with a novel in a long, long time' iO9

• ISBN10: 1473619815
• ISBN13: 9781473619814
• Publish Date: 31 December 2015 (first published 16 March 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Imprint: Hodder Paperback
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[sarahjay]

I loved this so much.

[ayla_abbott]

I hope now that we've got the characters established, and indeed I do like the characters, that the next book will be a bit less 'discrete chapters that tell a character's story or current struggle' and more, 'okay we now know how these people work together... lets seem them foil some baddies!'

There was a lot of hype around this book, but if it hadn't been the only book I brought on a trip I'm not 100% certain I would have stuck it out. That being said, after finishing it, I'm glad I did. I think there's a lot of potential here, if she can just put these characters in some good situations rather than the sort of obvious conclusion that the 1st one came to.

[Rinn]

Also reviewed on my blog, Rinn Reads.

Do you ever have the feeling after finishing a book that it was written especially for you?

Because that’s exactly how I felt after reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

It was perfect, perfect, PERFECT. Everything I wanted in a sci-fi novel. It felt like a bit of a mash up of two of my favourite things: Firefly and Mass Effect. Firefly (which I feel I have compared a LOT of books, but this is the ultimate) because of the setting and the crazy crew, Mass Effect because of the alien races and the world-building. Here are just some of the things that were truly, wonderfully amazing about this book:

- The crew of the Wayfarer. They felt so alive, each character was fantastically crafted and felt so alive. I WANTED TO BE FRIENDS WITH THEM ALL SO BAD. Even grumpy-face Corbin.

- The story. Although actually not a lot happened in terms of plot, I really loved that. Most of the book was scenes between various members of the crew, a study into their relationships and lives.

- A wide range of alien species. And not just humanoid aliens, but bug-like aliens, crab-like aliens… and you know what? The female aliens were not sexualised. They did not have obviously ‘female’ features. You would not believe how notable this is…

- The fact that these aliens had their own languages, and some of them weren’t verbal but based on hand signals, facial expressions or even the colouring of their faces. It was so refreshing to read about all these alien cultures that were so DIFFERENT from our own, rather than a re-hashed human race.

- The use of the pronouns ‘xe’ and ‘xyr’ in some cases, which is the first time I’ve encountered that in a book. I just felt like the fact that Becky Chambers included these shows that she put a lot of thought into sexuality and gender within this future alien society, delving deep into the world building.

Even if you’re not a huge science fiction fan, this book could definitely work for you – it is so much more than just that. It is less about the setting and more about the characters, their relationships and the dynamic on the ship. I am just so, SO happy that I finally picked this up. It worked perfectly for me, and has quickly made its way into my favourites. My only regret here is that I didn’t read the book sooner – although that does mean I have slightly less time to wait for the next one… Additionally, it’s also given me an urge to re-watch Firefly and replay the Mass Effect series – perhaps that will sate my appetite whilst I wait!

[ross91]

I'm not a fan of this book. I thought that the characters were really well written, but the plot was substantially uneventful and boring. This book is too focused on characterization and equality, but the story lacks and more than once I wanted to just put it down and read something else.
I understand why a lot of people loved this one, but for me a sci-fi book needs to be thrilling and action packed, while this one was almost solely focused on character development.
Finally, I thought the human/AI romance was really weird.