Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Долгий путь к маленькой сердитой планете by Becky Chambers

107 reviews

maeverose's review against another edition

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

3.0

TL;DR: It was okay. Most of the focus is on the characters and worldbuilding, which I liked, but I still wished there was more plot.

Tropes/Themes:
-ragtag group of friends
-space adventures
-found family
-alien cultures/worldbuilding

Things I liked:
-The characters and their group dynamic/friendships. It took me a while to get attached to them, but by the end I felt really connected to their friendship with each other. (Kind of a guardians of the galaxy dynamic)
-I did actually enjoy the worldbuilding. I found it really interesting to learn about the different alien cultures, histories and locations they visited.

Things I didn't like:
-sounds like a silly complaint, but there's a brief moment in the beginning where Corbin's clammy hands are essentially described as gross, and as someone with hyperhidrosis it doesn't feel good reading that. Especially when I was hoping this would be another comfort read, coming from ‘a psalm for the wild built’. It just kinda put a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book. I wish authors would stop describing a character’s physical traits as something that adds to their bad attitude or whatever. It’s offensive and often ableist.
-I wish there'd have been a little more focus on the story. I kept getting confused about how much time had passed and how far along they were on their journey, because each chapter felt like a side quest or filler episode of a tv show or something. Which I didn't totally mind, but as I said a little confusing as to where they were on their journey. It felt a little disjointed. I also felt like some of the times they got into trouble during the trip they moved on from it really quickly. Like the tone was a bit all over the place, going from tense and kinda dark to happy fun times with friends a bit suddenly.
-In this book they/them pronouns are treated exclusively as plural pronouns. I know this was written a few years ago now and in ‘a psalm for the wild-built’ Dex uses they/them pronouns, and even in this book neopronouns are used here and there, so I know the author understands that they/them isn't only plural and understands non binary identities, but just a heads up that that’s in this book. There also aren't any actual non binary characters in this book, only alien species that change sexes throughout their life as part of their biology. But that isn’t trans rep. Sex does not equal gender, and this series doesn’t seem to get that.
-
I didn’t really buy the romance between Rosemary and Sissix. They didn’t feel like they had any romantic chemistry up until right before Rosemary made her move, and even then Sissix didn’t seem to have any feelings for Rosemary. Even after that scene their relationship wasn’t really explored or shown hardly at all.
-Lastly, even though he's an ass, I wish we got more of Corbin's perspective throughout the book. I felt like he was a bit neglected until the very end, whereas every other character had a lot more focus. Except Ohan, I guess, but they still had more than Corbin.
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idun_aurora's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-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

4.0

What a lovely book! The detailed descriptions got a bit long-winded for me at times, hence four stars, but the characters were amazing! They make and drive the story, which I absolutely loved, making me laugh and cry, sometimes simultaneously. Definitely my kind of sci-fi.
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deedireads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

I knew going in that I was very late to the TLWTASAG party, but holy guacamole, I’m so glad to be here now. Becky Chambers and her (should-be) patented cozy sci-fi genre does it again — or, rather, did it here first, as this was her debut novel. It’s a charming, heartwarming, beautifully inclusive character-driven sci-fi that deserves every ounce of hype it’s gotten since it was published in 2016. (Also, fun fact for my litfic readers: This was longlisted for the Women’s Prize!)

The story is about a girl named Rosemary who joins a crew of space tunnelers on their ship, the Wayfarer, to escape … something we come to learn more about over the course of the book. They end up taking a large job a long way away (hence the title), and what we get is a story about friendship and queerness and found family and gender and inclusion and cultural acceptance and body acceptance — all with the added layer of different peoples from different planets with different kinds of bodies.

Truly what makes this book (and all Chambers’ books, tbh), is her big, lovable characters, who are just such good people who do such a good job of being good to one another. I don’t know anyone else who writes so inclusively so naturally, with just enough fun pew-pew on the side.

Perfect for today's fans of Hitchhiker’s Guide or A Psalm for the Wild-Built or Light from Uncommon Stars, this one is simply the perfect big-hearted escape.
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nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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solenekeleroux's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

4.25

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naomi_k's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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jkpiowa's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Less plot - mostly vibes, but absolutely magical. Heartwarming and fun and very "day in the life". If you want Legends and Lattes, but sci-fi, this is for you! 
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namik200's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-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

4.25

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emzhay's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

I really enjoyed reading this book! I was looking for some lighthearted sci-fi and it definitely delivered. It’s a slice of life type story so there’s no main plot at the forefront, which I personally really enjoyed, but may not be for everyone. 

I did have some issues with how race was portrayed among humans. It seems like the author went with the route of humans all being ambiguously brown (though no one is mentioned as being darker than “tan”) thus ending racism among ourselves since we all look  the same now. It came off as a pretty lazy writing ploy to me given how much the book pushed embracing differences among species.   

And why are we so far into the future and to be fully accepting of neopronouns, but it’s still ”confusing” to use singular they?
or in this case it actually is a plural they. 
It’s great to see neopronouns used so casual, but as  someone who uses they/them pronouns and was told this book had great trans rep, it was really off putting. 

I also really disliked how Ohan’s bodily autonomy was violated with seemingly no consequence. They were cured with zero input on their part and it just gets glossed over
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