First, Im aware this will come out kinda harsh but I am just really disappointed by how this turned out. Becky Chambers is an awesome writer that I would have loved to love
I am a sucker for a good space epic so when I found The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, I thought it checked all the boxes. Space colonies, war, illegal arms dealing, lust for power, adventure through the dangers of uncharted space. The characters were complex and likeable sure, but it was the world building that sold me. It was so interesting how each alien species had their own cultures, languages, biases, and social status and how it shaped the formation of this interplanetary government. So when another violent alien race comes into the picture that no one really knows about, its the perfect set up for a killer series.
I was so excited for this story to start until it just…didn't. I was expecting a fast paced, action packed rollercoaster, but instead it felt like 330 pages of opening credits. Instead of diving into this amazing story line, we get three different love stories (more like 2 love stories and 1 oddly placed and unecessary lesbian alien sex scene just because). We get a story of friendship and learning to live with others and random side characters with no other purpose than to cause nostalgia and fill up space on the page and so on and on and on….
All of this squishy slice of life writing wouldn't be an issue by itself, her writing style is very well done. The issue I have is when this soft (and kinda boring) day to day life idea is sitting ontop of an absolute SIFI goldmine in world building. And I thought, "okay, maaaybe book 1 was just character building for the story progression in book 2." NOPE, all of the books following never fully circle back around to the crew or the plot of book 1, leaving plenty of questions and confusion as to why it was ever created in the first place. Such a terrible waste of a wonderful thing.
Did anyone else feel this way too? Did anyone like the idea of focusing on the characters in the midst of the chaos instead of the chaos itself? While you're at it, please drop any suggestions on books that might be more my speed if you've got any!
by Negative-Land5351
2 Comments
I definitely get what you’re saying, in that I enjoyed Book 1 a lot and would have been fine if it was stand-alone, but I was most excited that it was kind of an “Eye of the World” introduction to a greater series. Then I read the second book and while I still enjoyed the world, I wanted to see my old friends from book one. And the second book wasn’t as good in general, either. Then the third book was even harder to get into and … well it was just disappointing and sad like you said.
I still recommend the first book to people and let them know to stop there, kind of like how I tell them to stop watching Dexter after the John Lithgow season, or Arrested Development at season 3. Or even, to a lesser extent, the very existence of Faile and everything about her in WoT.
“a terrible waste of a wonderful thing” I really have to disagree here. You have your pick of the litter when it comes to space operas. Seriously, this series is such a huge outlier you can choose literally anything else. Some of us need a story where the lovely characters have some growth and make a chosen family in a really interesting scifi setting.