L'espace d'un an - YoungramWyrm

Paperback, 352 pages

French language

Published Aug. 25, 2016 by L'Atalante.

ISBN:: 978-2-84172-766-7

Rosemary, jeune humaine inexpérimentée, fuit sa famille de richissimes escrocs. Elle est engagée comme greffière à bord du Voyageur, un vaisseau qui creuse des tunnels dans l’espace, où elle apprend à vivre et à travailler avec des représentants de différentes espèces de la galaxie : des reptiles, des amphibiens et, plus étranges encore, d’autres humains. La pilote, couverte d’écailles et de plumes multicolores, a choisi de se couper de ses semblables ; le médecin et cuistot occupe ses six mains à réconforter les gens pour oublier la tragédie qui a condamné son espèce à mort ; le capitaine humain, pacifiste, aime une alien dont le vaisseau approvisionne les militaires en zone de combat ; l’IA du bord hésite à se transférer dans un corps de chair et de sang… Les tribulations du Voyageur, parti pour un trajet d’un an jusqu’à une planète lointaine, composent la tapisserie chaleureuse d’une famille unie …

Rosemary, jeune humaine inexpérimentée, fuit sa famille de richissimes escrocs. Elle est engagée comme greffière à bord du Voyageur, un vaisseau qui creuse des tunnels dans l’espace, où elle apprend à vivre et à travailler avec des représentants de différentes espèces de la galaxie : des reptiles, des amphibiens et, plus étranges encore, d’autres humains. La pilote, couverte d’écailles et de plumes multicolores, a choisi de se couper de ses semblables ; le médecin et cuistot occupe ses six mains à réconforter les gens pour oublier la tragédie qui a condamné son espèce à mort ; le capitaine humain, pacifiste, aime une alien dont le vaisseau approvisionne les militaires en zone de combat ; l’IA du bord hésite à se transférer dans un corps de chair et de sang… Les tribulations du Voyageur, parti pour un trajet d’un an jusqu’à une planète lointaine, composent la tapisserie chaleureuse d’une famille unie par des liens plus fondamentaux que le sang ou les lois : l’amour sous toutes ses formes.

Loin de nous offrir un space opera d’action et de batailles rangées, Becky Chambers signe un texte tout en humour et en tendresse subtile. Elle réussit le prodige de nous faire passer en permanence de l’exotisme à la sensation d’une familiarité saisissante.

15 editions

mikerickson@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #1)

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4 stars

Went in expecting a cozy, low-stakes sci-fi romp with Found Family tropes abound, and I got... something that was all that but also something that was occasionally darker and threatening? Not in a, "this was two completely separate books poorly smashed together" kind of way but more like a work that isn't afraid to hold the good with the bad at the same time. I don't know if this makes sense, but what I'm getting at is that it surpassed my expectations.

There's a big cast of characters here and while I was originally afraid we'd only be tied to two of the main protagonists for most of the book, we actually get a fair amount of separate POV chapters, and I think the book benefited from that. As with any new speculative fiction setting, there's going to be some worldbuilding, but most of it here was handled in-fiction …

Went in expecting a cozy, low-stakes sci-fi romp with Found Family tropes abound, and I got... something that was all that but also something that was occasionally darker and threatening? Not in a, "this was two completely separate books poorly smashed together" kind of way but more like a work that isn't afraid to hold the good with the bad at the same time. I don't know if this makes sense, but what I'm getting at is that it surpassed my expectations.

There's a big cast of characters here and while I was originally afraid we'd only be tied to two of the main protagonists for most of the book, we actually get a fair amount of separate POV chapters, and I think the book benefited from that. As with any new speculative fiction setting, there's going to be some worldbuilding, but most of it here was handled in-fiction through dialogue between characters, so it came across as more natural and conversational than paragraphs of dry lore-dumping. And even despite the presentation, the content was engaging enough that I wouldn't mind revisiting this universe again. There are a few alien races that are touched upon that genuinely felt alien to me and I wanted to know more about them.

The middle sort of... I feel like the word "sags" is a little too harsh, because there is constant dramatic action, but the central task this crew is trying to achieve often feels like something just passively lingering in the background instead of the main driving impetus for everything else going on. I guess when you have a job that will take literal months to complete and there's nothing you can do to speed it up you're naturally gonna have a ton of downtime to explore all these side characters, but I suppose I would've preferred a bit more urgency and momentum throughout. Still, I can see the appeal of a more leisurely narrative pace like this. If I do continue with the series, I feel like I'll have a better set of expectations going into it.