Book Review | The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet

The last of my holiday reads from earlier this year, I feel like I’ve accomplished something now that I’ve managed to write a review for them all, this is another quick one though.

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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 reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board 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 on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.

 

 

Amazon | Goodreads

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What I liked

The characters, this is a book that really focuses on the characters and they are all divine. There are a lot of different species and cultures and I loved getting to find out about all of them.

I was really pleased that it changed viewpoints, I thought at first it was going to be all about Rosemary, but we get to hear from most of the characters which is great because each one is so unique.

The worldbuilding was wonderful, there were lots of planets and cities and I could picture each and every one clearly. There was also the day to day on the ship which was easy to imagine, really you have to read it to see how good it is.

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What I didn’t like

There wasn’t much of a plot, it was very simple, but I think that’s because this is the first in a series and there was such an emphasis on the characters, so that did make up for it a little.

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Interesting snippet

“Pairs don’t socialise well, even with other Pairs. Ohan doesn’t leave their room much. They’re…you’ll see when you meet them. They’re on their own little plane.”

“You would be too, if you could map out tunnels in your head,” Jenks said.

“But Dr Chef always sets a place for them anyway,” Kizzy said, tucking a bite of food into her cheek. “Because he’s a sweetie”

“I want them to know that they’re always welcome,” Dr Chef said, “Even if they can’t eat with us.”

“Aww,” said Kizzy and Jenks in unison.

“Technically, I don’t eat dinner either,” Sissix explained. Rosemary had already noticed that while Sissix had taken some of everything, her portions were tiny. “I just eat little bits of stuff throughout the day. One of the benefits of not being able to keep myself warm is not needing so much food.” She smiled. “But I like sitting down with everybody in the evening. It’s one of my favourite Human customs.”

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