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Available
Call number
Series
Description
Return to the sprawling, Hugo Award-winning universe of the Galactic Commons to explore another corner of the cosmos-one often mentioned, but not yet explored-in this absorbing entry in the Wayfarers series, which blends heart-warming characters and imaginative adventure. With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop. At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through. When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers-all different species with different aims-are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio-an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes-are compelled to confront where they've been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member reading_fox
Very nearly perfect. The last third is wonderful, the first feels a little clunky in places and you're wondering why you should care, but them bamm suddenly it all matters. I believe this is the last book Becky is intending to write in this universe, and it's a thoroughly satisfying ending. There
The somewhat contrived scenario means that the rest of the book is the viewpoints from Pei, and the other aliens she's trapped with for a few days. They don't lack for necessities or comforts, but have to learn to live with each other. And this is perhaps the weakest premise of the book. There are no humans, but none of the aliens feel totally alien either - an incredibly tricky concept to pull off - however in mitigation none of them are stereotypes of their supposed races because they are all the the explorers, the ones from their races who go out into the Galaxy (each for their own reasons) and have all learned to be tolerant and supportive - kind perhaps is a better way to put it - because otherwise they'd never have got to where they are.
Becky does very well at conveying the physical differences between the characters, their senses, their requirements, and she's also got the atmosphere down perfectly, the slightly forced but essentially compassionate feeling you get anywhere a group of travelers from different backgrounds meet - curiosity and respect for personal space. If you've ever hung out in hostel or chatted to people sharing the road especially during a bit of minor drama you'll recognize it immediately. However what there isn't is a sense of true alienness, all the characters have a human feel to their thoughts, which doens't quite work. I've only read a few books that have ever managed to capture this properly, and it's by no means a bad attempt far from the worst I've read, but not quite there. Which is after all maybe the point, whoever we meet, wherever we meet them, there is always common ground that can be found, be it food, music, sympathy, history or just joy in living.
The whole series is a complete joy so different from the bleakness which can pervade SF at times, and manages to achieve this without being trite. I think this will be on my re-read list for a very long time - not every year, but frequently worth remembering that there are happy lives out there.
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are so many stories we haven't got to hear, Jenks and Rosemary who began the whole thing, but each of the Wayfarer books picks up a different characters who was merely mentioned in the opening volume, and this is the Pei's tale. Alien lover of a human captain, she has a ship and a life of her own and faces disapproval of her entire species for the way she's chosen to live. She's just finished another dangerous mission, and has a few weeks of leave which she's chosen to spend with Ash. However on her way there she has a tunnel transit layover and spends the time on a planet 'rest station'.The somewhat contrived scenario means that the rest of the book is the viewpoints from Pei, and the other aliens she's trapped with for a few days. They don't lack for necessities or comforts, but have to learn to live with each other. And this is perhaps the weakest premise of the book. There are no humans, but none of the aliens feel totally alien either - an incredibly tricky concept to pull off - however in mitigation none of them are stereotypes of their supposed races because they are all the the explorers, the ones from their races who go out into the Galaxy (each for their own reasons) and have all learned to be tolerant and supportive - kind perhaps is a better way to put it - because otherwise they'd never have got to where they are.
Becky does very well at conveying the physical differences between the characters, their senses, their requirements, and she's also got the atmosphere down perfectly, the slightly forced but essentially compassionate feeling you get anywhere a group of travelers from different backgrounds meet - curiosity and respect for personal space. If you've ever hung out in hostel or chatted to people sharing the road especially during a bit of minor drama you'll recognize it immediately. However what there isn't is a sense of true alienness, all the characters have a human feel to their thoughts, which doens't quite work. I've only read a few books that have ever managed to capture this properly, and it's by no means a bad attempt far from the worst I've read, but not quite there. Which is after all maybe the point, whoever we meet, wherever we meet them, there is always common ground that can be found, be it food, music, sympathy, history or just joy in living.
The whole series is a complete joy so different from the bleakness which can pervade SF at times, and manages to achieve this without being trite. I think this will be on my re-read list for a very long time - not every year, but frequently worth remembering that there are happy lives out there.
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LibraryThing member jakeisreading
Well, my space-faring friends, Becky has done it again. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within marks the final, standalone instalment in her Wayfarers series, and it is just so damn lovely.
TGatGW is essentially a lockdown situation – with which we are all now painfully familiar – but with several
TGatGW is the first Chambers novel where none of the main characters are human, but I didn’t even pick up on this until after I’d put the book down; there’s more humanity to be found in this story about strange, sentient species than in most books about humanity. The author does what she does best, and deep dives into the cultures and social structure of disparate sentient species; from gender to politics, life expectancy to eating habits (including a particularly hilarious section where the protagonists are horrified by the concept of humans eating cheese).
That’s a pretty quick summary, but it effectively sums up this book which is relatively light on plot. But, learning about each species and seeing them overcome their differences is the point of the story, and it’s cathartic AF.
I’d recommend this book if you want to spend more time making some alien friends and less time shooting at them. TGatGW is a rare opportunity to explore the mundane yet fascinating details that are often overlooked in sci-fi. And, you’ll finish the book reassured that while the universe is oh so big and scary, it’s also a beautiful thing.
TGatGW is essentially a lockdown situation – with which we are all now painfully familiar – but with several
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sentient species, all stuck in the same planetary habitat and suddenly having to figure each other out. This happens on the commuter planet of Gora, where travellers layover while waiting to go through one of the nearby wormholes and travel to another, more exciting place. A low-orbit accident leads to the destruction of Gora’s satellite network, forcing all ships to be grounded. The ensuing story is essentially an answer to the age-old question, “what do you get when an Auleon, Quelin and Akarak get stranded in a Laru-owned Five-Hop One-stop”? And the answer is not a punchline, but heckin’ FEELS.TGatGW is the first Chambers novel where none of the main characters are human, but I didn’t even pick up on this until after I’d put the book down; there’s more humanity to be found in this story about strange, sentient species than in most books about humanity. The author does what she does best, and deep dives into the cultures and social structure of disparate sentient species; from gender to politics, life expectancy to eating habits (including a particularly hilarious section where the protagonists are horrified by the concept of humans eating cheese).
That’s a pretty quick summary, but it effectively sums up this book which is relatively light on plot. But, learning about each species and seeing them overcome their differences is the point of the story, and it’s cathartic AF.
I’d recommend this book if you want to spend more time making some alien friends and less time shooting at them. TGatGW is a rare opportunity to explore the mundane yet fascinating details that are often overlooked in sci-fi. And, you’ll finish the book reassured that while the universe is oh so big and scary, it’s also a beautiful thing.
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LibraryThing member JanesList
The last book in the series... sigh. I will read this series again, definitely. And I can't wait for the next project Chambers promises is in the works. There's something about how Becky Chambers uses sci-fi to show us ways to think about how we could live now. This book got into colonialism, how
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to be truly welcoming, and how to have hard conversations across differences. The plot is a "group of disparate people stuck together form bonds" but done in true Chambers fashion, and this time we get to really meet the Laru! Can't go into more details (too many spoilers). Do read this series in order though. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
This fourth book in Becky Chambers' loosely connected Wayfarers series is set in a sort of interstellar truck stop, where some kind of orbital disaster traps several aliens of various kinds together for a few days.
You know, I remember reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first book in
Well, this one is also largely about hanging out with characters and learning about alien cultures while not much actually happens, but this time I definitely noticed. Everything was mildly interesting, and all the characters were mildly likeable, but it wasn't exciting me or keeping my attention in anything like the same way. I also couldn't escape the very strong sense that the entire thing was basically an exercise in the author carefully modelling How to Behave Well Towards Others and Respect Their Personal and Cultural Diversities for the benefit of her readers. As moral lessons go, this is one I'm in favor of, and it's done pleasantly enough and not in a way that's terribly clunky or preachy, but, nevertheless, I sometimes felt like I was experiencing some sort of science-fictional Mr. Roger's Neighborhood gently attempting to teach me good behavior by example. But, with the greatest of respect and love for the late Fred Rogers... I really do feel a bit too old for that.
