Book Reviews / LGBTQ+ / Science Fiction

Book Review: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Dini @ dinipandareads28 Comments

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1)
Publisher: Hodder
Pub Date: 31 December 2015
Genre: Science Fiction

Panda Rating:

(5 pandas)

๐Ÿ“– SYNOPSIS

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isnโ€™t expecting much. The ship, which has seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past.

But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer. The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptillian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful โ€“ exactly what Rosemary wants.

Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime: the chance to build a hyperspace tunnel to a distant planet. Theyโ€™ll earn enough money to live comfortably for yearsโ€ฆ if they survive the long trip through war-torn interstellar space without endangering any of the fragile alliances that keep the galaxy peaceful.

But Rosemary isnโ€™t the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

โš ๏ธ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS

Child abuse (recounted), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), alcohol & recreational drug use (mentioned) blood & physical injury, terminal illness, death of a parent, murder, gun violence, torture/abuse, imprisonment, genocide discussed, war themes

TL;DR: Who would’ve guessed that I’d end up loving the book that everyone told me I would love? This is another instance where I’m kicking myself for stupidly waiting years to read this book because I can guarantee you now that it’s in my top reads of 2025. This is pure found family. This is space adventures through a character driven narration. This is a beautiful examination of humanity in all its wonder and mess, triumphs and joys, pains and heartbreaks. There might be minimal plot but who cares when the characters make every moment of this journey traveling through deep space, learning about the Galactic Commons and the sapients that populate it, such an incredibly fun time? I know I certainly didn’t mind and I’m already excited to get to the next book asap!

I can also tell you now that this review is going to be one big pile of gush because that’s really all I can do is gush about how amazing this story is, how captivating the characters are, and how I very much wish that I could sit down with them over a cup of mek and just be part of their crew.

Chambers crafts an incredible and literal out-of-this world galaxy full of histories, societies, cultures, and languages, and I’m in awe of how she does it. I was enthralled by the vivid world she paints and my mind raced trying to comprehend how immensely talented a person must be to seemingly so effortlessly bring such a fantastically detailed world to life. This is definitely one of those stories that I think makes me appreciate even more the brilliant talent of authors! Something else I loved immensely was the way Chambers explored humanity and how she manages to succinctly capture the multi-faceted nature of humankind without losing depth of meaning nor being judgmental. Amazingly, she manages to do this through the perspective of “alien” species and humans of Mars and other space colonies who are so far removed from the humans of Earth’s history. It was fantastically done!

I honestly can’t even describe the way these characters grew on me! I fell in love with Kizzy and Jenks almost immediately with their out-there personalities. Jenks had more of an older brother vibe compared to Kizzyโ€™s sparkler energy, but they complemented each other so well and were a dynamic duo that I couldnโ€™t get enough of. Kizzy in particular radiated such life and her enthusiasm for everything she loved was absolutely infectious. Then of course there’s Lovey, the ship’s sentient AI, who kind of runs things in the background and makes sure everything goes smoothly, and I loved how this crew considered her a member just like any other sapient. ๐Ÿ’œ

Dr. Chef is another character who I loved almost immediately. He was the sensible yet adorable and comforting papa bear of the crew and oh my gosh, I loved him so much! His presence was a literal soothing balm and I loved the quiet and thoughtful moments he shared with various crew members, and how insightful he was to the needs of the crew. His love and passion for cooking and caring for everyone was so heartwarming and wholesome. Seriously, if anything, and I mean anything, happens to Dr. Chef in this series, I won’t hesitate to riot!

Ashby, Sissix, and Rosemary took a bit longer to grow on me, especially the latter, but I came to really enjoy their characters and the grounding energy they provided to the crew. The two characters that took the longest for me to really feel anything about were Ohan and Corbin. Corbin wasโ€ฆ Something! I didnโ€™t know if I would ever like him but in the end, having learned more about his story, he kind of grew on me. Ohan was an interesting character and like no other Iโ€™ve read before. They were a very unique species and I was intrigued by their culture and way of life.

