She clearly has eyes for Sissix, the pilot. (Yes, Lovey is the artificial intelligence embedded in the ship.) We wonder about Rosemary, but not for long. However, Jenks is in love with Lovey, and the feeling is mutual. Kizzy and Jenks (female and male) are best buddies and inseparable. This is a 21st-century version of space opera. With this motley cast of characters, you might expect a lifeless and tedious adventure tale along the lines of a 1960s production of Star Trek. They’re all sapients in the terminology of the time. And then there is Lovelace, known as Lovey, the AI who serves as the ship’s eyes and ears, its memory, and its internal communications. Chef is a six-limbed Grum whose handfeet show great skill both in the medical lab and in the kitchen. Ohan, the navigator, is a Sianat Pair who inhabit a single body but are referred to as “they” and “them.” Dr. She resembles a lizard (but don’t ever call her that!). The interspatial passageways that ran throughout the Galactic Commons were so ordinary as to be taken for granted.”Ĭaptain Ashby Santoso the “algaeist” who tends the fuel tanks and hates everybody and the two techs, Kizzy and Jenks, are all human. It’s “the ugliest ship she’d ever seen.” Chambers notes, “Building wormholes was not a glamorous profession. The Wayfarer is a second-class ship with a typical multispecies crew. To get as far as possible away from the people there who blame her for something terrible she had nothing to do with, she secures a job as a clerk on a ship that cruises through the galaxy “punching” wormholes into space. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers (2015) 423 pages ★★★★★ Winner of the 2019 Hugo Award for Best SeriesĪ modern space opera in a universe teeming with lifeĪ 23-year-old woman is fleeing her life on Mars under the assumed name Rosemary Harper. (She was able to finish writing the book only by raising the necessary money from 83 generous souls on Kickstarter.) Chambers’ characters are beautifully complex, the dialogue often sings, and her detailed and fascinating future universe emerges seamlessly from the story.
#Great space opera books series#
The series debuted with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, a delightful departure from all the bad habits exhibited in the genre’s infancy.
Now a young American author, Becky Chambers, has come onto the scene with the first two novels in a modern space opera series, with a third on the way later this year. But today’s writers do a much better job. In the early days of the genre, the typical space opera was characterized by one-dimensional characters, awkward dialogue, and lengthy scene-setting digressions. Both series have been bestsellers in recent years, and Bujold has won five Hugo Awards for hers.
Notable latter-day examples include Lois McMaster Bujold’s long-running Vorkosigan Saga and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series. Back in the 1930s, science fiction was dominated by such sophomoric fare, and the genre has reappeared periodically ever since. The term conjures up visions of intergalactic battles, ugly alien monsters, and heroic human commanders besting all against impossible odds.
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