the long way to a small angry planet - 32% review
Sunday, April 16th, 2023 23:17![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mutterwingwhirr
wow, this book is so much fun. i can see why it took so long for the library to circulate through all the loans and holds in queue before it got to me. but man was it worth the wait. i'm having so, so much fun seeing how... how EASY it is to be around aliens and remain open minded and acknowledge your own biases and then say "hey, you know what? i dont want to use those to judge the experience i'm having." and it's such a refreshing change from the paris apartment, where everyone was feeling and remembering a lot and being cagey about the actually interesting details. this book feels real, for all that it's describing things that aren't and cannot be.
where even to start? the author takes such care in describing alien races in a way that feels good in descriptive media-- taking care to describe details that would be taken for granted if you just lived in as varied in living creatures as the one the characters live in. accounting for the difference in sitting posture, the gestures one might witness and interpret. the carpet so one's claws don't catch. it feels good to live in this space. it feels good.
and the characters! it's so interesting to see them all interacting with one another, to see how they all get kind of on each others' nerves but, at the end of the day, know where boundaries lie. know how to remain civil and functional as a crew. to know where they stand with everyone else.
i feel like i need more of the contents in my bones before i can think of anything witty to say about it. i am enjoying it a lot. i'm curious to see where the story goes. i think i'm still getting through establishing the baselines. i'm not even sure what the centralmost conflict will be, from where i'm at. but already i trust the author inherently. i know this book will do me well. let's go with 5 bears out of 6. i would like to see more alien individuals, not just the crew members and the singular entities they entangle with, or the massive populations that can be generalized about in conversation but like. just normal people going about their lives. and i'm interested to see how this next punch job goes.
i think that's it for me! short, but not in an unpromising way. this is definitely a science fiction novel that has captured my attention completely.
there's so much about this novel that resonates with my experience playing/play testing space legs with the group that i had. the trolley crew. i wish i could put my finger on what exactly feels similar, but there are moments so far where the narrative of the story dwells so completely on someone's story/backstory that it's... it's intriguing. all i want to do is listen to these characters tell me about themselves and about the others. and that was a lot of how space legs worked for me, playing brian. brian was a total newcomer to space exploration, but felt a profound passion for making friends. that led him to talk to a good deal of aliens that i'm not certain the gm anticipated me talking to at length, often slinging bucketfuls of earth slang at unsuspecting aliens who'd never even met a human before. that campaign means a lot to me because, like this book, it was a story about the many ways we can reach out and make a profound connection with another person. how earnest friendliness and a desire to make a connection can open hearts, can lead to extremely thoughtful conversations. can lead to caring so so profoundly for someone you met thirty minutes ago.
maybe someday i'll write out all the things that happened in that campaign, as best as i can recapture it, just to have it somewhere.
where even to start? the author takes such care in describing alien races in a way that feels good in descriptive media-- taking care to describe details that would be taken for granted if you just lived in as varied in living creatures as the one the characters live in. accounting for the difference in sitting posture, the gestures one might witness and interpret. the carpet so one's claws don't catch. it feels good to live in this space. it feels good.
and the characters! it's so interesting to see them all interacting with one another, to see how they all get kind of on each others' nerves but, at the end of the day, know where boundaries lie. know how to remain civil and functional as a crew. to know where they stand with everyone else.
i feel like i need more of the contents in my bones before i can think of anything witty to say about it. i am enjoying it a lot. i'm curious to see where the story goes. i think i'm still getting through establishing the baselines. i'm not even sure what the centralmost conflict will be, from where i'm at. but already i trust the author inherently. i know this book will do me well. let's go with 5 bears out of 6. i would like to see more alien individuals, not just the crew members and the singular entities they entangle with, or the massive populations that can be generalized about in conversation but like. just normal people going about their lives. and i'm interested to see how this next punch job goes.
i think that's it for me! short, but not in an unpromising way. this is definitely a science fiction novel that has captured my attention completely.
there's so much about this novel that resonates with my experience playing/play testing space legs with the group that i had. the trolley crew. i wish i could put my finger on what exactly feels similar, but there are moments so far where the narrative of the story dwells so completely on someone's story/backstory that it's... it's intriguing. all i want to do is listen to these characters tell me about themselves and about the others. and that was a lot of how space legs worked for me, playing brian. brian was a total newcomer to space exploration, but felt a profound passion for making friends. that led him to talk to a good deal of aliens that i'm not certain the gm anticipated me talking to at length, often slinging bucketfuls of earth slang at unsuspecting aliens who'd never even met a human before. that campaign means a lot to me because, like this book, it was a story about the many ways we can reach out and make a profound connection with another person. how earnest friendliness and a desire to make a connection can open hearts, can lead to extremely thoughtful conversations. can lead to caring so so profoundly for someone you met thirty minutes ago.
maybe someday i'll write out all the things that happened in that campaign, as best as i can recapture it, just to have it somewhere.
