THE BOOKENING TITLE #17: Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers.
Here is what I wrote in 2017, in a never-posted entry draft, when I learnt this book was coming out:
I hadn't realised a third book in the Wayfarers series had been announced! It's coming out next year. Aaaaand it's about a new cast of characters again. BECKY CHAMBERS, YOU'RE KILLING ME. I just want more of the crew from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet! Stop going, 'There's going to be a sequel! ...and it's not about those guys.'
Stupid authors, inexcusably writing the things they want to write instead of catering exclusively to me.
But I still read it, of course! And I did enjoy it, but not as much as the previous entries in the series.
This book focuses almost exclusively on human characters, and, honestly, I missed the aliens from the other Wayfarers books, although the worldbuilding was still interesting and I'm glad we got to know a Harmagian at last.
I think the main reason this didn't capture me in the way the previous Wayfarers books did, though, was that the viewpoint characters didn't really interact with each other until a few brief scenes near the end. I don't think Tessa ever spoke to any of the other viewpoint characters at all. We were following a collection of largely separate stories, and I'd have enjoyed it more if they had been more intertwined.
( Spoilers for Record of a Spaceborn Few. )
Ultimately, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet made me happy, and a lot of this book makes me sad. I think there's a lot of love in both books, but Small Angry Planet felt joyous, and this book felt more morbid than I was prepared for. That isn't a flaw in this book, but it does mean I like Small Angry Planet more.
I did enjoy my time with Record of a Spaceborn Few, though, and I liked the ending scenes a lot. A solid ending can do a lot for a work of fiction, provided you enjoy the rest of it enough to get there!
Here is what I wrote in 2017, in a never-posted entry draft, when I learnt this book was coming out:
I hadn't realised a third book in the Wayfarers series had been announced! It's coming out next year. Aaaaand it's about a new cast of characters again. BECKY CHAMBERS, YOU'RE KILLING ME. I just want more of the crew from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet! Stop going, 'There's going to be a sequel! ...and it's not about those guys.'
Stupid authors, inexcusably writing the things they want to write instead of catering exclusively to me.
But I still read it, of course! And I did enjoy it, but not as much as the previous entries in the series.
This book focuses almost exclusively on human characters, and, honestly, I missed the aliens from the other Wayfarers books, although the worldbuilding was still interesting and I'm glad we got to know a Harmagian at last.
I think the main reason this didn't capture me in the way the previous Wayfarers books did, though, was that the viewpoint characters didn't really interact with each other until a few brief scenes near the end. I don't think Tessa ever spoke to any of the other viewpoint characters at all. We were following a collection of largely separate stories, and I'd have enjoyed it more if they had been more intertwined.
( Spoilers for Record of a Spaceborn Few. )
Ultimately, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet made me happy, and a lot of this book makes me sad. I think there's a lot of love in both books, but Small Angry Planet felt joyous, and this book felt more morbid than I was prepared for. That isn't a flaw in this book, but it does mean I like Small Angry Planet more.
I did enjoy my time with Record of a Spaceborn Few, though, and I liked the ending scenes a lot. A solid ending can do a lot for a work of fiction, provided you enjoy the rest of it enough to get there!
