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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

5/5

A collogue of mine is the one that recommended this title to me, and boy was I not disappointed. If you’ve been around, you know that I am interested in sci-fi but have struggled to get into it for one reason or another. Finding something that wasn’t overwhelming, well balanced, and interesting enough to keep me hooked is hard to find.

But I found it here.

Where do I even begin? The dialogue. Let’s start there. It is so hecking hilarious, slightly over the top, but it never felt ingenuine to the characters. Or just there for shock value. It made them even more realistic and lovable.

And boy, did I love those characters. Meeting the crew of the Wayfarer, Ashby, Kizzy, and Jenks, to name a few, were just the freaking best. I loved the characters, all of them. But I loved their relationships with each other even more. The love they shared for one another, familial and romantic, is heartwarming and touching. And so well done, I can't put it into words. All you really need to know is that I became attached to these characters so when that ending happened and I had those gut-wrenching sobs and how dare the author get me so attached and then DO THAT.

Ugh. I, yeah, I had a moment.

And as a bonus, we get to see a lot of the events from everyone’s POV. Once I got used to the multiple points of view I really enjoyed being able to see everything from everyone’s POV. It was so interesting to see everything from such a diverse set of characters and how their upbringing/culture affected their perspectives.

It just goes to show you that no two people experience an event the same way. Sure their emotions might be similar but how they feel and how they react are their own experience.

I loved this work so much. And there is so much more to experience in it than I have even mentioned. But I really think this is one that you need to experience for yourself.

The journey is worth it.

5/17/22

*This review was previously posted on my Google Site.

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