The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

 

By Becky Chambers

Book One of the Wayfarers series.

Rosemary Harper is a young woman in trouble. Running away from a notorious past that she did not create, she has spent all her considerable fortune on a new identity and an escape from her home planet of Mars. 

In her new identity, she has been hired as a clerical assistant to the captain, Ashby Santoso, of a private spaceship. She will be in charge of scheduling some stops and overseeing ordering of supplies and helping the captain organize his files and set up an archive of the captain's records.

The spaceship, named Wayfarer, is a private enterprise for hire. Captain Ashby and his crew build "tunnels" through space that are short cuts to manage the vast distances of space travel, basically stabilized "wormholes." It's a small crew, only nine members, including the captain and the built-in Artificial Intelligence that helps run the ship. Mostly composed of humans, three of the crew are not human, including the pilot, the navigator and the medical person/chef. And the AI, of course.

Of this mixed company, all are pretty much decent people with the exception of the navigator and the human in charge of the tanks that produce the algae-based fuel that helps power the ship. The navigator keeps to itself and the human is just unpleasant. Another source of power, for more the power-intensive chore to tunnel building, is ambi which a type of raw energy produced by black holes or other high energy phenomenon. 

Captain Ashby's operation is small time, compared to the huge tunnel manufacturing ships that take on the bigger projects. But a friend gives Ashby some inside info that enables him to be the first in line for a much more ambitious and lucrative project located near a planet held by the Toremi Ka, recent members of the Galactic Commons (GC). The Toremi are known to be rather blood-thirsty and their being admitted to the GC is likely based on the huge source of ambi near the planet held by the Toremi Ka. A questionable decision, certainly, given that the GC usually require that member species have reached a high level of technology and social advancement. While the Toremi are technologically advanced, their willingness to kill each other seems to indicate their lack of social advancement. But in the Toremi's case, the GC's greed has overruled common sense. And Captain Asbhy's crew and ship will be the ones to pay the price for that greed, unbeknownst to them, as they set out on a lucrative new job that will hopefully allow them to expand the capabilities of their tunnel-boring operation.

The book is mainly about the crew, how they get along with each other and work together to benefit of them all. Basically a crew of really decent and skilled persons, with very little conflict, although there are a few problems as can only be expected of people who live together for long periods of time in restricted conditions. 

The small angry planet of the title is Toremi Ka. My copy of the book was about 400 pages long and they only arrive at Toremi Ka after page 332. So the majority of the story is about the trip and the people onboard the Wayfarer and their interactions and the problems encountered on the trip. 

The story continues in the second book of the series, A Close and Common Orbit. I have put it on my wishlist because this was a pretty good story and I want to know more about the adventures of the crew of the Wayfarer.

Under the Whispering Door

 

By TJ Klune

Wallace Price is a hard man, a lawyer, partner at an important legal firm. His focus is on himself and on his success. But fate got in the way in the form of a deadly heart attack while at the office on the weekend. Which is how he ended up in the afterlife clad in sweat pants and flip-flop sandals. 

So Wallace is dead, which kind of spoiled all his plans. He did attend his own funeral, which he was rather displeased to see was so sparsely attended. But there was someone at the funeral who was completely unknown to him, a small Chinese woman, who, of all the people in attendance, was the only one who could see him.

Because she was there for Wallace. Because Meiying is a Reaper and she is there to start Wallace on his trip to his ultimate destination. Which is how Wallace ended up at a quaint little tea shop in the mountains run by Hugo Freeman who serves the dead tea and guides them through the Whispering Door and into eternity. Hugo is the Ferryman.

Meiying, when she is not being a Reaper, works for Hugo in the kitchen of the tea shop. Besides Meiying, Hugo's grandfather and his dog, Apollo also reside at the tea shop. But unlike Meiying, Apollo and Nelson, the grandfather, are both ghosts, like Wallace. Ghosts who refused to pass through the Whispering Door and into eternity because Hugo still needed them in his life. And pretty soon, the same is true of Wallace as Hugo and Wallace find companionship in each other that they have been missing in their lives. Makes for an uneven relationship, though, since Hugo is a living man and Wallace is a dead man. 

I was a bit bored with the first quarter of the novel but it got much more interesting as the story progressed. Parts of it were quite moving, especially Chapter 14, which moved me to tears several times. It also had some rather hilarious moments including at the end where Wallace ends up as a floating balloon ghost who needs to be tied down to keep him from floating away and into the, I assume, the infinite depths of Space.

Hugo is a bit too much of a goody-goody for my taste though, as I can show by this passage about him:

But it was Hugo who Wallace watched the most. Hugo, who seemed to have all the time in the world for anyone who asked for his attention. A gaggle of older women came in the early afternoon, fawning and cooing over him, pinching his cheeks and giggling when he blushed. He knew them all by name, and they clearly adored him. They all left with smiles on their faces, paper cups of tea steaming in their hands.

