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  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

  • Wayfarers, Book 1
  • By: Becky Chambers
  • Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
  • Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,953 ratings)
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet cover art

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

By: Becky Chambers
Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
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Summary

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

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)

What listeners say about The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

for young adults

Any additional comments?

This book is warm, earnest and full of wise moral advice. Its a book for young people or people young at heart. All about how externals are not important only what you feel on the inside. Its a lovely story, (I am a huge Firefly fan) and sometimes I wanted to join the crew but being 56 I would get bored with all the dope smoking and tattooing and hair braiding. Its about finding yourself. I am over half way through and think I might need to skip some bits as its wandering all over the place. Its more of a social documentary than a story. Nobody seems to go to the toilet, (the Star trek problem), they all eat bugs and drink coffee and tea. I keep expecting Louis Theroux to pop in to see how its going. I hope the next novel has more bones inside the meat.

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36 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

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.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Well intentioned but uninvolving

Strange one this, good world building, stereotypical but likable characters, reads like a young-adult novel but with interspecies love, drug use, ladies loving ladies , swearing etc... A bit like the expanse novels, or a Star Trek spin off, (political intrigue meets crew politics, meet human looking aliens or 'rubber suit' aliens... Eg six hands) but without the peril, action or tension. It's difficult to recommend unless you are a open minded late teen who doesn't want space battles and shoot outs... and who needs to learn that different people / races / should be tolerated not feared... Mid western types I suppose. Will not be reading follow ups I'm afraid, not my bag, it's all a little too 'lovey'.
The narration is annoyingly upbeat, as if meant for a 9 year old.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Ernest and joyful

A young adult novel, full of good advice and admirable characters struggling to define themselves - a little prurient, but there isn't much ambiguity, this prevents you from loving the characters the way you'd like to. It ends a little too abruptly also, there are good ideas that aren't fully developed. I bet it was as fun to write as it was to read. Wonderful narration.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

struggle to finish, too disjointed

in the end I just wanted to get this book finished. there were some changes to standard things such as date format (a ten day instead of a week) that just distracted me from the story. also some weird grammar that just wasn't necessary.

narrator was fairly good, but could get on your nerves a bit... like one of the annoying things you find with siblings! just grates on you a bit.

as for the story. this book is a compilation of character descriptions and back story where past events are described which sound interesting but as you're not in the moment, not exciting enough. the main plot is thin, and actually only a sub plot in comparison to all the individual character stories that feel like the small stuff. in other words, it all feels like build up. after about 10 hours you realise that this is it.... there's no big storyline that is particularly gripping and what you get from the first couple of hours is about as good as it gets.

there appears to be some effort put in by the author to build the universe, but to me it was just that.... like an encyclopedia perhaps!

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Virtually plotless. Intensely boring.

I'm a third of the way through and literally the only thing that has happened is that someone has bought a bar of soap. Really, really tedious so far unfortunately.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this very much

what a charming little book focusing mainly on the relationships between different alien species in a far reaching galaxy.

this book depicts a mish mash of unusual friends and builds great character / reader emotion.

You have the feel of Star Trek crossed with the Enid Blyton.

weird, but true. and a great read

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Bland, Sermonising Sci Fi

I wrote a long review, but really all you need to know is that the plot is a meandering mess, the characters are paper thin, and it has all the charm of a patronising lecture on intersectionality from a first year gender studies undergraduate.

Avoid.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Lovely story, pleasantly different sci-fi

A lovely well-imagined universe. It took me a while to get used to the narrator and she seems to stress the wrong part of some sentences (as if she was not reading ahead and planning when to take a breath).

The story is great and focuses much more on interpersonal relationships than most sci-fi. The cultures, both alien and human, are well developed and believable - I would love to see a sequel to explore some parts in more depth.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very engaging tale, well read.

Great story with likeable characters, enjoyable storyline and believable details. Nicely brought to life by the reader too.

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4 people found this helpful