These may be my favourite batch of Wayfarers characters yet. No one tell me Laru are not floppy alpacas! So full of kindness and warmth. Squee!

Full review:
This was so lovely. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within introduces my favourite bunch of Becky’s characters yet. If you are new to the Wayfarers series, each story is sort of standalone but set in the same universe, with some overlap of characters or events. In this case, one character is in a relationship with someone from the first book, and does mention what happens, so ideally, they should be read in order unless you only want to read one. But why would you do that?!

The Laru are long-necked hairy creatures with floppy limbs and my brain went straight to alpacas when imagining them, especially with Topu’s shaggy hair falling in xyr eyes. Young Laru don’t decide on a gender until they’re ready and Topu is a sullen adolescent who starts to take interest in their guests. Ouloo is a mother hen figure, wanting everyone’s needs to be met, making sure everyone has snacks they like and facilities that suit their species.

Stuck at the Five-Hop are three species who would usually have very little reason to mingle. This book is all about being accommodating to cultural differences, mending bridges instead of conflict and many acts of kindness. It’s warm and cozy and exactly the Wayfarers book we need right now. I found myself welling up repeatedly at the kindness of it all.

The Akarak are considered a species best avoided, small and unable to breathe oxygen they are confined to their specialised suits when planetside. They keep their distance and so does everyone else, but when we learn the reasons for this, it’s heart-breaking. Speaker lives on board her ship with her twin, Tracker. Speaker’s limbs don’t work as they should and Tracker’s lungs are damaged from illness. Together they are one, they don’t spent time apart, except for short stays at stops like the Five-Hop.

The Quelin are generally xenophobic, keeping their people away from the influence of other species. Roveg is an exile, the jewels removed from his exoskeleton mark him out as such. He is used to being looked at with disgust or shame. He’s in a hurry to be somewhere, the delays causing him anxiety, yet he still has time to share culinary delights with his fellow travellers.

Pei is a captain in the military and the Aeluon have a law against interspecies relationships. The law makes sense to her, in a way. She has a secret but she is increasingly wanting to break free from it.

Yet over the space of a few days, these five people start to share their lives and aspects of their cultures with each other. They learn to see different sides of the stories they think they know, or maybe that they can just agree to disagree. At least the snacks are good.

The first edition end-papers will make sense when you get to the end. OMG what a beautiful ending, the little epilogues packing a punch. I’m sad that this is the end for this series, there’s not been a single book I haven’t adored. To think I nearly didn’t give it a chance at the start because I thought space operas weren’t my thing! At least we have her Tor novellas to look forward to…

First posted at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm.