The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet cover art

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Wayfarers, Book 1

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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

By: Becky Chambers
Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2016.

Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, 2016.

Firefly meets Mass Effect in this thrilling self-published debut!

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that's 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 onboard is chaotic but more or less peaceful - 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. They'll earn enough money to live comfortably for years...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 isn't the only person onboard with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

©2014 Becky Chambers (P)2015 Hodder & Stoughton Adventure Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Interstellar

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Critic reviews

"A joyous, optimistic space opera.... Although it isn't shy about tackling Big Questions, Planet is a heart-warming debut novel that will restore your faith in science fiction (specifically) and humanity (in general)." (Tor.com)
"One of the most enjoyable, brilliantly realised spacey SF novels I've read in ages." (James Smythe, author of The Echo)
All stars
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This book is a joy to read and to listen too. It is character - driven - and what a range of characters - numerous alien species, a ship -board AI and varied and mostly sympathetic crew on a long journey with the aim of tunnelling through what would likely be called hyperspace by most authors. That this novel is set in space is rather incidental really, since it is all about inter and intra - species relationships and growing mutual understanding of the varied crew members . It is about love in all of its manifestations ( including one of two you might not have
even contemplated! - no spoilers) and comradeship and mistrust between different alien races. There is real loss and coming to terms with it. There are elements of intergalactic politics. This is not military sci-fi and there is nothing you can really call combat, but it is one of the best Sci-Fi novels I have read (I have read a lot recently) and I really want to give it at least SIX stars! Deep Joy!
And a wonderful narrator to boot!

Lovely book beautifully narrated.

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Next please! Really enjoyed that. Great characters and intriguing pace. I hate the fact I have to use 15 words. I just wanted to say it was great! Thank you

Fantastic

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this was a real joy .. many "wrong" turns to finish this book. it's well paced, well written and excellent performance.

a true sci fi classic.

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Love this book. Great performance throughout by Rodriguez. Can't wait for the Wayfarers next adventures.

Love this book, Thanks Becky Chambers.

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It never gripped me at any point. I kept waiting for the story to begin but it was just about the characters. I made it to the rnd but I didn't really feel I knew any of them.

Doesn't go anywhere.

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this was a refreshing change to the hard sci-fi I usually listen to, very much enjoyed it. Great narration too, very distinct voices between the main characters and excellent emotional range.

an unexpected delight

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I loved everything about this tale. I thought it was well read and each character portrayed brilliantly . The team of spacers across the sexes and species gelling as a family . Learning to live and love each other . So so clever

Diversity on the edge

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I'm a great fan of Firefly and heard that this novel contained some of that humour and energy, and to a certain extent it does.

But I found it lacking in actual plot. It raced along, ticking hundreds of PC boxes on the way, overt nods to inclusion, gender politics, all well and good, but, I felt anyway, it was at the expense of a compelling story.

It was entertaining and I would recommend a listen, but it wasn't quite the space opera I had been led to believe.

This reads like a first novel and I hope the next in the series builds on the promise of the first.

I would certainly recommend it, maybe my expectations were too high.

Entertaining

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This was a really pleasant read; nice people, doing nice things, and getting out of trouble by being nice to each other. The narration was excellent, and Rodriguez had distinct, recognisable voices for each character. All the characters had interesting stories, and I liked almost all of them. I found Kizzy terminally annoying in the first half, but eventually warmed up once she got less story-time.

My major problem, and the reason I haven't rated this higher, is that every time something dramatic and tense happened, it was never resolved. Only in the climax of the entire story did we get the full story of everything that happens. Other events happened throughout the book, and then instead of dealing with it, the narrative would skip ahead. It was frustrating - as much as I enjoyed their stories, and what the characters were up to, I also wanted something to sink my teeth into, but nothing gave purchase in this book.

But I'll still be reading the next book, I think. It was all too cosy not to love, flaws and all.

Cosy Sci-Fi

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Any additional comments?

I thought this would be a good summer read, especially as it has been nominated for some major fiction prizes in 2016. I like science fiction and so I expect to have to suspend my disbelief for the sake of a good read. But this novel was far, far too long. It could have, and should have, been edited before it hit the bookshops. It was originally self-published (and in some ways reads like fanfiction) and I can only suppose that that accounts for some of the rambling sections that added very little to the plot/story.
Having said that, it was a very entertaining story - Star Trek for the 21st century. The narrator did a good job in bringing the characters, human and alien, to life.
Not for you if you don't like science fiction.

Entertaining Sci-Fi, But Much Too Long

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