| Author: | Becky Chambers |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Wayfarers series |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Publisher: | Harper Voyager (US) Hodder & Stoughton (UK) |
| Pub Date: | 2021 |
| Isbn: | 978-0062936035 |
| Preceded By: | Record of a Spaceborn Few |
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is a 2021 science fiction novel by Becky Chambers, published by Harper Voyager.[1] It is a sequel to The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit and Record of a Spaceborn Few.
The novel takes place at the Five-Hop One-Stop, a refueling and licensing station located on the planet Gora, which had no life on it before it was settled by the various alien races who set up shop there. Gora was settled only because of its close proximity to a transit hub where several tunnels meet. A technical failure causes nearly all of the satellites in orbit around Gora to crash and all traffic is halted for several days. The five protagonists are trapped together in the Five-Hop One-Stop for several days and end up confronting their similarities, differences, prejudices and personal challenges.
Vanessa Armstrong at Tor.com noted that "While it’s likely Chambers started this book before the events that were 2020, a post-pandemic (well, almost post, hopefully) reading can’t help but resonate with our own unexpected pause, how an unplanned and undesired halt to where we think we’re going can change things irrevocably."[2]
Publishers Weekly noted "There are some real moments of anxiety to keep the pages turning, but the highlights are the characters’ meaty debates and Chambers’s delightful exploration of cultural difference."[3]
The novel was nominated for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[4]