It wasn't just the older women. It was everyone. Kids demanded he lift them up and he did, but not with his hands. They held onto his thinly muscled biceps as he raised his arms, their feet kicking into nothing, their laughter bright and loud. Younger women flirted, batting their eyes at him. Men shook his hand furiously, their grips looking strong as their arms pumped up and down. They called him by his first name. They all seemed delighted to see him. 

A paragon, for sure. His grandfather, Nelson, was more my speed. A bit of a smart ass who wasn't above the occasional ghostly prank, including smacking Wallace with his cane when he was displeased with him. 

I think my favorite character, though, was Apollo, Hugo's ghost dog who had refused to pass on after dying and stayed by Hugo's side because Hugo still needed him. And who was not above taking a ghostly whiz on people who came into the tea shop and upset things, like the nosy phony medium who has the hots for Hugo and the health inspector who has a grudge against Hugo because Hugo spurned his advances.

The book certainly has its lighter moments, like when Wallace is learning how to manifest different clothing after getting tired of sweat pants and flip-flops and ends up dressed only in briefs and thigh high boots. But it also has very touching and serious moments, as the dead pass through the shop, dealing with their deaths and their regrets and their lost lives, of which Wallace is one of, facing the truth about why his marriage failed and how success in business became more important to him than success as a human being. And how Hugo, Nelson, Meiying, and Apollo become more important to him than anyone he left behind in life.

Here is a review by Berkeley Fiction Review. 

 

     

Artificial Condition

 

By Martha Wells

Murderbot Diaries, Book 2

After Murderbot, the rogue SecUnit, was released on its own recognizance by Dr. Mensah, it slipped away from Mensah and the others of Preservation Aux it had protected. It was on a mission: to find out the truth about the mass murder it was told it committed at the RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station. It doesn't have a memory of it, in fact its memory only goes back to a little more than three years.

But it refuses to accept what it has been told as a fact. It knows how unreliable facts can be and how easily manipulated. Manipulating facts is how it travels through everything, ever since it hacked its own governor module and continues to hack all the security systems and data feeds that would record its passage through various locations. 

It managed to locate a place on a cargo transport headed to RaviHyral that had no humans traveling on it or other SecUnits. It was being driven by a bot, a rather nosey and intrusive bot that Murderbot thinks of as ART or Asshole Research Transport. 

ART becomes an ally of Murderbot and helps it learn how to better pass itself off as a human. A SecUnit unattached to a proprietor is considered to be a rogue and extremely dangerous and unpredictable. But Murderbot isn't interested in enacting revenge on its creators, it just wants to understand itself and believes knowing the truth about its murderous past is where to start. 

So with ART's help and advice, Murderbot gets a job as Security Consultant to a group of young scientists who are desirous of obtaining research conducted by them on RaviHyral that was stolen from them by their former employer, Tlacey Excavations. Here Murderbot introduces itself to the three young scientists as Eden, the name of a character on its favorite serial, Sanctuary Moon. But looking at the situation, Murderbot is pretty sure that the scientists really do need a security consultant to keep them from being silenced. Plus it gets it the reason it needs to be on RaviHyral.

While not quite as action packed as the first book in the series, it does let the reader into the Murderbot's past a bit more. As in the first book, Murderbot is not willing to abandon its new set of charges, the three young scientists, to whatever evil fate awaits them. As it soon becomes clear, Tlacey is a very bad person and has no intention of returning their research. All she wants is them dead. And Murderbot is going to do its best to keep that from happening. 

All Systems Red

 

By Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1

Murderbot. It's a SecUnit. Its responsibility is to keep the humans under its care safe and alive. Which it doesn't have a problem with and tries to the best of its ability to fulfill that mission. It actually cares about the humans, well, maybe not so much for Dr. Gurathin who has an attitude. Murderbot has feelings about its humans which it probably shouldn't. It's not part of its job. But Murderbot is not a typical SecUnit because it figured out how to hack its own governor module. Which means it makes up its own mind about what it does or doesn't want to do. And that is something that it is definitely not supposed to be able to do. 

So Murderbot's current group of humans under its care are exploring the possibilities of a new planet, going out in small groups under Murderbot's protection. Murderbot is equipped with a range of inbuilt weapons it can access in a flash if needed. Out with two humans one day, Dr. Volescu and Dr. Bharadwaj when a huge animal lunges out of the ground and grabs Bharadwaj. Murderbot is able to rescue Bharadwaj, but is gravely damaged in the process, nevertheless gets both humans back to the base. 