You know, I remember reading The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, the first book in
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the series, and commenting that I was something like a hundred pages in before it suddenly occurred to me that basically nothing had happened in it, and that I didn't remotely care because I was really enjoying hanging out with all of the characters, and learning about all the different aliens species in this universe and their cultures and interactions with each other, and so on.Well, this one is also largely about hanging out with characters and learning about alien cultures while not much actually happens, but this time I definitely noticed. Everything was mildly interesting, and all the characters were mildly likeable, but it wasn't exciting me or keeping my attention in anything like the same way. I also couldn't escape the very strong sense that the entire thing was basically an exercise in the author carefully modelling How to Behave Well Towards Others and Respect Their Personal and Cultural Diversities for the benefit of her readers. As moral lessons go, this is one I'm in favor of, and it's done pleasantly enough and not in a way that's terribly clunky or preachy, but, nevertheless, I sometimes felt like I was experiencing some sort of science-fictional Mr. Roger's Neighborhood gently attempting to teach me good behavior by example. But, with the greatest of respect and love for the late Fred Rogers... I really do feel a bit too old for that.
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LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
Another great book by Chambers.
This one is set on a way-station got deep-space travelers. Two characters are from that place, with others being temporary visitors. One character, Pei, is from previous books.
This one is set on a way-station got deep-space travelers. Two characters are from that place, with others being temporary visitors. One character, Pei, is from previous books.
LibraryThing member spiralsheep
61/2021. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers is a science fiction novel in her Wayfarers series although as with all Chambers' books it reads perfectly as a standalone. Another well-written story focussing primarily on a small group of disparate characters and the complexities of
Quote: "They were stuck in a hab dome filled with cakes and blooming hedges, not crash-landed on an asteroid or venting oxygen into space."
I intended to extract another quote but I was so engrossed in reading that I forgot to write it down. :-)
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their relationships. The simple classic plot of confining several strangers together in a stressful situation and seeing how they cope also works updated into this futuristic setting.Quote: "They were stuck in a hab dome filled with cakes and blooming hedges, not crash-landed on an asteroid or venting oxygen into space."
I intended to extract another quote but I was so engrossed in reading that I forgot to write it down. :-)
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LibraryThing member infjsarah
So enjoyable. As with all this series nothing much actually happens and yet it's like sinking into a warm comfortable bath - relaxing and enjoyable and easy. After some of the chunksters I've been ploughing my way through recently, this was short and relatively undemanding.
LibraryThing member lavaturtle
Like all the books in the Wayfarers series, this book has a rich setting and wonderful characters. I love the thoughtfully-designed multi-species civilization and how all the characters interact with their own cultures and each other. The protagonists were all really interesting, and I was happy
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with the endings they got. Show Less
LibraryThing member antao
Has the early 21st century witnessed the death of the original? No-one seems able to write anything new these days, be it literature or TV film scripts - everything is a rehash, a reboot, a new slant on the old if not a shameless copy. 19th century fin de siècle Western society brimmed with the
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new, the adventurous (good and bad). The avant-garde across Europe, Russia and the USA were delighting a few and horrifying masses and this trend exploded in the early 1900's - Joyce, T.S Eliot, E.E. Cummings, Brecht. We had a sort of creative end to the 20th Century in music and art (good and bad) if not literature but it was shallow (the lazy conceptualism of massively over hyped YBAs is a prime example). There were no great new ideas driving art or society forward and no great new art created. Even the burst from the end of the 90's fizzled out completely within a few years and we are left with what...no new genre of music, art, literature or anything in 20 years. A dull landscape of repetition, hype and money & marketing in place of true creativity. Some of it expertly done I concede but passion and talent without originality is still a poor substitute for the real thing. The poor imitations we have today lack depth, lack quality, lack value - they do not merit or deserve the attention they receive in the absence of anything better. Perhaps there can be nothing new until the old is called out for what it now is - worthless - and destroyed accordingly. Of course, when it comes to SF the problem is perhaps 10-fold worse (Sturgeon’s Law applies here). The cultural "SF industry" today works in certain ways, limiting our access to a multitude of works. Originality is no longer a virtue strongly associated with modernity and modernism in particular. What has come after that – if we want to broadly call it postmodernism – accepts rewrites, versions, variations and loans. This is not bad in and of itself. After all, all of Brecht's works are essentially rewrites of earlier stories, and he made no secret of it. I'm still stunned at how many "writers" in any genre today and in SF in particular are seemingly content to retread old ground and don't even try to push boundaries. We’re not in Brecht territory here. There is a lot and I mean A LOT more to Brecht’s reworking than yet another redo of “Pride and Prejudice” (LINK) I'd hope you'd agree. When it comes to “new” SF it’s even more depressing; it seems that SF has exhausted itself and cannot come up with new forms and ideas, but looks yearningly back to the golden heydays…unfortunately present day SF hasn’t got any idea on how to write good stuff. Personally I think that as soon as a SF writer thinks more about remaining relevant and appealing (i.e. commercially viable) than remaining true to their artistry they cease to be writers. At least these SF writers should still be able to write a good yarn... Show Less
LibraryThing member LibroLindsay
An Akarak, a Quelin, and an Aeuluon walk into a planetary co-op...
