Summary
When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn't expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched up ship that has seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past.
The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful - exactly what Rosemary wants.
Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime, tunneling through space to a distant planet. They'll earn enough money to live comfortable for years... If they survive the trip.
But Rosemary isn't the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.
Review
I'm not going to say this is the first space base book I've read, BUT it is definitely the first that has incorporated aliens and different species that co-exist with each other including humans and I could picture all of it, vividly. I was sold on this book just by reading the synopsis but after reading just a few chapters I was completely hooked. I mean, come on I finished it in two days.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, it has everything a Sci-Fi novel should have. But it's not just that, Becky Chambers created a whole new, amazing world that grips you from the very first chapter, and the characters are simply mind-blowing. As a crew they are so loving towards each-other and are such a diverse crew too. The characters within the book are so different from one another, not just physically but personality too. Together they are unstoppable and worked so seamlessly that it made me want to be part of it all. If that was possible, judging by the roles I would be like Jenks; comp tech. Computers rule, guys. (I may be biased towards that, IT student hehe)
There was such a diversity in this book that focused on real life aspects; sexuality, culture, behavior, language and so much more. And the focus on character development and interaction was a constant throughout which I personally really liked, especially through the alternating chapters amongst the crew, it made me connect not just with one of them but all and that was just impressive. With Sci-Fi books, I personally feel that authors need to explain in dept at the beginning what's what and so on, but in this novel I didn't once feel overwhelmed with information. Though at times I did get confused with the species, other then that everything was so very clear.
I simply cannot stress how much I loved the crew, they took in Rosemary with open arms and Kizzy and Jenks are so awesome and their relationship was truly remarkable. Dr Chef was so nice and cool, the mystery behind Ohan was just wow and kept me intrigued. Ashby was a bad-ass captain. need I say more. And Lovey, the amazing AI was just wow, again. She felt every emotion humans feel and everything thing that takes place at parts broke my heart. Sissix was really cool, and I felt for her when we were given more about her family. Becky has done an outstanding job with this debut novel. It has awesome techs, diversity, action packed adventure and at the heart of it all a bad-ass and incredible crew. A must read.
