Title: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Author: Becky Chambers
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Published: 5 July 2016
Pages: 443
Oh! My! Goodness! I had not really heard about this book but kept seeing it on people’s 2020 year end reviews. The library I work at recently acquired it, so I over the Christmas holiday break, I decided why not read something fun. And, I made such a great decision!
This book follows a motley crew on an exciting journey through space that brings me serious Firefly feelings! And yes, be prepared for Firefly gifs!
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the Wayfarer. The patched up ship has seen better days, but it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the universe, and most importantly, distance from her past. Also, sounds to me like Serenity!
Rosemary is an introspective woman who learned to keep most things close to the chest, but she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kissy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain. I’m just saying if you cannot see the similarities between this crew and the Serenity’s crew, then I don’t know what to say.
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy, which is exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. The Wayfarer tunnels wormholes through space and tunneling wormholes through space through to a distant planet is definitely lucrative. Risking her life wasn’t part of Rosemary’s plan, but she’ll soon have to learn how to rely on others on this adventure in the far reaches of deep space.
Okay, if you couldn’t tell, I absolutely loved this book and totally understand why so many others had it on their favorite reads list of 2020! I definitely think this book was so much fun to read and one of my favorite aspects was the relationship between Rosemary and Sissix that soon developed into a romantic relationship. They were adorable and so loving, along with respecting each other and I just cannot with these two adorable people….uhh person and…non-person…??
I will say that this book wasn’t really plot driven. Yes, they were going to create wormholes for a new planet being added to the larger galactic legal system thing (I don’t remember what it was called, sorry). But it takes a while to get there, so most of the book was about the characters and was definitely character-driven. Thankfully, Chambers does such an amazing job of making these characters so lovable and enjoyable to learn about and see interact. There is some action at the end, as the one of the people from the planet doesn’t want it to be included and sabotages the whole thing. So, there is some action. Obviously, it’s not the important part and as you can see it didn’t leave that much of a mark on me. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, especially to those who are Firefly fans!
Happy Reading Darlings!
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