Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

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

36 reviews

pandemonicbaby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Really enjoyed this book!! Reading it felt like watching a space-themed slice-of-life anime. I really liked getting to know all of the characters and their quirks, and the lore was surprisingly expansive and very interesting. Will read more books from this series in the future!!
The fact that I really enjoyed this book just goes to show how I should pay attention to all the lesbian space operas my high school english teacher recommends. She never misses I fear

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, Xenophobia, War, Gore, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Vomit, Colonisation, Medical content, and Alcohol

there is a scene where a character is beaten up while being incarcerated, but it is short. Another character has a chronic illness, caused by a virus with which they are infected. There is also a scene where the main characters' ship is seized by pirates, and they threaten the ship's crew with guns and knock out the captain.

refrejarator's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

No joke, this is now my favourite book. I've never had one before, so this means a lot to me. 

The Long Way was refreshing, healing, humorous, and reflective in ways that made my heart hurt and my chest light. This is exactly what I needed in my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, Hate crime, Medical content, Racial slurs, War, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Racism and xenophobia is applied to extra terrestrial creatures, does not relate to POCs. There are neo pronouns and they/them pronouns as plural (significant to plot and not derogatory).

_david_'s review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

For the first time in a long while I cried while reading. Not only that, but I cried twice withing half an hour. First in a sad way, then in a happy way.

I cannot remember any book who had this many rounded characters written in such an excellent way. The whole crew of the Wayfarer was made up out of characters who each had their own unique stories and personalities. Each character was put in the spotlight multiple times without it feeling jarring.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Grief, Confinement, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Death

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Incest, War, Xenophobia, Dementia, Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical content

There is a main characters with a big focus on their clan being led by a religion/cult. The present main belief is quite similar to anti-vaccination/medicine mindsets. Character's name

Ohan/Sianat pair

How the arch goes

the main cast meets people who questioned the religion and now went against its beliefs and feel free. Ohan sticks with their belief, this leads to them almost dying. When they're about to die, somebody gives them a medicine and forces Ohan to give up their religion. Ohan is happy about it afterwards.

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Like everything I’ve read so far by Becky Chambers this book will make you feel more understood and also expand your mind. It’s delightfully funny and lighthearted at times and then so breathtakingly deep and emotional. I didn’t know Sci-fi or any book that wasn’t self-help would make me feel so understood. Perfection. 

Found Family, Romance Subplots

“We cannot blame ourselves for the wars our parents start. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is walk away.”

“You found something dark within your own house, and you are wondering how much of it has rubbed off on you.”

“The truth is, Rosemary, that you are capable of anything. Good or bad. You always have been, and you always will be. Given the right push, you, too, could do horrible things. That darkness exists within all of us.”

“All any of us can do—is work to be something positive instead. That is a choice that every sapient must make every day of their life. The universe is what we make of it. It’s up to you to decide what part you will play.”

“How much of me is actually you?”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Racism, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, Colonisation, Confinement, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Police brutality, and War

loxeletters's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This books left me with extremely mixed feelings.

First off, there were a few things I liked quite a bit: the sort of "mixed media" approach of including emails and news articles was fun, the world and cultures the author had created were interesting, and the writing style was simple and binge read-able.

That being said, I had some major gripes and for the first 80% I thought it was gonna be a 2.5 star at best. Most prominently, while I enjoyed the prose itself (except for some genre-typical infodumps), the storytelling decisions made in this book baffled me.  Most of the conflicts, relationships, and arcs set up for the characters developed and resolved quickly and/or off-page, whereas I found myself annotating over and over again: "This would have been impactful if it had been properly set up" for the conflicts that actually were explored on-page. 
The time skips seriously took me out of the story multiple times, especially since there is no in-text discussion of time passing.
Since we spend so little time getting to know the characters, I was unable to connect to most of them on any deeper level, especially the (intentionally) unlikeable ones, and this eliminated any emotional impact the first 3/4s of the book should've had. It was still a fun read! But I could tell in many scenes the author was trying to make things emotional or tense, while I just did not care. Certainly not enough to read pages worth of "tragic" backstory for a character that was supposed to be unlikeable less than ten pages ago. This really irked me.

The last 20% or so did kind of throw me for a loop, in that I suddenly did really connect with one emotional event, which I didn't expect. That is what made this book 3 stars for me, in the end. I did also appreciate the final ending, which wrapped up some ties very neatly.

Tldr: while this was an enjoyable and fun read, the narrative structure was bizarre and undermined the emotional impact of many scenes. However, the final conflict and ending surprised me positively in this regard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Violence, Terminal illness, Confinement, War, and Xenophobia

the_reading_wren's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The quote on the front of this book says it’s “quietly profound” and I think that sums it up perfectly. 

I wasn’t expecting it but I liked the episodic style of storytelling because it made every chapter satisfying. I could tell this was Chambers’ debut novel due to pacing and some lack of clarity in the messages (which in her more recent books are more honed), but the fact I still gave it 5 stars shows just how much I love her world building, and the wisdom she shares through her characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Grief, and War

Minor: Blood, Murder, Ableism, Vomit, Confinement, Drug use, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Torture, Alcohol, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Deadnaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Slavery, and Violence

buttermellow's review

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War and Confinement

Minor: Medical content

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is just as wonderful as everyone says it is. This sort of slice-of-life thing in a Sci-Fi setting really works for me, but it's the characters are really that shine here. If you love a big cast you can emotionally invest in, this is the book for you. I can see why some might find it a bit boring, but for me it was damn near perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Torture, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Child death, Grief, Alcohol, War, Vomit, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement and Cursing

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical content and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, and War

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Plot: 3.5★
Prose: 3★
Pace: 3.5★
Concept/Execution: 4★/2.75★
Characters: 3★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 3★

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Cursing, Confinement, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Grief, War, and Terminal illness

Minor: Blood, Drug use, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit