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readandfindout's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Chronic illness
Moderate: Death, Violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Drug use
Minor: Ableism, Genocide, Sexual content, Vomit, and Slavery
katejuniper's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book embodies the saying that it’s not about the destination, but the journey. Don’t expect a big climax, just relax and enjoy the ride. If you do, you’ll be sucked in by rich world building and carefully thought out alien species. A beautiful, complete, calming book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Death
Minor: Ableism
futureofmydays's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Deadnaming, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Genocide
Minor: Blood and Mental illness
tachyondecay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Well, this book lives up to its title: they definitely take the long way around. Although nominally space opera, if you were hoping for sweeping galactic politics and high stakes, you might want to look elsewhere. The Wayfarer is in the middle of a tense diplomatic situation for sure, but this story isn’t about that. This story is about the Wayfarer crew, their journey rather than their destination, and the things you learn along the way. Becky Chambers hasn’t written space opera so much as space pop, and I’m cool with that.
This is a difficult book to summarize, because the back cover makes it seem like Rosemary is the main character, but in actuality this is an ensemble cast. Chambers takes the time to ensure each of the crew receives at least some time in the spotlight. Rather than trying to introduce them all, let me just say that there is an eclectic mix of Humans and other aliens, each of whom has distinctive personality traits, some as a result of their species and some as a result of their personality. What’s interesting to me is how Chambers manages to make most of the characters fairly round. There are moments when you love each character as well as moments you dislike them, and that takes talent to do repeatedly.
This crew lives and works primarily in space, and the story is more about their relationships than their mission to tunnel a wormhole from alien space back to familiar territory. Chambers explores the conflicts that arise from multiple species living in close quarters, the misunderstandings and the fun, as well as the stress that is possible when you are an unarmed vessel out in deep space. Though I would likely describe this book as a slow burn, there are moments of action and tension that kick the pace up into heart-pounding territory.
I love the thoughtfulness Chambers has put into her species. Some people will no doubt fault the level of exposition in this book, and you know … cool. That is a legitmate critique here, and I’m not going to say you’re wrong. But I think that’s the case for a lot of science fiction (Charles Stross called), so this is more about whether or not you like or can tolerate infodumping. If you can, if you want to go on this fun ride through the gallery of alien biology, customs, and foods that Chambers has created, then you will have a good time.
Another noticeable stylistic element is just the way that Chambers weaves humour throughout the book. This is particularly evident in the dialogue, which is rich with asides and moments that, in a tightly-paced 43 minute TV show or a novel that took itself too seriously, would be cut for time. This book revels in the idea of breathing room, the idea that there really isn’t any hurry to get on with the main plot. And while it is tempting to single out humour as the dominant emotion on display, I think that misrepresents the wealth of tones Chambers infuses into these scenes. There is plenty of humour, yes, but there is also anger and righteous fury; there is awkward bigotry and accidental insults; there is intense attraction and abiding love.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is one of those books where, if you like it, you like it for the reasons others dislike it. If you want direct, precision-plotting, this book is not for you. This is a book for people who religiously complete every side quest in a video game before daring to continue the main plot. If you want a book where you get to hang out with video game NPCs for a couple of hours—and oh yeah, galactic events are happening just outside the ship, but let’s not worry about those—then this is the book for you.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content
urs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Highly compelling. Emotionally gripping.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement and Terminal illness
Minor: Racism
valereads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is a character driven sci-fi novel which follows a year(?) in the life of a crew of ordinary people - well ordinary by the standards of a sci-fi setting. It's an episodic story that follows the characters as they visit different locations on the way to the big job which is their end goal and the way the characters and their relationships with each other develop throughout their journey.
I liked this book for what it was, a quiet story about people and relationships but because of the quiet episodic nature of this story it did kind of feel like the big action of the climax came out of nowhere which was a little off putting.
This book contained some interesting discussions about disability and bodily autonomy for disabled people. I thought the disabled rep was overall pretty good, especially regarding the character of Jenks and his feelings towards his disability, though it had a few significant issues. The first is the ending to Ohan's character arc. Another issue was with the species known as Aeluons. This species could not naturally hear or speak so had cybernetically altered themselves to fit in with the rest of society. This isn't a bad premise in of itself, mirroring the issues deaf people face in real life (i.e. cochlear implants etc.) but there was no discussion around the implications of this - it was just accepted as fine which stuck me as off for a book which discussed issues of autonomy for disabled people so much with other characters and this is such a significant issue within the Deaf community. And maybe this is a bit nitpick-y but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way that for all the disability rep the supposedly unlikable character who calls people slurs and who the reader is supposed to dislike, Corbin, is autistic coded.
I know that that probably seems like a lot of complaints but overall I did enjoy this book, enough that I am absolutely continuing on to the sequel, which is a big deal for someone who generally doesn't like sci-fi at all.
If you enjoy character and relationship driven stories with casual queer rep and the found family trope as well as some interesting, if not always perfectly executed, conversations about disability and autonomy I'd highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings: There's some graphic violence in this story as well as discussions of war including the use of genetic based weapons. There's also some scenes of prisoner abuse.
I liked this book for what it was, a quiet story about people and relationships but because of the quiet episodic nature of this story it did kind of feel like the big action of the climax came out of nowhere which was a little off putting.
This book contained some interesting discussions about disability and bodily autonomy for disabled people. I thought the disabled rep was overall pretty good, especially regarding the character of Jenks and his feelings towards his disability, though it had a few significant issues. The first is the ending to Ohan's character arc. Another issue was with the species known as Aeluons. This species could not naturally hear or speak so had cybernetically altered themselves to fit in with the rest of society. This isn't a bad premise in of itself, mirroring the issues deaf people face in real life (i.e. cochlear implants etc.) but there was no discussion around the implications of this - it was just accepted as fine which stuck me as off for a book which discussed issues of autonomy for disabled people so much with other characters and this is such a significant issue within the Deaf community. And maybe this is a bit nitpick-y but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way that for all the disability rep the supposedly unlikable character who calls people slurs and who the reader is supposed to dislike, Corbin, is autistic coded.
I know that that probably seems like a lot of complaints but overall I did enjoy this book, enough that I am absolutely continuing on to the sequel, which is a big deal for someone who generally doesn't like sci-fi at all.
If you enjoy character and relationship driven stories with casual queer rep and the found family trope as well as some interesting, if not always perfectly executed, conversations about disability and autonomy I'd highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings: There's some graphic violence in this story as well as discussions of war including the use of genetic based weapons. There's also some scenes of prisoner abuse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content
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