The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Written by Becky Chambers

Narrated by Rachel Dulude

Rosemary Harper doesn't expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman, she's never met anyone remotely like the ship's diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks, who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.


Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy-exactly what Rosemary wants. It's also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn't part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary's got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs-an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn't necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• Release date: Jul 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515977278

Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers is a science fiction author based in Northern California. She is best known for her Hugo Award-winning Wayfarers series, which currently includes The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit, and Record of a Spaceborn Few. Her books have also been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Locus Award, and the Women's Prize for Fiction, among others. Her most recent work is To Be Taught, If Fortunate, a standalone novella. Becky has a background in performing arts, and grew up in a family heavily involved in space science. She spends her free time playing video and tabletop games, keeping bees, and looking through her telescope. Having hopped around the world a bit, she’s now back in her home state, where she lives with her wife. She hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.  

Reviews for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

[saresmoore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extremely fun & brilliantly insightful

True to form, this wonderfully fun sci-fi speaks volumes in the conversation of what it means to be human. Interspecies relations and super future tech only support the intriguing storyline and the lovable characters. I enjoyed every minute of this book and can't wait to read the next in the series!

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. The characters jump off the page and I hope to see them again.

[jdifelice-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the writing, I loved the world that was created and its complexities, and I loved the story. It was just so good. The diversity of characters in this book was just incredible. I loved the relationships between all the characters and how their lives were so different, yet they could come together and cohesively run a ship. The exploration of gender and sexuality was so interesting and was very thought provoking. Not only were there new species, but I felt like a lot of thought went into each character and their culture and how they differed. I mean, in space you are obviously going to come across other life forms, and their customs and culture will vastly differ from yours. I loved how complicated this world was and the relationships that had developed throughout the history. The world building was weaved into the story so effortlessly, I never felt like there was an info dump or clunky exposition.
This was a beautiful book driven by the characters that explored gender, sexuality, politics and the importance of understanding.
So that was my gush, I might come back and edit and make it more readable..but you get the point. LOVE, cannot wait for the next one!

[gregstolze-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked that they didn't have to save the world.The characters in this book are the crew of an aging, clunky ship with a technical task that keeps them together for a long, long time. This gives the author a perfect venue for a series of character sketches in which we learn everyone's secret-laden backstory (well... almost everyone) and watch their personalities bounce off one another. It has the chemistry of a favorite sitcom, the kind where the characters themselves are witty and interesting and compelling that you don't need to have empires collapsing to give them something worth talking about.The thought the author lavishes on personality is equal to the clear effort spent on concocting alien biologies and societies. It's not in-your-face hard SF, but these bigger abstractions seem reasonable and, more importantly, flow through the story seamlessly without requiring big, dedicated mounds of exposition. It's handled with a delicate but confident touch.

[missizicks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this novel. It's a winning mix of Science Fiction and High Fantasy. I found all of the characters believable and enjoyed its themes of acceptance and finding the place where you fit. The extrapolation of future tech from what's around today was convincing, and the consideration given to how different species have evolved over time, rather than simply anthropomorphising them, was refreshing.

[macthekat82 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved it! Such a wonderful meandering book. I like that it doesn't have a BIG plot but is rather lots of little scenes that together makes a story. It's all about the characters and all about found family. It's wonderful

[cmt100 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun. A good, cheerful, old-fashioned space opera. Interesting characters and nice humor

[pepperwings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For those of you who miss Firefly, this will be a lot of fun. This is it's own story, it isn't really related to Firefly, but the mix of characters, the attitudes, and the way the universe unfolds, has undertones of Joss Whedon. I was a little disappointed in places, where it felt more YA than sci-fi, but I really enjoyed the overall tone, and the variety of themes the book handled, and way we came to care about the characters.I'll definitely check out the other books, although it sounds like the next one is more of a spin-off than a continuation. I want to see where things go.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a fun book. This reminded me so very much of the show Firefly. I could picture several of the characters as being the same as from the show. This book documents a quirky crew on a mission that involves a time-punch (similar to L'engle's time wrinkling.)