Oh, stars. I am so sorry for that. It was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about how to summarize this book.
Words cannot express how connected I've felt with this series. I am so sorry to see it ending (and so
Oh, stars. I am so sorry for that. It was the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about how to summarize this book.
Words cannot express how connected I've felt with this series. I am so sorry to see it ending (and so
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excited for the new worlds to come!), but this really encapsulated all the things I have loved about it, about the worlds that Chambers creates. It was so funny and sweet and quietly thrilling. I particularly loved the through-line of accessibility and inclusion in this one. I'm left just wanting the cradle the book in my arms. Becky Chambers' books are my desert island books, for real. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwren
I love this! The best in the series!
LibraryThing member AmyMacEvilly
Social SF. You'll detect the themes/topics of difference, diversity, colonialism, and systemic discrimination. Nicely done. Sappier than LeGuin.
LibraryThing member quondame
An exploration rather than an adventure as 3 space faring people of different species are trapped on planetary way station with a hostess of a forth species and her adolescent offspring. The exploration is both among the species alien to each other and internal to each the individual though not at
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all evenly spread. In fact it is Pei on whom the stop over will have the most effect though others of the 5 face some trauma. Family and society are what it's about and what's common and unique across barriers. Show Less
LibraryThing member kevn57
4.5 stars Becky Chambers is by far my favorite contemporary author, this book fits perfectly in her Wayfarers universe. I'm so sorry to see that this is the last book planned in the series. Her characters were perfect, not that they were perfect but rather they were perfectly believable. The slice
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of life story tells of 4 alien races trapped together, how they opened up to each other and came to understand each other. Roveg was my favorite character, but each of the others came in a close 2nd. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This installment of the Wayfarers series is more like the first one than the other two: it goes back to the original theme of different species of aliens putting real effort into getting along despite major cultural and biological differences. Not much really happens in the story, but that's just
It is set on a boring little planet, which happens to be at the center of several major travel routes, so the whole planet is basically just a bunch of hotels for people on their way to other places. Several different races stay together at one little hotel, whose hostess does everything she can to accommodate the needs and palates of all of her guests, while her teenage child causes some normal teenage chaos. The satellite communications network around the planet is offline for a few days, so everyone is stuck on the planet and they have to work a little harder to get along while dealing with their own anxieties, prejudices, and personal problems.
This is a charming and cozy read, and it's just nice to think about people trying to understand each other and get along.
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fine. It is the epitome of cozy sci-fi, with interesting characters who genuinely care about each other, and it shows how things work out for the best when people just try to understand each other.It is set on a boring little planet, which happens to be at the center of several major travel routes, so the whole planet is basically just a bunch of hotels for people on their way to other places. Several different races stay together at one little hotel, whose hostess does everything she can to accommodate the needs and palates of all of her guests, while her teenage child causes some normal teenage chaos. The satellite communications network around the planet is offline for a few days, so everyone is stuck on the planet and they have to work a little harder to get along while dealing with their own anxieties, prejudices, and personal problems.
This is a charming and cozy read, and it's just nice to think about people trying to understand each other and get along.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
On a bare, rocky planet in the middle of nowhere, you wouldn't expect to find much of anything. However, the planet's location makes it a good stopover for ships making interstellar jumps. Ouloo, a Laru, and her adolescent child staff the Five-Hop One-Stop, a sort of convenience store for
You guys have failed me. How did I not know that there was a new Becky Chambers? It's (*sob*) the last book in the Wayfarers series. Like the books before it, there are only tenuous connections to the other volumes in the series, but I feel like this one takes us full circle in a way. It's a lovely tale of relationships and the connections that can be formed in difficult circumstances. If you enjoyed the other books in the series, this is not to be missed -- and if the premise of this one intrigues you, it's fine to start here.
