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_david_'s review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
For the first time in a long while I cried while reading. Not only that, but I cried twice withing half an hour. First in a sad way, then in a happy way.
I cannot remember any book who had this many rounded characters written in such an excellent way. The whole crew of the Wayfarer was made up out of characters who each had their own unique stories and personalities. Each character was put in the spotlight multiple times without it feeling jarring.
I cannot remember any book who had this many rounded characters written in such an excellent way. The whole crew of the Wayfarer was made up out of characters who each had their own unique stories and personalities. Each character was put in the spotlight multiple times without it feeling jarring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Grief, Confinement, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Death
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Incest, War, Xenophobia, Dementia, Drug use, Gun violence, and Medical content
There is a main characters with a big focus on their clan being led by a religion/cult. The present main belief is quite similar to anti-vaccination/medicine mindsets. Character's namedaniellekat's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Masterful writing. This has never been on my radar, but I've heard SO MANY folks sing the praises of Becky Chambers - I get it now. This was exciting while still managing to be relaxing and cozy. I loved that the science felt believable and how seamlessly Chambers integrated the different critical themes and topics throughout the narrative. It took me nearly 2 months to get through this, though (when usually I can read books in a week or so). While there was nothing specific that I disliked, I think the low stakes just never had me itching to pick this up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence and Gun violence
Minor: Sexual content, War, Genocide, and Vomit
corrin_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The writing was good, I enjoyed the world building! However, there were times that the non-human characters felt like secondary bits used as tools to move the character development of human characters forward, and some of the characters definitely felt common/classic to the sci-fi genre (🔥✈️)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Terminal illness, Racism, Gun violence, and Death
mallorypen's review against another edition
I wanted to like this book, but my God. The exposition.
Not that I think "Six of Crows" is the perfect book or anything, but I do believe that it does multiple POV storytelling really well. I was able to follow along with all of the characters' narratives, personalities, motivations, etc. while the story moved along, and there wasn't a point where I felt the multiple narrators got in the way of plot advancement. This was not the case for "The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet."
Did I get a strong sense of the characters identities and relationships right away? Absolutely. Is the motivation behind their crew as an entity and each person as an individual? Surprisingly, yes. Do I understand the worldbuilding? Against my will, almost too well. But has anything ... happened?
Not really.
In the first 30% of the novel, less than a week (a ten-day?) has passed. All that has happened is one character made it to the ship; they did one job; and they're preparing for another job. The individual elements are interesting - there's a human in love with a sentient AI who wants a physical body but that's apparently an illegal thing to want! There's an alien that considers themselves a joint consciousness because of a virus it was willingly infected with as a child! One woman has a shadowy secret past! There's a character that is a blatant and unapologetic copy+paste rip off of Kaylee from Firefly! - but the explanations to get the reader up to speed with everything are exhaustive and boring. What is said with ten words could likely be said in three, and even listening to the audiobook on double speed, I just couldn't stick with it.
Plus, the inner musings of Rosemary around Jenks felt ... kinda gross. I get that people mod themselves in this universe against things that they may perceive as undesirable like being a Little Person, and Jenks' backstory and refusal to mod himself taller are meant to be an inspiring "You're perfect as you are" thing, but it still hit me in a weird spot. For someone who went to school to be socially aware in a society where many species and cultures coexist, Rosemary having ableist opinions about someone felt like the author was trying too hard to make that point and stumbled a little over the line in doing so.
I did have to look up a character list just now to get names right, and the Wikipedia entry kind of made me laugh in agreement - "The novel concerns itself with character development rather than adventure." Yeah, you can say that again.
I could see myself revisiting this one day, but today is not that day. Today we DNF.
Not that I think "Six of Crows" is the perfect book or anything, but I do believe that it does multiple POV storytelling really well. I was able to follow along with all of the characters' narratives, personalities, motivations, etc. while the story moved along, and there wasn't a point where I felt the multiple narrators got in the way of plot advancement. This was not the case for "The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet."
Did I get a strong sense of the characters identities and relationships right away? Absolutely. Is the motivation behind their crew as an entity and each person as an individual? Surprisingly, yes. Do I understand the worldbuilding? Against my will, almost too well. But has anything ... happened?
Not really.
In the first 30% of the novel, less than a week (a ten-day?) has passed. All that has happened is one character made it to the ship; they did one job; and they're preparing for another job. The individual elements are interesting - there's a human in love with a sentient AI who wants a physical body but that's apparently an illegal thing to want! There's an alien that considers themselves a joint consciousness because of a virus it was willingly infected with as a child! One woman has a shadowy secret past! There's a character that is a blatant and unapologetic copy+paste rip off of Kaylee from Firefly! - but the explanations to get the reader up to speed with everything are exhaustive and boring. What is said with ten words could likely be said in three, and even listening to the audiobook on double speed, I just couldn't stick with it.
