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4.46 AVERAGE
4.46 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
Complicated
I am so sad to be done with this series, but I know I will be coming back to it in the future.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Really charming. Perhaps the most similar the first book in the series, and I think you can really see the improvements in the writing. Just tighter, more assured, trusts the reader more. I still think Monk and Robot is a whole step above, but you can really see in the series how she got from here to there.
As readers of the series might expect, the last of the four Wayfarers novels does nothing to tie up any loose ends in Becky Chambers' little pocket of colonised space. The Galaxy and the Ground Within once again grants us a peek at a disparate group of space-faring folks in the Galactic Commons, compelled to bond and fracture in the wake of events beyond their control. We leave their company with their choices sending their own ripples out into the universe.
But this fourth entry definitely represents a culmination of sorts, at least for me - it's here that I think Chambers finally refines her chosen multiple-protagonist format with a degree of polish missing from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. The plot here feels a lot tighter, closer to A Closed and Common Orbit even though there are twice as many viewpoints to contend with as Chambers' second entry.
I wasn't a huge fan of the human-centric perspectives of the third book, Record of a Spaceborn Few - in a universe full of diverse cultures, it felt a bit limiting to re-tread familiar dramas aboard human lifeships escaping a dying Earth. Happily, for those that agree with me, Galaxy pivots entirely away from humanity and brings in sapient species that we've spent very little time with. The only familiar character is Pei, the daring Aeluon supply-runner and Ashby's romantic interest from the first book. Being the most human-adjacent, Pei is perhaps the audience's surrogate in a story that brings some of the fringe species into the spotlight. The long-necked, goofy-sounding Laru are represented by a planet-side motel owner and her adolescent child, who together look after Pei after an incident cuts off travel and communication. Joining them are an exiled political dissident of the ultra-conservative and insect-like Quelin, and a rare diplomat - of sorts - from the notoriously piratical Akarak species, last seen terrifying the crew of the Wayfarer back in the first tale.
It seems like Chambers really wanted to flex some socio-political ponderings here by giving voice to species that have already been established as marginalised, or at least on the fringe of society. There are easy parallels to be made between the rebel Quelin and political dissidents from many real-world states imposing intense ideological restrictions. The Akarak gives us some poignant reflections of a culture forced into a nomadic life by ancient war, only for their nomadic life and divergent biology to be considered incompatible in modern, bureaucratic peace. In Pei we have the thorny perspective of a culture relying on their own difficult history of survival to justify their colonialist tendencies in the present.
As with the vast majority of Chambers' storytelling, the only antagonist is circumstance and coincidence, with ethical arguments and cultural misunderstandings rippling out into a local crisis that the group must contend with together. Chambers is more careful than ever to present no heroes or villains among these disparate cultures - each makes wince-worthy mistakes while trying to communicate, but each also makes important counterpoints to another's rhetoric. Ultimately, each gives and receives moments of kindness and perspective, that expand out into larger stories of potential social change that we are left to imagine.
The appeal of Chambers' work is her ability to weave strands of communal hope out of small, relatable stories - something for us as readers to hold onto, a welcome salve in an overwhelming time of seemingly insurmountable ethical crises. She reminds us of the possibilities of real positive change rippling out from simple choices to be kind within the communities we make, or that we are forced into by our circumstances. Sure, it's a little saccharine at times - if you found any of Chambers' preceding titles cloying, the fourth book is not going to change your mind. But if you like a dash of hope in your genre fiction, and you like sci-fi that focuses on relatable relationships more than mind-boggling technological concepts, you could do a lot worse than the Wayfarers series. This is my tied favourite of the quartet, along with A Closed and Common Orbit.
PS: If you haven't read any Chambers before, I strongly recommend you read the first book in the series before selecting from the rest - although each book is standalone, A Long Way sets up a lot of the core elements of the Wayfarers universe that make reading the rest a little smoother. That said, I believe The Galaxy and the Ground Within stands on its own as a sweet and engaging story of strangers thrown together by circumstance.
But this fourth entry definitely represents a culmination of sorts, at least for me - it's here that I think Chambers finally refines her chosen multiple-protagonist format with a degree of polish missing from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. The plot here feels a lot tighter, closer to A Closed and Common Orbit even though there are twice as many viewpoints to contend with as Chambers' second entry.
I wasn't a huge fan of the human-centric perspectives of the third book, Record of a Spaceborn Few - in a universe full of diverse cultures, it felt a bit limiting to re-tread familiar dramas aboard human lifeships escaping a dying Earth. Happily, for those that agree with me, Galaxy pivots entirely away from humanity and brings in sapient species that we've spent very little time with. The only familiar character is Pei, the daring Aeluon supply-runner and Ashby's romantic interest from the first book. Being the most human-adjacent, Pei is perhaps the audience's surrogate in a story that brings some of the fringe species into the spotlight. The long-necked, goofy-sounding Laru are represented by a planet-side motel owner and her adolescent child, who together look after Pei after an incident cuts off travel and communication. Joining them are an exiled political dissident of the ultra-conservative and insect-like Quelin, and a rare diplomat - of sorts - from the notoriously piratical Akarak species, last seen terrifying the crew of the Wayfarer back in the first tale.
It seems like Chambers really wanted to flex some socio-political ponderings here by giving voice to species that have already been established as marginalised, or at least on the fringe of society. There are easy parallels to be made between the rebel Quelin and political dissidents from many real-world states imposing intense ideological restrictions. The Akarak gives us some poignant reflections of a culture forced into a nomadic life by ancient war, only for their nomadic life and divergent biology to be considered incompatible in modern, bureaucratic peace. In Pei we have the thorny perspective of a culture relying on their own difficult history of survival to justify their colonialist tendencies in the present.
As with the vast majority of Chambers' storytelling, the only antagonist is circumstance and coincidence, with ethical arguments and cultural misunderstandings rippling out into a local crisis that the group must contend with together. Chambers is more careful than ever to present no heroes or villains among these disparate cultures - each makes wince-worthy mistakes while trying to communicate, but each also makes important counterpoints to another's rhetoric. Ultimately, each gives and receives moments of kindness and perspective, that expand out into larger stories of potential social change that we are left to imagine.
The appeal of Chambers' work is her ability to weave strands of communal hope out of small, relatable stories - something for us as readers to hold onto, a welcome salve in an overwhelming time of seemingly insurmountable ethical crises. She reminds us of the possibilities of real positive change rippling out from simple choices to be kind within the communities we make, or that we are forced into by our circumstances. Sure, it's a little saccharine at times - if you found any of Chambers' preceding titles cloying, the fourth book is not going to change your mind. But if you like a dash of hope in your genre fiction, and you like sci-fi that focuses on relatable relationships more than mind-boggling technological concepts, you could do a lot worse than the Wayfarers series. This is my tied favourite of the quartet, along with A Closed and Common Orbit.
PS: If you haven't read any Chambers before, I strongly recommend you read the first book in the series before selecting from the rest - although each book is standalone, A Long Way sets up a lot of the core elements of the Wayfarers universe that make reading the rest a little smoother. That said, I believe The Galaxy and the Ground Within stands on its own as a sweet and engaging story of strangers thrown together by circumstance.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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:
Complicated