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travelers. There are snack foods, a bath house, and a garden where the space-weary can stretch their legs planet-side. Nobody stays for long -- at least, not when things are going well. But when a planet-wide mechanical disaster strands three very different travelers at the Five-Hop for a time, they must learn to put aside their prejudices and first impressions in order to deal with their situation.You guys have failed me. How did I not know that there was a new Becky Chambers? It's (*sob*) the last book in the Wayfarers series. Like the books before it, there are only tenuous connections to the other volumes in the series, but I feel like this one takes us full circle in a way. It's a lovely tale of relationships and the connections that can be formed in difficult circumstances. If you enjoyed the other books in the series, this is not to be missed -- and if the premise of this one intrigues you, it's fine to start here.
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LibraryThing member Phrim
In The Galaxy and the Ground Within, a handful of travelers have been stranded at a galactic rest stop due to a natural disaster. Each of these travelers (including the innkeeper) is a different alien race, and while they are united by a galactic government, they come from very different cultures.
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Despite their differences, the travelers move from the politeness of strangers to actively supporting one another, as each wrestles with a delay to their urgent personal reasons for travel. It's refreshing to see how everyone is able to open up, not only in providing emotional support for one another, but also in their willingness to learn about each other's ways of life. This is definitely a comfort read, and better captures the feeling of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (the first book in the series) than the other works. Show Less
LibraryThing member SamMusher
The whole series seems of its time — not that it’s going to feel dated, just that 2015-2021 is such a particular, eventful era that anything thoughtful written in that time is going to feel like it couldn’t have been written anytime else. This is the COVID lockdown / having difficult race
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conversations with conservative loved ones entry in the series. Again, it’s specific enough to its own universe that I doubt it’ll feel dated, but some moments were deeply emotional for me (like the lights flashing at each other across the habitat domes, the way we stood on our porches with flashlights in early pandemic) that may just go by unnoticed for a younger reader 20 years from now. I understand Chambers needing to move on from this universe, but I will miss it tremendously. Show Less
LibraryThing member LisCarey
This is the fourth, and apparently final, book in Becky Chambers' wonderful Wayfarers series. The series is set in the Galactic Commons, a federation of sapient species in the galaxy, of which humans are one of the newest and least important members.
In this book, as in A Closed and Common Orbit,
Gora is a world with no water, only a thin atmosphere, no life, no valuable resources--unremarkable except for being at the nexus of five wormholes that provide transport to far more interesting places. It's a busy hub, and the main, or rather only, industry on Gora is providing hospitality, supplies, and maintenance to the crews and ships passing through. Few visitors hang around long, until an accident among the communication satellites in orbit around Gora.
With no communications, and no one able to take off safely due to the debris cloud, everyone is stuck on planet until the debris cloud is cleaned up and communications are restored. At the Five-Hop One-Stop, run by the Laru Ouloo, with the sometimes dubious assistance of her child, Tupo, is suddenly hosting three guests who had expected to be gone within a few hours after arrival.
Roveg, the Quelin, is a vid designer, exiled from Quelin society, and with an urgent appointment to keep. Pei, the Aeluon, captains a cargo transport serving the Aeluon fleet in the Rosk war. She plans to meet up with her friend Ashby, aboard the Wayfarer, but that, too, has a time limit. She can't overstay her leave. Speaker, the Akarak, is traveling with her sister, Tracker--but Speaker is on the planet alone in her shuttle, with Tracker back on their ship. Akarak normally travel in family groups, but Speaker and Tracker don't really have other family.
The Akarak also aren't members of the Galactic Commons, for complicated reasons. They're on the fringes, scavenging and trading, and widely perceived as thieves and troublemakers. Speaker, though, only wants to help her people survive, and is proud of never stealing to do it.
There's not big plot here, built around adventure or battle or murder. It isn't even about the orbital disaster that has temporarily grounded them all. It's about these five people, three travelers and their two Laru hosts, getting to know each other, both as individuals and as members of different cultures with different customs, standards, and beliefs. All of them learn and grow and change, and make some major life choices as a result. As in all Chambers' work, the unifying theme is decency, kindness, and mutual respect, even, or perhaps especially, when it requires some uncomfortable reexamination of oneself and one's own assumptions.
