• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers | ARC Review

    13th July 2021

    A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This is so cute and it makes me so happy! Sibling Dex (29, agender, they/them) and Splendid Speckled Mosscap (agender, it/its) are the only travel duo I need, aka the burnt-out cleric and the impossibly inquisitive robot.

    This novella reads like a prequel as we are introduced to the world Panga, a moon of planet Motan, as well as the human religion Sacred Six (Parent Gods: Bosh, God of the Cycle, Grylon, God of the Inanimate, Trikilli, God of the Threads; Child Gods: Samafar, Chal, Allalae). Chambers’ writing is very descriptive, and the world comes to life as Sibling Dex starts out as a garden monk, switches vocation to a tea monk, and decides to take a break altogether and embark on a journey to Hart’s Brow Mountain outside of human settlement.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

    26th February 2021
    Cover of Record of a Spaceborn Few (Becky Chambers)

    Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    ‘I am seventy-nine years old. If I want dessert twice . . . I get dessert twice.’

    Tamsin

    Content warnings: catastrophic spaceship accident resulting in ~44k deaths, bodies, death of prominent character, equivalent of underage smoking of weed?, PTSD?

    When I read a few reviews stating that there is virtually no plot in this installment, I was excited that it must be very character-driven. Sadly, there were a bit too many characters, similar to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (my review here) but with looser bonds. Since it took me a month to read the book, that could also be a reason why I failed to connect with any of the characters and felt that the plot dragged a little. That being said, I love the pureness of them all and also the philosophical questions Record of a Spaceborn Few decides to tackle.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

    28th October 2020
    Cover of The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Becky Chambers)

    The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: mention of a cult, mention of genocide, death of prominent character, misgendering?, speciesism, torture, blood

    Did you know that this book was a Kickstarter project and initially self-published when Chambers was about twenty-nine years old? I didn’t. After hearing so many great things about the Wayfarers series, I finally picked it up, and stars, was it amazing!

    The story follows the Wayfarer crew as they travel through space for roughly one standard after getting offered a highly paid job of tunneling between Central space (Tokath Gateway) and Hedra Ka, the capital planet of the new Galactic Commons (GC) ally Toremi Ka. Nine main characters consist the ensemble cast:

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