Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (originally self-published)
Received: purchased
Read from January 27 to April 1, 2022
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.
Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.
Review:
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was another book that I read for Life's Library. It was a book that I'd heard of years ago when it first came out, and I'd been very curious about it at the time. But I also forgot about it somewhat quickly, so I'm not sure that I ever would have picked it up if it hadn't been a Life's Library pick. And, let me tell you, I'm really glad it was because I would have been missing out if I'd never picked it up. This very well might have been my favorite of all the Life's Library reads.
From the first chapter, I was in love with every character in the story. They're such a diverse group who all play such different roles in the story. Even Corbin, who's quite obnoxious, felt like he had an important role to play, and because of that, I felt as fond of him as I did everyone else even when I thought I should be annoyed with him.
Seriously, I can't get over how great the characterization was for every single character in this book, even the minor ones. Everyone had such interesting backstories, and those backstories were woven into the story in amazing ways. I wanted to know everything about everyone. I can't think of a single character who felt lacking.
As someone who loves reading about friendships, I also loved the relationships in this book. While there were also a few romances that were well done, friendship was the biggest driver in the story I think. If you love the found family trope, then this book is for you. It's been a long time since I've read something that has satisfied my craving for found family as deeply as this book did.
While the characters were so amazing that they almost overshadowed everything else, I also loved the worldbuilding. A lot of sci-fi makes humans as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, player in the universe, and that makes sense. As humans ourselves, of course we want to think of ourselves as significant, but in this world, humans are actually considered a minor player on the universal stage, and I loved that! It made the story feel unique, and who doesn't love an underdog story?
I will say that the crew for the Wayfarer specifically (i.e. the main cast of characters in the book) are mostly human. If you include Lovey the AI, then the Wayfarer has nine crew members, and five of them are human. Still, I was absolutely fascinated by how the politics in the universe at large work within this book. We only get bits and pieces of it during the story, but I found what we did get fascinating.
This felt like a world where there was endless potential in terms of telling stories, so I'm happy that there are other books in the series. From what I understand, the other books focus on other characters, which feels bittersweet. I absolutely want to read them and learn more about the world and other characters, but it makes me sad to think about not having more of these characters too.
This was one of the best books I'd read in a while. In fact, I started re-reading it the day after I finished it, which is in part because of a spin-off Discord from Life's Library where we're reading the book through the method of sacred reading. I'm still excited to get to live through the story a second time.
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