If this is truly the end of the series, and to be clear, kudos to Chambers for ending it now if she feels she's said all she has to say in this setting, I'm going to miss it.
Highly recommended.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
In this book, as in A Closed and Common Orbit,
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humans are more peripheral characters. The central characters are two Laru (a marsupial-like species), a Quelin (arthropod-like), an Akarak (a small, bird-like species that doesn't breathe oxygen, and uses a bipedal environment suit), and an Aeluon (bipedal, scaled, bald, and communicate through color patches on their cheeks--somewhat analogous to cephalopods, who also use the ability to change color in various ways to communicate.)Gora is a world with no water, only a thin atmosphere, no life, no valuable resources--unremarkable except for being at the nexus of five wormholes that provide transport to far more interesting places. It's a busy hub, and the main, or rather only, industry on Gora is providing hospitality, supplies, and maintenance to the crews and ships passing through. Few visitors hang around long, until an accident among the communication satellites in orbit around Gora.
With no communications, and no one able to take off safely due to the debris cloud, everyone is stuck on planet until the debris cloud is cleaned up and communications are restored. At the Five-Hop One-Stop, run by the Laru Ouloo, with the sometimes dubious assistance of her child, Tupo, is suddenly hosting three guests who had expected to be gone within a few hours after arrival.
Roveg, the Quelin, is a vid designer, exiled from Quelin society, and with an urgent appointment to keep. Pei, the Aeluon, captains a cargo transport serving the Aeluon fleet in the Rosk war. She plans to meet up with her friend Ashby, aboard the Wayfarer, but that, too, has a time limit. She can't overstay her leave. Speaker, the Akarak, is traveling with her sister, Tracker--but Speaker is on the planet alone in her shuttle, with Tracker back on their ship. Akarak normally travel in family groups, but Speaker and Tracker don't really have other family.
The Akarak also aren't members of the Galactic Commons, for complicated reasons. They're on the fringes, scavenging and trading, and widely perceived as thieves and troublemakers. Speaker, though, only wants to help her people survive, and is proud of never stealing to do it.
There's not big plot here, built around adventure or battle or murder. It isn't even about the orbital disaster that has temporarily grounded them all. It's about these five people, three travelers and their two Laru hosts, getting to know each other, both as individuals and as members of different cultures with different customs, standards, and beliefs. All of them learn and grow and change, and make some major life choices as a result. As in all Chambers' work, the unifying theme is decency, kindness, and mutual respect, even, or perhaps especially, when it requires some uncomfortable reexamination of oneself and one's own assumptions.
If this is truly the end of the series, and to be clear, kudos to Chambers for ending it now if she feels she's said all she has to say in this setting, I'm going to miss it.
Highly recommended.
I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
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LibraryThing member chavala
Gah, I love Becky Chambers' work so much!
We are back in the Wayfarers world of "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet," this time at a stopover joint for interstellar travel. There is the site host and her child and three travelers passing through. Deliciously, none of these main characters are human
Review cross-posted to Goodreads
We are back in the Wayfarers world of "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet," this time at a stopover joint for interstellar travel. There is the site host and her child and three travelers passing through. Deliciously, none of these main characters are human
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and so we get to explore different cultures, foods, ways of being and moving and communicating. Due to unforeseen circumstances, they end up having to stay at the Five-Hop One-Stop longer than planned. The reader learns more about each character and gets to see how their interactions influence each other. Lovely and deceptively simple and heartfelt. Review cross-posted to Goodreads
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LibraryThing member renbedell
An amazing novel in the Wayfarers' universe. The story can be read as a stand alone and only shares the same world as the previous books. The story is about different, individual aliens getting stranded together. This gives them time to connect, learn about each other's cultures and opinions, and
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essentially grow in their own world view. Each character is amazing and unique. It can be super interesting or even beautiful when different cultures get explained together and accepted for their differences. There really is no plot and has more of a slice of life feel. I really recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member jennybeast
Exactly what I hoped for from another Wayfarer's book -- a diversity of species in a weird situation trying to get along and discovering more about each other in the process. I particularly loved that in many way this book centers on reproduction -- on the challenges of childrearing, on the
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autonomy of parents regardless of the love for offspring, and on the ultimate and unassailable power of choice. Very topical, and I respect more than I can say that Chambers kind of pulled the wool of her own world-building back to remind us of the ugly side of the GC; to show us that there are winners and losers in Utopia, too, and that there are still wrongs to rectify. Speaker is such a great character, and her strength of opinion and mind are amazing. I also love that there is a an argument that she and Pei cannot get through -- that they cannot come to agreement or pretend to like someone who holds the opposite opinion, but they still manage to respect each other. They still manage civil discourse. That costs them, but it's an example that America needs right now, in so many ways. Show Less
LibraryThing member catseyegreen
I have come to realize that this author specializes in feel-good stories, character-driven, that deal with interpersonal issues and leave the SF tech stuff to the hard-core authors. This story explores the developing relationships between 3 travelers and their station hosts when they become
It's charming, warming and fuzzy.
