The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

2018's first read, and a new novelist's first book. It's a rather cuddly space opera romp, in which our protagonist-with-a-secret washes up with a diverse crew of roughneck pilots and engineers who make a living connecting star systems via hyperspace bypasses. They all start out gruff and unapproachable, but gradually the novel teases out the right-on details of their lives, revealing all of them to be leading complete, wholesome and quirky lives. There's intrigue, romance (both trans-species and organic-AI) and, by the end, the crew's construction as a surrogate family is complete. So, much more The Next Generation than The Original Series, with a healthy serving of Mass Effect and Firefly on the side. All of which makes for a nice, breezy read, but the world- and family-building does tend to sideline the plot a bit, to the point that, when the action finally arrives, it feels like it's wrapped up all too quickly. It certainly doesn't come as a surprise when a sequel is tee-ed up in the closing pages, but the journey is definitely enjoyable enough to justify such a return visit.