'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' by Becky Chambers
'The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet' by Becky Chambers

The good

  • Interesting new universe.
  • Fun characters.
  • Fun alien races.
  • Cute family feel to the crew of the spaceship.
  • A feel-good story of love, empathy, and friendship. Prepare to smile and laugh.
  • A good message about accepting differences in race, species, gender, sexual preference, and so on.

The not so good

  • The feel-good vibes and message of acceptance were piled on a little too thick at times. Don’t get me wrong, I wish people in the real world were anywhere near as nice, empathetic, or accepting as the characters in this story! But they aren’t. Every time I’d glance at what’s happening in the world right now and return to this book, the characters in the book would suddenly start looking like cartoon characters: high pitched, censored, and designed to hide the truth so as not to hurt innocent minds. Humans today are so horrible to other humans over trivial differences, that I found it tough to accept the harmonized existence of humans and aliens in this story, where the differences were far greater. I guess that’s the fiction you have to accept in this science fiction!

  • I understand the book is all about accepting differences in race, gender, species, etc… but interspecies sex in Sci Fi stories always weirds me out. It strikes me as both physically unlikely (I mean, what are the odds the parts will be compatible?) and ethically questionable (as in, consider what we think of interspecies sex on earth, today!).

  • Expect to occasionally feel sad that the characters in this story are able to instantly form deep, happy, healthy relationships with 6-legged gender-fluid spider creatures, while you still find it awkward to say hi to the colleague you always see in the hallway.

Overall

If you’re looking for an action sci fi story, this one ain’t it. If you’re looking for a space opera with charming characters, a mostly-solid-but-occasionally-overdone message of acceptance, and the capacity to regularly deliver feel-good-and-make-you-smile messages of love, this one’s for you.

Rating: 4 stars