The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

I want to just start that I genuinely enjoyed this book more than I was expecting. I've found myself quite disappointed by sci-fi as of late because so much of it feels... the same, even when it's recommended for being 'more queer' or 'more feminist' or something. It still follows the same patterns, same narrative beats, same... failure to even imagine something different or new.

It's also been quite tiring reading a lot of sci-fi that focuses on perpetual conflicts. And while this book includes a conflict of sorts, it does not focus purely on the conflict itself. Instead, it focuses on the relationships between all of the characters. It looks at how things impact them, how they feel about each other, how they get to know each other... It actually gives a very necessary look at people within sci-fi, which I think more stories are in need of.

There are areas that I feel disappointed with, and it's largely because they felt glossed over. There's a whole thing between Ohan and Corbin, and their later interactions or the development of their relationship is never explored in the resolution. It's annoying because everything else is so beautifully done, but I feel like this one should've been handled much better considering the whole story around at least one of them. (And also, it leaves Corbin feeling really on the outskirts of the whole ship's crew.)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is feel-good science fiction, in some ways a rarity. It's a story set in post-apocalyptic future, after mankind managed to dig its way out of the destroyed Earth, but there's nothing apocalyptic about the story itself.

The Wayfarer is a tunneling ship, a spaceship used to create stable wormholes to enable faster than light travel between faraway places. The main plot involves creating a passageway to manage contact with a previously isolated civilization.

The plot, though, is a side issue. The book is really a description of a journey of friends - the crew of the Wayfarer - who meet new people and visit new places. Most of the book is about more or less mundane, everyday things, so even if every chapter has a defined date, it's actually hard to follow the journey.

There are plenty of aliens in the Wayfarers universe, and it's nice to see they are different - some of them are humanoid, some are something else. Different species have clearly different modes of communication and different social norms. The species could be more complete, though; most of the species have their appearance described, but the norms and peculiarities are often also just descriptions - they are not really a part of the story, just something thrown in.

Social norms also present the author with means for social commentary, and in places that becomes a bit tedious; I heartily approve of the message of acceptance, but the way it is delivered - and the way it so obviously mirrors current events - is a bit heavy handed in places.

Having said that, I still enjoyed the book and I'm definitely going to read the sequel.