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

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

3.0

I've heard this book characterised as cosy Sci-Fi but I'd argue that slow-Fi would be a better description. The pacing of this book is episodic; smaller scenes and sequences are woven together as the crew of the Wayfarer make their way to the titular small, angry planet.

I wanted to like this one more than I did, but I just didn't connect with it as much as I was hoping to. There's an extremely diverse cast of characters which is delightful to see, but as the cast was so large, none of them got the 'page'-time I quite needed to connect with them. For example, I wanted to be on board with Jenks and Lovey - to be able to confront some of the interesting questions and concepts raised by their relationship - but I felt like I wasn't given the opportunity to pause and reflect on it.

I'll read the others in the series as there's a lot to like about the setting. I enjoyed the wider themes that Chambers was exploring and the prose was, at turns, very beautiful.
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