I had a good time with this. It gave me similar vibes to Normal People, and I feel like if you liked that, you will enjoy this. And if you hated that, well probably give this a miss. I saw quite a lot of negative comments as I read and it seems like most of them stem from the expectation that this is a romance. This is NOT a romance, its a lit fic through and through and it explores all consuming young romance and the way that shapes you throughout your life with a host of fairly unlikeable characters. Its definitely not a book or a writing style everyone will enjoy but I think worth a read personally

I absolutely adore the way Becky Chambers writes. She explores and subverts so many complex topics and moral discussions in a really cozy fantastical way and in a way that isnt just spoonfeeding you answers. Theres lots of moral questions raised in this that there are no answers for but are things we should all be considering: Colonisation, bodily autonomy, racism etc. I think if you come out of this thinking 'its not that deep' then you weren't paying attention 🤷‍♀️

I am not a huge scifi book person but all the scifi elements of this were very fun and all the alien races were fleshed out in such interesting ways. The actual quest itself felt fairly low stakes for the most part and there was some stuff brushed over that I would have liked more of but the interpersonal relationships are the focus and they really do shine. I had a great time and im excited to get into the rest of the series