Book Review: ‘The Galaxy and the Ground Within’ by Becky Chambers

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is the fourth and final book in Becky Chambers’ The Wayfarer Series.

Whereas the previous novel in this science fiction series (Record of a Spaceborn Few) focused on humanity, Ground Within is the only book to feature an entire cast of alien characters and point of view narrators.

The story revolves around five main characters who become trapped together on a planet following an orbital disaster.

Pei, who we met in Small Angry Planet, is an Aeluon. Her intricately scaled skin changes colour depending on her emotions – a problem when frustrations begin to run high. Roveg, the large lobster-like Quelin, has rejected his race’s xenophobic ways and is now an exile. He often acts as the peacekeeper of the group. Speaker, the small sloth-like Akarak in her enclosed mechanical suit, is separated from her twin sister in orbit. The isolation leaves her nerves frayed as she must learn to interact with others on her own for the first time.

These three are guests of Ouloo and her child Tupo. The alpaca-like Laru mother only wants her guests to be happy and frets when things don’t go plan. Finally Tupo’s growing pains and teenage hormones at times put a strain on their relationship with Ouloo but their inquisitive nature and innocent outlook on life is often what bonds the group together.

In a way Ground Within is an experiment. What happens when you put a group of people with different backgrounds and historical differences together in an enclosed space? Amongst other things, the novel explores racial prejudices and whether people can move past them in times of crisis.

The reader also takes part in this experiment. Since Pei is the only character we are familiar with we instinctively fall on her side during disagreements within the group. In Roveg and Speaker Chambers bring back two races we only briefly saw in Small Angry Planet. In that novel both the Quelins and Akaraks played antagonistic roles within the story. We must learn to overcome the views we already have about these alien races and get to know the characters as individuals – effectively placing us into the shoes of the five characters.

Like Record of a Spaceborn Few before it, Ground Within is not really a story of action but of thought-provoking moments and surprisingly deep conversations which explore multiple points of view. These range from the pain of separation from loved ones to women’s reproductive rights to the wider effects of war and colonialism and much more. The plot is very character driven with the majority of the story’s dramatic moments coming from these interactions. As always, Chambers does an excellent job of creating her characters and making them feel real and believable.

If I’m being fair, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is probably the weakest novel in the series but only by a very fine margin and only because the previous three books are so good. Ground Within is still an excellent story with plenty of thought-provoking and character-centric moments. The book does have the odd distinction however of being both a stand-alone novel in a wider series yet one that is entirely reliant on the previous instalments for it to work as well as it does.

The Wayfarer Series has become one of my favourite sci-fi series; thanks to Chambers brilliant writing and fantastic characters. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is a great conclusion.

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