The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: Wayfarers, Book 1

As one who has loved science fiction for over 50 years, it’s rare to find a story that hits all the marks: plot, pace novel science, and just enough peril and relief.But it is characters who win the day. A mixed-species crew at the dawn of humankind’s membership in the Galactic Commons alliance. As with the best stories, the characters grow over the course of the book, and even the least sympathetic character is redeemed.Go read it!

My first scifi was Robert Heinlein's young adult novels, and they were space based but character driven. So is this book. I loved it. It has a wonderfully drawn universe in which humans are not the dominant species, in fact other species think they smell bad. Sentience is valued, in whatever package it comes in and technology is cleverly handwaved to allow space travel.I feel several popular scifi universes could easily marry with this. I could imagine Miles Vorkosigan popping up, or a Time Lord. If you like this stories, or grew up reading Starship Trooper, you'll love this.

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Wayfarers series, there are four books in this series. I bought this book for my Kindle. Previous to reading this I had read Chambers’ “To Be Taught If Fortunate” and her Monk and Robot series and really loved them both.Thoughts: I ended up thoroughly enjoying this first installment in the Wayfarers series. This is definitely in the space opera subgenre of sci-fi. Chambers does an excellent job throwing the reader into an intriguing sci-fi world without the term-dumping that makes sci-fi such a drag sometimes. The characters are engaging and entertaining. The worlds are intriguing and I loved the discussion of the different races of aliens and how complicated it is to get everyone working together without any misunderstandings.The story starts by following Rosemary Harper as she joins the crew of the Wayfarer. The Wayfarer is a ship that punches holes through space to different locations to enable space travel. When they get the offer of a lifetime they can’t refuse, even though it may be incredibly dangerous. As the book continues we get to spend time with all of the crew and learn about their lives and backgrounds.It did take me a bit to warm up to all the crew on the Wayfarer because we do jump between a lot of characters and planets and races. However, it was time well spent and once I was about 25% through the book I was totally engaged in this story and absolutely loving it. Chambers’ writing style is easy to read and flows well. The story packs a lot into it; there is a good overall plot but a lot of small subplots as well. There is action, adventure, and a bit of romance, as well as political intrigue and some philosophical topics addressed. All in all, there is a lot here and it blends together to make an amazing and engaging story.My Summary (5/5): Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot. This was an amazing start to this sci-fi series. I enjoyed the characters, the intriguing worlds, and races we get to visit. I loved getting to know the Wayfarers crew and really enjoyed my time with them. I am looking forward to starting the second book in this series, “A Closed and Common Orbit” very soon. I would recommend this to fans of Chambers’ writing, fans of space opera, or fans of accessible sci-fi with action and adventure but also a lot of character development and thoughtfulness. So far I have loved everything I have read by Chambers and I look forward to reading more.

This was a fantastic introductory novel. I am extremely interested in the world that is presented here. The seeds are planted for an intriguing space opera that isn’t afraid of wit and humor.As with most Point A to Point B stories, The Long Way is more about the journey than the destination as the climax and denouement whiz by at incredible speed. I loved (mostly) every minute I spent with these unique characters and felt I had learned a little something about empathy along the way. I particularly enjoyed the way Chambers flipped a few sci-fi tropes on their head; some notable examples being: the relationship between Lovey and Jenks and Corbin’s revelation.Two negatives arose for me throughout my read of the novel: Ashby and something I will call RPG Novel.Ashby - Ashby was the most disappointing character for me. Aside from his mysterious relationship with Pei that doesn’t particularly interest me, this man is like a robot. Who is he? What does he like? Does he do anything other than BE captain? He is the captain and leader of our intrepid crew and we spend the least amount of time with him. Unfortunately his character seems more like “Well someone’s gotta be the Captain of all these people right?”RPG Novel - This is both a good and bad thing, but this novel feels like a combination of the Mass Effect series and The Outer Worlds. This is mostly a positive as it seems to take clear inspiration from Mass Effect’s emphasis on galactic interspecies cooperation and interaction and from The Outer Worlds wacky, zany antics. The negative of this is the novel can often feel like a series of fetch quests in an RPG.Overall this was a very well-written novel. It is full of unique ideas and captivating character studies (Ashby not included I will hold out hope for the sequels) and it did what a lot of books lately haven’t been able to do: entertain me, surprise me, make me cry, make me laugh, and most of all make me want to read more books.4.5/5

Absolutely loved this book because the characters are incredible.Story was good, enough action to make it unputdownable, but it's the interactions between the species and the world building that make it so special. These characters will stay with me. Can't wait to read the rest in the series.

La historia es sólida y el mundo (o universo) creado por Chambers es muy agradable. La historia es más sobre el viaje que el destino, como el título lo sugiere.

This book feels like the literary equivalent of a big hug and a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winter day.Becky Chambers' debut follows the multispecies crew of a galactic mining rig on an extended journey through the stars. If you like space operas with healthy dollops of humor and lots of diversity (in every possible sense of the word), this book is absolutely worth a try. It's also worth mentioning that this is technically part of a series, but it can be read and enjoyed completely as a standalone and every major plot point is resolved more or less satisfyingly by the end.At its best, the book offers a refreshingly hopeful vision of a peaceful galactic society and a host of relatable, compassionate characters. At its worst, the book comes dangerously close to crossing the line from warm and kind to saccharine and implausible. I think my overall rating is closer to a 4.5, but I give it a 5 because I really ended up caring about every member of the crew, and because Chambers is an utterly unique and immensely talented new voice in the science fiction scene. I've already purchased book 2 and I can't wait to see what she writes going forward.

es de los mejores libros de ciencia ficción . explors desde lo cotidiano hasta lo único de un futuro posible. me divirtió mucho, explora la condición humana desde una perspectivas fresa.

The insights into human behavior expressed as exaggerations through alien species are very interesting, well-thought-out and it was a joy to read.As an Andy Weir fan, hard science is something I wish I could see more of. There's a lot of magic-like technology in here that's based on vague theories that may never come to fruition, like sublayer string theory jumps and alien species.

Excellent