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A review by simonlorden
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
5.0
I'm pretty sure this book invented the concept of "found family".
First, I was kind of surprised by how much the title actually fits the book: yes, this is indeed the description of a long journey to a war-torn planet, with everything that entails. A lot of the journey is getting to know the characters and their cultures, so the plot might seem slow at times, but then something big or dangerous happens and you have to hold your breath. And then it completely destroys you emotionally. So yeah, it was a wild ride, but let's not rush ahead.
I loved how diverse the inhabitants of the galaxy were: I didn't feel like the aliens were just slightly different humans, they were all completely unique in biology, looks, culture and history as well. I loved how those cultures sometimes clashed, and the crew members had trouble really accepting something from someone else's (like in the case of Sissix or Ohan), but they still respected the other crew members and their culture. I found the way Sissix's people treat families especially interesting - some part of it, like the polyamorous living with your lovers/friends type of thing was appealing, while other parts were admittedly strange for my human brain, but at least I know Ashby and Rosemary shared those thoughts with me. I also loved how Dr Chef's species treated gender as something that changes over time for their species.
Not only the aliens are unique either: the humans in this book also have different groups with different views, including the Exodans who have left behind their species' bloody past and became completely pacifists with strong principles on holding guns. I loved how Ashby's views were explored and handled, and I loved the strong anti-colonialism message.
And the found family aspect? Just, wow. These people love each other so much. Sissix and Ashby are so good. Jenks and Kizzy are so good. Dr Chef's talk with Rosemary about their species is so good. Ohan and Corbin appear less often, but when they do, they destroy your emotions, especially in the second half of the book. One of my favourite moments was when Corbin gets in trouble (not describing the trouble obviously, because spoilers), and Sissix is SO annoyed because she hates his guts, but she still doesn't even consider not helping him.
There are also some complicated or questionable moral decisions that come from the difference in the cultures, most importantly in Ohan's case. I can tell you honestly that I'm not sure how to feel about what happened to him in the end, and I don't know what would have been the right path there. I just don't know.
Lovey and Jenks and the whole storyline about AI and their consent was amazing. (It also gave me very strong Joker/EDI vibes, but hey.) And then it destroyed me and honestly this is another storyline that I'm not yet sure how I feel about, but it's supposed to be in the center of the sequel so hopefully reading that will help me judge it.
As for the F/F ship that develops as a pretty slow burn, I have... neutral thoughts? I liked it, but I wasn't truly feeling it. Still, it was nice to have casual LGBT characters, like Rosemary's sexuality or Kizzy's dads.
Random little bits I loved:
* If you don't know somebody's gender, it's polite to default to xyr pronouns.
* The part towards the end where Ashby acts the AI's name and he acts so confused and thinks he's in trouble.
* Humans being like "holy shit she's sixteen" and Sissix being like "wait how much is that? translate it to my species please."
* "Come on. Put on your trousers. I want to meet the woman who gets to take them off."
* Jenks staying to listen to a non-sentient AIs entire intro speech, to be polite.
First, I was kind of surprised by how much the title actually fits the book: yes, this is indeed the description of a long journey to a war-torn planet, with everything that entails. A lot of the journey is getting to know the characters and their cultures, so the plot might seem slow at times, but then something big or dangerous happens and you have to hold your breath. And then it completely destroys you emotionally. So yeah, it was a wild ride, but let's not rush ahead.
I loved how diverse the inhabitants of the galaxy were: I didn't feel like the aliens were just slightly different humans, they were all completely unique in biology, looks, culture and history as well. I loved how those cultures sometimes clashed, and the crew members had trouble really accepting something from someone else's (like in the case of Sissix or Ohan), but they still respected the other crew members and their culture. I found the way Sissix's people treat families especially interesting - some part of it, like the polyamorous living with your lovers/friends type of thing was appealing, while other parts were admittedly strange for my human brain, but at least I know Ashby and Rosemary shared those thoughts with me. I also loved how Dr Chef's species treated gender as something that changes over time for their species.
Not only the aliens are unique either: the humans in this book also have different groups with different views, including the Exodans who have left behind their species' bloody past and became completely pacifists with strong principles on holding guns. I loved how Ashby's views were explored and handled, and I loved the strong anti-colonialism message.
And the found family aspect? Just, wow. These people love each other so much. Sissix and Ashby are so good. Jenks and Kizzy are so good. Dr Chef's talk with Rosemary about their species is so good. Ohan and Corbin appear less often, but when they do, they destroy your emotions, especially in the second half of the book. One of my favourite moments was when Corbin gets in trouble (not describing the trouble obviously, because spoilers), and Sissix is SO annoyed because she hates his guts, but she still doesn't even consider not helping him.
There are also some complicated or questionable moral decisions that come from the difference in the cultures, most importantly in Ohan's case. I can tell you honestly that I'm not sure how to feel about what happened to him in the end, and I don't know what would have been the right path there. I just don't know.
Lovey and Jenks and the whole storyline about AI and their consent was amazing. (It also gave me very strong Joker/EDI vibes, but hey.) And then it destroyed me and honestly this is another storyline that I'm not yet sure how I feel about, but it's supposed to be in the center of the sequel so hopefully reading that will help me judge it.
As for the F/F ship that develops as a pretty slow burn, I have... neutral thoughts? I liked it, but I wasn't truly feeling it. Still, it was nice to have casual LGBT characters, like Rosemary's sexuality or Kizzy's dads.
Random little bits I loved:
* If you don't know somebody's gender, it's polite to default to xyr pronouns.
* The part towards the end where Ashby acts the AI's name and he acts so confused and thinks he's in trouble.
* Humans being like "holy shit she's sixteen" and Sissix being like "wait how much is that? translate it to my species please."
* "Come on. Put on your trousers. I want to meet the woman who gets to take them off."
* Jenks staying to listen to a non-sentient AIs entire intro speech, to be polite.