Chambers did an impeccable job crafting these characters with their back stories, cultures, wants and desires. She gave them such stand-out personalities, that even the more โ€œforgettable onesโ€ (not because they were poorly developed characters but because they had less page time) still managed to stand out and leave their mark on me. Roughly the last four chapters had my emotions really pouring over and I have to be honest and say it was completely unexpected because even though I knew I loved these characters, I didnโ€™t realize just how deeply theyโ€™d woven their way into my heartโ€”as cheese as that is!

This is truly brilliant storytelling and speculative fiction at its best. Iโ€™m thrilled that I fully understand why people never stop recommending this book/series, and I would give this six stars if I could! I’m so happy that I buddy read this with Leslie and I can’t wait for us to continue our journey through space on the Wayfarer with this incredible crew that feel like family and home.

Note on the audiobook: I read my physical copy alongside the audiobook and I enjoyed this immersive reading experience a lot. While this wasn’t the most amazing audiobook or even a new favourite narrative performance, I will say that the narrator does a great job trying to capture the characters’ personalities and bringing them to life. She captured Kizzy the best and she did awesome with the alien languages! I would recommend getting the audio for a more immersive reading experience, if that’s your thing!

Have you read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet or is it on your TBR? If it is, don’t wait too long because it’s so worth the readโ€”I’m not biased or anything! ๐Ÿ˜‰

28 thoughts on “Book Review: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers”

  2. i love this review cause you just described everything i like about the book! the wayfarer crew were a definitive found family like — it hit me in that part where Sissix…i think? had listed ‘Wayfarer’ in her language as her family. that part really got to me.

    I also liked how imaginative it was! granted i haven’t read much space stories but most authors play it safe when it comes to fantasy, and here i got a culture shock from alien species that don’t even exist!

    i loved reading this, and I’m so glad you enjoyed this book too!

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    • I didn’t know if I could capture all of my feelings about this book and I think I got most of it but it’s just one of those books everyone needs to read for themselves to really get! I love this found family so muchโ€”it’s the perfect example. And OMG, YES!!! That moment!!! I highlighted and commented the heck out of it in my annotation, haha. It gave me such a wonderful heart-full warming feeling when I read it! I also don’t read a whole lot of sci-fi stories but I think there are just some that do the combo of fantastic world-building and important messages so well that it stuns me and all I can think is: how are you this brilliant?! ๐Ÿ˜‚ Aah, I can’t wait to continue with the series. Have you read all of the books?

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      • I’ve read only one of the sequels, a closed and common orbit. It follows lovelace, and her new life. It doesn’t focus on the wayfarer crew, which broke my heart a little bit ngl, but it introduces new characters and new worlds and is overall a very good story!

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        • Ooh, I didn’t realise that it wouldn’t focus on the Wayfarer crew BUT I was wondering what would happen to Lovelace following that end! I loved the idea of her joining Pepper though and I can’t wait to follow their adventures, meet these new characters, and discover these worlds with them! ๐Ÿ˜ Thanks for the heads up! I’ll be picking up my buddy read for this tomorrow and I’m very excited, hehe.

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  7. Brilliant review, Dini!! I don’t know that I’ll get to writing one, but I don’t think I could say anything else than you did! haha. I might do mini-reviews of each book in one post, when we finish. I can’t wait to start book two!! โค

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    • Thanks, Leslie! I was tempted to do mini reviews for the whole series but every time I put it off like that I never actually end up writing the reviews so I thought I might as well just get it all out now! ๐Ÿ˜‚ Maybe I’ll do minis of the rest of the series though. I can’t wait to start book two as well. I hope we love it as much as the first book!

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    • Even though I wasn’t really looking for it, I also can’t recall seeing or hearing a negative thing about this book or series. I can totally understand why now that I’ve read it. ๐Ÿ˜ I didn’t think cosy sci-fi would be my thing but Chambers has made it so!

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