[ansate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

mostly a really sweet story about exploration and found families and misunderstandingsbut your best friends will let you rant about medical ethics after

[bragan_8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The crew of the spaceship Wayfarer, a motley mixture of humans and other species, punch new wormholes through the fabric of space for a living. It's not the most glamorous job, but it's a life they enjoy. And then they're given an extremely lucrative contract, one that quite literally involves taking the long way to a small, angry planet.It's interesting: I was at least a hundred pages into this novel, and enjoying it greatly, before I suddenly realized that almost nothing had actually happened in it yet. Which is a trend that mostly continues for the rest of it, too, at least up until the end. We learns lots and lots about the crew and their inter-relationships, and about this universe and how things work in it and what role humans play and what the various other species are and what their cultures are like. But the actual plot stuff is scattered, episodic, and generally quickly resolved.In most SF novels, a favoring of exposition over story is something I'd probably complain about, possibly fairly loudly. But in this one, by gum, it works. I was deeply interested in the characters (even the one who's basically a carbon copy of Kaylee from Firefly, which was pretty weird), in their lives and relationships with each other, and in the wider universe the author had created. I really liked these people, and liked living in their world with them for a while. And the writing is so breezy and fun and natural-feeling that I never felt like I was being lectured at, even when I was probably being lectured at.And then, at the end, it gets genuinely quite tense and exciting, and then genuinely really emotional. At least one thing happens that I never would have expected, but ultimately everything comes together in a way that feels satisfying and even heartwarming.Apparently there's already a sequel out. That one made its way to my wishlist about two minutes after I finished the last page.

[kmajort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Recommended to me, and Stars! was that a spot-on recommendation! Yes, I could imagine myself out there, on the Wayfarer (or similar).
If you enjoyed Firefly, you'll enjoy this. Not a knock off, but enough similarities to make this fan shiny. And So Much diversity! Lovedlovedloved that element.
Was the first post-semester4 book I read... and it was perfect. I will read the next, but am going to wait a bit, hold off, just in case it isn't as good.

Treat yourself, read this!

[barlow304 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Whenever I find myself re-reading parts of a book, I know that I'm reading a favorite. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is delightful, both as space opera and as a character studies. Watching the shipmates on the Wayfarer work, bond, solve problems, and survive is intensely satisfying.to my mind, one of the most impressive things about the book is the author's ability to create separate cultures and habits of mind. The crew of the Wayfarer has 6 species represented, including the Artificial Intelligence, and each has its moments and its distinctive thoughts.All in all, a delight and probably worth re-reading.

[kp9949 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was desperate. I've read a lot of science fiction in my lifetime, so it's getting harder to find something new that falls into my true comfort zone. This was what I call an old-fashioned space adventure. Rosemary Harper wants to get away from home and her family issues, so she reinvents herself taking a job on a patched-up spaceship where she meets new people and new species. It was a fun story.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for the tag "space opera". I think it fits that category really well. The story is about a mixture of beings, human and otherwise, on a space ship called the Wayfarer. The Wayfarer is a tunneler of worm holes. The story is filled with adventure and mishaps and it is more about relationships than about wormholes. The author is the daughter of an astrobiology educator, an aerospace engineer and an Apollo-era rocket scientist. This book is her debut novel and she funded it with Kickstarter campaign. It was shortlisted for the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and nominated for the British Fantasy Awards' 2016 "Sydney James Bounds Award for Best Newcomer". It was the first self-published novel to be shortlisted for the Kitschies Golden Tentacle for Best Debut Novel.The story lacks in tension, not much happens until the very last few pages and even that isn't too nail biting in any way. The strength is its relationships between characters and world building. Rating 3.07

[majkia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The happy-go-lucky multispecies ragtag crew of the Wayfarer, a wormhole tunneling ship, get a once in a lifetime chance to open a new wormhole to a new planet. The pay is great and the authorities promise they'll be safe, even if they do have to pass through some dangerous systems. However, as usually happens, things aren't quite what they seem with this contract. Adorable characters, nice world-building and very up-beat attitudes make this book really enjoyable.

