The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is a lovely book, and so is its sequel, A Closed and Common Orbit. If you liked Firefly but wish it was less depressing, or had a more diverse cast, or developed its romantic arcs properly, or even if you just wish it had aliens, you will enjoy these books.
In this setting, humans have long since abandoned Earth, though a few religious fanatics have gone back to try living in the woods without technology. Humanity is a minor player in galactic politics, still struggling to heal the rifts caused by all the rich folks going off to colonize Mars and leaving everyone else to escape in generation ships. Our story follows Rosemary, the estranged daughter of a Martian politician, leaving home and joining the crew of Wayfarer, a wormhole-making ship, as administrative personnel.
Spoilers ahead.
Wayfarer’s crew reflects the diversity of the galaxy, and we learn about each species through Rosemary’s eyes. My favorite characters are probably Dr. Chef, the ship’s doctor and chef—his real name is unpronounceable by anyone but him because he’s a tardigrade the size of a grizzly bear with six sets of vocal chords—and Sissix, the pilot, who comes from a reptilian species called Aandrisks who live in big polyamorous households. Honorable mentions to Kizzie, one of the human engineers, who probably has ADHD and definitely reminds me of Kaylee from Firefly; Ohan, a Sianat Pair, who was infected as a child with a symbiotic virus that allows them to do hyperspace math with pen and paper but drastically limits their lifespan; and Rosemary herself, who is remarkably chill about her new surroundings and who saves the crew from pirates by virtue of having studied foreign languages in college.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet follows Rosemary as she finds her place among the crew, both professionally and socially, and comes to terms with her father’s arrest for weapons trafficking, all while the crew prepare to drill a wormhole to the star system where those weapons are being used in a civil war. With all that, though, it still manages to be less dark than Firefly. The crew is almost entirely made up of kind, friendly, and compassionate people. Even resident asshole Corbin, who grows the algae the ship uses for fuel, gets both moments where he shows empathy for others and where the reader can empathize with him. (And they’re a lot more meaningful in context than that scene in Firefly where Jayne’s mother sends him a hat.)
And at the end, there’s not only hope, but also closure. Basically everything that could be said about Rosemary and her crewmates has been said. Which is why A Closed and Common Orbit tells a different story that picks up where the first book left off. Wayfarer’s AI was rebooted at the end of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, losing her personality and accumulated memories in the process. To avoid causing the crew further distress, the AI allows Pepper, a friend of the crew, to download her into an illegal body kit, and returns with Pepper to the local cyberpunk haven to work in her junk shop under the name Sidra. The book has the same powerful blend of joy, regret, wonder, and recovery from trauma as the first one; it weaves together Sidra’s struggle for personal autonomy and episodes from Pepper’s adolescence as an escaped clone slave in a continent-sized junkyard into a tale of found family that culminates in the rediscovery and rescue of the ship AI who is Pepper’s foster mother.
You should read these books. The third one comes out in July. You’ve got time.
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