Reviewing some of the incidents that Murderbot first dismissed as failures of the company contracted to supply and backup the survey group that Murderbot is protecting, it and the humans realize something is wacky. They decide to travel to another groups' base but when they get there they find everyone is dead. And they themselves are soon being attacked by the SecUnits that were supposed to be protecting the people at the base. Murderbot realizes that the SecUnits have been taken over by some hostile force and reprogrammed to kill instead of protect. But it soon finds itself in danger of being reprogrammed too.

This story doesn't fool around when it comes to action-packed science fiction adventure. From strange beasts, questionable corporations, rogue bots, and ruthless criminals, the world of Murderbot is the good stuff! Very entertaining and I am looking forward to the next book in the series, which I think is Artificial Condition.

The Raven Boys

 

by Maggie Stiefvater, adapted by Stephanie Williams, illustrated by Sas Milledge

In the town of Henrietta, a private school for boys is known for the wealth and privilege of its students, who are called the Raven Boys.

Blue Sargent is a local teen girl who knows all about the reputation of the boys who attend the school, Aglionby. She doesn't set out to defy her mother's strictures about those boys, but meets a small group of them when they stop in for some food at the diner where Blue works part-time. They get off on the wrong foot with Blue but she finds one of the boys' journal that they accidentally left behind. Snooping, she discovers that the boys are trying to locate in or near the town of Henrietta, something called ley lines which are supposed to be conduits of magical energy. One of the boys, Gansey, is trying to track down the final resting place of a Welsh rebel, Owain Glendower, who lead an uprising against the British in Wales back in the 1400s. The journal left behind in the diner belongs to Gansey and contains writings about his search which has led him to Henrietta where he expects to find the grave of the rebel near a powerful ancient ley line.

As Blue delves deeper into Gansey's journal, she realizes she knows where this ley line is. It's known locally as Corpse Road and it runs past an old abandoned church. She also realizes that she had a vision while on Corpse Road one night of the boy, Gansey, and that some strange fate awaits him. Blue, who is not psychic, is told by a psychic that the only reason she could see a vision of Gansey was because he was either her 'true love' or because Blue will kill him. Which fits completely because Blue has been warned by various psychics, including her own mother, that if Blue kissed her true love, he would die. 

When Blue gets the journal back to Gansey and his friends Adam, Noah and Ronan, she joins them in their quest to find Glendower.  Mainly because they are interesting teen boys and because, as a non-psychic in a family of psychics, she has always felt left out of the magic. And being with Gansey and his friends enables her to be an active participant in something mystical, instead of just an observer. 

But Gansey is not the only one who wants to track down the ley lines in Henrietta. Two others are trying to find the lines and both of them are dangerous and willing to kill to get what they want.

I enjoyed this graphic novel which is based on a fantasy series by Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Cycle, of which The Raven Boys is the first book in the series. I have not read the book from which this graphic novel is crafted. 

At times, I was a bit lost though, which is typical of my experience with graphic novels. They lack the details which I need to understand what is going when reading a graphic novel.  But that's just me, I think. Another problem I have with graphic novels is sometimes the artist draws the characters to look too similar to each other and I have trouble telling them apart. But again that's probably just my problem.

One thing that I really appreciated about this book, other than the actual story, is that it is in full color. Very nice!

The Housemaid

 

By Freida McFadden

The Housemaid, Book 1

Millie hopes her new job is also a new start for her, a young woman who has not had the easiest of lives so far. She has been hired as maid to the wealthy Winchester household which consists of Andrew, Nina and their little girl, Cece. 

Starting a new job is always a bit stressful but it's even worse when your boss is as capricious and unpredictable as Nina Winchester turns out to be. At times Nina is reasonable and understanding only to turn around and make crazy accusations against Millie. Eventually Andrew lets Millie know that Nina has been hospitalized for mental problems in the past. And that at one point she tried to drown baby Cece and kill herself with an overdose. 

As Nina becomes even more erratic and unreasonable, Nina finds comfort in Andrew's understanding and gentle arms. She never intended to fall in love with the handsome and wealthy spouse of her employer. Or he with her. In short order, loony Nina is sent packing and Millie finds herself the cherished object of Andrew's affection. 

Or so she thought. Because nothing is as it seems to be in the Winchester household. And everyone is playing a deep game, including the groundskeeper, the closed-mouthed giant from Italy, Enzo.

Overall, I didn't care for this story and I admit I skipped vast quantities of it. Turns out I don't enjoy reading about people treating other people like garbage for no reason. But I will say I greatly enjoyed the conclusion of the story where nearly every guilty party got their just desserts. 

B.C. Strikes Back

 

By Johnny Hart

Another collection of newspaper cartoons by Johnny Hart, copyright 1961 and 1962. These earlier cartoons about the world of B.C. are some of Hart's funniest and most charming, I think. Here are a few from the book to enjoy:

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