Rosemary arrives on the spaceship Wayfarer which travels
the galaxy building wormholes so other ships can travel
quickly and easily. Construction ships aren't that spacious
or comfortable, and the multi-species crew sometimes resent
an outsider joining them. But Rosemary has sneaked off Mars
with a false identity, and she isn't in a position to be
choosy. She's taking THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET.
Rosemary is supposed to be a clerk, straight out of
university. She's got a lot to learn. The artificial
intelligence running the ship is friendly, and so are some
of her crewmates. Even if some of them are lizards. Ashby,
the ship's owner, is hoping for extra work to come his way.
We follow Rosemary as she discovers edible bugs grilled for
dinner, neuroviruses, immune bots and more tech. I noticed
that Ursula LeGuin's ansible communicator has made its way
in to the ship, many SF writers accepting the need for
instant communication over the vast distances of space. The
crew disembark at a trading planet to shop and get some R
and R. Just like any mariners, they love going ashore.
While much of the tale introduces us to the ship, crew,
lifestyle and a chapter on the mechanics of tunnelling
wormholes, in the background we get news about ongoing
wars, diplomacy and potential hazards around the galaxy.
Rosemary picked a bad time to join the ship, because
they're about to be boarded by alien pirates.
THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET is interesting rather
than thrilling, full of small detail about the characters
and their races, alternative lifestyles featuring and the
ship AI computer being recognised as a sapient life form.
There's strong language so I don't recommend it for young
people but mature young adults should be fine with the
book. Becky Chambers is from California and her parents
worked in the space industry, but her own studies were of
performing arts. Maybe this is why her characters steal the
show. If you enjoy space opera you should consider joining
the crew. This is the first book in a series
called Wayfarers.
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through
space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the
meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe—in this
light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi
star.
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she
joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the
patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a
chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and
most importantly, some distance from her past. An
introspective young woman who learned early to keep to
herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s
diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot,
chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running,
and Ashby, their noble captain.
Life aboard the
Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary
wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the
crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes
through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative
and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her
life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep
space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host
of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force
them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to
learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an
experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that
having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the
universe.
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