The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

This is the discussion thread for the second book of the month, or group read, for May. Please remember to use the spoiler tags where necessary. The other group read topic for this month (The Left Hand of Darkness) can be found here.

[Donna Rae]

Confession: couldn't wait to read this book, so I did, and now I've finished it. Don't want to put any spoilers into this thread at such an early stage, so I won't say too much. Just wanted to mention that I couldn't put the bloody thing down once I'd started - it's that compelling!

Love these characters.

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

Donna Rae wrote: "Confession: couldn't wait to read this book, so I did, and now I've finished it. Don't want to put any spoilers into this thread at such an early stage, so I won't say too much. Just wanted to ment..."

That's great to hear that it's such a good book! How long did it take you to read it?

I can understand your concern not to give away any of the plot. You could use spoiler tags if you wanted to post some initial thoughts though.

[Damon, ZARDOZ]

First impression: Firefly.

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

Damon wrote: "First impression: Firefly."

Hmm. Do you want to expand on that a little?

[Damon, ZARDOZ]

I felt like it was a similar setup to start with; The friendly captain with a close relationship to his first mate (but not romantic), an oddball female mechanic, and the unfriendly chap who takes the accountant on a tour when she arrives is like the big gruff gun nut guy on the show.

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

I haven't seen Firefly, though the series came out 15/16 years ago - but I get a sense of what you're talking about now. Could the similarity have something to do with Stross's list of space opera clichés?

[Tobias]

I immediately thought of the video game Mass Effect 2, actually. We follow a spaceship run by humans but with a tightly knit multi-species crew, and there is an over-arching plot, but the story is basically broken down into separate stories about each of the crewmates, like Mass Effect 2’s loyalty missions ((view spoiler)[one of the stories even concerns the romance between a human and the ship’s AI, who wants to be transferred to a robotic body (hide spoiler)]). As for the world: The galaxy is controlled by a trifecta of species, and there are similarities between species too – both have a species that looks universally attractive to all other species (asari/Aeluon), and both have a species that looks like a giant blob (hanar/Harmagians). That’s not to say I think the author has plagiarised Mass Effect, even though I know she is a fan of video games and writes about them in several online columns.

And like in Mass Effect (or Star Trek, for that matter), the alien species aren’t necessarily truly “alien”. They’re sentient in similar ways to humans, and as a result – as is not uncommon for science fiction – they’re described as “sapient”. The alien cultures are, however, different from human cultures in interesting ways, even though their biology isn’t.

[Nima]

i wasn't going to, but i started reading it anyway... and so far very good. haven't ever read sci fi like this its sooo warm, i like the foods (in reality i love tasting new things and her descriptions make me curious) and the characters are complex and each have their own quirks. really, the plot seams unimportant up to this point (they have just bore a blind punch and got the big contract)

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

Tobias wrote: "I immediately thought of the video game Mass Effect 2, actually. We follow a spaceship run by humans but with a tightly knit multi-species crew, and there is an over-arching plot, but the story is ..."

It's interesting to see the similarities with Mass Effect 2, which are probably coincidental as you suggest. I guess it's difficult to write something new without the risk of it being similar in some way to other literature in the genre (maybe in other genres too).

[Donna Rae]

For anyone interested, here's a link to a short interview with Becky Chambers.

https://amidtheimaginary.wordpress.co...

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

Just thought I'd mention here that The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was nominated for the 2016 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award), as reported online by Locus Magazine, although the winner was Zen Cho for Sorcerer to the Crown.

[Donna Rae]

Greg wrote: "Just thought I'd mention here that The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was nominated for the 2016 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award), as reported online by Locus..."

It might also be worth mentioning that the sequel, A Closed and Common Orbit, is due out next month. Can hardly wait!

[Greg, Muad'Dib]

Donna Rae wrote: "Greg wrote: "Just thought I'd mention here that The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was nominated for the 2016 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award), as reported on..."

Future group read, maybe?

[Nima]

Greg wrote: "Donna Rae wrote: "Greg wrote: "Just thought I'd mention here that The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was nominated for the 2016 British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Awar..."

yes yes yes