Digital audio read by Patricia Rodriguez; unabridged; 15 h 41 m
English language
Published June 14, 2018 by Hodderscape, Hodder & Stoughton, Booktrack Holding.
4 stars
(11 reviews)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
The beloved debut novel that will restore your faith in humanity
When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The ship, which has 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 on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful—exactly what Rosemary wants.
Until the crew are offered the job of a …
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEY'S WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
The beloved debut novel that will restore your faith in humanity
When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The ship, which has 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 on board 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 on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.
Booktrack is an immersive format that pairs traditional audiobook narration and complementary music. The tempo and rhythm of the score are in perfect harmony with the action and characters throughout the audiobook. Gently playing in the background, the music never overpowers or distracts from the narration so that listeners can enjoy every minute. When you purchase this Booktrack edition, you receive the exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.
I enjoyed this thoroughly and don't think I've ever read anything else which so aptly weaves relatable examples of how to be kind into an engaging story. That said, it's not just a story which is a container for giving examples of #kindness. The worldbuilding seems quite strong and consistent to me and reminded me favorably of Vernor Vinge's Zones of Thought, right down to the way data streams are presented, but containing a lot more admirable behavior.
I listened to the #Booktrack edition, which gave the audiobook a pleasantly cinematic feel. Some of the choices for background music didn't really seem to fit, but in most cases the production was nicely done, especially the sound effects.
Becky Chambers shows us a hopeful future. Sure, the world she creates still has familiar problems like bigotry, exploitation, and war. But most of the characters we see are fairly open minded, diverse, emotionally intelligent, and culturally sensitive.
I really started to appreciate the book more about 2/3 of the way through. All the world building and character development of the beginning finally led up to some interesting social commentary and ethical questions, as well as some queer bits. At one point we meet a character who had to pretend to be something they weren't to survive in their society, until they were able to escape to get treatment to fully become what they knew they were inside. Which seemed like an obvious trans metaphor to me.
I love how the book ends with an open ethical question that the author doesn't resolve for us. We only get to see …
Becky Chambers shows us a hopeful future. Sure, the world she creates still has familiar problems like bigotry, exploitation, and war. But most of the characters we see are fairly open minded, diverse, emotionally intelligent, and culturally sensitive.
I really started to appreciate the book more about 2/3 of the way through. All the world building and character development of the beginning finally led up to some interesting social commentary and ethical questions, as well as some queer bits. At one point we meet a character who had to pretend to be something they weren't to survive in their society, until they were able to escape to get treatment to fully become what they knew they were inside. Which seemed like an obvious trans metaphor to me.
I love how the book ends with an open ethical question that the author doesn't resolve for us. We only get to see a bit of the aftermath, but she leaves it to the reader to decide what was right.
A warning, this book is primarily driven by character interaction and world building, not narrative and plot. From what I've heard that turned some people off. I loved it though.
Reading this feels a lot like watching a soap opera. It's very much a character driven story with the plot serving merely to prod the story along as and when needed. And the characters are an entertaining and likeable bunch of misfits, doing their job and surviving as best they can.
It's also worth noting that this is a really nice story. The characters have spent years learning to get along with each other and... they get along with each other. What tensions there are are relatively minor and never distract from the fact that these people are looking out for each other.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is a very easy read and a solid debut from Becky Chambers.
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while …
The basic storyline of this book is nothing entirely out of the ordinary: Space crew gets dangerous but lucrative job offer, travels to their destinations, stuff happens there and along the way. You can take the title literally: it's a long way but only a small planet (episode).
I liked the world building, but especially the way the protagonists interact with each other. It's a story that is, for once, not driven by toxic behavior and the inability to communicate, but instead based on empathy and mutual support. The characters belong to different alien and human races, they do sometimes face conflicts over their specific needs, but frequently try to find solutions that work for everyone. In some ways, it seemed like an enhanced and more diverse version of the "Firefly" crew to me (which I loved).
This is a read leaves you with more positive than negative emotions, while being interesting enough to always keep you engaged.
Review of 'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A character driven, episodic space opera with comedic elements that's lots of fun to read.
Rather than having a major over-arching plot that drives the entire novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is structured more like a television show with a running story. Each chapter is a compact episode that focuses one of the crew members, and serves primarily to move that character's story and character development further. Each chapter, while depending on the whole for continuity and depth, presents a complete narrative. It's a somewhat unusual structure for a novel and I think is probably the reason why some readers say this book doesn't really have a plot. Which is definitely not true! Each story is exciting and fun; sometimes funny, sometimes touching, often both.
Like a good space opera it explores a lot of the classic questions of the genre: in a conflict of values …
A character driven, episodic space opera with comedic elements that's lots of fun to read.
Rather than having a major over-arching plot that drives the entire novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is structured more like a television show with a running story. Each chapter is a compact episode that focuses one of the crew members, and serves primarily to move that character's story and character development further. Each chapter, while depending on the whole for continuity and depth, presents a complete narrative. It's a somewhat unusual structure for a novel and I think is probably the reason why some readers say this book doesn't really have a plot. Which is definitely not true! Each story is exciting and fun; sometimes funny, sometimes touching, often both.
Like a good space opera it explores a lot of the classic questions of the genre: in a conflict of values between alien moral and legal systems, how do you resolve what's right? What are humans good for? What's it like to have sex with Alien Babes? How far should biological beings go in modifying their bodies? Should AIs have legal rights? How shall we bullshit our way to faster than light travel?
None of the answer are particularly revolutionary, but sometimes what you want is just a nice, fun space opera, and this book delivers!
