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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.… (more)
andreas.wpv: The book is really different in story and in setting. Empress is high fantasy - but barely visible, and tells a story of a story being collected from the maidservant of an empress.
While the story is so different, the mood and feel of the story, and the telling of the story are similar - a tender loving observation of human beings living their lives together in non-ordinary circumstances. I have not read the next books of the 'empress' - so not sure this holds, but to me, they are so similar.… (more)
beyondthefourthwall: Deeply character-driven sci-fi with particular care allotted to worldbuilding and major cross-species differences in culture, physiology, etc.
andreas.wpv: Angry planet and pale light trigger similar emotions, talking about connections, newbies finding their places on teams, developing friendships, kinship, closeness.
Pale light is more action packed, more tense then how I recall angry planet, but is clearly a more traditional story, with more stereotypical characters and plot, jokes, scenes.… (more)
Cloverlimes: Space travel, strange characters/sentient AI, and Intrigue surrounding a new path through space.
Lallo's story is more action focused, where Chambers' is more about found family.
ReshiBec: An outsider meets an already established 'found family' made up of diverse characters... but in a fantasy world instead of space. Similar tone.
How to describe this book... let's see, you have a big galactic federation with many different species, where humans are only one, relatively unimportant, species. Now, this federation is in conversations with a faction of a normally hostile alien species with erratic behavior who wants to make peace with the federation. To communicate better, some kind of wormhole tunnel is being built, to allow quick travel between the federation and the world where this alien faction has settled.
All that is going on, but it's only the background, the setting where the story takes place. The novel itself is an intimate, slice-of-life story about the crew of the spaceship Wayfarer, which has been hired to help build that wormhole. The small crew is composed of individuals of different species, each of them with their own feelings, peculiarities and secrets. We follow them and their small dramas, only occasionally influenced by the larger political drama.
It has a Firefly kind of vibe. You know, the crew of a small spaceship roaming through the galaxy and doing their things. What you need to know is, even though some events are dark, the characters are the opposite of grimdark. The are all (well, with the exception of the grumpy algaeist) really reasonable, and sensitive, and considerate, and touchy-feely... perhaps too much so. Everyone was too considerate, and the differences between most (not all) alien races was rather superficial, kind of like in Star Trek.
So the novel is about the relationships between the characters more than about big political events. If this doesn't sound good to you, I can assure you that things do happen, and that the story is written in an engaging manner and it's always entertaining. In between the character interaction, you get to see bits of the galactic society and the plot about negotiations with the alien faction.
I enjoyed it, but I don't feel a pressing need to seek the sequel (this one tells a complete story). ( )
I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would from all the good reviews I’ve seen. The world build up was lovely but the plot reads like episodes of a TV show instead of a cohesive novel. The transitions were choppy and left a lot to the imagination. Most of these subplots are wrapped up by the end but I would have loved to have more details on many of them and could have done without a number of them all together. ( )
La visita al festival Celsius me esta cundiendo mucho con las lecturas. Y a cada una nueva que cojo me encuentro una maravilla a descubrir. El abrazo cálido y reconfortante que supone el principio de la novela de Becky Chambers se le unen los personajes de los que te enamoras y la construcción de un universo propio increíblemente rico en el que hablar de racismo, género y humanidad. Tanto en el cine como con las lecturas soy muy emocional, y a un libro que me ha hecho llorar más de una vez, reírme a carcajada o incluso desear estar o ver un “Tet” en persona; no puedo ponerle menos que 5 estrellas. No sabia que necesitaba esta novela en mi vida hasta que la he leído. ( )
I enjoyed this book very much! The characters were all very memorable and well thought out. The universe Chambers has created is very in-depth and populated by some fascinating races, each with their own great stories. I'm invested in the crew of the Wayfarer now and will gladly continue along with their adventure! ( )
The only reason I have this 5/5 stars is because I couldn't give it 6/5. I am in love with this universe, the characters, the relationships, the queerness, the writing style, and I want a millionty sequels please. ( )
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.
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(4.05)
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All that is going on, but it's only the background, the setting where the story takes place. The novel itself is an intimate, slice-of-life story about the crew of the spaceship Wayfarer, which has been hired to help build that wormhole. The small crew is composed of individuals of different species, each of them with their own feelings, peculiarities and secrets. We follow them and their small dramas, only occasionally influenced by the larger political drama.
It has a Firefly kind of vibe. You know, the crew of a small spaceship roaming through the galaxy and doing their things. What you need to know is, even though some events are dark, the characters are the opposite of grimdark. The are all (well, with the exception of the grumpy algaeist) really reasonable, and sensitive, and considerate, and touchy-feely... perhaps too much so. Everyone was too considerate, and the differences between most (not all) alien races was rather superficial, kind of like in Star Trek.
So the novel is about the relationships between the characters more than about big political events. If this doesn't sound good to you, I can assure you that things do happen, and that the story is written in an engaging manner and it's always entertaining. In between the character interaction, you get to see bits of the galactic society and the plot about negotiations with the alien faction.
I enjoyed it, but I don't feel a pressing need to seek the sequel (this one tells a complete story). (