[narilka · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is the first in the Wayfarer's series by Becky Chambers. It is also the author's first novel. The story revolves around the crew of the Wayfarer, a space ship that punches "tunnels" (wormholes) through space to connect various systems for ships to use. The Galactic Commons, this universe's version of the United Federation of Planets, is home to a multitude of species and is looking to negotiate a treaty with a potential new member, the Hedra Ka. The Hedra Ka's planet will need a tunnel punched to connected it to the GC's systems and the Wayfarer takes the job. So starts the crew's long journey to this small, angry planet.I think Becky Chambers has created a new sub-genre, the Scifi Cozy. Seriously, reading this book gave me the same kind of feeling as reading a cozy mystery and it's the first time I remember this happening when reading a scifi book. Sometimes there are bad people and sometimes something bad happens but mostly the people good and the universe is a good place. It is a surprisingly heart warming read. Instead of focusing on the tech or a big, involved plot, this book is all about the crew and their daily interactions both on and off the ship. While the crew is mostly human, there are some interesting aliens in the mix and different takes on human types as well. There is Captain Ashby, a human Exodan; Rosemary, a human colonist from Mars and who has just joined the crew as the ship's new administrator; Kizzy, one of the ship's human techs with a super fun personality; Jenks, the ship's other tech, a human with a form of dwarfism; Corban, another human and the ship's algaeist (algae is used as fuel so very important to keep in good condition); Sissix, the Aandrisk pilot, a lizardlike species; Dr. Chef, the ship's medic and cook, hence the humanized name since his real name is unpronounceable to most other species, and a member of the Grum species; Ohan, the ship's navigator; and finally Lovey, the ship's sentient AI. There is no main character exactly as the story rotates through all nine points of view. Everyone is given their own time to shine. All back stories are slowly revealed throughout and never are you given an overwhelming info dump. The book is an interesting commentary on society and deals with a variety of issues that are very relevant today: cloning, sexuality across gender and species, self aware artificial intelligence and what a species should to do ensure survival. I definitely went into this book with the wrong expectations. I've seen a lot of comparisons to the tv show Firefly, which is a favorite of mine, and aside this story being about a crew on a ship I was not reminded of Firefly at all. That's not to say it was bad, because it is an enjoyable read. I was just disappointed due to my own expectations that this would be more of space adventure than it was. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never really does.Over all, if you're looking for an action packed scifi adventure, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for a slower paced scifi story with wonderful characters and thoughtful commentary on relevant topics, then you may enjoy book.

[mikepearce_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It's a road movie in space which allows you to explore and understand each and every crew member of the Wayfarer. This book made me, a 39 year old man, cry on a packed train.

There isn't some galactic problem, some incredibly important mission that needs solving, or some undiscovered alien race threatening the existence of life. It's simply the story of a crew travelling to somewhere far away near a small, angry planet to do their job.

It's simply incredible.

[lavaturtle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this book is amazing. I love all the characters on the Wayfarer, their individuality and relationships with each other. The different species are truly alien in physiology and culture, in ways that feel interesting and well thought-out. This is such a wonderful setting, and I'm looking forward to reading more in it.

[andreas6wpv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful book full of characters I cannot but love. Diversity, justice, in the setting of a mini space saga, but the real story is the tightly knit group of individuals, their characters and bonds.

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun. Really enjoyable character driven SF - cosy SF really, like the crime genre, but set in space without any bodies. The crew of the wayfarer, are a mixed bunch, mostly humans but with a variety of other aliens as well. It's a small tight knit ship, but the captain Ashby, has been letting the paperwork slide, and finally realise it would be cost efficient to hire one more person. It's Rosemary's lucky day. Even though she's barely been in space before - let alone on the Wayfarer's long cruises - she does have the paperwork credentials and plenty of academic experience with aliens cultures. The Wayfarer is a wormhole construction ship - but the technology is almost irrelevant it's an excuse for the journey, and to give the crew the opportunity to interact, which is well crafted. I'm never that fond of frequent jumping between characters, but this is well managed and they all shine in their own ways. The aliens are just about believably different - always a tricky thing to achieve. I'm not sure they quite think completely alien manner, but the author has at least managed to give them different concerns form the humans. The least believable is the AI lovey, While a discussion about the relative sentience of artificial technology is welcome, I'm not sure the character of Lovey was well crafted. In an emotionally driven storyline exploring many of the differences between cultures, the AI stood out as too humanlike. The rest is really quite good though.Nothing really happens as such, but en route, there are a few way-stops each of which features a different character's problems and opportunities. Lots of looking at other cultures, and attempting to accommodate them sufficiently without judging. It's all very happy feeling, which makes a difference to the normal run of SF. Not really space opera, but maybe space pantomime without the songs. Enjoyable light entertainment. I'm interested to see where the series goes.

[orkydd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rosemary is fleeing her past when she boards a deepod to join the idiosyncratic and multispecies crew of the ramshackle tunnelling'ship, 'Wanderer' to do the paperwork. The story is told as a road-trip, as the 'Wanderer' makes it roundabout way to a chancy system on a big contract to 'tunnel' a subspace gte back to the Galactic Confederation.

