Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe—in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of …
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe—in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.
Review of 'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I really needed a fun little sci-fi road trip story, and this delivered quite well! The characters are all quite likable, and the world building with such a diverse array of alien species made for a lot of fun scenarios.
There is a romance later on that comes seemingly out of nowhere, and I wasn’t a big fan of how Ohan’s they/them pronouns are treated as a symptom of a disease. It kind of nearly crosses the border into demonizing plurality, but I know for sure that wasn’t the author’s intention.
Bien heureuse de ne pas avoir lu la 4ème de couverture avant de terminer, elle raconte presque toute l’histoire !!
C’est assez rare les livres de SF et les spaces opera où l’on est agréablement confuse presque tout le long de l’histoire sur l’apparence, origine, us et coutumes des différentes espèces (au point que je me disais qu’il y avait un tome à lire avant celui-ci).
J’ai entendu parler de ce livre grâce au podcast Les couilles sur la table où il a été recommandé comme alternatif à la science-fiction classique masculine avec beaucoup d’armes et de guerres dans l’espace. À la place, cette histoire se concentre beaucoup plus sur les personnages et leurs interactions entre eux. Je suis complètement d’accord avec cette analyse, et j’ai adoré tous les personnages. J’ai eu l’impression de passer un bon moment avec des potes en lisant le livre. Tout le monde a une histoire et une personnalité bien distinctes. J’ai aussi apprécié que l’autrice a réussi à créer des personnalités pour les personnages non-humains et elle a pu éviter le raccourci qui se trouve dans beaucoup de science-fiction que tous les êtres d’une même espèce non-humaine aient les mêmes caractéristiques et ne soient pas vus comme des individus. Le livre parle avec douceur des sujets comme la diversité et …
J’ai entendu parler de ce livre grâce au podcast Les couilles sur la table où il a été recommandé comme alternatif à la science-fiction classique masculine avec beaucoup d’armes et de guerres dans l’espace. À la place, cette histoire se concentre beaucoup plus sur les personnages et leurs interactions entre eux. Je suis complètement d’accord avec cette analyse, et j’ai adoré tous les personnages. J’ai eu l’impression de passer un bon moment avec des potes en lisant le livre. Tout le monde a une histoire et une personnalité bien distinctes. J’ai aussi apprécié que l’autrice a réussi à créer des personnalités pour les personnages non-humains et elle a pu éviter le raccourci qui se trouve dans beaucoup de science-fiction que tous les êtres d’une même espèce non-humaine aient les mêmes caractéristiques et ne soient pas vus comme des individus. Le livre parle avec douceur des sujets comme la diversité et la compréhension entre les gens. Mais il s’agit non seulement des différences entre les espèces fictives mais aussi des différences causées par de vrais handicaps. Il peut même y avoir de la neurodiversité entres les individus d’une espèce non-humaine par exemple.
J’ai l’impression que le livre a été écrit comme une série de télévision. Les chapitres sont comme des épisodes de la série avec des histoires séparées qui n’ont pas toujours un grand rapport avec l’histoire centrale du roman.
La description sur le dos du livre fait croire que Rosemary est la protagoniste et que l’histoire va se dérouler autour d’elle. Mais finalement elle n’est pas plus importante que les autres membres de l’équipage et la narration change souvent de point de vue pour se concentrer sur un autre personnage, ce qui donne encore plus l’impression de regarder un soap.
Bien que la description du livre dise que l’histoire évite les guerres de la science-fiction classique, il y en a quand même dans l’univers du livre ainsi que des politiques intergalactiques. On pourrait bien se croire dans l’univers de Star Wars. La différence principale est juste que tout ça est à l’arrière-plan de l’histoire et on le voit du point de vue des gens ordinaires qui ne sont pas des héros et qui ne peuvent pas beaucoup l’influencer.
Reading this feels a lot like watching a soap opera. It's very much a character driven story with the plot serving merely to prod the story along as and when needed. And the characters are an entertaining and likeable bunch of misfits, doing their job and surviving as best they can.
It's also worth noting that this is a really nice story. The characters have spent years learning to get along with each other and... they get along with each other. What tensions there are are relatively minor and never distract from the fact that these people are looking out for each other.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is a very easy read and a solid debut from Becky Chambers.
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.
