The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is exactly the kind of book I love: a lighthearted space opera that touches on some philosophical topics, without being too preachy. We follow the mixed-species crew of the Wayfarer - an interplanetary tunneling ship, that builds infrastructure between far-flung planets - on their year-long (or standard-long if you like the local lingo) journey to a war-torn system, on the edge of space.
The plot is almost a little boring, if you think too deeply about it. What really happens? They get from point a to point b (with like 3 stops). This is a mostly episodic tale, where we hear different slices of life from the crew members. We learn about this futuristic societies - the different cultures, traditions, colonies, lifestyles - and how our motley crew fits into it all.
What did I find interesting?
- The culture of different body modifications & self hacking
- The in-depth explorations of ‘romantic love’ across species and cultures. What is a feather family to a biological one?
- The Wane - to a Sianat pair, what is self? Is it the body and the mind in it? Is it the combination of a sentient disease and the body? Is one exploiting the other?
- The tragedy of war - Dr. Chef’s species warring themselves to extinction. Living beyond your children, who died in an unwinnable conflict. Being (one of) the last of your kind. Finding some sort of peace in that grief.
- The lovely description of a plant filled common room. I want to live there with Sam.
- And of course the age old question about if an AI can fall in love: Jenks and Lovey. And the heartbreak that comes from a hard reset.
What didn’t I like?
Rosemary’s storyline about her evil dad. Initially, I thought it was interesting, but it didn’t go anywhere. Nothing happened with the Tor’Emi (could be spelling that so wrong since I listened to the book) even though they had a close-ish relationship with her family. It felt anti-climactic. Maybe that was the point? That sometimes a confluence of things occur and there’s no broader meaning or connections? Or maybe one of the future books will have more.
And I’ve already started the next audiobook & am loving it!
