A review by just_one_more_paige
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

Oh, my goodness. Honestly, and this is bold, I think Wayfarers might be my favorite series. I mean, I’m bias towards fantasy/sci-fi anyways, so that likely plays a role, but there is truly something so unique and profound and gorgeously recognizable in these characters and their stories. Each of these four novels – The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit, Record of A Spaceborn Few and, finally, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within – takes place in the same (wonderfully diverse and totally original) world, but has such individualistic settings and types of character development (that are, in a way I cannot possibly give enough hype to, so extraordinarily “everyday” despite their extreme foreignness). All that being said, I am heartbroken to hear that this is the final book in this series (and I am totally not giving up hope that we might one day get more – it could happen). 
 
Ouloo and her son, Tupo, run the Five-Hop One-Stop – a way station on the planet Gora, where long-haul travelers can stop to break and stretch their legs, etc. She prides herself on offering something that will make every species comfortable during their stay. When a random tech failure strands her current visitors there for days, these strangers get to know each other and expand their own awareness. Pei, a cargo runner (who readers will recognize from earlier books as the Aeluon who is in a secret relationship with Captain Ashby) gets some personal news that puts her at a major crossroads during this time. Roveg is a Quelin with a very time-sensitive and emotional appointment he needs to keep. Speaker, an Akarak (a mysterious and not-very-well-understood species), finds herself making friends and standing up for her species in a way she never really has before, living mostly on the fringes. And finally, Tupo, the young Laru whose enthusiasm and youthful vibe bring a lightness to the otherwise potentially very somber group, and when xe makes a decision that puts xyrself in harms way, brings the group together in unexpected ways. 
 
As I said in my intro, Chambers has done it again. I cannot freaking get enough of this series: the world, the characters, the perfect diversity, the language, and the incredible social commentary that applies in so many ways to our own Earth-bound reality. And it’s so incredible because it is all so impressive and immersive that I couldn’t put this book down even though, in all honestly, it really had no plot. This was just the most wonderful character-building and interaction-based novel. Chambers can write species coming together in a foreign yet totally familiar way like no one else. The nuances of learning and willingness to communicate and prejudices and defensiveness are written so well. And as a nerd-reader, I love love love the details we get about each species’ traditions and livelihoods and beliefs and histories and the way those are more or less well known, accepted, understood, included within the greater Galactic Commons. I cannot fathom the amount of background work and imagination that went into creating all that, because the skill and depth with which its written, the clarity with which it comes through to the reader, can only be that way as a result of serious unseen scaffolding on Chambers’ part. 
 
In particular, as always, I have to highlight the lingual explorations, from the greater detail into Aeluon colors to the Quelin double-script for denotation and connotation to the Akarak words that are based in culture and therefore have no translations, I was fascinated. The language creativity, from the start, has been one of my favorite things about these novels and that remains true here. Along these lines, what really stuck out for me thematically in this volume was the way Chambers included and addressed universal concepts like colonialism and xenophobia and the different (but equally strong) fear inherent in both. It was profound and, like I said, has many clear interpretive readings that have clear parallels and implications in our own world and dealings with those different from ourselves. It just really shows the breadth of culture and makes one wonder how much could be under different, more open/willing, circumstances. 
 
One more thing. Chambers hits the heartstrings in this one with the unyielding yearning for home because it’s home, even if you objectively know all the flaws it also holds. It got me right in the feels and the traveler-stop setting, with an external threat that allows each character to really delve into their reasons for wanting to go back to/fin/redefine “home” for themselves, was the perfect backdrop to develop those insights and self-reflections. The endings for each of the characters, on this note, truly (and pun sort of intended) hit home for me and for two of them I definitely teared up a bit.  
 
Ugh – the creativity and uniquity that I’ve come to realize is Chambers’ norm is strong in this final installation in the Wayfarers series. I could read her writing, writing from this world in particular, all day every day and still not get enough. And I remain in awe of the way she takes the “normal” people and gives them such compelling stories. Every single book and character in this series is just a regular person, going about their lives and jobs under regular life circumstances, just like anyone else – there are no chosen ones or world saving or catastrophic apocalypses to be found. And yet these books freaking captivate me. I have no words. Just…spectacular. 
 
“The universe was not an object. It was a beam of light, and the colours that it split into changed depending on whose eyes were doing the looking. Nothing could be taken at face value. Everything had hidden facets, hidden depths that could be interpreted a thousand ways – or misinterpreted in the same manner. Reflexes kept a person safe, but they could also make you stupid.” 
 
“…she found herself wrestling between two truths until she realized neither was a zero-sum: This wasn’t the worst that could happen. It was a bad thing all the same.” 
 
“He’d been taught that if one person had more than another, feeling guilty about it was the least productive reaction. The only proper way to approach such inequities was to figure out how best to wield them, so as to bring others up to where you stood.” 
 
“There was no law that was just in every situation, no explanation that accounted for every component. This did not mean that laws and rules were not helpful, or that explanations should not be sought, but rather that there should be no fear in changing them as needed, for nothing in the universe ever held still.” 
 
“Well…to have your own planet means that despite knowing the universe is edgeless, that everything is relative to everything else you feel there’s one place that’s the true centre of it. I don’t mean the true centre in an astronomical way, or a topographical way, I mean the true centre. It’s the anchor, the…the weight that holds the weaving together. It’s not the true centre for everyone, but it is for you. And that knowledge reframes all that zooming in and out. You’re not drifting. You’re attached, somewhere. It may be far, but you can always feel it. And ti reminds you, when you go back, that it’s yours.” 
 
“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept a lesser evil for the sake of it being lesser.” 
 
“This one choice didn't answer everything for her, not even close. How could it? Life was never a matter of one decision alone. Life was just a bunch of tiny steps, one after another, each a conclusion that lead to a dozen questions more.” 
 
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