The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Wayfarers 1 Wayfarers, #1

by Becky Chambers

hardcover, 518 pages

English language

Published July 15, 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.

ISBN:: 978-1-4736-1979-1
Goodreads:: 22733729

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(250 reviews)

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 …

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.

18 editions

nerd teacher [books] reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

Definitely worth reading, if only because it feels different from other sci-fi.

4 stars

I want to just start that I genuinely enjoyed this book more than I was expecting. I've found myself quite disappointed by sci-fi as of late because so much of it feels... the same, even when it's recommended for being 'more queer' or 'more feminist' or something. It still follows the same patterns, same narrative beats, same... failure to even imagine something different or new.

It's also been quite tiring reading a lot of sci-fi that focuses on perpetual conflicts. And while this book includes a conflict of sorts, it does not focus purely on the conflict itself. Instead, it focuses on the relationships between all of the characters. It looks at how things impact them, how they feel about each other, how they get to know each other... It actually gives a very necessary look at people within sci-fi, which I think more stories are in need of.

There …

There are areas that I feel disappointed with, and it's largely because they felt glossed over. There's a whole thing between Ohan and Corbin, and their later interactions or the development of their relationship is never explored in the resolution. It's annoying because everything else is so beautifully done, but I feel like this one should've been handled much better considering the whole story around at least one of them. (And also, it leaves Corbin feeling really on the outskirts of the whole ship's crew.)

Courts reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

Just Lovable

5 stars

A lovable and diverse spaceship crew on an adventure. What's not to like. The main plot almost fades into the background because there's a lot of focus on the different characters of the crew, their lives, emotions and character development throughout the book.

I'm looking forward to reading the other books from this series.

Alex reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

Slice of life, with bits from space operas

5 stars

This book isn't about any grand adventure in space, instead it's more about a slice of life for one small ship, it's crew and their personal struggles. The aliens are of the plain space opera kind, they walk upright in some way or another like any regular biped (with an extra tentacle or three) and they behave like anyone else would.

But what really shines here are the characters and how they struggle with, almost, normal problems and how it affects them and the rest of the crew in the long run. Less opera and more drama I guess? But in a good way. I was a bit suprised how much I liked this book.

There's also some small hints and inspirations from a certain space shenaningans... medium, I think, which I've enjoyed before :)

Jack 💜 reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

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.

Dunvel@bouquins.zbeul.fr reviewed L'espace d'un an by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #1)

Space opéra queer et féministe

5 stars

La fresque en 4 tomes des Voyageurs explore les liens que les personnages issus de diverses planètes tissent entre eux. Au-delà des disparités physiques, ce sont de nouvelles façons de se définir et de relationner qu'il va falloir apprivoiser. L'espace d'un an est le premier tome de la série. Passée la phase d'appropriation de l'univers, il manque parfois un peu de rythme mais accrochez-vous car le deuxième est vraiment génial.

📚 Anomaluridae 📚 reviewed L'espace d'un an by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #1)

Review of "L'espace d'un an" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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).

Nacho reviewed El largo viaje a un pequeño planeta iracundo by Becky Chambers

Ciencia ficción buenrollera

4 stars

Esta novela es un ejemplo canónico de cuál es la verdadera función de la ciencia ficción, que no es otra que analizar los problemas de nuestro tiempo a base de plantear futuros más o menos factibles. En el mejor estilo de la CiFi optimista de #StarTrek la novela es una historia coral en la que la ambientación es poco más que un McGuffin para centrarse en su motor principal que es reflejar la convivencia entre individuos con grandes diferencias socioculturales. Imposible no sacar paralelismos con la época que nos ha tocado vivir. Una gran lectura que he disfrutado muchísimo.

Neil reviewed L'espace d'un an by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #1)

Star Wars à l’échelle humaine

4 stars

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 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.

Du coup, je recommande fortement le livre.

Chema Hernández Gil reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

Like the Expanse but... better?

5 stars

This is a lovely book. Well written and lovely characters. I want this future to happen. So real and optimistic!

AndreasD reviewed The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

A feelgood space adventure

5 stars

I started reading the book because I was curious about where the plot was heading. Then when it ended I realized I had stopped caring that much about what the end would be. Make no mistake, there's a plot there, and it's good enough. It was not a story that made you stop and think, nor was it hard to follow, but it was a good space adventure.

But, what drew me in was that this book felt like that Mos Eisley cantina, filled with weird and wondrous creatures. Just like in Star Wars, the creatures where not alien as such. They where totally relatable, and mostly funny and exotic suits. Sure, you could say that they where not believable as aliens, but I don't think that was the idea anyway. This was a book about strangers coming together and their relationships developing in interesting directions. Frankly, I would …

I felt good reading this book, and that must be a good sign, right? Anyway, it was what I needed.

Fynh liest reviewed Der lange Weg zu einem kleinen zornigen Planeten by Becky Chambers

Wunderschöne, herzerwärmende und optimistische Space-Opera

5 stars

Sterne, wie habe ich dieses Buch geliebt. 🤩

Sympathische Charaktere, die alle auf ihre Art liebenswert sind, als Crew und Freund*innen aufeinander aufpassen und einen liebevollen Umgang miteinander pflegen. Gemeinsam erleben sie herzerwärmende und zugleich unterhaltsame Geschichten auf ihrer Reise zu diesem kleinen, zornigen Planeten.

Wer einen stringenten, zusammenhängenden und sich aufbauenden Plot erwartet, wird hier zwar nicht fündig (auch wenn ein Plot durchaus exisitert). Wer sich hingegen an herzlichen Charakteren, mitfühlendem und freundschaftlichem Zusammenhalt und optimistischen emotionalen Erzählungen erfreuen kann, wird dieses Buch lieben, denn davon enthält es eine Menge. Ich jedenfalls musste das Lesen mehrfach kurz pausieren, um vor Rührung und positiver Ergriffenheit zu seufzen. 😌

Kurzum eine wirklich wunderschöne, herzerwärmende und optimistische Space-Opera mit bewegendem, spannendem und emotionalem Finale. Absolute Leseempfehlung!

Paul reviewed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

More soap opera than space opera

3 stars

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.