Wayfarers series (Becky Chambers)

[Faircastle]

I'm currently reading The Galaxy and the Ground Within. I didn't think it could get better than Record of a Spaceborn Few, but this one is possibly my new favourite.

I wish there were more out there like this.

I’ve also read it, and liked it, but I do think BC has struggled since Small Angry Planet to integrate the kind of character-led sci-fi she writes so well with plot, and they’ve all got rather more static. At times, this one felt to me like ‘Five basically nice people get stuck in a lift and have to get to know one another’...?

At times, this one felt to me like ‘Five basically nice people get stuck in a lift and have to get to know one another’

Yes, I see what you mean, but for me it provided the background and culture for species that I hadn't known much about. I felt that the first three books were quite human-centric for a series about a multi-species society, and this brought some balance.

I hadn't realised there was a 4th one! Good to know as dd loves them & I can get it for her birthday.

I actually liked Small Angry Planet the least of the first three - it felt very episodic & very much like Firefly fanfic. A Closed & Common Orbit is my favourite. I thought she did a great job of exploring the experience of a non-human AI & thinking it through (eg as compared to the Murderbot books which are fun but much more 1-dimensional IMO)

I loved Small Angry Planet - personally I need a bit more plot than Spaceborn Few, and both that and Orbit were just so sad. I liked Galaxy pretty well but again a bit more plot would have been great - eg, without spoiling too much, she could have tied the initial incident in to other events in her universe.

I really enjoyed her off prequel to the series “To be taught, if fortunate” about humans 1st deep space travel and exploration of new worlds.