Chambers, Becky - The Galaxy, and the Ground Within

This is the final book in the wayfarer series, after Record of a spaceborn few. Becky continues to explore new characters in this universe. The common thread this time is Captain Pei, the Aeuluon Ashby loves from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Pei is joined by Oulu, a Laru mother and their child Tupo, Roveg an exiled artist who wants to go back to his family, and Speaker, an Akarak, about whom no one knows much, and hence fears a little.

They meet on a barren planet, at a rest stop while on their journey elsewhere.

The theme of this book was about choice. About not doing something, just because. About not bowing down to expectations that an entire species might have of you.

There are other themes too, but this is the central theme of this book.

I enjoyed the book like the other Becky Chambers books I’ve read. And I’ve read them all at this point. It is funny, and emotional. It is again, a low stakes book in the sci-fi kind of way. But it is again a great examination of the human condition, even though none of the species are humans.

I feel a little sad too. This is the last of the Becky Chambers books I’ll read.