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Hi everyone, today I'm here to do a review of "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers.
Now before I get into this review, I just want to
mention that this book has been getting a lot of buzz lately, especially
in the sci-fi community. It was originally self-published in 2014 and
picked up by a major publisher to a wider audience in 2015. So that's
awesome. I love seeing self-published authors get a boost of their platform.
What intrigued me about this book aside from all the positive reviews from
friends and professional reviewers and getting nominated for a lot of awards is
that this book has been billed as sort of like a literary sci-fi. So instead of
focusing on the tech and the science parts as heavily, it's more focused on the
characters and their interactions and their relationships and almost more like
an anthropological examination as opposed to a scientific one. And so that
really intrigued me, because I love character-driven stories. I like a good
plot and I want it to sustain the story, but I much prefer reading about
characters and their intricacies and their dynamics. So I was really excited
to read this. But I will say it didn't live up to the hype for me. I think it's a
really unique and refreshing perspective and examination of characters in the
sci-fi world. Granted I don't have a ton of science fiction experience, but I know
a lot of people who do, and I trust their knowledge and experience. And I've heard
that this is just kind of something unique in that world. So I find that
really great and for that I really praise this book because it's bringing something fresh.
But from a person who reads a lot of literary fiction and who is used to a
lot of character development and strong character arcs, I found this book kind of
lacking. So as a brief overview this book is about a woman named Rosemary who is
escaping some sort of past-- we don't know what. She was raised on mars and she
escapes to this ship called the Wayfarer which digs tunnels through space, and
that's the essential plot. She's escaping to the ship and they get this
big job with sort of political nuances to it, and they have to dig this new
tunnel to a new area of space to help the government kind of explore and make
treaty and pact with a new--or not new alien race, but an alien race--that
they have not really had experience with in the past. So that's essentially what
the book is about, and we meet all the characters that are on the ship that
Rosemary's meeting. And there's a great diversity of characters. The species that
Becky Chambers has written are really unique and really well thought out and
explained and very dynamic. I liked that a lot, but their growth throughout the
book is basically nonexistent. The characters we meet on day one when
Rosemary, the main character, meets them are exactly the characters they are on
the last page. And that's totally fine, I just was expecting more growth and
attachment. I think because they don't really develop at all, you're just
getting to know them as opposed to seeing them change. There wasn't as much
for me to root for and not as much of like a personal emotional attachment. I liked
reading about them. I liked learning about them, but it felt like I was witnessing
something as opposed to experiencing it. If you're coming to this expecting
something with emotional attachment, I just found it lacking. A lot of the
situations they're in are kind of just vignettes, so it's like hopping from one kind of
drama to another, and you're not allowed to spend a lot of time with one issue
that brings you closer to the characters. So as a whole I thought it was enjoyable.
I thought it was unique and it's nice to always read something a little bit
different than I'm used to, but I wasn't blown away like maybe I expected to.
And partially that could be just like all the hype surrounding it, or it just isn't my
cup of tea, but I do see why people absolutely love this book. I did want to
just kind of put out a different perspective because I've been seeing a
lot of positive, amazing reviews and when I read it I just felt like it didn't
really live up to that. So if you have read this and you felt the same way as
me, I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts. If you absolutely love this and
you disagree with me I'd love to hear that in the comments below as well.
I hope this review was helpful. I don't want to discourage people from reading
this. I do think that it's awesome to see a story like this in the science fiction
community, so I do want people to support this author. And there is a sequel or
like a companion novel coming out later this year that follows
one or two of these characters in like a new storyline, which I will check out
because those characters intrigued me the most. And I think she could develop
the world and maybe the characters even more, but I just wanted to share my
thoughts. And I'd love to hear what you think about this book or my thoughts in
the comments below. And I will see you in my next video. Bye!