Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Долгий путь к маленькой сердитой планете by Becky Chambers

44 reviews

a_kt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book was basically what would happen if Firefly and The Odyssey had a baby. Technically, the plot is about the ragtag crew of a wormhole-punching long haul ship on its way to a newly allied planet. However, what the book is actually about is found family. Every crewmember on the ship, from the friendly-yet-exasperated captain Ashby to the feathered reptilian pilot Sissix to the very polite AI Lovey has their own "thing" going on, and you will learn about it throughout the course of this book. Basically the chapters follow this structure: One of the crewmates has a "thing", something happens on the ship (or off the ship) that directly impacts that "thing" and forces said crewmember to acknowledge this "thing" and either deal with it (through the power of friendship) or learn to cope with it and move on (through the power of friendship). Now, I know it may sound like I'm being overly critical about this, but check the star rating. I really really enjoyed this book. 

I have previously read Chambers' Monk and Robot series and found it be lovely, introspective, cozy sci-fi. I'm happy to say that Long Way follows a similar vein. There is definitely more at stake in this story, but at the end of the day, its a series of episodic character profiles that culminates in a mildly-tense conclusion where the crewmembers have to each use what they've learned or grown from along the journey. Chambers takes a very interesting look at the differences between species, cultures, and perspectives with each character and weaves them into very believable characters that each have their own stipulations and views about the universe and their place within it. Its progressive while still showing political and cultural strife, its wholesome while still being conflicted, and its optimistic while not shying away from the more difficult side of inter-species dynamics. If any of this sounds even remotely up your alley, I'd recommend giving it a try. While not as short as the Monk and Robot novellas, I was able to get through this book fairly quickly despite it not being what I would call a "page-turner". I do think I will try and read the rest of the books in the series but probably not concurrently, as I do feel like I need to read something with a bit more conflict after this.   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Death

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Medical content, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

mxawprince's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.5

I know this book was written in 3014, and that it's a first novel, but (amongst many other similar things) there's an autistic-coded character that in the end gets "cured". Blegh.
I'll probably read something more recent from this author to see if it gets better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Colonisation, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Gun violence, Xenophobia, Genocide, Racism, and War

Minor: Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Gun violence, and Fatphobia

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical content and Blood

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, and War

plume_de_renarde's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Drug use, and Terminal illness

Minor: Racism and Ableism

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Confinement, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Blood, Racism, Violence, War, Medical content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cursing

olma's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I loved this character-driven story. It was fun to meet a diverse cast, but I also wished we got more time with each character. The biggest complaint I had was that the first third of the story was fairly slow, but it was engaging enough to keep going until it sped up. The ideas about space species and their interactions was really interesting and I liked the direction the author took with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Xenophobia, War, and Racism

charlotteschapter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: War, Racism, Medical content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, and Genocide

raxus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, Terminal illness, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content

dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Racism, and Terminal illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Drug use, Religious bigotry, War, Blood, Medical content, Vomit, Animal death, and Colonisation

Fantasy/sci-fi racism and xenophobia is present with certain individuals, but not the whole, and is presented as a bad thing overall. Racism as is present in our own day-to-day society is not present.