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A review by doubleohelix
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
There are some things I really liked about this book. The author has a creative concept for a world and aliens in it that is very fascinating and makes an effort to be different than the "humanoid" aliens that are typically seen. There is also a compelling setup to a story that pulled me in right away. I liked the introduction of the characters, it was straightforward but gave them distinctive personalities.
It's a very cozy scifi story, and to be honest way too cozy for my tastes. The more I read the more annoyed I felt at how little conflict there was, both interpersonal and on a galactic scale. The stakes felt so low that it had me questioning whether anything was happening at all. As quickly as conflict arose, it was always resolved in a few pages. No lingering consequences of actions, nothing left unsaid or festering that would create tension or issues; this is a world with impossibly good communication skills, and that took me out of the story more than anything else.
I feel like the book could have benefited from a limited character perspective. I was fully expecting to be in Rosemary's POV for most of the time because she comes in like us the reader with the least amount of experience and would have the most explained to her. Jumping between characters felt very unnecessary most of the time because they were largely all in the same place. I also feel, as cool as the multitude of aliens were, there were almost too many, and some had similar names so was getting confused what was what sometimes.
This was also an interesting book to read in an age of AI deeplearning, when this was clearly written in a time before and posits the question of when AI attains consciousness. I could not bring myself to ever buy into the AI being self aware, which put me at odds with some of the characters and made the scene that played with the most intensity at the end feel very silly to me. I'll be honest, my favorite character in the book was probably Corbin, I liked how he was pretty unlikeable but good at his job and it was a shame he wasn't in the book more because it would have brought at least some tension and conflict that was lacking. Alas even his biting personality was defanged later in the book.
All in all it wasn't a bad read but overall a bit disappointing for something that felt like it should be a spiritual successor to Firefly.
It's a very cozy scifi story, and to be honest way too cozy for my tastes. The more I read the more annoyed I felt at how little conflict there was, both interpersonal and on a galactic scale. The stakes felt so low that it had me questioning whether anything was happening at all. As quickly as conflict arose, it was always resolved in a few pages. No lingering consequences of actions, nothing left unsaid or festering that would create tension or issues; this is a world with impossibly good communication skills, and that took me out of the story more than anything else.
I feel like the book could have benefited from a limited character perspective. I was fully expecting to be in Rosemary's POV for most of the time because she comes in like us the reader with the least amount of experience and would have the most explained to her. Jumping between characters felt very unnecessary most of the time because they were largely all in the same place. I also feel, as cool as the multitude of aliens were, there were almost too many, and some had similar names so was getting confused what was what sometimes.
This was also an interesting book to read in an age of AI deeplearning, when this was clearly written in a time before and posits the question of when AI attains consciousness. I could not bring myself to ever buy into the AI being self aware, which put me at odds with some of the characters and made the scene that played with the most intensity at the end feel very silly to me. I'll be honest, my favorite character in the book was probably Corbin, I liked how he was pretty unlikeable but good at his job and it was a shame he wasn't in the book more because it would have brought at least some tension and conflict that was lacking. Alas even his biting personality was defanged later in the book.
All in all it wasn't a bad read but overall a bit disappointing for something that felt like it should be a spiritual successor to Firefly.