Precious Trash

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 

Let me start by saying this book isn’t for me and I had to read for book club. I don’t love sci-fi and I hate cozy, low stakes stories.

Finally finished!!!!!!!!

It was more focused on the world than the characters, or maybe there were just too many characters with too many drastically specific species types that I found it hard to keep track. It was all over the place for POVS, so many characters and creatures and moving around. Too much for my contemporary brain.

The flaw in this book is that there are about 8 characters, and their back stories are only ever really introduced with specificity right before that issue hoovering over them gets resolved. It feels really cheesy.

I found this very similar to house on the cerulean sea, a lot of silly characters with special things, but the dynamics were only well done momentarily. Every issue and tension built is almost immediately solved so the characters can all be so accepting. There’s almost zero conflict that lasts more than a chapter. But it’s just boring and ultimately feels like an after school special. The world building in this was much better than in house on the cerulean sea, but that’s not what keeps my interest.

I will say the narrator did the heavy lifting for me here. If I read it on paper I wouldnt have finished it. But she killed this and made the story come to life.

I don’t see myself continuing this series. I don’t think it’s a bad book, it’s well done for it’s genre, it’s just too upbeat/cheery for my tastes. I don’t love sci-fi and this was no exception. 

If you like low stakes fantasy/sci-fi with focus on found family and need something to feel like a hug and being overly supported, this might be for you!

I literally pulled off her other series from my shelf after reading this, and searched cozy books and any i have are gone. 

2/5