The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

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

Reviewed by Jordon on

3 of 5 stars

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I liked this book, but I had also been expecting much more action, I’m not sure why.

At first I felt that Rosemary was the main character of the book, but while I was waiting for the story to start (not realising this WAS the story), I realised that actually there was no main character, they were all the main characters.

So I liked it, but also, I didn’t feel invested in any one character which made me feel a bit ‘meh’ about it all. Feeling like the story hasn’t started at 60% of the book also wasn’t great.

Some of the characters and their stories were... interesting? Unrelatable, yet I wanted to see how it turned out. Also, who travels through space without weapons?! I found that part hard to believe, I guess because I’m so used to reading about hostile aliens or space wars etc.

I’d definitely recommend this book, but be warned, it’s more of a slice of life story rather than a space opera.

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Reading updates

  • 22 April, 2020: Started reading
  • 28 April, 2020: Finished reading
  • 28 April, 2020: Reviewed