I got my latest read, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet as a gift, and had a great time reading it.  The first novel from Becky Chambers, it follows a young woman named Rosemary as she joins the crew of a tunneling ship (basically they make shortcuts through space) as they get a big contract that could very well set them up for bigger and better things in the future.  But with that comes danger, especially in a universe where humanity is NOT at the forefront of the great intergalactic governing body, but a minor cog.

 

The cast of characters are adorably quirky, with the long-suffering Captain Ashby putting up with all sorts of shenanigans that would feel at home on Farscape or Firefly.  I also love the care that was taken to make the aliens truly alien.  Cold-blooded aliens, aliens with differing numbers of limbs, aliens that are symbiotic with a weird virus, the works.  The story of the tunnel the ship needs to make is the overall driving force of the story, but most of the book is a series of what feels like episodes, with each crewmember having an adventure or getting some backstory in.

 

If you've been overwhelmed by Dark and Gritty™ sci-fi or are in the middle of a 74-book high fantasy slog and need a break, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet works great.  It manages to be light and fun and still have a lot to say about gender, relationships and artificial intelligence.

Perfectly in character

There is a wide mix of essays and articles, some quite good. Of all the Benbella Popsmart series I have read to-date, this was my least favorite.


Dear John by Tee Morris - funny, insightful. Written as a letter of reprimand from the mission boss.

The Big Brother by Amy Berner - an interesting look at Crais as defined by his role of brother. Worth a read as it was nicely done.

My Imaginary Friend by Jody Lynn Nye - On Harvey and John

Unrealized realities by K. Stoddard Hayes - John's journey as a video game What choices would you have made?

Superior Villains is okay. Masks of Transformation is an overview and an interpretation of the Peacekeeper Wars.

Quite good. Though the ending happened a little too quick - it seemed like right when they were getting into the action, they cut and bam. Ahh well. Still very enjoyable.

Parts were quite funny, and mostly it was in character... but still, not the best Farscape novel out there. Good for an afternoon read, though.