Plus, the inner musings of Rosemary around Jenks felt ... kinda gross. I get that people mod themselves in this universe against things that they may perceive as undesirable like being a Little Person, and Jenks' backstory and refusal to mod himself taller are meant to be an inspiring "You're perfect as you are" thing, but it still hit me in a weird spot. For someone who went to school to be socially aware in a society where many species and cultures coexist, Rosemary having ableist opinions about someone felt like the author was trying too hard to make that point and stumbled a little over the line in doing so.
I did have to look up a character list just now to get names right, and the Wikipedia entry kind of made me laugh in agreement - "The novel concerns itself with character development rather than adventure." Yeah, you can say that again.
I could see myself revisiting this one day, but today is not that day. Today we DNF.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming and Xenophobia
foxwish's review against another edition
How very underwhelming. I expected deep character analysis and I guess I don't understand what "cozy" is, because I don't consider the tackling of terminal illness, being held up at gunpoint and being beaten by your captors to be particularly comforting. I should've checked the content warnings for this book more closely.
The characters mostly had only one or two character traits, and anytime a minor communication issue occurred it was solved mostly off screen. The main thing I liked about this book was the budding romance between the alien and human, and basically anytime there was a focus on Sissix.
I just got too bored to finish it, really disappointed. I guess Wayfarers isn't for me.
The characters mostly had only one or two character traits, and anytime a minor communication issue occurred it was solved mostly off screen. The main thing I liked about this book was the budding romance between the alien and human, and basically anytime there was a focus on Sissix.
I just got too bored to finish it, really disappointed. I guess Wayfarers isn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Terminal illness, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
linblythe_pub22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Grief
Minor: Child death, Medical content, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide attempt, War, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Sexual content, and Blood
rey_starcatcher's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? No
5.0
This book has become quite a comfort to me. There’s one small part that pings a personal anxiety, but I just skip over it when I re-read. It’s so worth it to experience this phenomenal story!! The cast of characters is fascinating and delightful. Everyone is so unique, but everyone is also fleshed out enough that you really do have a strong sense of them all. I grew attached to them all almost immediately. I am not one to normally re-read books, but I think I read this 3 times last year. It’s a delight, and I hope you think so too!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia
Minor: Torture, Blood, and Death
miles's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Absolutely loved it. There are so many things to mention and I’m already scrambling to try and remember them all for this review, but my god am I in love with the world-building in this book (and the series as a whole).
First of all, all the crew members are absolutely lovely and the ones you don’t like at first, you still warm up to (at least I did, and there was only the one for me). Either way, they are all very compelling characters and I wish we could stay with them for longer, but the book does a very good job in giving us insight into all of their personal and cultural backstories and it’s brilliantly done.
On that note, love love love all the different species and cultures Chambers has cooked up. Some very interesting stuff and lots to make you ponder about our society and how it might be changed for the better. Though I feel like for some of the things I’d love to implement, we’d have to start from scratch (which is a-ok by me tbh). I absolutely love Aandrisk family structure and relations and would honestly love to have our society work like that.
But yeah, so much good shit, 10/10 will absolutely revisit at some point in the future. Effortlessly queer. Found family. So bloody lovely.
First of all, all the crew members are absolutely lovely and the ones you don’t like at first, you still warm up to (at least I did, and there was only the one for me). Either way, they are all very compelling characters and I wish we could stay with them for longer, but the book does a very good job in giving us insight into all of their personal and cultural backstories and it’s brilliantly done.
On that note, love love love all the different species and cultures Chambers has cooked up. Some very interesting stuff and lots to make you ponder about our society and how it might be changed for the better. Though I feel like for some of the things I’d love to implement, we’d have to start from scratch (which is a-ok by me tbh). I absolutely love Aandrisk family structure and relations and would honestly love to have our society work like that.
But yeah, so much good shit, 10/10 will absolutely revisit at some point in the future. Effortlessly queer. Found family. So bloody lovely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Xenophobia
Minor: War
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-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? Yes
5.0
I've been looking forward to reading this one for a long time, and it was well worth the wait. I absolutely loved this! The characters are so fun, and the world building delves deeply into each race's culture and mannerisms in such interesting ways. It's lower action than most scifi, so it won't be everyone's favorite. It reminded me a lot of Firefly and Titan AE.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, War, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail
anxiety from trauma, ableismsitic's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I think this book struggles with some people due to it's marketing. This is very.. cozy. This is not really exciting, or adventurous. This is a story about a group of people who travel together. It's focus is on shifting Points of View- seeing how humans see aliens, and each other, and how aliens see humans. If you want a story where conflict is generally wrapped up relatively fast, this is for you. If you want a novel were people think about how others love differently- this is for you. There's probably 4x as much content about love and families as their is violence or disquiet. IT's about found family, and people who have learned to make their way in a sometimes uncaring environment.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Drug use
Minor: War, Vomit, Violence, and Xenophobia