Rosey: On to cheerier topics?
Dany: Yes, please.
Welcome to the Galactic Commons, the ruling body of the galaxy that earth just happened to stumble into, and got rescued by.
Our story begins with Rosemary* Harper, arriving at the Wayfarer, a ship that builds gateways between various points in space. She meets the crew, from Sissix, the humanoid lizard pilot, to Ashby, a human with deep leanings towards pacifism.
Each chapter tells a different, slightly episodic, story about the journey very far away to a new outpost of the Galactic Commons.
Rosey: This book (of the endless title) was so comfy.
Dany: It was supercomfy.
Rosey: it wasn’t about a utopian society, there were definite issues in the universe, but it was so nice to have a group of people fit together and be a make shift family, who were not terrible.
Dany: Agreed. Feel good science fiction is so nice to read, and a good way to change up the pace, I think. I liked that it was feel good sci fi but still dealt with a lot of serious issues and topics. The world building was very enjoyable, and I loved the crew.
Rosey: Yes! The alien cultures were all thought out and interesting
Dany: Yup. I also enjoyed how humans were brought into it, and how they were portrayed as a species that mostly managed to survive due to the help of others.
Rosey: Yes! I also liked the way that cultures weren’t monolith — like Rosemary comes from Mars and Ashby came from space and Jenks came from earth and there was so much variety! And then there’s Sissix with her family being the Wayfarer, despite going up against the customs of her people.
Dany: Yessss.
Rosey: I think my favorite scene was when she and Dr. Chef were mocking humans for smelling. I just found it amusing
Dany: Hahahahaha. Oh, yes. In general I had a good time reading about humans getting mocked, to be quite honest.
Were there any characters you were particularly fond of?
Rosey: I loved Sissix, and Dr. Chef.
Dany: YES. Oh man, Sissix. I loved how affectionate she was, and how that is normal for her species.
Rosey: I also really about Pei intriguing. The whole, loving a person from a different species was interesting.
Dany: Yeah, Pei was also intriguing.
Dany: It’s hard, really, because so many of the characters were just superdelightful.
Rosey: I found Sissix’s thoughts on her culture vs. human’s culture to be interesting, it felt both alien and foreign, but also relatable, and I think that’s a really hard balance to strike for a writer.
Dany: That’s true.
Rosey: Sometimes aliens in fiction just come across as ‘humans but slightly tweaked’ and Chambers didn’t treat them like that. Everyone was interesting — even, eventually, Corbin — who was just a pain in the ass most of the time.
Dany: The aliens really WERE alien and not some variation of humans. That’s what made it so interesting, because you could really see how totally different species still worked well together. Or, sometimes, not so well.
Rosey: I also really liked the way language was treated in the book! I found Rosemary translating and talking about things to be really interesting, and the way Reskitkish had the hand gestures, and then how there were translators, but some people spoke in their language but understood other people.
Rosey: I really like the way the book talked about how choices effect things. I wanna keep reading about the crew and see how things fallout from his particular choices.
Dany: I’m not sure the sequel is going to stay with the crew? It looks like it’s going to be about Lovey and Pepper. Which disappointed me a little, because I love the crew so much and also feel like the story isn’t actually finished.
Rosey: I agree.
Dany: I don’t find the Pepper/Lovey angle to be that interesting, to be honest. At least not in this book. It felt a little rushed.
Rosey: Yeah, I am unsure how I feel about the Lovey story line. I think it did bring up some interesting ideas about creating life etc but… I dunno, I wasn’t that sad when Lovey crashed… [spoiler hidden]
Dany: I didn’t mind the Lovey storyline before, but the way it ended wasn’t… Basically I didn’t get why Pepper went against what she stood for, and why Lovelace agreed to it. [spoiler hidden] It seemed a little out of the blue. A little like “okay, I gotta tie up this loose end now! and wanna write about an AI with a body in my next book!” Which is… fine, y’know, I get why you’d want to do that and I’m sure it can lead to interesting places, but yes.
Dany: I was also kinda sad that the time they spent in Toremi space was so short.
Rosey: The whole book was leading up to it! And then it was… very short being there. I think that’s the trouble with the chapters being kind of… episodic…
Dany: Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book immensely and want everyone to read it.
Rosey: oh yeah totally!
Dany: Actually, I was just thinking about that other book we read
with the romantic plot tumor… Fortune’s Pawn.
Rosey: yes that one.
Dany: and how I wish Fortune’s Pawn could have been more like A long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
Rosey: if only….
Dany: I liked the aliens there too, and she definitely went in the right direction with them, but it’s still incomparable. Chambers did one hell of a job with the world building and the species and the characters. So yes, I’d definitely recommend it and am thinking I should maybe read more space operas and feel good sci fi. ‘Cause it was FUN.
Dany’s rating: 4.5/5 stars
Rosey’s rating: 4.5/5 stars
Join us in two weeks for our joint discussion on:
Dany has the floor next week!
* Fun fact! My full name is Rosemary. Listening to this book was kind of weird cause I kept on expecting my mother to appear, demanding that I clean my room…
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