The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

I want to just start that I genuinely enjoyed this book more than I was expecting. I've found myself quite disappointed by sci-fi as of late because so much of it feels... the same, even when it's recommended for being 'more queer' or 'more feminist' or something. It still follows the same patterns, same narrative beats, same... failure to even imagine something different or new.

It's also been quite tiring reading a lot of sci-fi that focuses on perpetual conflicts. And while this book includes a conflict of sorts, it does not focus purely on the conflict itself. Instead, it focuses on the relationships between all of the characters. It looks at how things impact them, how they feel about each other, how they get to know each other... It actually gives a very necessary look at people within sci-fi, which I think more stories are in need of.

There are areas that I feel disappointed with, and it's largely because they felt glossed over. There's a whole thing between Ohan and Corbin, and their later interactions or the development of their relationship is never explored in the resolution. It's annoying because everything else is so beautifully done, but I feel like this one should've been handled much better considering the whole story around at least one of them. (And also, it leaves Corbin feeling really on the outskirts of the whole ship's crew.)

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.

I had my issues with the book at first. Highly praised, I had gone in expecting an ass-kicking story with diverse, interesting characters in an SF world. The book most definitely had the most diverse cast I have ever experienced in any SF universe. What it did not have was an ass-kicking story. Once I got over my disappointment that there's basically no plot and opened myself to the character relationships on the Wayfarer, then the book clicked for me.

The Wayfarer is the a punching ship, a spaceship that opens travel routes through out the galaxy. Humans are just one race amongst many in the Galactic Commons, the alliance that controls the galaxy. The Wayfarer has a human captain, a pilot from the reptile race of the Aandrisk, a doctor and chef in one person called Dr. Chef from a race that is described as a mix of gecko and otter, one of the techs on-board has dwarfism and is in love with the AI on board, etc etc. There are inter-species relationships, there are inter-species lesbian relationships, and the tech tries to illegally get their AI Lovey a body kit. These are just examples. There's a vague story about a new race trying to join the GC but ultimately it's not about the Toremi Ka but all the relationships of the Wayfarer crew. It's about people who ultimately love each other, and their reactions to that crazy world out there.