Becky Chambers characters are mostly lovable, and whilst they encounter setbacks along the way, these tend to be almost good-naturedly solved. Likewise her Galactic Confederation is a bit ropy, and her aliens are well, only slightly alien. Notwithstanding these faults, it a fun read, and I look forward to seeing her work develop.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Wayfarer is a ship designed to bore wormholes through the fabric of space to ease travel times for galactic sapient species. Onboard is a crew composed of five (six?) different species. Each personable in their own way, each with their own problems, quirks and endearing traits.I did not come away with the jubilation which so many of my friends have had after reading this. Somewhere, somehow, it fell a bit flat for me. The characters were interesting, they had growth and change. The world was very interesting as was the spaceship. It felt a bit preachy, or perhaps only instructive in what proper attitudes towards other species should be. That may be the difficulty of fleshing out many species in the same story, or it could be that there was more tell than show. I was often lost trying to keep the species, planets and governments straight. The story should have been gripping, but at times I wanted it to be over. I am very character/dialog driven. Although I cannot point to any particular shortcomings, I also cannot remember laughing out loud, or being so caught up in any one character that it would have hurt to lose them. I don't think I would have cried.That being said, it was an entertaining read, and I know that others have loved it more, so don't let me stop you!

[nhlsecord · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. It's a good story with interesting characters and great descriptions of each species. I enjoyed my time on their ship. I look forward to the next story from Becky Chambers.

[infjsarah · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Always lovely to read a book that lives up to its hype - and a book being picked up for general literature prizes despite being sci-fi.I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's well written with interesting characters. There's no action as such until very end - just a collection of different species and personalities on a very long trip to somewhere. If it has any faults it is that the lack of internal conflict is probably highly unlikely, but if I wanted soap plots, I'd read something else.

[adamwolf_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it. It has a wide world, not super rigorous.

[dlmorrese · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found this book refreshingly different. Instead of 'nonstop action,' it has meaningful relationships. Instead of contrived conflict, it has cooperation and friendship. There are likable, even admirable characters, a bit of insightful commentary on humanity, and a decent plot to tie them together into an interesting science fiction adventure story. The fictional universe created here is an enjoyable place to spend some of your free hours. I recommend it.

[2wondery_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A lot of readers have made the connection with Firefly; and meeting the first character, Kizzy, as the ship's mech tech, automatically makes one think of Kaylee Frye, lookin' good in grease. And Ashby is an unassuming captain who might be, but isn't a stand-in for Malcolm Reynolds. The fact that the novel is based on an ensemble cast is also an appealing throwback to the TV series. And I'm thinking that Chambers has taken inspiration, but her strengths are her own.Chambers obviously understands the appeal of character backstory. She does an extraordinarily good job of supplying this across all species. Her world building describes a fascinating diversity of intelligent life, and she is able to start with species' history/biology/politics and move on from there to particular personalities. She does this world building without having to resort to info-dumping. The material is exposed in a most natural way, through the interactions of the crew and the occasional newsfeed/letter/document from outside the ship, and always having good reason for such. The only weakness I saw was explaining how the disaster at the end could have happened. We meet only three Ka, and only one has any power, and the New Mother appears to be fully in favor of the Galactic alliance. So I'm scratching my head.I also liked that this is a workaday ship and that the Galactic Commons is based on cooperation and not war. Ashby does set the tone for his crew, so while he is not the most interesting character, he is certainly critical. The character I'd most like to know personally is Dr. Chef.

[sylviac_43 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent! This is very much a character driven book. There is no overarching plot, just a series of episodes in the lives of the crew of the Wayfarer, a cobbled-together spaceship that drills tunnels through space. If you're looking for fast-paced action, this is not the book for you. There are incidents, but not a lot of sustained drama. But there is a diverse cast of characters developing supportive relationships. Each crew member gets his/her/their own adventure and opportunities for character growth, while maintaining or strengthening their bonds with each other. There is plenty of humour and emotion, and just plain niceness.

[katybee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable read... sort of a "perilous but cozy" sci-fi adventure with a cool crew and a variety of interesting sapient life forms. Very much like Firefly, I was reluctant to leave their world when the story was over. Looking forward to the next Wayfarers book.