Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

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

29 reviews

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad tense 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

4.0

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was absolutely delightful!

There’s a joke that in fantasy books the travel gets skipped, and in sci-fi the whole book is the travel, and that was definitely the case for this book! It’s a very long way to get to the small, angry planet, and the the hijinks that occur along the way are what made this book so enjoyable.

The Wayfarer crew was so lovely to read about! Their struggles and celebrations felt so real, and it was a pleasure to learn about the universe they live in through their experiences. I will definitely be continuing this series. 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, War, Xenophobia, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Racial slurs and Death

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).

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing slow-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? Yes

5.0

I've been looking forward to reading this one for a long time, and it was well worth the wait. I absolutely loved this! The characters are so fun, and the world building delves deeply into each race's culture and mannerisms in such interesting ways. It's lower action than most scifi, so it won't be everyone's favorite. It reminded me a lot of Firefly and Titan AE. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

anxiety from trauma, ableism

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Medical content, and War

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Ableism, and Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Deportation, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

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

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

I started off really enjoying this book. I liked the writing and the characterization and thought the set-up was interesting. I was intrigued by what Rosemary did to end up with the crew. I liked the worldbuilding descriptions. I was curious what would happen on their space journey. 

But then it just started to slog in the middle. I thought there would be more of a plot, more tension.. I just felt bored. I thought we'd get to know the characters better but they were all just super nice and very 2 dimensional. The vibe was very like overly happy/ juvenile? But then there was lots of sex talk/ alcohol talk/ mild drug use talk which I didn't think meshed very well. 

Kizzy was a little too manic-pixi dream girl for me. Rosemary was very non-descript. Ashby was too nice-guy, like to the extent he didn't want to get weapons even after they were space mugged? Why is Corbin an asshole? Just to balance everyone else being super nice? I thought the romance between Jenks and the ai Lovey was very intriguing but then the book never went into how they got together or why they liked each other or what attraction looks like to an AI? I liked the non-human characters Dr. Chef and Sissix. The sexual relationship between Sissix and Rosemary could have been interesting but it just seemed like Rosemary was being nice because Sissix's species likes being intimate with everyone? It seems like Rosemary just offers to have sex with Sissix because Rosemary feels bad which is a weird dynamic. Lovey the AI being reset didn't really have the emotional impact it could have because we didn't really get to know her outside of her relationship with Jenks which was barely developed. The ethical implications of Ashby healing Ohan without permission wasn't examined

.

I kept going because I thought the Rosemary reveal would lead to something. I was so disappointed by it. It was so boring and had no repercussions or consequences. It also felt like the author tricked us a bit because

she hadnt even done anything! It was her dad being a war criminal and she didn't know? And then that's not examined??

I liked the diversity of the characters and the inclusion of LGBTQ references

but I thought using neo-pronouns to refer to the space pirates that mug them in one scene was a little much in that it felt like it didn't really add anything to the book but it was just the author reminding the reader that neo-pronouns exist in real life

.

The rest of the book just felt really disconnected, just a series of unrelated scenes one after another. Felt kind of like I was just reading a bunch of vignettes with no stakes.

This book felt too cheesy and corny for me for how long it was and the lack of a tight plot. 

Like everyone on the ship is best friends, whatever tension there is, is extremely brief and resolved immediately. To the extent that any tension doesn't even feel like tension because you know everything will be ok because it's a book where the main characters have plot armor. 

The space bandits, the bombs in the ship, when Corbin is arrested and horribly abused, Jenks and Lovey deciding not to put Lovey in a body

 

Characters are just pouring their hearts out to one another, even characters that just met! 

The worst part about this book for me is that it took me a long time to realize what type of book this was. 

I almost did not finish at about 60% but I was listening to an audiobook while sick so I just put it on fast playback.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Deportation, Infertility, Racism, War, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Drug use, Slavery, Colonisation, Trafficking, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

plantdonut's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Animal death and Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, War, Medical trauma, Genocide, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense 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

5.0

Damn this shit is so good. I really like a sci-fi universe that is built around the people in it, and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet provides. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Religious bigotry, War, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Outing, Animal death, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Torture

Moderate: Blood and Child death

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

arinheck's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Violence, Racial slurs, and Medical content

Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, Drug use, and Alcohol