library book read 9/17/2023
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stranded by a disaster. None of the characters are human and their differences have been thoughtfully developed.It's charming, warming and fuzzy.
library book read 9/17/2023
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LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
(Wayfarers #4)
by Becky Chambers
This is a brilliant and well thought out book! It's a book I requested from the publisher and NetGalley and the review is my own opinion. Thanks so much for letting me read this wonderful book!
Chambers has a way of creating characters
This is about a Way Station of sorts with a variety of species each on a different mission of their own. They stop for fuel and rest but are then forced to stay due to unforeseen circumstances. There is no "bad guys" in this story. It's a group of characters stranded together with the hostess and her inquisitive son at the station.
During the time they are there, the strangers change. The firm beliefs they held and why they hold said beliefs emerge. Things aren't as they always seem. We as the reader could learn from this. The complete strangers slowly change and it becomes a heartwarming story especially when one of them almost dies.
This is a feel good story with lots of heart, humor, and lessons for all, regardless of species, lol! Recommend this book highly!
(Wayfarers #4)
by Becky Chambers
This is a brilliant and well thought out book! It's a book I requested from the publisher and NetGalley and the review is my own opinion. Thanks so much for letting me read this wonderful book!
Chambers has a way of creating characters
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that are so extremely different from each other from their looks, physical traits, background, politics, worlds, upbringing, society norms, and well, everything about them. But at the same time Chambers makes them so similar and relatable.This is about a Way Station of sorts with a variety of species each on a different mission of their own. They stop for fuel and rest but are then forced to stay due to unforeseen circumstances. There is no "bad guys" in this story. It's a group of characters stranded together with the hostess and her inquisitive son at the station.
During the time they are there, the strangers change. The firm beliefs they held and why they hold said beliefs emerge. Things aren't as they always seem. We as the reader could learn from this. The complete strangers slowly change and it becomes a heartwarming story especially when one of them almost dies.
This is a feel good story with lots of heart, humor, and lessons for all, regardless of species, lol! Recommend this book highly!
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
The fourth and final Galactic Commons novel is set on a space service station, where a group of different travelers find themselves trapped for several days during a disaster. Like most Becky Chambers novels, there's little conflict, and I found this dead boring; of her novels, only A Closed and
I think the issue, here at least, is that the characters are all the same. Despite being from different species and different societies, they're all well-intentioned people who are vaguely awkward and have some kind of minor secret that sets them apart from their own people. That's all we get out of three hundred pages!
Nothing ever feels like it's at stake. Not externally, but even internally. Am I worried about how these people are and how they might change? Not at all. Chambers has her devoted fans (including my own sister) but she and I are obviously just not on the same wavelength.
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Common Orbit has really worked for me.I think the issue, here at least, is that the characters are all the same. Despite being from different species and different societies, they're all well-intentioned people who are vaguely awkward and have some kind of minor secret that sets them apart from their own people. That's all we get out of three hundred pages!
Nothing ever feels like it's at stake. Not externally, but even internally. Am I worried about how these people are and how they might change? Not at all. Chambers has her devoted fans (including my own sister) but she and I are obviously just not on the same wavelength.
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Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2022)
The Kitschies (Winner — 2021)
Publication
Harper Voyager (2021), Edition: First Printing, 336 pages
Original publication date
2021-02-18
Language
ISBN
0062936042 / 9780062936042