★★★★ (4 of 5)

• Full Title: The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet
• Author: Becky Chambers
• Year: 2015
• Pages: 441
• Genre: Science fiction
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• ISBN 978-0-06-244413-4 (trade paperback)
• Wikipedia page
• Author’s Wikipedia page

 

Summary

This is the first book in the Wayfarers series (last year, I read and reviewed the third: Record Of A Spaceborn Few). It follows the crew of the Wayfarer, a ship that tunnels through subspace to assist with faster-than-light travel. Rosemary Harper is a human from Mars who joins the ship crew just before it gets a really big job that could change everything.

 

Points For...

Much like the other Chambers book I read, this one just seemed really pleasant. The main characters tried really hard to get along with one another, and society was structured in a way to make sure most people got along all right. This book had more conflict than the previous one: more interactions between the various species in the Galactic Commons, more discussions about the different viewpoints and ways of life. There was even gunplay! And an injury! But the overall tone itself seems to be part of the message of a book. The future doesn’t have to be full of villains and angry super aliens and evil empires to still be interesting.

The world-building is incredible. Descriptions of the non-human species are clear enough. Each character’s personality was believable, different from each other in realistic ways, and most of them were relatable.

Unlike the other book, this one was written in American English, though it too was first published by a British Company.

 

Points Off For...

Most people would probably take off points of the lack of a plot or story arc, though this one had more of a thread through it than Record did. I’ve decided not to remove a point for that; it’s just odd, unusual, and a little unnerving. In the universe of this story, life just goes on; there really isn’t an opening scene, an introduction of an antagonist or peril that must be struggled against, and a tidy conclusion. People encounter obstacles and either overcome them, avoid them, or work them out in some way. After reading these two books, I’m no longer convinced novels must have plots.

So, I didn’t remove points for anything. The fifth star is only withheld on principal; I save it for the most overwhelmingly good books.

 

Conclusion

As explained here, the biggest portion of my ratings of fiction books comes from whether I enjoyed it. And I did enjoy this one. I enjoyed the characters, the world-building, and the clear and linear writing style. Dialog was believable and felt natural. As with the last one, some time after the halfway point, I began reading more quickly and whizzed to the end.

 

 

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