From the Bookshelf of Third Place Books: Booze & Lasers…

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)

Becky Chambers

Start date: January 22, 2019

Finish date: February 18, 2019

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Feb 16, 2019 Mihwa rated it it was ok

This book is total fluff. If you have joy in your soul and like wacky hijinks and cute episodic chapters, this is your book! It's friendly, pleasant science fiction. It's Firefly with more interspecies touching.

If you have no joy in your soul and read sf to grapple with Life And Its Mysteries, this book is entirely forgettable. It touches on every scifi trope just long enough to acknowledge that this could be an issue, but never delves into any of them. (It would actually be awesome to have an ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Christina rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, booze-n-lazers

Super fun read. Can't wait for more! ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Dustin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

I think a friend put it best by saying this book jumped out of some tumblr page of Mass Effect fanfiction. While, I'm not sure she meant it as a compliment, I think I agree, but with a far warmer regard :).

Wayfarers #1 is delightful. I am a firm believer that great stories emerge from great characters, and more specifically from characters with whom you can form genuine attachments. This book's core task is establishing a group of characters and making you care about them deeply. In absence of a I think a friend put it best by saying this book jumped out of some tumblr page of Mass Effect fanfiction. While, I'm not sure she meant it as a compliment, I think I agree, but with a far warmer regard :).

Wayfarers #1 is delightful. I am a firm believer that great stories emerge from great characters, and more specifically from characters with whom you can form genuine attachments. This book's core task is establishing a group of characters and making you care about them deeply. In absence of a grander plot, it relies on your connection to their well being as the primary stakes of the narrative. In that sense, it works remarkably well in as much as you can form bonds with fictional entities. I imagine most lovers of fiction can, but as with all relationships, taste is profoundly individual.

That might be the book's biggest weakness. If you find yourself unable to bond with this motley crew, the book leaves very little in the way of intriguing narrative. There are thinly veiled parallels to modern conflicts, but not in any way that will make you look at them in a particularly new light. There are no mystery boxes to unravel and no galaxy threatening Macguffins to thwart. In many ways this a simple road story, and the journey isn't just more important than the destination, it's the only destination.

I also think the author may have also become so attached with her creations that - without spoiling too much - it becomes rapidly apparent that she is as reticent to kill her darlings as we would be outraged if she did. Not every books needs a Westorosian bloodbath, but I'd be lying if I ever believed any character was truly at risk. Not that everyone comes out unscathed... or do they? I'm not telling and I'm not spoiling :P

This book also tickles many of my favorite sci-fi fancies. Sentient AI that aren't quite accepted as sapient life? Check. A multi-species federation of not strictly humanoid races and not human dominated? Check. Not feeling the need to explain the pseudo-physics of every space-magic way things work? Check. Tasteful but copious inter-species sexy times? Check and check and triple check :)

So if this just a well written piece of Mass Effect or Firefly or fanfiction? In a sense, sure. If you've ever spent hours being the most paragon Shepard you can be, and taken time to chat up every new friend you make along the way, and found yourself holding your breath as to whether your beloved comrades would survive the final assault, then your brain has been lovingly primed for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. It won't set the world on fire with its groundbreaking narrative, or its deep philosophical messages, but it is a nice book, and sometimes you just need to read nice books to remind you that the world can be nice. ...more

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