A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

So I want on the hunt for sone Sci fi books recently, since I enjoy sci fi on screen but haven’t dived into sci fi on the page and I wanted to see what I has missed out on.

And I was recommended this little pleasant little book.

A long way to a small angry planet revolves around the crew of The Wayfarer who work to make shortcuts through space to make interstellar travel faster. The crew have to travel to the long way to the other side of the galaxy near to a dangerous system to make a short cut (or punch a hole) and they will be stuck together on the ship for a year. The book begins as a new member joins the crew, so the new crewmate meets her shipmates as we do.

I enjoyed the world building of the universe. A lot of the things that are taken for granted in other universes aren’t so easy here; computer-based translation isn’t perfect and alien species don’t all magically work the way and can be translated instantaneously *cough*STAR TREK*cough* and most people have to learn the common language. Language plays quite an important part of the story in as well, which I enjoyed.

It has the feel of small episodic adventures though space and the adventures are quite pleasant and build a sense of community and family. Through these adventures, not only does the new crew member grow close to her and you understand more about them and the world in which they live. Each character has their own journey and backstory. They are fully fleshed out and all have their own personal journeys throughout the book.

The book also focuses on racial sensitivity towards alien species and understanding cultural differences, the ship has a different species and even the humans come from wildly different cultures. The book really outs an emphasis on this which I really appreciate and think it’s an important take away.

Some criticisms:

What’s clear from the start of the beginning of the book, or even the blurb, is that the main character is harbouring a Terrible Secret, (capital T, capital S) and I’m going to be straight with you here dear reader, it’s really not big deal. It has no repercussions for the character, it doesn’t shock or appal you and has no great bearing on the plot. There is little reason for it to there at all but to explain the character’s place in the story and it doesn’t good job there either. So that reveal was a bit of a let-down.

The “nice” characters aren’t flawed is any meaningful way, it kind of feels like they are just fluffy, like they have rich inner lives full of interesting conflicts, but they aren’t actually flawed.

In short, I enjoyed but it didn’t completely redefine the genre, but it was fun.

No dragon, as expected. Still disappointed though.

Recommended for quarantine or holiday reading, whichever comes first.