Book Review: "The Galaxy, and the Ground Within" by Becky Chambers

 

4/5 stars  

*Spoiler alert!* 

The Galaxy and the Ground Within is the fourth and final entry in the “Wayfarers” series. This saddens me, but it was a pleasure to be a reader in this comforting galaxy. Each of the “Wayfarers” novels is stand-alone but we see some familiar minor characters come in and out of the main narrative.

 

Our main characters are mostly new perspectives, but Pei is a familiar minor character who I really loved from the first book, returning here on her way to see Ashby. Gora is merely a minor layover before continuing to Ashby’s ship. Pei is one of a group of travelers stopping at such a Goran waypoint, finding herself and her fellow travelers in the hands of the earnest Ouloo and her offspring Tupo—reluctantly helping their mother run the place, as teenagers are.

 

As many of Chambers’ sci-fi books are, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is full of humor as well as seriousness.   

“No, it’s not that. Humans need a … oh, what is it … it’s something with their stomachs. An enzyme, I think. For digesting milk. Only some Humans produce it naturally. But here’s the thing: they’re all so fucking bonkers for cheese that they’ll ingest a dose of the enzymes beforehand so that they can eat it.’ ‘That seems a bit extreme,’ Roveg said. ‘Have you eaten it?’ Tupo asked. ‘Not if my life depended on it,’ Pei said. ‘How is it that their milk makes them sick?’ Speaker said. ‘That’s got to pose a problem if they can’t feed their young.’ ‘Oh, no, I – stars, I forgot the worst part.’ Pei rubbed her neck with her palm. ‘They don’t make cheese with their own milk. They take it from other animals.’ At that, chaos broke out.” 

(Needless to say, I have a different perspective on cheese, but I still love cheese and will not give it up.)

 

Of course, the book finds a way to discuss many complex issues, some of a personal nature and some of a more macro geopolitical nature. 

“People – a group comprised of every sapient species, organic or otherwise – were chaos, but chaos was good. Chaos was the only sensible conclusion. There was no law that was just in every situation, no blanket rule that could apply to everyone, no explanation that accounted for every component. This did not mean that laws and rules were not helpful, or that explanations should not be sought, but rather that there should be no fear in changing them as needed, for nothing in the universe ever held still.”  

Roveg is a dissident in exile wanting to return home to see his four sons. He’s on his way to an appointment to get a permit to be allowed in his home world temporarily. Pei, as mentioned before, is on her way to see her beloved Ashby, but since her species strongly discourages inter-species relationships, she is doing it in secret. Speaker is a member of a formerly colonized species without a home world, destined to be transient in perpetuity, distrusted by other alien species, and having to survive on whatever they can find. She and her sister, Tracker, are just on another job to ferry goods to others of their species in need.

 

All of them are caught off guard when a software failure leads to the destruction of the Goran communications network, grounding all planetary traffic until the debris is cleaned up and new satellites deployed. They must now get along with each other, members of a whole bunch of different species crammed into one small waystation. (I gotta say, I enjoy this take on the “unlikely friends” trope, where a bunch of strangers are forced to find some way to survive together.)      

“This one choice didn't answer everything for her, not even close. How could it? Life was never a matter of one decision alone. Life was just a bunch of tiny steps, one after another, each a conclusion that lead to a dozen questions more.” 

Each of our characters find themselves at a parallel metaphorical fork in the road in their lives. Ouloo loves playing host to species from all over the galaxy but finds herself wanting more time to explore her own interests. It’s a hard business she runs, one in which she puts her blood, sweat, and tears, and wanting rest and rejuvenation is only natural. Tupo, her offspring, loves helping their mom run their little waystation, but wants to explore their interests more. A naturally curious being, our adorable Tupo is.

 

Pei finds herself tired of keeping her and Ashby’s relationship secret. The secrecy is eating away at her. She finds herself on the precipice of no longer keeping that secret and in the process her whole species cast her out for violating their interspecies relationship taboo. Her choice is forced by a unique moment in the reproductive cycle of her species, a sort of limited fertile period, the only one in an Aeluon woman’s life.

 

Roveg wants to be more involved in his childrens’ lives, children that are now adults while he has been forcibly exiled for all those years. Speaker just wants to be able to live freely and without having to put on an act to soothe those around her, to convince those suspicious of her species to trust her.   

“And sometimes fear is good. Fear keeps you alive. But it can also keep you from what you really want.” 

So, if you think it’s just a book about strangers being forced to briefly coexist, you’d be wrong.  

There is a saying about books finding you when you most need them. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within has helped me at a point of uncertainty and struggle within my own life. My own day-to-day and longer-term crossroad decisions loom large and seem so impossible. This book reminds me of how everyone struggles to find meaning in their own lives, and it's comforting to think that my problems are so small compared to the larger universe. This story reminds me to do what makes me happy, and to figure out the rest as I go.  

“He knew there would never be a point in his life in which he knew everything there was to know, and while part of him despaired at the puzzle that would never be solved, the rest of him embraced this truth fully, for what satisfaction could there be in having nothing else to ask?” 

Just do yourself a favor and read the “Wayfarers” books. You won’t regret it. It’s the kind of warm and fuzzy one needs during the colder months.

 

Happy holidays! 

--BookOwl