The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Book Group discussion thread

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Serendippily Jul 2019 12:37pm, 17 Jul 2019 13,299 posts	0 Serendippily Fun read. I can’t take this kind of sci-fi seriously there are too many films that cover similar ground, but i didn’t mind it for a change. I think she should have hand drawn illustrations of all the alien forms along the way. Ssshhpp
Serendippily Jul 2019 12:41pm, 17 Jul 2019 13,300 posts	0 Serendippily Ooo you got on your high horse McGoohan. I appreciate a light read more than you
McGoohan Jul 2019 2:29pm, 17 Jul 2019 40,476 posts	0 McGoohan It's a big horse this. I quite like a light read myself. I thought this was leaden. Funny, a lot of the five-star reviews on Amazon said 'don't go in looking for plot, it's mostly about character' which made me laugh as the characters are so 1-dimensional. The lovely AI is called 'Lovey'. The Chef who is also a Doctor is called Doctor Chef. FFS. I think I'm particularly offended by it because it was shortlisted for the ACClarke Award and IMHO it is a poor (re)introduction to sci-fi. All the best ideas from it have been lifted wholesale from earlier, better authors.
McGoohan Jul 2019 2:33pm, 17 Jul 2019 40,477 posts	0 McGoohan Don't take my word for it, here's an excerpt taken verbatim from Short Fat Hairy Planet: ‘Hello,’ said Captain Niceypants, ‘I run a tight ship but to be honest, we do also get a lot of hugs.’ He winked at Jane Genericname, the space-accountant. ‘Come and meet the rest of the team.’ First of all was Lovely Friendly Space-Person who came from the planet Suuper-Nice and who was both lovely and super nice. Then there was Helpy-Friendo, who was really super-duper nice and smothered Jane in smooshy hugs. ‘Over here is someone who’s half-spider, half-crocodile and half-written. He’s the ship’s Cook and Chiropodist and as I was working a late shift I couldn’t be bothered going through the phone book to come up with another name, so he’s called Cook Foot.’ ‘Fair enough. But who’s this?’ Jane said, looking at a grumpy individual in the corner. ‘That,’ said Captain Niceypants, ‘Is Lieutenant Grumplepuss. He’s from the planet Frownipops.’ ‘Leave me alone,’ said Grumplepuss. ‘I want to be alone.’ ‘Golly!’ said Jane, stricken that someone might be upset, ever. ‘I know,’ the Captain said. ‘Let’s have a super party to welcome our new crew member!’ Lieutenant Grumplepuss, for all his dour expression couldn’t help but smile a little, breaking into a wide grin when the Captain gave him a lovely tickle under the chin. ‘Fucking stop it!’ Grumplepuss said, incongruously. ‘Fucking fuck.’ It was almost as if he wanted to be taken seriously by throwing a bit of fucking swearing in. ‘Avast ye!’ said a scary voice. ‘Oh no!’ Captain Loveypants squealed. ‘Space pirates!’ ‘Golly!’ gollied Jane. ‘Don’t worry,’ said the space-pirate-queen with a lovely smile. ‘We’re super-friendly space-pirates and we’re here because we like lovely cuddly hugs and we heard there was a party!’ ‘Not just a party!’ Captain Loveypants declared. ‘But a pony party!’ ‘A pony party!’ Jane squeaked with delight. ‘Oh golly gee whiz, this is going to be the best party ever! Goody goody gumdrops!’
Serendippily Jul 2019 9:02pm, 17 Jul 2019 13,303 posts	0 Serendippily applauds Top pastiching you should start your own bakery, throw in a few GIANT bugs next time I quite liked the idea of the Toremi who ate anyone who didn’t agree with the consensus incidentally
Diogenes Jul 2019 9:38pm, 17 Jul 2019 38,583 posts	0 Diogenes Five Go Mad In Space!
westmoors Jul 2019 1:07pm, 18 Jul 2019 3,396 posts	0 westmoors Really enjoyed this one. Seems like a long time since I read some pure sci-fi.
quimby Jul 2019 4:27am, 21 Jul 2019 4,333 posts	0 quimby I liked it. It was a bit Red Dwarf. I will read the sequel. I envisioned Jenks as Andy Hamilton. McGoohan, I grew up on pony books. You need "Oh, George, you're an absolute brick!".
Little Nemo Aug 2019 9:41pm, 1 Aug 2019 9,512 posts	0 Little Nemo This is a bit long, sorry! I was looking forward to this book and the first couple of chapters were promising. Then it dawned on me that it was going to be disappointingly bland with clunky dialogue and cardboard characters. I've read a fair bit of sci fi and I've got to the stage where I want a bit of edge to my stories. This had virtually no jeopardy or conflict and it desperately needed some shades of grey. Some examples: Rosemary's father is a horrible man who sells illegal arms, but that's OK because she knew nothing about it! And when the rest of the crew find out that's also OK because everyone believes her and besides there's some convenient evidence to show that she's squeaky clean! Wouldn't it have been better if there was some ambiguity here? Maybe she would have to earn the crew's trust more gradually and then when it was revealed who had ended up with the guns it would have been more dramatic. Jenks and the AI are in love and she's happy to go into a body but also happy to not go into a body later because she only wants to make him happy. Wouldn't it have been better when he had changed his mind if she had gone mad like HAL in 2001? Kizzy is perfectly happy to let someone she doesn't know on the ship when she has LITERALLY just been thinking about how awful it was to have been raided by pirates! But actually the pirates weren't THAT bad because in the end they just took what they needed and only hit one of them. A pity they didn't kill everyone on board and take the whole bloody lot and maybe blow up the ship because they're @rseholes. Someone manages to stick hundreds of mines in a ship without anyone noticing. Their genius plan is that when the ship develops a problem it will go to a port at just the right time for the timer to blow it up. What a ridiculous plan! How likely is it that it would even work? And don't get me started on Kizzy deciding she can defuse them for no bloody good reason! Everyone gets on really well except for Corbin for ill-defined reasons. I'm guessing Corbin is only really there because even this author knows not everyone could get on like best friends. Wouldn't it have been better if he was in it more and if the rest of the crew had been as cliquey as most teams get when stuck together for months on a tiny ship? By the time we got to the lesbian-lizard sex my eyes were virtually rolling back in my head I was so exasperated! It wasn't totally bad and it definitely got better in the last 20%. The book was readable and wasn't overlong. I thought the action scenes were pretty well done and it was an interesting idea. I'm just disappointed that it wasn't developed better. I'm glad that it didn't end of a cliffhanger as I don't feel like I need to know what happens next. Unless there's a radical change in the way she writes I probably won't read any further. I gave this book a 5.
Columba Aug 2019 10:07pm, 1 Aug 2019 18,292 posts	0 Columba Even Corbin turned out good eventually, Nemo.