Somewhere within our crowded sky, a crew of wormhole builders hops from planet to planet, on their way to the job of a lifetime. To the galaxy at large, humanity is a minor species, and one patched-up construction vessel is a mere speck on the starchart. This is an everyday sort of ship, just trying to get from here to there. 

But all voyages leave their mark, and even the most ordinary of people have stories worth telling. A young Martian woman, hoping the vastness of space will put some distance between herself and the life she‘s left behind. An alien pilot, navigating life without her own kind. A pacifist captain, awaiting the return of a loved one at war. 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is one of my favourite books and it has everything you could want from a book, or at least I could want.

An amazing cast of characters with distinct voices, wants, and purposes SUBPLOTS AMAZING SUBPLOTS EVERYWHERE.

9 characters, one big job, all the dangers that come with creating wormholes from scratch. 

The space descriptions, the multitude of Alien species with distinct beliefs and cultures all merged together, the talks of gender, war, and beliefs. I just love everything about this book. It’s heart wrenching, it brought me to tears and left me smiling. I am just a mess of emotions over these characters and would happily read a million books staring these 9 in it. 

I can’t pick a favourite character I love everyone for so many different reasons. Sissix for her bravery, her caring nature, her family values, her strength. Kizzy for her cocky nature, her ADHD, her sharp mind, and her playfulness. Jenks for his love and want for a better future, for his upbringing and best friend love with Kizzy.  Ashby, the human captain, the peace maker, the voice of caution in calamity.  Lovey, the ships AI, do you need an explanation for why I love her? She’s an artificial intelligence system that is LOVELY I just wanna give the ship a hug. Rosemary, yet another human exploring the vastness of space and running from her old life. Ohan my favourite alien in all of time, I love them so much and they were just so interesting to learn about. AND CHEF omg Chef my wonderful caring father figure ❤ Ow my heart.

The sexual diversity, the alien races, the cultural differences all working together, the use of pronouns, all fantastically done and seriously it’s about worm holes in space, I know my sci fi heart was living for that. The plot is slower paced but it didn’t impact how it flowed, if anything it amplified the characters and their story arcs.

This review was probably super rambly but I just loved it a lot.

5/5 stars

Have you read Small Angry Planet? Is it on your TBR? It should be!